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NASA局長表示美國仍保有航太壯志
2010-02-04
[據法新社2010年2月3日報導] NASA局長查理斯•博爾登2月2日向國會表示，美國放棄重返月球計畫的決策並不意味著放棄了美國航太計畫的雄心壯志。
在奧巴馬總統概括完2011年預算中新的太空優先活動後，NASA局長在新聞發佈會上表示，美國必須為太空技術的理論創新和太空探索及研發計畫的新思路投資。
2月1日，奧巴馬總統提議放棄已大幅超支的“星座計畫”，該計畫由前總統布希提出，旨在研發新一代火箭，在2020年以前實現美國重返月球的目標。白宮表示，打算放棄“星座計畫”的原因包括成本超支問題、使用了過時技術、以及不能在2028年以前實現將人類送往月球的目標。一項可靈活投資的、大膽雄偉的新航太活動將推動美國步入創新和發現的新旅程。
奧巴馬總統要求在未來5年為NASA提供60億美元，以研發能夠將宇航員送往低地球軌道的商業航天器。與奥古斯丁委員會提議維持載人航太計畫每年必要的30億美元相比，這只是小幅度的增長。
博爾登重申，不會放棄載人太空飛行計畫。民主黨和共和黨的參議員們以及NASA 前局長邁克爾•但是對於“星座計畫”，奧巴馬科學與技術政策辦公室（OSTP）主任約翰•霍爾德倫表示，“星座計畫”威脅了NASA其他重要任務。
博爾登承認，以往預算決策已導致數十年來出現了太空技術研發領域投資不足的情況。他還強調，振興NASA和使得其在創新以及載人太空飛行任務中發揮重要作用的一個方法就是全面引入私營合作夥伴。
在談到載人太空飛行任務的目標和時間框架時，他表示目標可能是月球、火星或其他行星，時間將不會超過一年。（陳菲 侯丹）
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100203/sc_afp/useconomybudgetobamaspacenasa_20100203173806
US still has space ambitions: NASA chief
by Jean-louis Santini – Wed Feb 3, 12:00 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – A US decision to scrap plans to return to the moon does not mean it is abandoning its space ambitions, NASA's chief told Congress Tuesday.
"We must invest in fundamentally new innovations for space technology and new ways of doing business if we are to develop a space exploration and development program that is truly sustainable over the long term," NASA administrator Charles Bolden said at the National Press Club the day after President Barack Obama outlined new space priorities in the 2011 budget.
On Monday, Obama proposed dropping the massively over-budget Constellation program launched by former president George W. Bush to develop a new-generation rocket aimed at returning Americans to the moon by 2020.
The White House said it wanted to ground Constellation because it was too costly, used outdated technology, and would not be ready to ferry humans to the moon before 2028.
In its place, "a bold and ambitious new space initiative that invests in American ingenuity to propel us on a new journey of innovation and discovery" was being launched, he said.
The president called for spending six billion dollars over five years for NASA to develop commercial spacecraft that could carry astronauts into low Earth orbit.
That was a far smaller increase than the three billion a year a presidentially-appointed panel has said would be necessary for a viable human flight program.
"We are not abandoning human space flight," Bolden said repeatedly, responding to questions. Democratic and Republican senators as well as Bolden's predecessor Michael Griffin, have criticized dropping Constellation saying it would spell an end to US leadership in space.
But with the Constellation program, "we essentially were trying to recreate the glories of the past with the technologies of the past," John Holdren, director of Obama's Office of Science and Technology Policy said.
"Put simply, the Constellation program threatened other important parts of NASA's endeavors and mission while failing to achieve the trajectory of a program that was not sustainable," Holdren added.
Bolden also acknowledged that "tough budget decisions in the past have led to decades of under-investment in space technology development."
One way to renew NASA and have it play a key role in innovation as well as manned space flight is to get the private sector fully on board, Bolden stressed.
He was joined at the Press Club event by representatives of seven businesses that already work with NASA on developing launchers and other space systems, such as SpaceX.
Bolden, a former astronaut, said Obama's plan was aimed at having goals that could be reached.
Asked about a destination and timetable for manned missions, Bolden said: "It's more than a couple of weeks but less than a year.
"If you ask me about destinations... some places come naturally to mind, moon, Mars, asteroids," he said.
Obama's NASA plan sees the agency receiving 19 billion dollars in 2011, around 300 million more than the 2010 budget, with small annual increases to follow.
Buzz Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon in 1969, said earlier that where Constellation was stuck in the past, Obama's plan was forward-looking.
"We've already been to the moon -- some 40 years ago," he said in a statement.
"A near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key, cutting-edge technologies to take us further, faster, is just what our nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration."
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