| From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.tw.space,clari.news.gov.budget
Date: 8 Jun 90 01:46:49 GMT
WASHINGTON (UPI) -- Citing a tight budget and no immediate need,
NASA announced plans Thursday to cancel development of a
remote-controlled ``space tug.''
``It, or something similar, eventually will be needed in our space
infrastructure,'' said William Lenoir, NASA's associate administrator
for space flight in a statement. ``But we will have at least two or
three years to develop firm requirements before it will be necessary to
begin development.''
Development of the so-called Orbital Maneuvering Vehicle was
directed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The
vehicle was originally scheduled to be completed by 1995.
The vehicle was conceived as a ``low-Earth orbit free-flying `space
tug' capable of performing a wide range of on-orbit satellite servicing
and retrieval missions,'' according to the NASA statement.
``The two existing requirements for an OMV are supporting the
reboost of the Hubble Space Telescope and the Advanced X-Ray Astronomy
Facility,'' the statement said.
However, that work can be done by the space shuttle if necessary,
Lenoir said.
``This has been a difficult decision to make, but I feel that it is
a necessary step in order to keep the overall space flight program
healthy, on firm footing and capable of delivering on schedule and on
budget,'' he said.
``I have no doubt that an OMV-like capability will be required in
the future. Potential demands to support servicing-type missions will
overburden the efficient use of shuttle capabilities in the late
1990s,'' he said.
|
| From: [email protected] (Peter E. Yee)
Newsgroups: sci.space
Date: 7 Jun 90 20:51:40 GMT
Organization: NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA
Jim Cast
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. June 7, 1990
(Phone: 202/453-8536) 4 p.m. EDT
RELEASE: 90-78
ORBITAL MANEUVERING VEHICLE PROGRAM IS TERMINATED
NASA today announced the termination of its Orbital
Maneuvering Vehicle (OMV) program. Citing budgetary pressures
"across the Space Flight realm" for the next several years,
together with a lack of firm, near-term requirements for such a
vehicle, NASA's Associate Administrator for Space Flight, Dr.
William B. Lenoir, concluded that it is necessary to terminate
OMV which had been scheduled for a maiden flight in 1995.
"It, or something similar, eventually will be needed in our
space infrastructure," Dr. Lenoir explained, "but we will have at
least 2 or 3 years to develop firm requirements before it will be
necessary to begin development."
As originally conceived, the OMV was to have been a
reusable, remotely controlled low-Earth orbit free-flying "space
tug" capable of performing a wide range of on-orbit satellite
servicing and retrieval missions. The two existing requirements
for an OMV are supporting the reboost of the Hubble Space
Telescope and the Advanced X-Ray Astronomy Facility. According
to Dr. Lenoir, the near-term operational requirements for these
payloads can be satisfied with the baseline Shuttle capabilities.
Commending the Marshall Space Flight Center program managers
for an excellent job in pulling the OMV program together, Dr.
Lenoir stated that, "this has been a difficult decision to make,
but I feel that it is a necessary step in order to keep the
overall space flight program healthy, on firm footing and capable
of delivering on schedule and on budget."
"I have no doubt that an OMV-like capability will be
required in the future. Potential demands to support servicing-
type missions will overburden the efficient use of Shuttle
capabilities in the late 1990s. The documented accomplishments
of the OMV program to date will be incorporated into an eventual
detailed specification for the restart," Dr. Lenoir said.
|