Augustine panel announcement and feedback
On Monday NASA formally announced the members of the Augustine panel, with few, if any, surprises in its membership. Most of the names had been previously reported by the Orlando Sentinel on Thursday (and another, Leroy Chiao, on Friday); the only name missing was Charles Kennel.
Also on Monday, acting administrator Chris Scolese signed the committee’s charter, identifying four key objectives:
1) expediting a new U.S. capability to support utilization of the International Space Station (ISS);
2) supporting missions to the Moon and other destinations beyond low-Earth orbit (LEO);
3) stimulating commercial space flight capability;
4) fitting within the current budget profile for NASA exploration activities.
In addition to those objectives, the panel should, according to the charter, “the review should examine the appropriate amount of research and development and complementary robotic activities needed to make human space flight activities most productive and affordable over the long term, as well as appropriate opportunities for international collaboration. It should also evaluate what capabilities would be enabled by each of the potential architectures considered. It should evaluate options for extending ISS operations beyond 2016.”
One interesting item in the charter: the committee is supposed to issue its final report “within 120 days of the first meeting” of the committee, yet the panel is also supposed to “present its results in time to support an administration decision on the way forward by August 2009″, according to the press release. A quick check of the calendar confirms that the end of August is only about 90 days away, not 120.
In yesterday’s issue of The Space Review, I report on some comments about the Augustine committee and what it should do from the ISDC. Much of it is from comments by now-confirmed panelist Jeff Greason previously reported here, but there are some other comments from the likes of Buzz Aldrin and Robert Zubrin. Both of them would like to see the panel recommend a shift of emphasis from the Moon to Mars.
Finally, committee member Leroy Chiao is openly soliciting ideas to be considered by the panel on his blog.
