Tight NASA budgets threaten the safety of the space shuttle
and the International Space Station, an independent safety
panel has warned.
Last year in its annual report, the Aerospace Safety Advisory
Panel warned NASA it needed better long-term planning to
assure safety of the ageing shuttle fleet and the ISS. The new
report says "the Panel's safety concerns have never been
greater". It blames tight budgets and a concentration on
short-term "program survival" for preventing the long-term
planning needed to assure continued safety.
"The efforts to make the budget a zero-sum game are going to
erode safety if they continue," panel chairman Richard
Blomberg told New Scientist.
NASA has done a good job of assuring each mission is safe,
but lacks the money to invest in vital long-term projects.
Complex systems like the shuttle change as they age, he says,
"and you may find yourself in some uncharted territory where
safety can be compromised".
The panel has been advising NASA since the Apollo era.
Congress created it after a 1967 fire killed three astronauts on
the ground.
Vacuum tubes
NASA designed the shuttle to operate for 10 years or 100
missions, with the fleet flying 60 times each year. Although the
flight schedule has been sharply reduced, the shuttles now are
going to be used for at least 30 years.
That lifetime could be possible with continual updates and
improvements, Blomberg says, but NASA lacks the money to
worry about tomorrow when it has to ensure the safety of
today's launch.
Apollo-era infrastructure and a shrinking and ageing support
staff pose additional problems. The massive Vehicle Assembly
Building at the Kennedy Space Flight Center in Florida was built
in the 1960s to stack Saturn moon rocket…
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