AHA - NEW TALK ABOUT ; WHAT ELSE IS THAT BIG. WHY TODAY?

...
The expansive, multimonth technical study, still in the preliminary
stages, might be similar to the Exploration Systems Architecture Study
that in 2005 settled on the design of the agency’s program to return
astronauts to the Moon by 2020.

Given a possible shift in goals and budgets — President Obama will
reveal his space plans on Monday in his 2011 budget request — the
study is to survey the variety of available rockets and spacecraft,
consider different strategies for reaching future destinations and
recommend a framework of how to proceed.

“They’re going to be putting meat on the bones” of options proposed
last fall by a blue-ribbon panel that reviewed NASA’s human
spaceflight program, said a person involved with the preparations, who
was not authorized to speak publicly about the study.
..

The Wall Street Journal reported on Monday that the Obama
administration had decided to start a competition for commercial
companies to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space
Station, following a suggestion of the blue-ribbon panel, which was
led by Norman R. Augustine, a former Lockheed Martin chief executive.

Mr. Obama will propose increasing NASA’s budget, now $18.7 billion, by
less than $1 billion, an administration official said.

The request may also set off new tussles over rockets — among
companies hoping their designs will win out in the reshuffled space
landscape, and between the administration and members of Congress who
are not convinced that NASA needs another change in mission.
....

The administration has provided few details on what it is considering
or has decided other than to insist that it will not abandon human
spaceflight.

“The president is committed to a robust 21st-century space program,”
said a White House spokesman, Nicholas Shapiro, “and his budget will
reflect that dedication to NASA.”
....

The Obama administration then appointed the Augustine panel, which
concluded that the program was not viable at current financing levels.
But the panel said that with a budget increase of $3 billion a year,
NASA could push its human spaceflight program beyond low-Earth orbit
and also extend the life of the International Space Station at least
four years, to 2020.
...

Further complicating the politics of space, the NASA Aerospace Safety
Advisory Panel has given a strong endorsement for continuing Ares I,
because the agency had not established standards and processes for
certifying that a commercial rocket is safe for astronauts.
...

“I know I’m feeling quite a bit better about things than I was last
fall,” said an industry executive involved with the Constellation
program, who spoke on the condition of anonymity because NASA does not
want contractors to talk publicly about the future of the program.

But some wonder how Ares I and commercial competitors can all fit
within NASA’s already limited budget. Cost savings that might result
from the efficiencies of a commercial operation would not show up for
years.

The administration might also enlist the help and financing of other
nations to handle parts of space exploration — perhaps giving the
European Space Agency the job of building a lunar lander, for example.

Michael D. Griffin, the former NASA administrator who oversaw the
creation of Constellation and remains a staunch defender, said that
would be a mistake.

“I can’t imagine the situation where the United States doesn’t want to
have end-to-end capability to reach the lunar surface,” Dr. Griffin
said.