I had a real-time revelation on The Space Show yesterday. What if, in violation of the Congress’s pork-driven demands, NASA decided to actually competitively bid a heavy-lift program? Who would put in a bid for the current monstrosity?

ULA could bid a growth version of Delta or Atlas (though how much development experience they have is a little questionable, given that the vehicles were originally designed by their parent companies), and obviously SpaceX would bid some sort of BFR. But who would bid a Shuttle derived? ATK? They’ve never built a launch system. Perhaps Boeing, which is currently the contractor for the second stage? They and Lockheed are the only companies (other than SpaceX and Orbital) with any recent vehicle development experience. One of the reasons that Ares was such a mess was that, unlike Shuttle, it had no prime contractor. It was managed by Marshall itself, which hasn’t developed a launch system since von Braun died. As will be the SLS, which is one of the reasons for pessimism as to program success.

[Update a while later]

Aerojet to the rescue of the taxpayer?

If NASA opts to pursue the heavy-lift launcher by modifying existing space shuttle and Ares contracts, and a bid protest is filed with GAO, Cooke said work on those contracts would cease until the protest is resolved.

And fortunately, if it takes months to resolve, it might be sufficient time for both changes in Congress, and for further demonstration of the lack of need for such a vehicle, for other than those who will get paid to build it. Time is not on the porkers’ side.

[Update a while later]

I guess that USA could put in a bid for it, but like ULA, they are operators, with no intrinsic vehicle development experience as a company.

I ended this morning’s interview with David Livingston with a little teaser — that I’d heard from someone fairly credible yesterday that Charlie Bolden was a short timer. I didn’t state it as a fact, but merely as an unsubstantiated, but not incredible rumor. I checked with someone fairly high at NASA HQ today, and they know nothing about it. For what this is all worth.

But if there is some news on this front in the coming days/weeks, you probably heard it here first. Which is also the case, of course, if nothing happens at all.

Henry Vanderbilt, over at the Space Access Society, wants you to call your Congressperson:

– Call your Representative via the House Switchboard at (202) 224-3121. (If you don’t already know their name, grab an old bill and look them up by your 9-digit zipcode at http://www.house.gov/zip/ZIP2Rep.html.)

– Tell whoever answers the phone that you’d like to speak to the person who handles NASA issues for the Congressman/woman. (Ask for their voicemail if they’re not available.)

– Politely ask that staffer to: Ask your Representative to tell Chairman Wolf that he/she opposes earmarking billions to sole-source the NASA “Space Launch System”. Tell the staffer that you want to see a real competition to determine what heavy-lift booster NASA actually needs and who can build it most affordably. (If he wants to talk more about this, do your best to answer his questions.) Thank him for his time, and ring off.

For the background, follow the link.

A depressing cartoon.

[Via Bruce Webster]