Excerpt from spacenews.com
Recently, several space advocacy groups joined forces to form the Alliance for Space Development. Their published objectives include a mention of obvious near-term goals such as supporting the commercial crew program, transitioning from use of the International Space Station to future private space stations and finding ways to reduce the cost of access to space. What is notably missing from these objectives and those of many other space agencies, companies and advocacy groups is any mention of building a permanent settlement on the moon. It’s as if the lunar surface has become our crazy uncle that we all acknowledge exists but we’d prefer not to mention (or visit). What made the next logical step in mankind’s progression beyond the bounds of Earth such a taboo subject? If, as the Alliance for Space Development suggests, our nation wishes to move toward a path of permanent space settlements, the most logical step is our own planet’s satellite.
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| A 2006 NASA conception of a lunar base. Credit: NASA |
A base on the lunar surface is a better place to study space settlement than a space station or Mars for many reasons. Unlike a space station, the base does not have to contend with aerodynamic drag, attitude control issues or contamination and impingement from its own thrusters. Unlike a space station, which exists in a total vacuum and resource void, a lunar base has access to at least some surface resources in the forms of minerals, albeit fewer than might be available on Mars. Many people naturally want to go directly to Mars as our next step. Even SpaceX has publicly stated this as its ultimate goal, with SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell noting that “we’re not moon people.” However, Mars makes sense only if we think the technology is ready to safely support humans on another surface for long periods of time. Furthermore, budget restrictions make an ambitious goal like going immediately to Mars an unlikely prospect. Why are we afraid to take the seemingly necessary baby steps of developing the technology for a long-term base on a surface that can be reached in mere days instead of months? The tendency to want to skip a lunar settlement is not a new phenomenon. Even before the first landing on the moon, U.S. and NASA political leadership was contemplating the future of manned space, and few of the visions involved a lunar base. The early space program was driven by Cold War competition with Moscow, and the kinds of ideas that circulated at the time involved milestones that seemed novel such as reusable spaceplanes, nuclear-powered rockets, space stations and missions to Mars.
When the United States was on the verge of a series of landings on the moon, building a permanent base just didn’t seem like much of a new giant leap. NASA’s ConstellationNASA’s Constellation program, featuring the Orion manned capsule set atop the Ares 1 launch vehicle, was meant to send astronauts back to the moon. Credit: NASA The idea of a lunar landing mission was not reintroduced seriously until the George W. Bush administration and the introduction of the Constellation program. This program came at a complex time for NASA: The space shuttle was recovering from the Columbia disaster, the space station was in the midst of construction and the United States found itself with large budget deficits. However, despite its budgetary and schedule problems, which are common in any serious aerospace development project from space programs to jumbo-jet development, it provided NASA with a vision and a goal that were reasonable and sensible as next steps toward a long-term future of exploration beyond Earth.
Constellation was nevertheless canceled, and we have since returned to a most uncommon sense. The decision to avoid any sort of lunar activity in current space policy may have been biased by the Obama administration’s desire to move as far away as possible from the policies of the previous administration.
Regardless of the cause, discussion of returning to the moon is no longer on the table. Without the moon, the only feasible mission that NASA could come up with that is within reach given the current technology and budget is the Asteroid Redirect Mission.
Even planetary scientists have spoken out against the mission, finding that it will provide little scientific value. It will also provide limited engineering and technology value, if we assume that our long-term goal is to permanently settle space. The experience gained from this sort of flight has little applicability to planetary resource utilization, long-term life support or other technologies needed for settlement.
If we are to have a program of manned space exploration, we must decide what the long-term goals of such a program should be, and we should align our actions with those goals. When resources such as funding are limited, space agencies and political leaders should not squander these limited resources on missions that make no sense. Instead, the limited funding should be used to continue toward our long-term goals, accepting a slower pace or slight scale-back in mission scope. Establishing a permanent human settlement in space is a noble goal, one that will eventually redefine humanity. Like explorers before us, it is also not a goal that will be achieved in a short period of time. We would be wise to keep our eyes on that goal and the road needed to get us there. And the next likely stop on that road is a permanent home just above our heads, on the surface of the brightest light in the night sky.
Paul Brower is an aerospace systems engineer on the operations team for the O3b Networks satellite fleet. He previously worked in mission control at NASA for 10 years.
Recently,
several space advocacy groups joined forces to form the Alliance for
Space Development. Their published objectives include a mention of
obvious near-term goals such as supporting the commercial crew program,
transitioning from use of the International Space Station to future
private space stations and finding ways to reduce the cost of access to
space.
