Rohrabacher Seeks $100 Million for Reusable Rocket : Technology: Proposed vehicle would replace the space shuttle. New project could be boon to Southland industry.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher urged a U.S. Senate panel Tuesday to invest $100 million in a cheaper, more reliable rocket that could revolutionize space travel.
If Congress and the President approve the project, McDonnell Douglas Corp., teamed with Seattle’s Boeing, would compete for the contract to build the reusable rocket, called the X-33, at its Huntington Beach space headquarters.
Eventually, the technology could be a major boon to the Southern California space industry, officials said.
Envisioned as a replacement for the outdated and expensive space shuttle, the X-33 would be a single-unit space vehicle that would not shed its launch rocket, the way the shuttle does. It could be sent back into space in seven days.
“What we’re really talking about is the future of Americans’ ability to compete in space exploration,” Rohrabacher (R-Huntington Beach) told the Senate Science, Space and Technology Subcommittee. “If we are going to be a leader in launch technology, we’ve got to move beyond the shuttle.”
A main advantage to the X-33 would be its price tag. While each shuttle launch costs $500 million to $1 billion, a reusable rocket could cost as little as $10 million per flight.
“In bringing down that cost, we are halfway to Mars or anything else we want to do,” said Rohrabacher, a veteran member of the House Space and Aeronautics Subcommittee.
Sen. Conrad Burns (R-Mont.), chairman of the Senate space subcommittee, agreed that the reusable rocket project is the next logical step in space-flight technology, but he expressed reservations about how the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) could fund the program.
As Republicans strive to downsize federal spending, they are proposing drastic cuts in NASA’s budget, particularly in the space flight arena.
“There is little question we must start considering life after the shuttle,” Burns said. “However, NASA’s budget is shrinking, not expanding, and it is not clear just how NASA will pay for these efforts.”
NASA officials, who termed the project their “highest priority” for the next several years, stressed it would save money over the long term.
“If we don’t succeed in developing this technology, we’ll be faced with far larger investments in the future to maintain the shuttle,” said John Mansfield, associate administrator for space access and technology.
NASA had requested only $43 million for the rocket program for fiscal 1996, but Rohrabacher asked for $100 million because he said “anti-space bureaucrats” have delayed the project for at least two years.
The government is paying McDonnell Douglas, Lockheed Advanced Development Co.’s Skunk Works in Palmdale and Rockwell International Corp. to develop three different designs for an X-33 vehicle.
NASA plans to select one prototype next summer, with the goal of flight-testing the rocket in 1999.
Winning the project, estimated at $650 million over five years, could bring new jobs to the Huntington Beach facility. Regardless of which firm develops the rocket, the jump in technology will be a major boon to the industry, said Rick Dykema, chief adviser to Rohrabacher, who predicted “tens of thousands” of new jobs as a result.
“Once it succeeds, we expect it will be the hugest boost possible to the space launch industry,” Dykema said. “Space launch could become as big as the airline industry. We expect success would mean a huge impact favorable to Orange County.”
