A Moon Full of Opportunity

I believe this article is worth careful reading.
- LRK -

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http://www.thespacereview.com/
A Moon full of opportunity

One of the biggest criticisms leveled against NASA's plans to return to the
Moon and establish a base there is the lack of a clear rationale for doing
so. Paul Spudis asserts that the primary reason for doing so is
straightforward: to enable humanity's long-term future in space.
Monday, January 22, 2007
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TO ENABLE HUMANITY'S LONG-TERM FUTURE IN SPACE.
- LRK -

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A Moon full of opportunity
---
One of the biggest criticisms leveled against NASA's plans to return to the
Moon and establish a base there is the lack of a clear rationale for doing
so.  Paul Spudis asserts that the primary reason for doing so is
straightforward: to enable humanity's long-term future in space.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/791/1
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And at
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-- A Moon Full of Opportunity
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.nl.html?id=1189

"The 2nd Space Exploration Conference held December 2006 in Houston outlined
several reasons for a human return to the Moon. Remarkably, some complain
that the reason for going to the Moon is still unclear. Possibly the sheer
scope of the envisioned surface activities diffuses its impact. Almost 200
activities were described for the Moon, grouped under six major "themes" (as
the agency calls them), including settlement, global cooperation, science
and preparation for Mars. This diffusion is both deliberate and
unavoidable."
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If you don't read the whole article, here is a snip.
- LRK -

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>From these statements, it is clear that the mission of going to the Moon is
one of development: developing new techniques, procedures, and technologies,
all with the aim of making spaceflight easier, routine and more capable.

If this wasn't clear enough, the speech of John Marburger two years later
clarified our ultimate objectives:

  President Bush's vision also declares the will to lead in space, but it
renders the ultimate goal more explicit. And that goal is even grander. The
ultimate goal is not to impress others, or merely to explore our planetary
system, but to use accessible space for the benefit of humankind. It is a
goal that is not confined to a decade or a century. Nor is it confined to a
single nearby destination, or to a fleeting dash to plant a flag. The idea
is to begin preparing now for a future in which the material trapped in the
Sun's vicinity is available for incorporation into our way of life.

And:

  We have known for a long time that a huge gap separates the objects
trapped by the gravity of our star, the Sun, and everything else. Phenomena
on our side of the interstellar gap, in what we call the Solar System, are
potentially amenable to direct investigation and manipulation through
physical contact, and can reasonably be described as falling within
humanity's economic sphere of influence. As I see it, questions about the
Vision boil down to whether we want to incorporate the Solar System in our
economic sphere, or not.

The administration clearly stated that we are going to the Moon to learn how
to use what we find in space to create new spacefaring capability. The goal
isn't simply to return to the Moon or even merely to send humans to Mars,
but rather to extend human reach beyond low Earth orbit and ultimately to
all possible destinations beyond.

The Vision for Space Exploration is different from any previous space
policy. By design it is incremental and cumulative. We make "steady
progress" no matter how slowly we may be forced to proceed at any given time
by fiscal constraints. Small steps that build upon each other create new
capability over time. Our activities will teach us not merely how to
survive, but how to thrive off-planet. Such a task includes inhabiting
planetary surfaces, doing useful work while we are there, and extracting
what we need from the material and energy resources we find. We will use
these new skills and techniques to build a space transportation
infrastructure that permits routine access to the Moon and all of cislunar
space.

The significance of this last point should not be underestimated; access to
cislunar space will revolutionize the paradigm of spaceflight. Currently, we
build disposable commercial space systems. They have a specific design
lifetime, after which they are simply abandoned. Combined with the high cost
of getting to low Earth orbit, this makes spaceflight difficult and costly.
Hence, space largely has been left as the province of government, except for
certain highly capitalized businesses such as global communications.

With the Vision realized, satellites can be serviced, maintained, extended,
and networked-space systems will be designed for an indefinite lifetime.
Given existing launch costs, we cannot do this now. Even lowering such costs
by an order of magnitude would still make even robotic servicing of
platforms at geosynchronous orbit marginal at best. However, if we build a
system that can refuel on the Moon using locally produced materials, we
create the capability to routinely go anywhere in cislunar space. Exporting
fuel extracted from lunar resources will permit us to go anywhere, anytime,
with whatever capabilities we need. This is the beginning of true
space-faring capability. Such an environment would unleash imaginations,
realize potential and expand technology, science, exploration and commerce.

Snip
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And to add to current events, India recovered a space capsule they had
launched earlier.
- LRK -

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http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/ap_070122_india_capsulereturn.html
India's Experimental Space Capsule Returns to Earth
By The Associated Press

posted: 22 January 2007
12:37 p.m. ET

NEW DELHI (AP) - An Indian space capsule splashed down in the Bay of Bengal
on Monday, giving engineers a chance to test technology needed to return
astronauts to Earth, an official said.

