A return to the moon?: The future of U.S. space policy...
President Bush will soon announce a new U.S. space policy vision that has been a while in the coming since the Columbia accident. Unfortunately, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld seem to be the ones directing the efforts on the drafting of this plan. If the unofficial reports are to be believed, the language of the vision will follow much of what the U.S. military has been pushing in their policy documents.
SpaceRef has a great piece of insider reporting on this by Frank Sietzen, Jr. entitled "Bush to Charge NASA with Implementing Broad Space Vision to Dominate Cislunar Space"... some pertinent quotes:
[...]
NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe will be tasked with leading the effort, aimed at presenting Vice President Dick Cheney and the president with a roadmap to what some are calling "renewed U.S. space dominance" during 2004.
[...]
The return to the Moon by U.S. astronauts possibly by the end of the next decade became "by default" the least expensive and risky of the paths proposed for the U.S. space program.
[...]
Military use of space and military test beds were also key elements in gaining acceptance of the renewed space plan. Testing of the Prometheus atomic rocket would also be a part of the plan.
The existing space shuttle fleet will play a crucial role in the plan by use of its heavy lifting capabilities in an unmanned form.
[...]
NASA's budget will annually rise "no more" than seven percent, beginning in 2006, according to the source.
[...]
Contrast that with quotes from this op-ed by Rep. Dana Rohrabacher in the Washington Times entitled "NASA misses the mark":
[...]
America is now at a vital crossroads, struggling with choices, but with no quality vision on which to base those decisions.
[...]
Even now, as despair is evident in our public-sector space program, the commercially-focused space sector is confident and gearing up.
[...]
Individuals like Burt Rutan, Dennis Tito and Elon Musk are pushing the boundaries, building affordable space hardware and investing where no investor has gone before. They are also changing the rules when it comes to the economics of space travel. If not dragged down by our own space bureaucracy, the new space entrepreneurs will no doubt make major advances toward affordable access to space. Their goals are not so grandiose: taking tourists into space and bringing them home alive. These private-sector endeavors will spawn spinoff technologies that will help our government efforts, especially in defense. There's a role reversal for you.
[...]
So, what must be done? Let's get government out of the way of space entrepreneurs and put in place policies that encourage such private-sector space initiatives.
[...]
The Clementine mission, brought about by a group of rebels in the space community, discovered evidence of water at lunar poles in 1996.The Lunar Prospector project demonstrated that commercial lunar exploration missions are feasible. With evidence of water on the moon, we can make oxygen to breathe and hydrogen for fuel. The Moon/Earth arena beckons us.Helium-3, a rare isotope found on Earth, is in abundant supply on the Moon.Some believe that this element may in the future provide the basis for a clean-burning fuel if and when fusion reactor technology becomes a reality.
So, let's quit talking about sending a person to Mars, and look a little closer at what we can do with water on the moon. Let us focus on this vast stretch of the near universe, and make sure we can use it to better the lives of our people and make them safer and more prosperous.
[...]
I must point out that the Clementine findings have been cast into serious doubt by a recent set of observations made with the Arecibo telescope. There is likely not ubiquitous water at the poles and anything that is there is in a permafrost form (from the study's abstract):
[...] We find that areas of the crater floors at the poles that are in permanent shadow from the Sun, which are potential cold traps for water or other volatiles, do not give rise to strong radar echoes like those associated with thick ice deposits in the polar craters on Mercury. Any lunar ice present within regions visible to the Arecibo radar must therefore be in the form of distributed grains or thin layers.
So, a good chunk of the rationale for Lunar activity has just dissappeared with further scientific investigation. Not to mention that Mars has dozens of other reasons for exploration... you might want to pick up a copy of Bob Zubrin's "The Case for Mars" if you aren't familiar with the case for Mars.
Posted by joebeone at Diciembre 3, 2003 12:00 AM