VSE Comments
Published on Jun 5, 2007 at 11:20 am.
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Filed under space exploration.
Ed (Robot Guy) left an interesting comment on my post about Zubrin’s Mars Direct mission. He makes a very valid point that deserves consideration. It raises a question, too. Is NASA’s administration really committed to the NASA Vision for Space Exploration (VSE)? Ed has a very good post on his views on how VSE should be done. He brings up the NASA vs. private sector argument. Personally, I don’t think that NASA is actively trying to thwart the private sector. Rather, NASA is a government agency, so it responds as a government agency. During the 1960’s, NASA had a clear and well defined goal: land men on the Moon and bring them back to Earth. But, once they did that, there was no clear goal. Yes, the rank and file within NASA, the astronauts, the engineers, etc, all had ideas of building space stations and going to Mars. But, the NASA administrators had no external mandate, so the agency began to wander. Without a defined goal, the budget dropped. And, the agency became, well …, a government agency. Look at NASA’s own web page for VSE, and compare that with Ed’s. It is nowhere near as detailed. Ed also references Jon Goff’s post detailing some of the technologies needed for a truly successful spacefaring society. Now, for sure, many of NASA’s scientists and engineers have the same ideas. But, if the agency as a whole doesn’t share these ideas, then progress won’t be made.
But, I think that this is at the heart of Zubrin’s proposal. He knows that NASA will wander aimlessly unless they have a very clearly defined obtainable, but difficult, goal. A goal to go back to Mars would focus their efforts. He looks back to NASA’s glory days of a goal to go to the Moon. That was the overarching goal. But, along the way, NASA was developing new technologies and expanding our reach throughout the Solar System. The goal was manned missions to the Moon, but during the 1960’s and early 1970’s we were sending unmanned spacecraft all over the Solar System as fast as we could build rockets and launch them. I am afraid that that wouldn’t happen this time. At that time, the government left NASA largely to the engineers and scientists. It has now become truly a government agency, and it will act as one. If it has such a clear and defined and narrow goal, then there is danger that the administrators will focus all of NASA’s activities on that goal, to the exclusion of all else. I would like to think otherwise, but that is something to think about.
So, it falls to private industry to make the advances that will lead to a spacefaring society. And, that is what happened with aviation. Private individuals began the experiments on how to fly. Then, the government became involved with mail planes and war planes. But, it wasn’t until private industry began to realize the commercial potential of aviation that air transportation really began to take off. We now have a very active air transportation system that we rely on. Think of the mess that happened after all of the aircraft across the US were grounded the days after September 11, 2001. A lot of people suddenly realized just how much we depend upon air transportation. It isn’t just holiday travelers going to see grandma who fly. People now travel for all sorts of reasons. Air travel has made the world smaller, and now people are free to go just about anywhere. Air travel really began to take off a couple decades ago when the airlines were deregulated. OK, so there are some problems with that, too. You can fly on an aircraft in which every passenger on board is paying a different amount to fly! And, some airlines have unrealistic schedules, and baggage gets lost, and of course there are the issues with planes sitting on the tarmac full of passengers for hours and hours and hours. But, overall, the system works well. But, is isn’t just passengers that travel by air. Almost all first class mail that has any distance to travel goes by air. Packages are sent by air. In fact, entire companies have arisen just to deliver goods overnight just about anywhere in the world. Those goods go by air. Space travel has to go the same way.
And, thankfully, in recent years, there have been a number of private companies getting into space exploration. Some have acted as suppliers or contractors to NASA. But, other companies are out there on their own. They are the ones developing the new technology and new ideas. They are the ones that will figure out how to make money at this. And, they will be the ones that turn us into a spacefaring society.
So, what should NASA be doing? Ed makes some good points. NASA shouldn’t try to do it all itself. If a private company can do something better, say transport to Low Earth Orbit, then let them. NASA can buy tickets. Hey, they do that sometimes on Earth, right? Rather than use a NASA jet to fly from Orlando to Houston, they can purchase a commercial airline ticket.
Also, Ed suggests that NASA decouple the mission from the implementation of the mission. NASA has a bad habit of tying a mission to a particular system. For example. when the Galileo spacecraft to study Jupiter was designed, it was designed so that it could only be launched aboard the Space Shuttle. Then, the Challenger explosion ground the entire Shuttle fleet to a standstill. Galileo was stuck on the ground until the shuttles began to fly again, and led to problems with the spacecraft. ISS modules are designed only to be flown to the space station in a Space Shuttle. In fact, the International Space Station relies on the Space Shuttle for supplies. Russian robotic supply ships simply can not do the job. If something happens to ground the Space Shuttle fleet before the ISS is finished, then it becomes nearly a lost cause. NASA should focus on building a robust space system, not just one mission at a time. That means developing new technologies and letting private enterprise then use those technologies.
Jon Goff’s post then gives some ideas for the type of technologies that we need to have a robust system. They would include such things as inexpensive and reusable space hardware. Hey, that is what the Space Shuttle was supposed to be. The Space Shuttle was supposed to be a reusable system with a quick turnaround. And, if it had been, then it would be rather inexpensive. Instead, each shuttle requires extensive preparation before the mission, and extensive refurbishing afterwards. It takes months to get ready for a mission. Rutan’s SpaceShip One could fly, be refueled, and fly again without extensive work between missions. That is what the Space Shuttle was supposed to be. Now, granted, the Space Shuttle was the first attempt to do anything like that, and its mission requirements are FAR more extensive than SpaceShip One’s, and that does necessitate a more complex craft. Still, NASA has not gone beyond that initial attempt at a reusable craft. But, that is not entirely NASA’s fault. They had not been allocated money to build a next generation vehicle.
But, other technologies needed include orbital infrastructure, such as navigation systems and space stations. The space stations need not be manned laboratories, but rather refueling centers, construction and repair centers, etc. And, there should be something like a traffic control system for space. In other words, this would make NASA functioning more like the FAA than as the sole provider of space activities. In the early days, before private industry was ready, NASA was the sole institution that could do what it did. But, times have changed. And perhaps it is time for NASA to change, too, in order to really promote the Vision for Space Exploration.
-Astroprof
