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Case For Space

A Quick Thought
When we look back 400 years, we ponder the risks and challenges that travelers faced when they braved the ocean. They explored in wooden boats less than one-hundred feet in length, had incomplete maps, crude navigation tools, and the knowledge that not everyone would make it back alive. What will historians say about our generation 400 years from now? I hope we are reflected with a similar manor of amazement; just think...we traveled into space via small aluminum cans the size of a walk-in closet, used chemical rockets to escape Earth's gravity and only went as far as the inner solar system. This is our time to shape the future! -Bruce Davis

 

Words by Carl Sagan
Our remote descendants safely arrayed on many worlds through the Solar System and beyond, will be unified by their common heritage, by their regard for their home planet, and by the knowledge that, whatever other life there may be, the only humans in all the Universe came from Earth. They will gaze up and strain to find the blue dot in their skies. They will love it no less for its obscurity and fragility. They will marvel at how vulnerable the repository of all our potential once was, how perilous our infancy, how humble our beginnings, how many rivers we had to cross before we found our way.

 

Bruce's Views of Space Exploration and America (Table of Contents)




I have a lot on my mind regarding this topic, here is a quickly written start (4/17/10):

My Take on Obama's New Vision for Space Exploration:
Although it is hard to swallow the abrupt changes that the Obama administration has made for NASA, I do believe that this is the best direction for the agency. Forty years ago NASA was known as an agency that performed risky, bold and non-routine tasks utilizing low earth orbit as a staging ground to explore the moon. Around this time, the post-Apollo mindset was to design a space shuttle which enables new technology in low earth orbit. Since then the Space Shuttle has done wonders for science, repairs, station building however has a flaw: it was designed to be routine, regular and risk adverse. This mentality changed NASA in the 1970s as an agency of "we're going to take bold moves and explore the next frontier" to an agency of "we're going to develop technology in low earth orbit with minimal risk".

I believe that NASA needs to be considered an agency that no longer shuttles humans and cargo into low earth orbit but rather an agency that accepts bold moves with a reasonable level risks to the moon and beyond. Low earth orbit is established enough to be turned over to a competitive commercial market.

Over the past two decades, NASA has initiated several programs to move the agency into the post-shuttle era. Unfortunately for various reasons, these billion-dollar programs have been have been cut before reaching maturity. No agency can operate when a congressionally project is mandated and then changed on the election cycle. It is absolutely critical that the new policy set fourth by President and congress are fiscally sustainable. It saddens me to support the cancellation of the Constellation program (yet another billion dollar program), however know that this is justified since it was not fiscally sustainable. Lets get it right this next time around!

NASA - Commercial sector interaction: I believe that NASA should buy tickets to put their own astronauts into low earth orbit. I believe that until the commercial sector is well established and competitive, NASA should subsidize corporations to ensure that the industry is mature and that the US always has capability for human spaceflight. I also believe that a governmental agency (perhaps NASA or the FAA) should provide regulation. There is a common argument that the majority of NASA's dollars already go to the commercial sector. However with these dollars, agency tells the contractors exactly what they want, how to do it, and provides a large level of feedback and oversight during the entire process. This is not commercial freedom but more an extension of NASA by using contractors.

NASA in 10 years:

  1. NASA regularly sends astronauts into low earth orbit to perform tasks such as: testing new exploratory spacecraft, performing science aboard the international space station, and servicing satellites that are government owned. NASA still trains astronauts since these tasks are specialized, expensive and infrequent enough for the private sector to sustain. NASA astronauts are launched into low earth orbit by purchasing a ride from the commercial sector. Once there, they rendezvous with additional NASA/commercial hardware to fulfill their mission.
  2. NASA had developed a Heavy Lift Vehicle to replace the void that the space shuttle retirement created. Space exploration needs a heavy lift capability of a size that is beyond what the EELV provides. Shuttle derived technology is the best way to go whether the Ares V or unmanned Jupiter series concepts.
  3. Due to the increasing number of private visitors traveling to the ISS, NASA and its partners have initiated a policy which competitively selects visitors based on scientific merit. Given that the ISS was created from governmental dollars under the premise of research, it is no longer considered a tourist destination. Instead, private citizens travel to stations that are privately developed.

