Alaskan Governor Pauses Discretionary Funding for Kodiak Launch Complex

• Published in: Satellite Today
• Main Author: 89
• Format: Newsletter Trade Publication Article
• Language: English
• Published: Potomac Access Intelligence, LLC 05.01.2015; Access Intelligence LLC
• Subjects: Funding; Governors; Rocket launches; Satellites; Alaska
• ISSN: 1521-1436; 1521-1436

[Via Satellite 12-31-2014] Tumbling oil prices have led Alaska's new Governor Bill Walker to implement a fiscal restraint order directing all state agencies to "halt to the maximum extent possible" discretionary expenditures for six projects, one of which is the Kodiak Launch Complex (KLC). Alaska Aerospace Corporation (AAC), an organization created by the State of Alaska in 1991, owns KLC and recently selected Lockheed Martin to conduct small and medium lift missions with Athena rockets. KLC is being upgraded to support a variant of the rocket called the Athena 2S, capable of lifting payloads weighing 1,900 to 3,000 kilograms to Sun-Synchronous Orbit (SSO). The administrative order, issued Dec. 26, calls for the immediate cessation of all discretionary spending on the project and requires AAC not to incur new or additional expenses or obligations. AAC has also been directed not to spend any unobligated or encumbered funds that have been appropriated to the agency by the Alaska legislature, funds received from the federal government, or funds from other sources that have not been obligated or encumbered. Furthermore, the order calls for AAC, and the other agencies involved in various state projects, to submit a report detailing discretionary funding obligations subject to the administrative order, nondiscretionary funding obligations, budgeted personnel costs for the remainder of fiscal year 2015 and operating costs status to date. The report must be sent to the director of the Office of Management and Budget by Jan. 5, 2015.