NASA’S EXPLORATION INITIATIVE: STATUS AND ISSUES HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION APRIL 3, 2008 Serial No. 110–90 Printed for the use of the Committee on Science and Technology ( Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.science.house.gov U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 41–471PS WASHINGTON : 2008 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:02 Aug 02, 2008 Jkt 041471 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 C:\WORKD\SA08\040308\41471 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY HON. BART GORDON, Tennessee, Chairman JERRY F. COSTELLO, Illinois RALPH M. HALL, Texas EDDIE BERNICE JOHNSON, Texas F. JAMES SENSENBRENNER JR., LYNN C. WOOLSEY, California Wisconsin MARK UDALL, Colorado LAMAR S. SMITH, Texas DAVID WU, Oregon DANA ROHRABACHER, California BRIAN BAIRD, Washington ROSCOE G. BARTLETT, Maryland BRAD MILLER, North Carolina VERNON J. EHLERS, Michigan DANIEL LIPINSKI, Illinois FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma NICK LAMPSON, Texas JUDY BIGGERT, Illinois GABRIELLE GIFFORDS, Arizona W. TODD AKIN, Missouri JERRY MCNERNEY, California JO BONNER, Alabama LAURA RICHARDSON, California TOM FEENEY, Florida PAUL KANJORSKI, Pennsylvania RANDY NEUGEBAUER, Texas DARLENE HOOLEY, Oregon BOB INGLIS, South Carolina STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey DAVID G. REICHERT, Washington JIM MATHESON, Utah MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas MIKE ROSS, Arkansas MARIO DIAZ-BALART, Florida BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky PHIL GINGREY, Georgia RUSS CARNAHAN, Missouri BRIAN P. BILBRAY, California CHARLIE MELANCON, Louisiana ADRIAN SMITH, Nebraska BARON P. HILL, Indiana PAUL C. BROUN, Georgia HARRY E. MITCHELL, Arizona CHARLES A. WILSON, Ohio SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS HON. MARK UDALL, Colorado, Chairman DAVID WU, Oregon TOM FEENEY, Florida NICK LAMPSON, Texas DANA ROHRABACHER, California STEVEN R. ROTHMAN, New Jersey FRANK D. LUCAS, Oklahoma MIKE ROSS, Arizona JO BONNER, Alabama BEN CHANDLER, Kentucky MICHAEL T. MCCAUL, Texas CHARLIE MELANCON, Louisiana BART GORDON, Tennessee RALPH M. HALL, Texas RICHARD OBERMANN Subcommittee Staff Director PAM WHITNEY Democratic Professional Staff Member ALLEN LI Democratic Professional Staff Member KEN MONROE Republican Professional Staff Member ED FEDDEMAN Republican Professional Staff Member DEVIN BRYANT Research Assistant (II) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:02 Aug 02, 2008 Jkt 041471 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\WORKD\SA08\040308\41471 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 C O N T E N T S April 3, 2008 Page Witness List ............................................................................................................. 2 Hearing Charter ...................................................................................................... 3 Opening Statements Statement by Representative Mark Udall, Chairman, Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science and Technology, U.S. House of Representatives .................................................................................................... 18 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 19 Statement by Representative Tom Feeney, Ranking Minority Member, Sub- committee on Space and Aeronautics, Committee on Science and Tech- nology, U.S. House of Representatives ............................................................... 20 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 22 Witnesses: Dr. Richard J. Gilbrech, Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Mis- sion Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 23 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 25 Biography .......................................................................................................... 36 Ms. Cristina T. Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 36 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 38 Biography .......................................................................................................... 48 Dr. Noel W. Hinners, Independent Consultant Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 48 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 50 Dr. Kathryn C. Thornton, Professor and Associate Dean, School of Engineer- ing and Applied Sciences, University of Virginia Oral Statement ................................................................................................. 56 Written Statement ............................................................................................ 58 Biography .......................................................................................................... 67 Discussion ................................................................................................................. 67 Appendix: Answers to Post-Hearing Questions Dr. Richard J. Gilbrech, Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Mis- sion Directorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) ... 90 Ms. Cristina T. Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office ...................................................................... 100 Dr. Noel W. Hinners, Independent Consultant ..................................................... 103 Dr. Kathryn C. Thornton, Professor and Associate Dean, School of Engineer- ing and Applied Sciences, University of Virginia .............................................. 105 (III) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:02 Aug 02, 2008 Jkt 041471 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\WORKD\SA08\040308\41471 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:02 Aug 02, 2008 Jkt 041471 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 C:\WORKD\SA08\040308\41471 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 NASA’s EXPLORATION INITIATIVE: STATUS AND ISSUES THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008 HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES, SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS, COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:08 a.m., in Room 2318 of the Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Mark Udall [Chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding. (1) VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:02 Aug 02, 2008 Jkt 041471 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 C:\WORKD\SA08\040308\41471 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 2 VerDate 11-MAY-2000 11:02 Aug 02, 2008 Jkt 041471 PO 00000 Frm 00006 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6602 C:\WORKD\SA08\040308\41471 SCIENCE1 PsN: SCIENCE1 3 HEARING CHARTER SUBCOMMITTEE ON SPACE AND AERONAUTICS COMMITTEE ON SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES NASA’s Exploration Initiative: Status and Issues THURSDAY, APRIL 3, 2008 10:00 A.M.–12:00 P.M. 2318 RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING Purpose On Thursday, April 3, 2008 at 10:00 a.m., the House Committee on Science and Technology’s Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics will hold a hearing to review the status of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration’s Exploration Ini- tiative and examine issues related to its implementation. Witnesses Witnesses scheduled to testify at the hearing include the following: Dr. Richard Gilbrech, Associate Administrator, Exploration Systems Mission Di- rectorate, National Aeronautics and Space Administration Ms. Cristina Chaplain, Director, Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Govern- ment Accountability Office Dr. Noel Hinners, Independent Aerospace Consultant Dr. Kathryn Thornton, Professor of Department of Science, Technology and Soci- ety; Associate Dean of the School of Engineering & Applied Science University of Virginia Issues That May Be Raised at the Hearing Implementing the Vision for Space Exploration: • Does the exploration architecture, as laid out by NASA, present a technically and programmatically viable approach for executing exploration beyond low- Earth orbit under a pay-as-you-go strategy? • Is the United States on the right track to reach the Moon by 2020, establish an outpost there, and eventually send humans to Mars, or do any changes need to be made to the architecture or implementation plan? • How will progress in implementing the architecture be measured? • How sustainable will NASA’s planned exploration initiative be, given the as- sumed constrained budgetary outlook as well as the cutbacks in funding for long-lead exploration technology development? • How has implementation of the VSE affected ‘‘the gap’’ in U.S. crew access to the International Space Station? Status of Exploration Initiatives: • Is NASA’s strategy in designing the Orion CEV to first service the ISS and then upgrading it to enable lunar missions the most cost-effective approach? That is, is the upgrade approach, rather than designing a crewed vehicle ca- pable of both missions at the onset, the most cost-effective approach? • What is the status of NASA’s Exploration Program and associated projects? • What would be the effect on the March