The capsule orbited earth for 11 days before re-entering the atmosphere, S.
Krishnamurthy, a spokesman for the Indian Space Research Organization, told
The Associated Press.

The 550-kilogram (1,210-pound) Space-Capsule Recovery Experiment was
intended to test the organization's ability to track and recover a returning
space capsule, he said

Snip
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http://presszoom.com/story_123318.html
India's SRE-1 Space Capsule Successfully Recovered
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http://www.telegraphindia.com/1070123/asp/nation/story_7297989.asp
New Delhi/Chennai, Jan. 22: In 46 minutes, punctuated only by intermittent
claps and cheering in a control room, India today guided a space capsule
safely back home, propelling itself into the special club of three countries
that can launch as well as recover spacecraft.
Snip
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Yes, should be an interesting year.

Thanks for looking up with me.

Larry Kellogg

Web Site: http://lkellogg.vttoth.com/LarryRussellKellogg/
BlogSpot: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/
RSS link: http://kelloggserialreports.blogspot.com/atom.xml
Newsletter: https://news.altair.com/mailman/listinfo/lunar-update
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http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2004/01/20040114-3.html
President Bush Announces New Vision for Space Exploration Program
NASA Headquarters
Washington, D.C.

THE PRESIDENT: Thanks for the warm welcome. I'm honored to be with the men
and women of NASA. I thank those of you who have come in person. I welcome
those who are listening by video. This agency, and the dedicated
professionals who serve it, have always reflected the finest values of our
country -- daring, discipline, ingenuity, and unity in the pursuit of great
goals.

America is proud of our space program. The risk takers and visionaries of
this agency have expanded human knowledge, have revolutionized our
understanding of the universe, and produced technological advances that have
benefited all of humanity.

Inspired by all that has come before, and guided by clear objectives, today
we set a new course for America's space program. We will give NASA a new
focus and vision for future exploration. We will build new ships to carry
man forward into the universe, to gain a new foothold on the moon, and to
prepare for new journeys to worlds beyond our own.

Snip
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http://www.ostp.gov/html/jhmGoddardSymp03-15-06Release.pdf
44th Robert H. Goddard Memorial Symposium
Greenbelt, Maryland
March 15
Keynote Address
John Marburger
Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President

It is a privilege for me to speak in this Symposium. My first job as a
scientist, before I went on to graduate school, was at Goddard Space Flight
Center. I had worked there during the summer of 1961, and returned as a full
time employee in what was then called the Thermal Systems branch in the
summer of 1962. Goddard was booming in those days, and the challenge of
making scientific instruments work in the space environment attracted many
fine scientists and engineers. I worked with a team trying to understand and
optimize the properties of materials that could be used as thermoelectric
generators for space applications, which shows you how broadly the spectrum
of science and technology must extend to support missions in space. In the
fall of 1963 I became a NASA graduate trainee in Stanford's then-new
Department of Applied Physics, and ever since have combined my love of basic
science with an interest in practical applications. The topic of this year's
Symposium, ". Engineers, Scientists and the Vision" reflects the combination
of mental attitudes needed to accomplish great things in space, and I am
pleased to add a few thoughts of my own this morning on these topics.

Snip
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http://www.nss.org/settlement/moon/index.html
Excerpt from speech of John Marburger
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=19999

Director, Office of Science and Technology Policy
Executive Office of the President
March 15, 2006

The Moon has unique significance for all space applications for a reason
that to my amazement is hardly ever discussed in popular accounts of space
policy. The Moon is the closest source of material that lies far up Earth's
gravity well. Anything that can be made from Lunar material at costs
comparable to Earth manufacture has an enormous overall cost advantage
compared with objects lifted from Earth's surface. The greatest value of the
Moon lies neither in science nor in exploration, but in its material. I am
talking about the possibility of extracting elements and minerals that can
be processed into fuel or massive components of space apparatus. The
production of oxygen in particular, the major component (by mass) of
chemical rocket fuel, is potentially an important Lunar industry.

What are the preconditions for such an industry? That, it seems to me, must
be a primary consideration of the long range planning for the Lunar agenda.
Science studies provide the foundation for a materials production roadmap.
Clever ideas have been advanced for the phased construction of electrical
power sources - perhaps using solar cells manufactured in situ from Lunar
soil. A not unreasonable scenario is a phase of highly subsidized capital
construction followed by market-driven industrial activity to provide Lunar
products such as oxygen refueling services for commercially valuable
Earth-orbiting apparatus.
Snip
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WHAT THE MIND CAN CONCEIVE, AND BELIEVE, IT WILL ACHIEVE - LRK

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