Constellation Program, Ares Rockets, All Pushed To The Side

President Obama's budget, which will be revealed Monday, reportedly contains no money for a return to the moon. The Constellation program that was to make that possible, as well as the Ares I rocket that would have replaced the Space Shuttle, and the Ares V heavy lift booster, have all been put off for years, if not a decade or more according to those familiar with the plan.

The Orlando Sentinel reports that agency officials, congressional leaders, and White House insiders say that there will eventually be a "heavy lift" rocket but that it will not be developed in the near term. Instead, the Obama administration wants NASA to focus its energies on Earth science projects, principally monitoring and research on ... here it comes ... climate change. For actual space exploration, the administration will direct the agency to develop technology to go beyond low-earth orbit to eventually study asteroids and the inner solar system.

Obama would turn to the private sector to develop spacecraft that would ferry crew and cargo to the International Space Station on fixed-price contracts.

Senior administration officials who spoke on condition on anonymity said that the spending freeze that will go into effect for many agencies will not be imposed on NASA, but it will be not be the $1 billion the agency had hoped for, nor the $3 billion the Augustine Commission reported would be needed to continue a human spaceflight program.

Ares 1X Launch NASA Photo

The budget reportedly will extend the ISS program through 2020, and there will be an "attractive sum of money" for private companies to come up with a way to shuttle the crews back and forth. It's also likely that Congress will not give up the space program without a fight. But one administration official said that in the view of President Obama, Congress needs to come to grips with the fact that NASA does not exist to provide space programs that create jobs in their districts.

FMI: www.nasa.gov, www.whitehouse.gov