Question-and-Answer Session
Operator
All right, excellent. (Operator Instructions) We will go first to Joe Nadol, JPMorgan.
Joe Nadol - JPMorgan
Thanks. Good morning.
Dan Murphy
Hi, Joe.
Joe Nadol - JPMorgan
Dan, first over at Space, just wondering there has been a talk with the transition team of the Obama administration in the last couple of months. Then some speculation that they're looking at a variety of options for the constellation taking a new look at EELV, just your thoughts on that situation?
Dan Murphy
I think when those coming into positions of responsibility, fully understand the facts that it's highly unlikely that there will be a change made to EELV. Simply the Ares I is much more capable than a variant of EELV could be. There is no variant of EELV that is human rated, which is an enormous expense on top of the current systems. Third, no variant of EELV can be made as safe as the Ares I.
The Ares I enables a crew departure under emergency conditions anywhere along the trajectory in the atmosphere. There is no possibility of that given the dynamics of missile systems or correction and Launch Systems that were designed to carry payload, not with humans which is a significant fact. As a matter of fact, whenever our folks visit within NASA or on the hill, this is an overriding concern that there might be a change that would increase the risk to our astronauts.
So all told, there is nothing unusual at all about a new team examining decisions that have been made in the past. In fact we had our Ares I team spend half a day with the transition team in a very collegial and productive meeting, going through how we view the situation. So, I don't see it really Joe as anything more than proper due diligence by the new administration.
Joe Nadol - JPMorgan
Okay. Could you address the leadership change at the Space business during the quarter? Just a little bit about the new leader and what is going on there?
Dan Murphy
We brought Carl Marchetto into the company to run the group that was going to include MacDonald Dettwiler. With his background in the industry; his expertise is in satellite development and manufacturing. When that didn't close, we took a little time to evaluate what the best situation in terms of leadership in the organization might be for our Space Group that didn't have that $600 million business in it.
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