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April 28th, 2016 
Awake Goy
Susanne Posel ,Chief Editor Occupy Corporatism | Media Spokesperson, HEALTH MAX Brands
James Reuter, deputy associate administrator for space technology for NASA told the members at a joint meeting of National Academies’ Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board (NAASE) and Space Studies Board (SSB) that the Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) project was cut by 85% because of senatorial budget reductions.
A fraction of the $20 million promised to NASA for this endeavor has been secured by lawmakers.
Congress has removed the servicing of the RESTORE-L satellite from NASA’s control and informed the agency that they can only spend $133 million on overall space-related projects.
This effectively cut $40 million from a myriad of projects which has become a “game changing” challenge for acquiring better technology.
The importance of the LDSD is evident in how this advancement would have studied the viability of using inflatable decelerators and advanced parachutes to slow down spacecraft as they enter a planetary atmosphere. For a trip to Mars, this data would be priceless.
After 2 failed attempts to get the LDSD right, NASA decided to scrap the project when budget constraints made it impossible to continue.
The cuts to NASA’s budget have had other effects on the space agency. Astronauts are practicing with simulators on how to dock Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner, a privately owned spacecraft.
NASA has been and will continue to outsource and collaborate with corporations entering the “space race” such as SpaceX. Both private and public sectors are working on the development of the Orion spacecraft and the Space Launching System (SLS).
Chris Ferguson, deputy program manager and director of crew and mission operations for Boeing explained that “commercial companies [can] service low-Earth orbit [being] the sherpas that take things back and forth” whiles saving the agency $18 million per ride.
Currently Russia will transport to space for $76 million. This private American-operated option costs only $58 million per ride.
For 2 years, NASA and Boeing have been in business together; after the $4.2 billion awarded to the company by the space agency. However, SpaceX is also developing new technology such as a next-generation crew capsule which would cost an estimated $6.8 billion and require one astronaut to man the flight.
On its own, SpaceX is preparing for a trip to Mars, scheduled for 2018. Called Dragon, this capsule will help to educate scientists on earth about “the overall Mars architecture” with the eventual goal of setting up a human colony on the Red Planet.
Elon Musk, chief executive officer for SpaceX tweeted : “Dragon 2 is designed to be able to land anywhere in the solar system. Red Dragon Mars mission is the first test flight. But wouldn’t recommend transporting astronauts beyond Earth-moon region. Wouldn’t be fun for longer journeys. Internal volume ~size of SUV.”
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