The 2021 fiscal was almost unnoticed in part of the ubiquitous spending bill recently passed by NASA, a provision that appears to free the upcoming Europa Clipper mission from the Space Launch System (SLS).
According to Space News, the order that the Europa Clipper mission will be launched on the SLS is pending only if a rear-schedule and over-priced heavy lift rocket is available and if concerns about hardware compatibility between the probe and the launcher are resolved. Otherwise, NASA is free to explore commercial options to get a Europa clipper on Jupiter’s ice-filled moon.
The Europa Clipper will orbit around Jupiter and make several flyby maneuvers near Europa, which many scientists believe is a warm ocean under a layer of ice. Life exists in that ocean, the confirmation of which will be the greatest scientific discovery of this or any other century.
Europa Clipper to SLS With flying made mandatory, it was an inseparable result of the budget politics of Congress. Beat the space probe by pre-testing. John Culberson
John Abby’s Culbersantex Republican Voice Alarm Bells After 2020 Trump’s NASA Lunar Program Trained by 2020 Democratic Party Platform Bottom Line More (R-Texas), who at the time was chairman of the House Allocations subcommittee funding NASA. To support the Europa Clipper, Culber added the SLS command, which supported Sen. Richard Shelby
Richard Craig Shelby fights Republican election intensifies bipartisan group of senators: more on election bottom line (R-Ala.), Chairman of the Senate Applications Committee. The state of Shelby has a number of aerospace contractors involved in the development of SLS.
Ironically, Culberson lost his seat in 2018 because of his opponent, Rep. Lizzie Fletcher (D-Texas) accused him of being more concerned with space missions than local issues such as flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey. Still, the Europa Clipper continued without its key champion in Congress.
As Ars Technica points out, launching the Europa Clipper on the SpaceX Falcon Heavy saves the mission $ 1.5 billion. S.L.S. The advantage of using is that it allows to make a direct path to Jupiter without the flyby maneuvers of the planets that require time in previous missions to the outer planets. The Falcon Heavy alone will not be able to get the Europa Clipper directly into Jupiter space, however, it will be able to if it is equipped with a powerful Centaur kick stage.
The economics and physics of coming to Europe would change if the starship of SpaceX, currently under development in Boca Chika, Texas, became available to launch the Europa Clipper in the mid-2020s. Starship is to complete the CEO of SpaceX Elon Musk
Elon Reeve Muskville Axiom Space Provides Commercial Space Station Replacement for NASA ISS? The world’s richest people add 2020 to their combined wealth in .20T Trump completes 12 years as Obama’s most admired man: Gallup MoreDreams of settling on Mars. But a large number of reusable rockets will be available for other items, possibly including sending probes to outer planets.
Large cost savings using a commercial launcher for Europa Clipper creates other possibilities. Europa can be put behind the lender. One of Saturn’s stable world Enceladus missions could also be greenality.
SLS is the result of a Fastian deal between NASA and Congress in 2010. Congress was outraged by then-President Obama’s cancellation of the Bush-era galaxy’s deep space exploration program. According to NASA Deputy Administrator Lori Garver, NASA agreed with SLS in return for Congress supporting the recent commercial crew program with the unveiling of astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) on the SpaceX Crew Dragon.
Since then S.L.S. Is the core weight of America’s space ambitions. S.L.S. Artemis 1 is preparing to launch an uncrewed mission around the moon. It is currently stuck in a series of ground-based “green run” tests. SLS currently makes the most of the money allocated for NASA’s Artemis program. The first flight is scheduled for November 2021.
In the meantime, SpaceX has only been flying prototypes of Starship in the atmosphere and despite the sometimes explosive results. NASA officially dislikes the idea of replacing SLS with Starship. However, a version of SpaceX’s giant rocket ship is running as a lunar lander for Artemis. If it wouldn’t have jumped to cut the SLS altogether and go straight to Starship, it wouldn’t have been Congress budget politics.
And that, as Shakespeare would say, is rubbing.
Mark Whitting, a frequent writer on space and politics, has published a political study of space exploration, why is it so difficult? As well as the Moon, Mars and Beyond. Blogs on Total Carmudgens Corner. They have been published in the Wall Street Journal, Forbes, The Hill, USA Today, LA Times and the Washington Post, among other places.
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