2. Obama Calls for End to NASA’s Moon
Program Published: February 1, 2010
President Obama is calling on NASA to cancel
the program that was to return humans to the
Moon by 2020, and focus instead on radically
new space technologies.
Mr. Obama’s 2010 budget proposal for NASA
asks for $18 billion over five years for fueling
spacecraft in orbit, new types of engines to
accelerate spacecraft through space and
robotic factories that could churn soil on the
Moon — and eventually Mars — into rocket
fuel.
3. Obama Space Policy
The budget proposal makes it clear that any
future exploration program will be an
international collaboration, not an American
one, more like the International Space Station
than Apollo.
To pay for the new technology development,
the budget calls for a complete stop in NASA’s
Constellation program, the rockets and
spacecraft that NASA has been working on for
the past four years to replace the space
shuttles.
4. Obama’s Space Policy
The proposal would officially end aspirations
to return astronauts to the Moon by 2020 —
President George W. Bush’s ―vision for
space exploration‖ developed after the loss
of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003.
In place of the Moon mission, the vision
offers, at least initially, nothing in terms of
human exploration of the solar system. What
the administration calls a ―bold new initiative‖
does not spell out a next destination or
timetable for getting there.
5. Whether Congress agrees to the restructuring
of NASA remains to be seen. As reports of
the impending cancellation of Constellation
leaked out, members of Congress, particularly
in Alabama, Florida and Texas, the homes of
the NASA centers most involved with
Constellation, expressed concern.
http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2010/04/14/o
bama-nasa-plan-buzz-aldrin-neil-armstrong-
sally-ride/
6. NASA Future
―The assumption is that there are technological
breakthroughs out there ready to be discovered
and exploited,‖ Dr. Logsdon said. ―I’m
impressed and a little surprised how large the
investment in new technology is planned to be.
It does represent a shift away from developing
systems to developing technologies before
developing systems.‖
If the approach succeeds, it could jumpstart a
vibrant space industry, but it is also risky. By
canceling Ares I, NASA would have no backup
if the commercial companies were not able to
deliver.
7. NASA Future
Sally Ride is the latest heroic astronaut to join
the fray, voicing support for Obama's plan on
Thursday. A physicist and an astronaut, Ride
become the first American woman in space
after riding the Challenger shuttle in 1983.
In a statement released by the White House,
she called the President's plan "a bold strategic
shift that will enable NASA to return to its roots:
developing innovative technologies aimed at
enabling human exploration and tackling the
truly challenging aspects of human spaceflight -
- venturing beyond Earth orbit, beyond the
Earth-Moon system, and into the solar system.―
8. NASA Future
Ride was most enthusiastic about the news that
Obama will set specific goals for NASA's space
program, with stepping-stone missions leading
to a clear end goal: Mars. "The proposed
program articulates a strategy for human
exploration that will excite and energize the
next generation ... Astronauts will travel to near-
Earth asteroids and to distant space
telescopes; they will visit the lunar surface and
the moons of Mars.‖
9. The Future of Space Exploration
– Manned or Robotic Missions?
"Robotic missions are much cheaper and
may provide more scientific information, but
they don't catch the public imagination in the
same way, and they don't spread the human
race into space, which I'm arguing should be
our long-term strategy. If the human race is
to continue for another million years, we will
have to boldly go where no one has gone
before."
Stephen Hawking, Cambridge University
10. Space Updates
http://www.iampleasant.com/2011/12/futur
e-of-nasa/
12. Questions to discuss
Discuss the ownership of space
Basic terms
Include both national interests and private interests
Be specific about land ownership, resources, etc.
Weapons, pollution?
Is this similar to structures in place in the world today?
How to manage and police it?
In the hit movie Contact, there was an esteemed
international panel which was to select the "right" person
to travel in the machine to Vega. In the Contact model, a
belief in God was the key for making the voyage to space.
Is this prerequisite a realistic approach to the problem?
13. State the differences between human
space exploration and robotic explorations