What is notably missing from these objectives and those of many other
space agencies, companies and advocacy groups is any mention of
building a permanent settlement on the moon. It’s as if the lunar
surface has become our crazy uncle that we all acknowledge exists but
we’d prefer not to mention (or visit).
What made the next logical step in mankind’s progression beyond the bounds of Earth such a taboo subject?
If, as the Alliance for Space Development suggests, our nation wishes
to move toward a path of permanent space settlements, the most logical
step is our own planet’s satellite.
A base on the lunar surface is a better place to study space
settlement than a space station or Mars for many reasons. Unlike a space
station, the base does not have to contend with aerodynamic drag,
attitude control issues or contamination and impingement from its own
thrusters. Unlike a space station, which exists in a total vacuum and
resource void, a lunar base has access to at least some surface
resources in the forms of minerals, albeit fewer than might be available
on Mars.
Many people naturally want to go directly to Mars as our next step.
Even SpaceX has publicly stated this as its ultimate goal, with SpaceX
President Gwynne Shotwell noting that “we’re not moon people.” However,
Mars makes sense only if we think the technology is ready to safely
support humans on another surface for long periods of time. Furthermore,
budget restrictions make an ambitious goal like going immediately to
Mars an unlikely prospect. Why are we afraid to take the seemingly
necessary baby steps of developing the technology for a long-term base
on a surface that can be reached in mere days instead of months?
The tendency to want to skip a lunar settlement is not a new
phenomenon. Even before the first landing on the moon, U.S. and NASA
political leadership was contemplating the future of manned space, and
few of the visions involved a lunar base. The early space program was
driven by Cold War competition with Moscow, and the kinds of ideas that
circulated at the time involved milestones that seemed novel such as
reusable spaceplanes, nuclear-powered rockets, space stations and
missions to Mars. When the United States was on the verge of a series of
landings on the moon, building a permanent base just didn’t seem like
much of a new giant leap.
Constellation program, featuring the Orion manned capsule set atop the
Ares 1 launch vehicle, was meant to send astronauts back to the moon.
Credit: NASA
The idea of a lunar landing mission was not reintroduced seriously
until the George W. Bush administration and the introduction of the
Constellation program. This program came at a complex time for NASA: The
space shuttle was recovering from the Columbia disaster, the space
station was in the midst of construction and the United States found
itself with large budget deficits. However, despite its budgetary and
schedule problems, which are common in any serious aerospace development
project from space programs to jumbo-jet development, it provided NASA
with a vision and a goal that were reasonable and sensible as next steps
toward a long-term future of exploration beyond Earth.
Constellation was nevertheless canceled, and we have since returned to a most uncommon sense.
The decision to avoid any sort of lunar activity in current space
policy may have been biased by the Obama administration’s desire to move
as far away as possible from the policies of the previous
administration. Regardless of the cause, discussion of returning to the
moon is no longer on the table.
Without the moon, the only feasible mission that NASA could come up
with that is within reach given the current technology and budget is the
Asteroid Redirect Mission.
Even planetary scientists have spoken out against the mission,
finding that it will provide little scientific value. It will also
provide limited engineering and technology value, if we assume that our
long-term goal is to permanently settle space. The experience gained
from this sort of flight has little applicability to planetary resource
utilization, long-term life support or other technologies needed for
settlement.
If we are to have a program of manned space exploration, we must
decide what the long-term goals of such a program should be, and we
should align our actions with those goals. When resources such as
funding are limited, space agencies and political leaders should not
squander these limited resources on missions that make no sense.
Instead, the limited funding should be used to continue toward our
long-term goals, accepting a slower pace or slight scale-back in mission
scope.
Establishing a permanent human settlement in space is a noble goal,
one that will eventually redefine humanity. Like explorers before us, it
is also not a goal that will be achieved in a short period of time. We
would be wise to keep our eyes on that goal and the road needed to get
us there. And the next likely stop on that road is a permanent home just
above our heads, on the surface of the brightest light in the night
sky.
Paul Brower is an aerospace systems engineer on the operations
team for the O3b Networks satellite fleet. He previously worked in
mission control at NASA for 10 years.
– See more at: http://spacenews.com/op-ed-why-the-u-s-gave-up-on-the-moon/#sthash.czfTscvg.dpuf
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Why the U.S. Gave Up on the Moon
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