Search

Unfavorable environment for the technological success of costly research programs such as the space shuttle and space station, Freedom, result from the political standards to elicit funds for these programs. The American political machine is facing difficulties associated with technology-based programs such as those of the US space program.

The Shepley-value pricing and the Independent Cost Proportional Scheme, contrary to claims by Jay Lightfoot, are not superior to traditional methods such as mass-proportional and negotiated pricing in allocating costs for multiple payload launches. Negotiated price-allotment seems appropriate as a viable pricing formula.

Congressional lawmakers are at odds with each other and with the new Administration over which U.S. space science efforts should be funded--or cut--in 2002. The highstakes legislative game affects plans [...]

When NASA cancelled a project last month that would have sent a tiny rover crawling over an asteroid, planetary researchers went into orbit. In a rare public statement, several senior [...]

This year should be the busiest in history for U.S. space science, with a launch scheduled nearly once a month and existing missions sending back a slew of astronomical data. [...]

The Shepley-value pricing and the Independent Cost Proportional Scheme, despite allegations to the contrary, are versatile in comparison to mass-proportional methods in allotting launch costs among multiple payloads. Negotiated price allocation seems an outdated method for increasing market share.

Space scientists have seen the future, and it hurts. Last week, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) sent a budget request to Congress that contains its first cut in [...]

Britain is to spend more money on basic research at the expense of large Earth observation programmes, paving the way for the Mars lander project. Science minister, Lord David Sainsbury announced the redistribution of 19.5 million pounds sterling of the 180 million pounds sterling budget for space expenditure. Space scientists have welcomed the contribution of 5 million pounds sterling to the development costs of the mars lander spacecraft.

NASA administrator Dan Goldin's suggestion that the next generation of instruments for space exploration should be built in space, has lead to fierce debate amongst physicists. Fermilab has recently dedicated a new main injector to the Tevatron, and must now develop a case for a new accelerator based on the ground. However Goldin's main aim was to show NASA's committment to investing in physics in space.

Space ministers in Europe have agreed a budget level for joint space science activities, and have approved the start of the Living Planet, a new programme of scientific missions to observe the Earth. The finance will be divided into a baseline budget which is a continuation of the current 352 million euro annual budget, and complementary science funding, which will average 10 million euros per year.

European space scientists are calling on member states of the European Space Agency (ESA) to remove the funding cap on the agency's science programme. The cap has eroded the programme and placed it in serous financial crisis according to ESA space science director Roger Bonnet. Some projects in the long term Horizons 2000 science plan may have to be abandoned, and the funding constraints have strained relationships between astrophysicists and Solar System scientists.

The European Space Agency's (ESA) proposal to launch a fast and cheap Mars mission have split Europe's space scientists over how the agency's scientific priorities should be determined. The ESA's Space Programme Committee has already agreed to continue a feasibility study of another Mars mission, designed to analyse the planet's surface. It is feared that the two projects will vie for limited funding.

A US House of Representatives committee has authorized funding for the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) and the International Space Station at the European laboratory for Particle Physics in Switzerland. However the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) will have to meet strict requirements if Russian involvement is to continue, including a regular report on the timeliness of Russian obligations.

Although NASA's budget is still headed downward, it's no longer in a tailspin. Indeed, NASA's prospects have brightened enough that advocates of a summit between Administration and congressional leaders to [...]

Last week, the scientific buzz about the possibility of fossil life on Mars and the significance of planets circling other stars earned the rapt attention of Vice President Al Gore. [...]

Publicly, NASA has been touting the international space station as an orbiting laboratory with an extensive and exciting research agenda. But privately, agency managers have been quietly reducing the amount [...]

Nasa space station officials are planning to divert money set aside for scientific facilities aboard the orbiting laboratory to pay for engineering problems that have surfaced in its construction. The [...]

Researchers are up in arms about a reorganization at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that they say poses a threat to the research agenda of the international space [...]

Space science is the clear loser in a radical 1996 budget approved earlier this week by a House panel that funds the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The measure [...]

The European Space Agency (ESA) has proposed the launch of a series of small space missions in an attempt to strengthen the cost-effectiveness of its space science programs. The agency will also conduct a comparative assessment of its space projects and of the private sector. ESA will examine the costs associated with funding space missions that require the signing of contracts between the agency and its member states.

The Italian Space Agency proposes to limit its role in the space programs of the European Space Agency (ESA) in an effort to set right its own financial status. Italy's move will prevent ESA from securing funds from its member states for its proposed $4.8 billion manned space flight program that is already under criticism by Germany and France.