Doesn’t the FY 2011 Presidential Budget Request Details list how NASA should spend its appropriations and it currently does not directly include plans for a privatized Space Shuttle?
True, the Presidential Budget Requests does not specifically fund upgrades of the Space Shuttle, but many of the Budget Request Details contain funding that could be used to develop technologies that could be used for any launch vehicle including the Space Shuttle. Upgrades #2 and #3 are actually one upgrade; by installing EMA or component level hydraulic systems, there will no longer be a need for an APU system, but there will be a need for a peak electrical power supply system. EMA have been studied for many years at NASA-GRC and their implementation into the Shuttle will be a “Technology Demonstration” type of technology. A GRC researcher described EMA on board aircraft as a “Must Happen” technology for the last 15 years. Therefore Upgrades #2 & #3 should be funded from the $654M to $2,087M+ annual budget for “Technology Demonstration” technologies. Upgrades #4, #5, and #6 that calls for changing the toxic propellant based OMS/RCS into a system based upon LOX/LH2 (for OMS); compress
