Woops. Remember when we told you two days ago that it was time to relax for a while? (In "SAS DC-X News" for 7/14/93.) We hope y'all enjoyed your two-day vacation; things have changed in DC, and key decisions on next years Defense funding, and thus on DC-X's followon, look like being made in this coming week.
The current DC-X program is funded through flight test and data analysis this fall, and ends after that. There is an ongoing effort to get the US Congress to fund a three-year followon program, variously known as DC-X2 and SX-2 (Space Experimental 2). This could end up as a suborbital vehicle powered by 8 RL-10-A5 engines, capable of reaching Mach 6 (about 1/4 orbital velocity) and 100 miles altitude, built with orbital-weight tanks and structure, and able to test orbital grade heat-shielding.
The SX-2 program goal will be to demonstrate all remaining technology needed to build a reusable single-stage-to-orbit vehicle. Once SX-2 has been tested, all that should be necessary to produce a functioning reusable SSTO is to scale up the SX-2 structures and install new larger rocket engines.
Proposed FY '94 funding for SX-2 startup is $75 million. The money would come out of the $3.8 billion BMDO budget already pretty much agreed on for the coming year. Total SX-2 program cost over the next three years would be very much dependent on the contractor chosen and the details of the design, but would be on the order of several hundred million. This is the same order of magnitude as typical recent X-aircraft programs such as the X-29 and X-31.
SX-2 would start out under BMDO (formerly SDIO), so support from members of the House and Senate Armed Services Committees (HASC and SASC) is vital. The actual name they know SX-2 by is "followon funding for BMDO's SSRT (Single Stage Rocket Technology) program." The specific action we're calling for is for Congress to "fence off" $75 million in BMDO funding for this project next year -- we are not asking for any new funding authority, but rather for reallocation of existing funding toward a DC-X followon.
The DC-X test vehicle was taken out of storage and trucked on its side out to the flight test site at White Sands Missile Range, then erected on the launch pad today. Flight testing should start sometime in the next two weeks. See our next "DC-X News" for details.
What's happened is that Sam Nunn, William Natcher, and John Murtha are tired of having the DOD funding process held up while the President comes up with a coherent gays-in-the-military policy. Nunn is Chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC), Natcher of the House Appropriations Committee (HAC), and Murtha of the HAC Defense Subcommittee. Both SASC and HAC would normally "mark up" their versions of the Defense money bills after the House Armed Services Committee has had its shot at marking up -- but HASC is chaired by Ron Dellums, and HASC Research & Technology subcommittee is chaired by Patricia Schroeder, and they've been holding things up waiting for Clinton's long-promised gays policy.
Nunn came on the Senate floor this morning and announced that SASC was marking up next week, and if Clinton didn't deliver a comprehensive gays policy, Nunn would put his own in. Regardless of the details of THAT brawl, Nunn says he's determined to have the Senate version of the Defense money bills settled before the August Congressional recess. Natcher too is said to have lost patience waiting on HASC -- Defense is the only money bill not already completed in the House. This means it's all likely to happen in the next two weeks, and much of the key stuff from our point of view will be settled by the end of next week.
What this means for us is that we need to concentrate on Representative Murtha's HAC Defense Subcommittee and Senator Nunn's SASC *RIGHT NOW*. Our best current information is that Murtha's subcommittee will mark up Monday, and Nunn's full SASC will mark up Tuesday or Wednesday with no preliminary markup by Senator Exon's subcommittee.
Representative Dellums's HASC and Representative Schroeder's HASC R&T Subcommittee could still be important to us, but they've dropped in priority for the moment. The initiative seems to have passed from them.
Please phone, fax, or write Representative Murtha and Senator Nunn, in addition to any members of Representative Murtha's HAC Defense Subcommittee that may be from your area, and any members of the Senate Armed Services Committee from your state.
-- Representative John Murtha (D, PA)
phone 202 225-2065, fax 202 225-5709, 2423 RHOB, Washington DC 20515.
