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  President Trump signs Space Policy Directive 1 (Page 1)

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Author Topic:   President Trump signs Space Policy Directive 1
Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-10-2017 10:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The daily guidance and press schedule for President Donald Trump on Monday, Dec. 11, 2017 includes:
3:00 p.m. — The President participates in a signing ceremony for Space Policy Directive 1.
Per SpacePolicyOnline.com:
Vice President Mike Pence chairs the White House National Space Council. At the first meeting of the Council on October 5, he directed that a Decision Memorandum be prepared for the President to amend U.S. National Space Policy to say: "We shall lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system to bring new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions beyond low Earth orbit, the United States will lead to return humans to the Moon for long term exploration followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations."

It is that Decision Memorandum that apparently will be signed...

Apollo 17 lunar module pilot Harrison Schmitt is expected to be among the invited guests attending the ceremony, which coincides with the 45th anniversary of the Apollo 17 moon landing.

denali414
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posted 12-11-2017 09:48 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for denali414   Click Here to Email denali414     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Be nice if we commit and stay in the forefront of space travel over the next decade, guess small steps first.

randy
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posted 12-11-2017 10:12 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for randy   Click Here to Email randy     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
One can hope for the best.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-11-2017 12:28 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA release
NASA Television and the agency's website will provide live coverage of the Space Policy Directive 1 signing ceremony at the White House at 3 p.m. EST today.

The ceremony also will be streamed live by the White House.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-11-2017 12:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
White House statement:
The President, today, will sign Space Policy Directive 1 (SPD-1) that directs the NASA Administrator to lead an innovative space exploration program to send American astronauts back to the Moon, and eventually Mars. Since the beginning of his Administration, President Trump has taken steps to refocus NASA on its core mission of space exploration by signing the NASA Transition Authorization Act, the INSPIRE Women Act, and an Executive Order on Reviving the National Space Council. The President listened to the National Space Council's recommendations and he will change our nation's human spaceflight policy to help America become the driving force for the space industry, gain new knowledge from the cosmos, and spur incredible technology.

Steven Kaplan
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posted 12-11-2017 02:30 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Steven Kaplan   Click Here to Email Steven Kaplan     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Quoting Fred Ward as Gus Grissom in "The Right Stuff" — "No bucks, no Buck Rogers."

White House ceremonies are the easy part...

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-11-2017 04:31 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA release
New Space Policy Directive Calls for Human Expansion Across Solar System

President Donald Trump is sending astronauts back to the Moon.

The president Monday signed at the White House Space Policy Directive 1, a change in national space policy that provides for a U.S.-led, integrated program with private sector partners for a human return to the Moon, followed by missions to Mars and beyond.

The policy calls for the NASA administrator to "lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities." The effort will more effectively organize government, private industry, and international efforts toward returning humans on the Moon, and will lay the foundation that will eventually enable human exploration of Mars.

"The directive I am signing today will refocus America's space program on human exploration and discovery," said President Trump. "It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints -- we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond."

The policy grew from a unanimous recommendation by the new National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, after its first meeting Oct. 5. In addition to the direction to plan for human return to the Moon, the policy also ends NASA's existing effort to send humans to an asteroid. The president revived the National Space Council in July to advise and help implement his space policy with exploration as a national priority.

"Under President Trump's leadership, America will lead in space once again on all fronts," said Vice President Pence. "As the President has said, space is the 'next great American frontier' – and it is our duty – and our destiny – to settle that frontier with American leadership, courage, and values. The signing of this new directive is yet another promise kept by President Trump."

Among other dignitaries on hand for the signing, were NASA astronauts Sen. Harrison "Jack" Schmitt, Buzz Aldrin, Peggy Whitson and Christina Koch. Schmitt landed on the moon 45 years to the minute that the policy directive was signed as part of NASA's Apollo 17 mission, and is the most recent living person to have set foot on our lunar neighbor. Aldrin was the second person to walk on the Moon during the Apollo 11 mission. Whitson spoke to the president from space in April aboard the International Space Station and while flying back home after breaking the record for most time in space by a U.S. astronaut in September. Koch is a member of NASA's astronaut class of 2013.

Work toward the new directive will be reflected in NASA's Fiscal Year 2019 budget request next year.