Reaction to the Presidential Space Summit:
Currently being written:
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/spaceconf.html
Pictures I took at the conference


NASA in 2010 (written in 2007)
This is a compilation of my ideas for NASA in 2007 as a course project.
Space Policy - The Next NASA Administrator, FY10 and Beyond (Written in 2007)


Importance of Educational Hands-on Programs at NASA (written in 2008)
Many students have dreamt since childhood of working in the space industry. Others were drawn to the technological challenge of building spacecraft while in college. However students discovered the field of spaceflight, a helping hand was often there to inspire them. Educational programs and corporate mentorship are an effective way of inspiring the next generation and aid the development of future space programs. In addition, mentorship exposes students to a ‘real-world’ perspective, which gives motivation and confidence to pursue a technical career.

NASA has historically played an active role in the United States educational system in the science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) disciplines by providing research grants to universities, student projects and outreach events at all educational levels. The NASA Education Office mission statement can be summarized into three primary goals: 1) To strengthen the nation’s future workforce, 2) Attract and retain students in the science, technology, engineering and mathematics, and 3) To engage the American population in space exploration [1]. NASA’s strategy aims to accomplish these goals by inspiring the youngest age groups with lectures and visual demonstrations, by engaging students in secondary schools with small projects, and by providing real-world, hands-on experience to students at the college level. This method works well in that NASA has the ability to step up the intensity of the lesson plans as students become more mature and are inspired to pursue careers within the STEM disciplines.

Although this plan is effective, its capability has been consistently decreasing for the past several years as NASA funding towards education has been declining. In 2004, NASA funding towards education was $170 million. It is presently funded to $154 million, and this is projected to fall to $150 million by 2012 [2]. This results in less interaction between students and NASA employees. Funding cuts are also not consistent with the recommendations of the “Rising Above the Gathering Storm" [3] congressional report compiled in late 2005 which states: “The nation faces several areas of challenge: K-12 student preparation in science and mathematics, limited undergraduate interest in science and engineering majors, significant student attrition among science and engineering undergraduate and graduate students, and science and engineering education that in some instances inadequately prepares students to work outside universities.” This report stresses that a healthy student enrollment in the STEM focus areas will help maintain a leadership role in the high-tech industries in the increasingly competitive international market.
In addition to the concern of decreasing funds for education, the NASA workforce is aging, causing concern for a future gap in talented engineers to lead the Vision for Space Exploration over the next decade. The Committee on Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) stated in a recent report: “Over approximately the past decade and a half, the average age of NASA’s workers has marched steadily upward, and the agency now has a relatively low number of younger workers to assume future leadership roles in NASA as older workers retire. If it does nothing to achieve a better age distribution across its overall internal workforce, NASA will suffer a gap not only in technical leadership, but also in overall technical experience, especially if the development dates for key VSE components slip and highly skilled workers with experience in the Space Shuttle program retire. ” Figure 1 illustrates how the average age at NASA has significantly shifted over the past 10 years. If these trends continue, NASA will lack experienced engineers/scientists in the 2020 time frame -- when the VSE plans to have astronauts walking on the moon.


NASA Workforce
Figure 1: NASA workforce age/population over time [4]

It is clear that NASA and other STEM-related industries need to find innovative ways to inspire and train the next generation of employees in order to stay competitive in the world market. Tight monetary budgets, increasing demands and other related agency requirements limit the amount of discretionary funds NASA has available for education. As a result, solutions that utilize or modify existing programs and infrastructure are most attractive to motivate and train the next generation of high-tech employees.


Sources for Importance of Educational Hands-on Programs at NASA
1. NASA Office of Education Mission Statements, http:\\education.nasa.gov\about\vision
2. Data taken from NASA FY08 Budget Request and the FY04 Budget Reports
3. Rising Above the Gathering Storm, Committee on Prospering in the Global Economy of the 21st Century: An Agenda , Committee on Science, Engineering and Public Policy, The National Academies Press, Washington D.C. 2007
4. Building a Better NASA Workforce: Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration, Committee on Meeting the Workforce Needs for the National Vision for Space Exploration, National Research Council, 2006.
 
Contributions from Mike Grusin, http://www.flyingcircuits.com

Pictures