How would you spend $700M on NASA?

[sftommy]

The Orlando Sentinel reported last week that Bill Nelson believed he could come up with an additional $700M to this years budget, over and above President Obama's request, to continue testing of the Ares I. How would you spend that $700M?

 

[pathfinder_01]

The Orlando Sentinel reported last week that Bill Nelson believed he could come up with an additional $700M to this years budget, over and above President Obama's request, to continue testing of the Ares I. How would you spend that $700M?

On anything else but the Ares 1. The sooner the Ares 1 dies and with it most of consetlation, the sooner we start to make progress in spaceflight.

 

[nimbus]

Cheap access to space
Depots
Life support for Mars-length travel
ISRU

In that order, but none left out.

 

[sftommy]

I agree with Pathfinder anything but the Ares I!
I was surprised such a suggestion was even put forward.

If it would speed up the development of a heavy lift vehicle I'd say put it into that program. As the Ares V was designed to be a progressive step from Delta IV-heavy program, it's unclear where this five-year-think-pause is supposed to lead? Unless we're abandoning the JS-68 engine for a new one.

Human rating the Delta IV would be another good place for the money, although a 2009 NASA study found only slight cost and time advantage to developing a human-rated Delta-IV (5.5 to 7 years) versus the Ares I (2017 maybe?)

So, if it's a one year $700M I vote for 2 Kepler followup craft to work together in looking for planets.

 

[Polishguy]

First, new spacecraft built exclusively for deep-space (Lunar, Martian, etc.) operation. It will be based on the general shape of the Soyuz capsule. A small re-entry craft (possibly based on the Space Station escape vehicle, X-38 I think) docked to a mission module made as light as possible for maximum cargo (perhaps derived from the BA Genesis modules. Light-weight and respectable living space). It would weigh (hopefully) no more than ten tonnes, and have a methane-oxygen engine. It would launch by Falcon 9 rocket, or one of the lighter Deltas or Atlas. The Ares 1 was a complete mistake. 25 tonnes to LEO, but only for one capsule.

Alternatively, the money can be spent on Cassini II and Cassini III: Cassini-based probes for Uranus and Neptune. Or a Titan lander.

 

[nimbus]

That wouldn't do enough about today's main problems : the sheer cost of space access, and profitable/useful things to do when we get there/to motivate our going out there.

 

[RVHM]

One more Shuttle flight, narrowing the gap and giving some hope for DIRECT.