-- Senator Sam Nunn (D GA)
phone 202 224-3521, fax 202 224-0072, US Senate SD303, Washington DC 20510.
Lists of the other Representatives and Senators appended.
Keep phone calls brief, polite, and to the point - tell whoever answers that you're calling to let them know you support fencing off $75 million of BMDO (formerly SDIO) funding for a followon to the Single Stage Rocket Technology ("SSRT") program. If you feel like it, throw in your favorite reason why this would be a good thing. If the person who answers wants to know more, answer their questions as best you can, otherwise thank them and ring off.
Letters too should should be brief, polite, and to the point, though you can go into a bit more detail as to why a DC-X followon is the neatest thing since sliced bread and good for the country too. Keep it under a page and state your basic point at the start. It's probably too late to get snailmail to Murtha and company before their markup. Paper mail to Nunn and the SASC should be in the mail Saturday morning to have any hope of arriving on time. If you can, send faxes instead.
Don't overdo it, but in general try to know who you're contacting and emphasize benefits likely to appeal to them.
House Appropriations Committee, Defense Subcommittee List
Name office# phone fax (AC 202)
("Representative XYZ", office#, "Washington DC 20515" will get mail to them)
John Murtha (D-PA12) 2423 RHOB 225-2065 225-5709
Joseph McDade (R-PA10 RRM) 2370 RHOB 225-3731 225-9594
Jerry Lewis (R-CA40) 2312 RHOB 225-5861 225-6498
Charles Wilson (D-TX2) 2256 RHOB 225-2401 225-1764
Norm Dicks (D-WA6) 2467 RHOB 225-5916 226-1176
Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN5) 2336 RHOB 225-4755 225-4886
Julian Dixon (D-CA32) 2400 RHOB 225-7084 225-4091
W.G. Hefner (D-NC8) 2470 RHOB 225-3715 225-4036
Peter Visclosky (D-IN1) 2464 RHOB 225-2461 225-2493
Buddy Darden (D-GA7) 2308 RHOB 225-2931 225-0473
C.W. Bill Young (R-FL10) 2407 RHOB 225-5961 225-9764
Bob Livingston (R-LA1) 2368 RHOB 225-3015 225-0739
Joe Skeen (R-NM2) 2367 RHOB 225-2365 225-9599
Senate Armed Services Committee List
Name office# phone fax (AC 202)
("Senator XYZ", office#, "Washington DC 20510" will get mail to them)
Sam Nunn (D-GA) SD-303 224-3521 224-0072
James Exon (D-NE) SH-330 224-4224 224-5213
John McCain (R-AZ) SR-111 224-2235 224-8938
Richard C. Shelby (D-AL) SH-313 224-5744 224-3416
Joseph I. Lieberman (D-CT) SH-502 224-4041 224-9750
Bob Graham (D-FL) SD-241 224-3041 224-6843
Dirk Kempthorne (D-ID) 224-6142 224-5893
William S. Cohen (R-ME) SH-322 224-2523 224-2693
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) SR-315 224-4543 224-2417
Carl Levin (D-MI) SR-459 224-6221 224-1388
Dan Coats (R-IN) SR-504 224-5623 224-1966
Trent Lott (R-MS) SR-487 224-6253 224-2262
Bob Smith (R-NH) 224-2841 224-1353
Lauch Faircloth (R-NC) SH-716 224-3154 224-7406
Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) SH-524 224-5521 224-1810
John Glenn (D-OH) SH-503 224-3353 224-7983
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) SR-217 224-5972 224-1300
John Warner (R-VA) SR-225 224-2023 224-6295
Charles S. Robb (D-VA) SR-493 224-4024 224-8689
Robert C. Byrd (D-WV) SH-311 224-3954 224-8070
Henry Vanderbilt "Reach low orbit and you're halfway to anywhere
Executive Director, in the Solar System."
Space Access Society - Robert A. Heinlein
hvanderbilt@bix.com "You can't get there from here."
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