"NASA looks forward to supporting the president's directive strategically aligning our work to return humans to the Moon, travel to Mars and opening the deeper solar system beyond," said acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot. "This work represents a national effort on many fronts, with America leading the way. We will engage the best and brightest across government and private industry and our partners across the world to reach new milestones in human achievement. Our workforce is committed to this effort, and even now we are developing a flexible deep space infrastructure to support a steady cadence of increasingly complex missions that strengthens American leadership in the boundless frontier of space. The next generation will dream even bigger and reach higher as we launch challenging new missions, and make new discoveries and technological breakthroughs on this dynamic path."

Above: Ivanka Trump touches a stone from the moon that former astronaut Jack Schmitt, left, collected during the Apollo 17 mission, just after President Trump signed the Presidential Space Directive-1, directing NASA to return to the moon, in the Roosevelt room of the White House in Washington, Monday, Dec. 11, 2017. (NASA/Aubrey Gemignani)

A piece of Moon rock was brought to the White House as a reminder of the exploration history and American successes at the Moon on which the new policy will build. Lunar Sample 70215 was retrieved from the Moon's surface and returned by Schmitt's Apollo 17 crew. Apollo 17 was the last Apollo mission to land astronauts on the Moon and returned with the greatest amount of rock and soil samples for investigation.

The sample is a basaltic lava rock similar to lava found in Hawaii. It crystallized 3.84 billion years ago when lava flowed from the Camelot Crater. Sliced off a parent rock that originally weighed 8,110 grams, the sample weighs 14 grams, and is very fine grained, dense and tough. During the six Apollo surface excursions from 1969 to 1972, astronauts collected 2,196 rock and soil samples weighting 842 pounds. Scientific studies help us learn about the geologic history of the Moon, as well as Earth. They help us understand the mineral and chemical resources available to support future lunar exploration.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-11-2017 04:33 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA video
Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot and National Space Council Executive Secretary Scott Pace comment on Space Policy Directive 1, signed Monday, Dec. 11, 2017, by President Trump at the White House.

denali414
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posted 12-11-2017 06:34 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for denali414   Click Here to Email denali414     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Watched the conference on the NASA channel, and was wondering what the Lucite next to Trump was. Hmm now I wonder how I can add this to my collection. j/k

Really glad going to refocus effort to get some habitation going on the moon first. Always thought that would need to be done before ever going to Mars. At least we would have a chance at rescue or fixing a problem on moon, not so much on Mars.

328KF
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posted 12-11-2017 09:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 328KF   Click Here to Email 328KF     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I'm (cautiously) very optimistic. Granted we've all seen this movie before, a major reason to be optimistic is the work already in progress.

SLS/Orion are shaping up. Commercial crew vehicles are getting close to flying. SpaceX and Blue Origin have heavy lift rockets in the works. Bigelow has flight-proven hardware now. Extensive experience has been gained in working with international partners throughout the ISS program. These partners will jump at the chance to produce lander designs, and we may even see multiple surface transport providers.

This is not a new white sheet program. Many of the pieces have been both newly developed and saved from the scrap heap by Congress. It has always made the most sense to me to leverage these assets for lunar exploration and exploitation before venturing further out.

It's not a detour or a dead end at all. It's a new beginning for a new generation of engineers and explorers. We'll discover more than we ever thought possible, both scientifically and technologically. It will also be a fundamental change to humanity's view of space exploration when we look up at the moon knowing that we have a permanent presence there. Just as it should have been for a long time now.

p51
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posted 12-12-2017 03:44 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The major problem with a declaration like this is it lives or dies under the whims of following administrations, as we found out at the tail end of the Apollo program.

I'm one of the people who are firmly convinced that if JFK hadn't gone campaigning in Dallas in November of 1963, we might have not have landed people on the Moon at all. Clearly once we'd accomplished that goal, the political will went out the window and that was that or several years.

I see a big comparison between today and the time between Skylab and STS. Once a Moon or Mars mission becomes something other than science fiction (as the public probably knows NASA isn't ready to go to Mars for a while yet), then the national spirit and interest will return as it did at the time people realized STS was going to start flying, after they saw the orbiters being delivered...

Hart Sastrowardoyo
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posted 12-12-2017 05:29 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Hart Sastrowardoyo   Click Here to Email Hart Sastrowardoyo     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Every generation has been told, "The ones that are going to Mars are sitting in this elementary-school class." They've been told that in the '70s, in the '90s, and now. Yet the mission to Mars has continuously moved to the right.

We have no concrete plans, no hardware for anything past EM-2, which has also continued to slip to the right.

