NASA Administrator Griffin Visits Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sees Stable Future.

Leave for Thailand Tuesday morning for two months so you will have time to contemplate your summer vacation plans without interruption from me. :-)
- LRK -

Spaceref had the following link to an article about where the Jet Propulsion Laboratory stands in respect to manpower limitations under the funding limitations that concern NASA.
- LRK -
-------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=20785

Snip
In the future he expects JPL to continue to attract new business by competing for missions, but, "If I think JPL is in danger of falling below having the right amount of work to cover the JPL staff, then I will do as I have done at other places I will find you a mission. If you can win enough to keep up the level you're at, you don't need me to do anything."

However, he discouraged JPLers from going after major new work that would drive the lab's workforce beyond the current level. "If you kill more than you can eat, I'll probably ask you to send some of that somewhere else."

"A gain in people at one center is a loss in people at another center, or it is a removal of dollars from industry into the federal civil service," said Griffin. "That's not acceptable. And it's not acceptable to be moving people and moving significant numbers of jobs from one center to another."

In response to a question, Griffin also said he hopes Congress will not restore cuts he made in the proposed fiscal year 2007 budget for scientific research and analysis. "I hope Congress won't restore it, because it will come at the expense of a mission," he said. "The budget I put forward is the best budget I can do given all the constraints I have. If you push on the bean bag somewhere, it will pop out somewhere else. There will be other unhappy people, they will just be in other zip codes."

Griffin cited the importance of placing humans and cargo in low- Earth orbit "an essential first step" in the next stage of exploration. "It's got to be done right," he said.
Snip
-------------------------------------------------------------

One of the paragraphs that caught my eye is the one above. Let me copy it again.

-------------------------------------------------------------
In response to a question, Griffin also said he hopes Congress will not restore cuts he made in the proposed fiscal year 2007 budget for scientific research and analysis. "I hope Congress won't restore it, because it will come at the expense of a mission," he said. "The budget I put forward is the best budget I can do given all the constraints I have. If you push on the bean bag somewhere, it will pop out somewhere else. There will be other unhappy people, they will just be in other zip codes."
-------------------------------------------------------------

I hope those in our government will not fight against Griffin by redirecting the money that has been allocated. Now if they want to add real money to do what everyone wants, well sounds good to me. Don't see that happening though with all the money the government is spending elsewhere. Hurricane season is just around the corner and folks are building homes in harms way. War machines get funding too. Hmmmm.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsltr.: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
=============================================================
THE DAY IN SPACE
__________________
In today's space news from SpaceRef:

-- NASA Administrator Griffin Visits Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Sees Stable Future
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.nl.html?pid=20785

"Given the prospect of a flat NASA budget for the years ahead, Griffin told the Tuesday gathering in von Karman Auditorium that his biggest challenge has been to find a way to fund missions under the Vision for Space Exploration while maintaining stable workforces at each of the agency's 10 field centers."

He said that the cut in JPL's workforce last fall from 5,400 employees and contractors to about 5,000 was driven by the fact that the previous level was based on expectations of growth in NASA's science programs that couldn't be maintained given the budget cap and his charter to remake NASA's human program. "I felt I had no choice but to nip that in the bud," he said. "I did feel that I could maintain a commitment to a 5,000-person laboratory. I'm committed to a stable, viable, healthy JPL at that level."

Griffin said his biggest immediate challenge has been to find work for NASA's traditional research/aeronautics centers. "I don't have that problem right now at JPL," he said, adding that the lab's current workload appears to be sufficient to keep the workforce stable.

Snip
=============================================================
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/main/index.html
The Vision For Space Exploration
Snip

NASA has chosen the RS-68 engine to power the core stage of the agency's heavy lift cargo launch vehicle intended to carry large payloads to the moon. The announcement supersedes NASA's initial decision to use a derivative of the space shuttle main engine as the core stage engine for the heavy lift launch vehicle.

The cargo launch vehicle will serve as NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of resources to space. It will carry large-scale hardware and materials for establishing a permanent moon base, as well as food, fresh water and other staples needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit.

Snip
=============================================================
http://careerlaunch.jpl.nasa.gov/
The JPL Career Launch Website

Snip
=============================================================

WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

=============================================================