Physics Today: On Tuesday the
House
Science and Technology space and aeronautics subcommittee
quickly cleared bill
H.R.
6063 which orders NASA to make one extra flight to the
international space station to deliver the $1.5 billion
Alpha Magnetic
Spectrometer.AMS was without a launch vehicle after the
loss of space shuttle columbia cancelled its 2009 flight. NASA
had been looking at alternative launch vehicles but the large
cost involved made approval unlikely (see
NASA
Cancels Science Flight, Ditches International Partners May
2007).H.R. 6063, which also sets NASA's budget for 2009, adds
more than $1.6 billion to the White House request. The bill
increases funding for the development of the
Orion
Crew Exploration Vehicle and
Ares
launcher, which are currently scheduled to enter service in
2015, nearly 5 years after the last shuttle flight.Controls put
in place to reduce cost over-runs on NASA's science programs
were over ruled by the subcommittee, which authorized NASA to
proceed with the
climate-monitoring
satellite Glory, which is over budget.The bill also demands
that the next generation of
Landsat satellites
continue collecting thermal infrared land imagery, the
compliance of which may delay a 2011 Landsat satellite
launch.The bill will now be sent to the
full committee for
consideration.