Tell random people on the street why we should go to the moon or on to Mars and see if you get a dollar for your response. The people are represented by Congress, and by extension won't fund this because they see no reason to (unless you couch a return to the moon program as lots of jobs coming to where they live.)

Bush wanted to go back to the moon by the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11. I didn't believe it then.

oly
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posted 12-12-2017 11:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for oly   Click Here to Email oly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I welcome any directive put on paper that gives a direction and goal of future space flight that includes manned missions and have previously stated my belief that a return to the moon is needed as a step to manned Mars missions.

However, this steers clear of the most divisive and thorny issues in space exploration: budgets and timelines and as such may be no more than wishful thinking. I wait to see if there will be any acceleration to the Orion flight schedule program out of this.

Tykeanaut
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posted 12-13-2017 04:20 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Tykeanaut   Click Here to Email Tykeanaut     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
It's so long ago that we landed on the moon that a whole generation must surely question the capability to do so again? A return to the moon has to be the first logical step.

MrSpace86
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posted 12-13-2017 08:49 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for MrSpace86   Click Here to Email MrSpace86     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I have always believed we need to go back to earth orbit first. We have not been in space via our own vehicle since mid 2011 and counting.

Continue research in low earth orbit, expand or start a new station, and find a way to reduce space debris. Maybe research from low earth orbit can help with climate change, medicines for the sick, and overall help improve life on earth.

Going to the Moon and Mars just doesn't do it for me personally. It almost feels like a cop out to forget about the issues and problems we have here on planet earth.

p51
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posted 12-13-2017 09:40 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I gave a talk about the space program to a high school class last month, and one of them referred to herself and her peers as the "Mars generation." I stifled a snicker and said, "You know what? I AM a member of the Mars Generation, too!" They didn't know what to make of that, coming from someone on the downhill side of his 40s.

I further explained the original plan to get people to Mars by the 1980s. That really shocked all the students. A few came up later and said, "I had no idea that plan went back that far."

quote:
Originally posted by MrSpace86:
It almost feels like a cop out to forget about the issues and problems we have here on planet earth.
That was the primary argument against Apollo in the 60s. I've always been in awe that in an era of racial strife (way worse than anything going on now) and an unpopular war in Southeast Asia, we also managed to go to the Moon.

I wasn't yet born when Apollo 11 landed, but I know history very well. Don't let anyone tell you that the US public (and more than a few politicians) were all fully behind the program as plenty of people were against it as an expensive diversion.

But the bottom line is, centuries from now, people will still remember we landed on the moon before the end of the 60s, long after all the other things are forgotten.

I still can't grasp, though, how what is a defining moment for the human race (right up there with the invention of fire and the wheel) is today greeted with a "ho hum" reaction from the population as a whole. And it's been that way for a long time (before anyone starts blaming the Millennials and the "cell phone/Facebook" culture for that, too).

cspg
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posted 12-13-2017 10:15 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for cspg   Click Here to Email cspg     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MrSpace86:
Going to the Moon and Mars just doesn't do it for me personally. It almost feels like a cop out to forget about the issues and problems we have here on planet earth.

I agree.

Aztecdoug
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posted 12-13-2017 11:10 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Aztecdoug   Click Here to Email Aztecdoug     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I was amazed once when driving to a Dave Scott signing event in Santa Monica years back, when I stopped at the bottom of the freeway off-ramp and saw a homeless fellow, with a sign out, asking for money.

I thought to myself, how can this be? We cancelled the balance of the Apollo Moon landing program to make this go away?

NASA kept it's promise and put a Man on the Moon. What happened to the promise to fix homelessness? What did they do with the money saved?

We might as well keep funding human space travel, at least that will happen if they try.

denali414
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posted 12-13-2017 01:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for denali414   Click Here to Email denali414     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I respectfully disagree strongly, Humans as a species are inquisitive and always striving for discovery. This has been our nature from the first caveman to wonder what was over the next mountain, to the Egyptians wondering where the Nile ended, to the Vikings looking for new lands, to the British, Spanish and French looking for the New World both east and west.

