Obama and Space
To say that I frequently disagree with Rand Simberg, the proprietor of Transterrestrial Musings, is the understatement of the week. However, he does make some good points, including this (highly over-snarked) piece today about Obama's lack of a real space policy.
I think Obama's space policy boils down to "spending tons of money to fly the shuttle around in circles once or twice a year is silly." Other than that, Obama's got nothing, which means that the previous plan, go to the Moon by 2020, is still in effect. So, consider this an open letter to President Obama.
The first question to ask should be, "what are our goals in space?" I think our goals should be (in priority order):
1) Maintain US manned space access
2) Return to the Moon by 2020
3) Reduce cost to orbit by a factor of (at least) 10.
To accomplish this, we should:
1) Rejigger the "Apollo on steroids" Orion manned capsule to fly on an existing heavy-lift rocket. If that means a smaller / lighter / less capable bird, so be it.
2) Scrap the "Stick" (Ares) solid-fuel "crew delivery" rocket.
3) Until Orion actually flies, retain the Shuttle, if only to keep the Russians honest. If that means the shuttles become even more of hanger queens then they already are, maintained by a skeleton crew, so be it.
4) The heavy-lift vehicle, Constellation, [edited to be Ares V] can stay, but the Altair lunar lander should be reusable, at least to the point of refuelable in orbit. Also, whatever we're calling the trans-lunar part of Constellation should be reusable. [Edited: "Constellation" refers to the entire family of rockets and crew vehicles.]
5) Throw some money at the Alt.Space companies, with a goal towards encouraging cheap and reusable access to orbit. Since the capital markets went kaput, this money should be mostly low-interest loans with some awards for milestones met, not grants. The FAA should continue to be the governing authority for flight safety, with NASA, or maybe an independent board, as the sugar daddy.
I think Obama's space policy boils down to "spending tons of money to fly the shuttle around in circles once or twice a year is silly." Other than that, Obama's got nothing, which means that the previous plan, go to the Moon by 2020, is still in effect. So, consider this an open letter to President Obama.
The first question to ask should be, "what are our goals in space?" I think our goals should be (in priority order):
1) Maintain US manned space access
2) Return to the Moon by 2020
3) Reduce cost to orbit by a factor of (at least) 10.
To accomplish this, we should:
1) Rejigger the "Apollo on steroids" Orion manned capsule to fly on an existing heavy-lift rocket. If that means a smaller / lighter / less capable bird, so be it.
2) Scrap the "Stick" (Ares) solid-fuel "crew delivery" rocket.
3) Until Orion actually flies, retain the Shuttle, if only to keep the Russians honest. If that means the shuttles become even more of hanger queens then they already are, maintained by a skeleton crew, so be it.
4) The heavy-lift vehicle, Constellation, [edited to be Ares V] can stay, but the Altair lunar lander should be reusable, at least to the point of refuelable in orbit. Also, whatever we're calling the trans-lunar part of Constellation should be reusable. [Edited: "Constellation" refers to the entire family of rockets and crew vehicles.]
5) Throw some money at the Alt.Space companies, with a goal towards encouraging cheap and reusable access to orbit. Since the capital markets went kaput, this money should be mostly low-interest loans with some awards for milestones met, not grants. The FAA should continue to be the governing authority for flight safety, with NASA, or maybe an independent board, as the sugar daddy.