A Japanese governmental advisory committee looking to cut billions of dollars worth of wasteful spending from the country’s 2010 fiscal year budget has recommended that specific funds to Japan’s aerospace program (JAXA) be reduced, including a call to end research related to the development of a new rocket engine.
As part of a first round of recommendations for cuts and reductions that have amounted to 278.7 billion yen (approximately $3.1 billion USD), the committee on November 17th called for an end to research on the over-budget GX rocket engine, the Yomiuri reported. Requested funds for the 2010 fiscal year amounted to 5.8 billion yen (~$65 million USD).
The research on the GX engine began in 2003 with an anticipated cost of around 45 billion yen (~$502 million USD). However, current expected final costs for completion have ballooned three to four times that of the initial projection. Seventy billion yen (~$782 million USD) have already been spent on its development, and another 550 billion to 1,150 billion yen (~$614-$1,284 million USD) beyond that would likely be necessary, according to the Asahi. Such unanticipated costs even the Board of Audit of Japan had previously told JAXA was “inappropriate.”
The GX engine project aimed to build a liquid natural gas-based engine for medium-sized rockets used in launching communication and weather satellites. However, the advisory committee indicated that with the H2 rocket already successfully in use and the unlikely potential for international demand of the GX engine, the over-budget project was not worth continuing to completion.
JAXA’s financial woes do not end with the recommended cancellation of the GX engine; the advisory committee also called for a ten percent budget reduction to about 350 billion yen (~390 million USD) for resources related its HTV program, according to the Yomiuri. The HTV is an unmanned vehicle for resupplying International Space Station which successfully completed its first mission earlier this year.
The advisory committee will reportedly begin a second round of debates on wasteful spending starting on November 24th.
(note: all exchange rates based on Nov. 17th, 2009 JST)
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