All these societies had local problems, famish, the Black Plague, political uprisings etc., and yet the always found time and energy to devote to exploration and discovery of the unknown. We will always have problems on planet Earth, but as a species in my opinon the next evolution is space travel and hopefully this will one day lead to the answer to that time old question "are we alone?" No other way to answer but to master and explore the uncharted area of space. Just like our ancestors did with the seas and far off lands, we need to keep exploring, despite all the problems of planet Earth.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-13-2017 01:27 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
NASA, itself, advocated canceling the latter Apollo missions so that it could afford the space shuttle (and proposed space station), the Voyager probes and a proposed push onto Mars. It had little to anything to do with funding other agencies or government programs, social or otherwise (as that is not federal appropriations work).

Public opinion has rarely had any impact on the direction we take in space. NASA's path forward has been driven by international politics and the domestic economy (e.g. jobs); no major space policy has ever been shaped on the public's will.

Every dollar spent on space exploration ultimately benefits people on Earth, whether by sustaining or creating jobs or from the technological advancements that are made in support of the effort. How we get to Earth orbit plays little to no factor in what we learn about Earth once there. The next revolution in low Earth orbit will likely not be about science; it is more likely to be about commercial applications of microgravity, such as the production of superior fiber optic cable (as is about to be demonstrated aboard the space station).

As for Space Policy Directive 1, all that it did was add the moon's surface to the possible locations to send astronauts, if appropriations support such activities. It should not be confused for a new national goal or even a new NASA program. If that comes, it will be in the form of authorization and appropriations legislation.

p51
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posted 12-13-2017 04:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for p51   Click Here to Email p51     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by denali414:
Humans as a species are inquisitive and always striving for discovery.
Yeah, but you're forgetting for every Magellan or de Gama, there were thousands of short-sighted countrymen whose ambitions went as far as their own doorways and no further. They were the majority and without wealthy patrons or nobility footing the bill, most of the exploration of this planet would have been serious curtailed.

These are the people who decried spending money to go to the Moon when there were still some homeless people down their block (a problem, we all know if we allow ourselves to be honest, will never go away, no matter how much money is thrown at it). They'll be in every generation; they're the ones today who can't even tell you what nations border their own but can tell you what each of the Kardashians are doing this week or what everyone on Facebook had for dinner last night (seriously, what's up with people doing that?).

I saw some younger folks walk right by an Apollo astronaut (Al Worden) at an event and I told them who'd they walked by. They just shrugged and one didn't even look up from his Facebook scrolling on his cell phone. It meant nothing to them. A friend told me of a similar reaction in the early 90s upon meeting Robert Ballard, the man who found the Titanic. These people aren't any different than the majority of people in any other generation.

Humans, for the most part, are not creative or imaginative at all once they get past childhood. They're self-centered, small and petty creatures who wouldn't see a big picture if you hit them over the head with it. That's why explorers stand out; so few people want to do that in any generation.

That is why it took a national mandate to go to the Moon and the political will, maybe in utter contempt for public opinion, to make space exploration happen. It has very little to do with the human condition. In fact, I'm sure it flies in the face of it!

quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
...no major space policy has ever been shaped on the public's will.
Yes, the 60s proved that. If there was a majority vote for Apollo in the US, I'd have flipped a coin on the outcome of going at all.

denali414
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posted 12-13-2017 06:46 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for denali414   Click Here to Email denali414     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I guess I'm fine with it being just the best and brightest striving for the next step in exploration and discovery. I'm okay with the general masses having their lives enhanced through these discoveries, be it the cellphone they can't stop looking at, the microwave that heats their Hot Pockets, the satellite transmissions that enable them to see those Kardashians, etc.

As long as the modern "nobles" or governments or even CEOs (Branson and Musk) continue to fund and have some willing drive to continue the exploration, and see the bigger picture — I'm good.

perineau
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posted 12-14-2017 04:01 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for perineau   Click Here to Email perineau     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
The irony in Trump's "announcement" is that members of Congress are actually considering NASA budget cuts as the delays for SLS, Orion and so on pile up. So, this is really "much ado about nothing"...

Blackarrow
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posted 12-14-2017 11:27 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Blackarrow     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by cspg:
I agree.

Then why do you frequent this site?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-14-2017 12:03 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by MrSpace86:
It almost feels like a cop out to forget about the issues and problems we have here on planet earth.
Elon Musk had something to say about this on Twitter this week:
It is high time that humanity went beyond Earth. Should have a moon base by now and sent astronauts to Mars. The future needs to inspire.

Our existence cannot just be about solving one miserable problem after another. There need to be reasons to live.

