Senate bill promising for
ATK
The U.S. Senate Commerce Committee’s passed the NASA Authorization Bill last week. Utah Senator Orrin Hatch hailed the passage as a possible “turning point” for the future of the nation’s manned space flight program and the solid rocket motor industry in Utah.
Speaking at a press conference with senators Bob Bennett, R-Utah; Bill Nelson, D-Fla.; Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas; John Rockefeller IV, D-W.Va.; and George LeMieux, R-Fla., Hatch said the legislation is a step in the right direction.
“In February, the President announced a plan which would have resulted in the end of our nation’s manned space flight program and Utah’s solid rocket motor industrial base. Today, after six months of work, we have taken an important first step away from the abyss.
“The bill that came out of committee today does not address all the issues, but it holds the potential of maintaining our civilian solid rocket motor rocket capability,” said Hatch, who is spearheading the effort in the Senate to save the industry and NASA’s manned space program.
When the Obama administration announced its plan in February to scrap Project Constellation, the news resulted in more than 1,600 layoffs at Alliant Techsystems (ATK) and other Utah companies involved in producing solid rocket motors for the project. Hatch said the NASA bill doesn’t bring back Constellation, but it does establish payload requirements for a new Space Launch System, which is government-owned.
Hatch said industry insiders he has spoken with say payload requirements can only be realistically met with the use of solid rocket motors. For example, the bill requires a rocket which can lift a payload between 70-100 tons and to integrate that system with an upper Earth departure stage which will bring the total lift capability of the Space Launch System to 130 tons or more. It also requires NASA to use, as much as possible, existing contracts, workforces and industries for the Space Shuttle and Ares rockets.
Hatch said this puts Utah’s solid rocket motor industry in a good position.
“But it is important not to get ahead of ourselves,” he warned. “This is not a done deal and we are not one hundred percent there. This is only the first step in the legislative process, but I believe it may be seen in the future as an important turning point in saving one of Utah’s most important industries.”
The NASA Authorization bill will now go to the full Senate for consideration.
