The Globe

European Edition

Monday, 14 May 2046

Erica Seidel

The Globe

ST PETERSBURG, Russian Federation - As the Hermes completed space trials this weekend, beleaguered Secretary Roland Weiss of the Department of Space began the first of three days of hearings before the FGE Senate Appropriations Committee today amid criticism that the department has mismanaged preparation for the Europa mission and growing concerns over plans to privatize the government-run freight service between Earth and the research facilities at Tycho Base and Copernicus Central.

»Your Department has demonstrated incompetence rising to the level of criminal negligence,« FGE Senator and Senate Appropriations Committee Chairwoman Deborah Rodham (SD) fired at Weiss during her opening remarks, »it is time for you to account for your actions and the actions of your Department.« Senator Rodham then went on to level a series of charges at Weiss and the Department, including poor oversight on the Europa program leading to cost overruns of 2.200 percent and delayed testing by 29,5 months.

Senator Rodham convened the hearing amid growing concern in the Senate over the program's out-of-control costs. Originally projected to cost €47.000 million, the program's cost has ballooned to a staggering €1,034 billion to-date. The program suffered a costly setback in March 2041 when the Proteus' prototype engines failed catastrophically, forcing a complete review and redesign of the »inertial bubble« engine. Construction delays during the East Asian war also stretched development, adding a cost of €8.400 million annually from 2041 through 2043.

The largest cost increase in the program came in 2044 when the FGE Assembly cancelled funding for the eight ships planned for construction once Hermes, Galacia, and Gamayun were completed. Without a promise of future construction projects, companies engaged for work under the program threatened to walk away from their contracts. In response, costs for completion of the Hermes and Galacia increased fifteen-fold, and construction of Gamayun was cancelled altogether. Social Democrats opposed the increased pay for the contracts, and called for the Federated Government to condemn and seize the protesting businesses. Senator Rodham continued to criticize the government's acquiescence to the contractors' demands during the hearing, referring to the contractors' actions as »holding the Europa mission hostage to their blackmail« and the government's accession as »corporate welfare for a few well-placed cronies of the current administration« and suggesting that the Space Department acted outside the law in renegotiating contracts for the program.

Secretary Weiss bristled visibly at the suggestion that the department acted improperly in awarding new contracts at higher rates for the completion of the program, but seemed disjointed during his defense, which was regularly punctuated by scathing observations from the Social Democrats and International Greens on the Committee.

When asked by Rodham why he acceded to the contractors' blackmail, Weiss countered that the firms had not engaged in blackmail. He pointed to the large cost incurred by the firms to develop the technology and infrastructure needed to build the ships and fixed elements for the Europa program. When the Legislature defunded the additional ships, it left the contractors with no way to recover their investment. »Walking away from the program was not a question of holding it hostage for more money, but of minimizing the staggering losses [the contractors] were about to take,« Weiss stated.

When pressed further by Senator Jacques Bete-Noire (IGP), a clearly frustrated Weiss admitted that the firms retained ownership of the technology and facilities they had developed, and would have been able to use them for manufacturing commercial space vehicles.

Bete-Noire questioned the need for a permanent manned facility on Europa and for space vessels capable of operating for long months in deep space. Weiss replied that the goal was to build institutional experience within the Survey Agency in preparation for more complex missions in the future. When asked what future missions were currently funded by the Legislature, Weiss conceded that there were currently none funded.

In a lighter moment, Senator Mikhail Turgeniev (CC) noted that not all PRC deep space assets have been accounted for, and that some intelligence analysts believe they are concealed elsewhere in the solar system. »Could Hermes and Galacia contribute to our defense against rogue PRC forces?« he asked.

»Only to the extent that they make the FGE worth defending,« Weiss responded, to an outburst of laughter from the gallery.

When asked at a press session following the hearing whether the Senate would suspend funding for the Europa program in FY2047, Rodham responded that it was unlikely. »Secretary Weiss has already done the damage. The costs for the project over the next ten years are minuscule compared to the amount of money the Secretary has wasted. However, we will be keeping a very close eye on the Department of Space in the future.«

Not all committee members were so certain of the Europa program's future. »The entire space program is a huge waste of taxpayers' money,« Bete-Noire said during the press session, »The Department of Space is just a tool of the military-industrial complex. The administration told us the PRC was the last real threat to peace when they were busy spinning their justification for the war. The threat is gone, so why is the Administration still spending so much money to prop up these irrelevant companies?«

When asked how he would spend the money, Bete-Noire responded, »We have to take better care of the planet we have, instead of trying to find a new one. The two major powers created an ecological mess when they were enemies. In collusion with this Administration, they created a nuclear nightmare in China. The rest of us are stuck living in the world that they are still destroying. We need to spend our money cleaning the mess they made, and we need to rein in their cowboy mentality.«

The Social Democrats have also been increasingly critical of the money spent on the Department of Space, saying that the money would be better spent addressing important issues at home. They point to the rising cost of social services for the aging North American population; the cost for ecological cleanup of former military sites in the Russian Federation and nuclear-contaminated sites from the East Asian war; and the cost to rebuild in eastern Russia, Japan, and Korea, which bore the brunt of the East Asian War.

Not all criticism Monday came from the Senate committee. Howard Mahoney, chairman of the International Academy of Space Sciences, announced that the Academy would lobby the Assembly and the Senate to discontinue the manned space program and divert the money to unmanned exploration. »The manned space program is a ridiculous boondoggle,« Mahoney said during a press conference, »For the [€1,034 billion] ... we could have funded over 20.000 ground-based and robotic space research projects. Instead of a few thousand engineers benefiting from the Europa program, we could have funded a quarter of a million research positions.«

Tomorrow the Committee hears testimony regarding the plan to privatize the Earth-Moon freight service. The Administration argues that privatization will encourage competition and reduce costs, leading to a growth in space-based industry. The plan is drawing fire from critics who say it is foolish to strip the Department of Space of the one venture to be generating revenue.