The Constellation Program now developing the next-generation Orion space capsule and Ares rocket has enough financial cushioning that it probably could finesse a congressional decision to freeze program funding at old levels for half a year.

But a full-year continuing budget resolution would create real problems, according to Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager. The issue is whether Congress will pass a regular appropriations measure to fund the NASA program for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30, 2009, at a planned higher spending level than the current fiscal 2008, or whether Congress initially might use a continuing resolution (CR) in fiscal 2009, which would freeze funding at the old fiscal 2008 levels until an appropriations measure is passed.

"We’ve heard … from the leadership that there might be … at least a half-year continuing resolution," Hanley told space program journalists during a teleconference call.

"We believe that as long as we’re smart about managing our money, that we’ll carry enough … money in the bank … into the new [fiscal 2009] year that being held at FY 08 levels for the first six months is probably manageable," Hanley said.

Eventually, he noted, if the CR lasts only six months or so, and Congress later passes a fiscal 2009 appropriations bill for the agency, then the Constellation Program will get all the money it expected for the year.

But if that funding freeze turns into a year-long affair, that would wipe out expected funding increases to cover some program costs, he said.

"It’s a different story, of course, if the CR is a full recission [funding limitation] for the full year," he said. "Then things get unmanageable to keep our plans" on track for developing the next-generation U.S. space transportation system.

The Orion crew exploration vehicle capsule development effort is led by Lockheed Martin Corp. [LMT]. Various companies are involved in different components of the Ares rocket system, including The Boeing Co. [BA], Alliant Techsystems Inc. [ATK], and Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne, a unit of United Technologies Corp. [UTX].

If things go badly and the CR runs for a full year, and a year of expected increased funding disappears, then the program will fall behind schedule, he indicated, while adding that he can’t say now just what the schedule impact would be.

Should that occur, it would be "problematic," he said. "And so we just manage through it … schedule being the free variable in that case."

On other points during the briefing:

• As reported earlier, the Space Shuttle Atlantis STS-125 Mission to rescue and service the Hubble Space Telescope will launch sometime around Oct. 8, instead of the earlier-scheduled Aug. 28. But that would cause a delay in launching the Ares I-X rocket test flight to late May next year, from the planned April 15.
• Experts are attempting to determine whether steps might be taken to lessen the delay in the Ares I-X launch date, but if that can’t be achieved, the delay still is "perfectly workable," Hanley said. The hangup is that Atlantis will launch from Pad 39A at Kennedy Space Center. But because that shuttle mission isn’t going to the International Space Station, which can act as a life raft if Atlantis has a problem, then Space Shuttle Discovery must be poised on Pad 39B to go to the rescue if Atlantis has a problem while it’s orbiting with the telescope. Therefore, a delay in getting Atlantis up on the STS-125 Mission also delays the time when work crews can begin converting Pad 39B to use for the Ares program. "We walked into it with our eyes wide open that this could happen," Hanley said.
• A test of the pad abort system for Orion will be conducted Dec. 11, rather than in September as earlier planned, because of hardware delivery issues.
• The Orion-Ares system still is on schedule for its first manned launch in March 2015. ""Our confidence in the spring [launch] has increased somewhat," Hanley said.
• Work is progressing on dealing with solid rocket booster thrust oscillation problems.
• Whether the Constellation Program can move to a test in 2013 will be influenced by funding through 2010.
• Returning from the moon, Orion could land in water, as an ocean landing could be easier than coming down on land. But experts are reviewing what effect salt water would have on systems.