Fra Mauro
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posted 12-14-2017 12:43 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Fra Mauro   Click Here to Email Fra Mauro     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
I,too, am skeptical this will ever happen because of factors like the budget and political and national will. But I will say it is nice to see a goal articulated than hearing that a program is being cancelled. Let's enjoy the moment...

ejectr
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posted 12-14-2017 04:00 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ejectr   Click Here to Email ejectr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
There need to be reasons to live.
Amen. There are always reasons to stop one thing in favor of another. You can choose to stick with the forever problems or move on at the same time... I think Elon has the right idea.

MrSpace86
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posted 12-15-2017 11:09 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for MrSpace86   Click Here to Email MrSpace86     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Elon Musk is a businessman first and foremost. SpaceX is about making money as any private business should be.

If I am in a room with five people, one person is sick and needs medical attention, one is hungry and needs food, the other has a disability and needs professional help immediately, and the last one has an extra ticket to an undiscovered paradise and has offered it to me if I take him to the airport. I am the only one with a vehicle, and enough fuel and space to only pick one person. Which one should I choose?

According to Elon and some people on this thread, I should just go with my friend with the ticket and not help the others solve their problems.

Inspiration is in the eye of the beholder.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-16-2017 03:23 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
With respect, your analogy is flawed.

Musk, nor anyone else in this thread, has suggested abandoning help for those in need. Rather, space exploration and other noble pursuits provides the inspiration for why we, as a species, should not just give up in light of the struggles and barriers we all face as we continue work to surpass and, hopefully, solve them.

No where in space (that we can reach or know of, at least) is more a paradise than what we have here on Earth (even in its present condition). The moon, Mars and the asteroids don't offer paradises — they offer a challenge to push the boundaries of our own abilities, such that we can find new solutions to improving life for all humans.

And Musk, like us all, is first and foremost a human, with the same basic driving forces — an inert curiosity, imagination and desire to expand one's horizons. SpaceX is a company with profit as one of its goals, but like many others that are successful, it is not singular in its purpose.

oly
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posted 12-19-2017 08:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for oly   Click Here to Email oly     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Given the latest position that indicates a return to the moon, the number of shuttle main engines and boosters in stock and the current flight schedule for Orion and SLS, how many flights could NASA launch that could possibly include a manned lunar landing mission?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-19-2017 09:21 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
Sixteen (16) RS-25 engines were leftover from the space shuttle program, enough for four Space Launch System launches. NASA contracted with Aerojet Rocketdyne in 2015 to resume production of the RS-25, including streamlining its design for its use an expendable engine.

Orbital ATK has (I believe) enough shuttle-heritage solid rocket motor segments for the planned Block 1A and 1B SLS flights, after which NASA plans to contract for an advanced booster of a design still be decided.

The limiting factor for a crewed lunar landing is not necessarily the launch vehicle, but the need to design and build a lunar lander.

Blackarrow
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If NASA agreed to share the cost and the construction of an updated version of the "Altair" lander from the cancelled Constellation project with another country, say Japan or India or Europe or even Russia, would there be any legal issues arising from the sharing of the plans and preliminary studies previously carried out by NASA?

I assume that co-operation between NASA and, say, SpaceX, would not have the potential "data-sharing" legal issues that would arise with a deal involving another country.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 12-19-2017 05:16 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
After its experience with the International Space Station, the United States is not likely to be eager to put an international partner in the critical path.

Prior to Space Policy Directive 1, U.S. policy was that if another country decided on its own to develop a lander or infrastructure on the lunar surface, that NASA would be open to supporting such from its assets in orbit around the moon. Assuming Congress authorizes and appropriates based on SPD-1, then the responsibility for a lander will likely fall to NASA-managed project (like Orion and SLS) or perhaps a commercial services contract (like Dragon and Starliner).

As SPD-1 does not create a new program, nor does it necessitate that NASA make landing on the moon a priority, Congress could choose to continue on the present course, i.e. Orion, SLS and the Deep Space Gateway in lunar orbit, with the stated intention of addressing the lunar surface after those projects are underway.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-11-2018 04:38 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
According to The New York Times, citing excerpts from NASA documents pertaining to Monday's (Feb. 12) release of the White House's FY2019 budget request, any return of astronauts to the lunar surface will take place after the current administration leaves office, even if re-elected for another term.
For astronauts, the goal is still to reach “the vicinity of the moon” in 2023. That is the current schedule for the first crewed launch of the Space Launch System, which would fly around the moon but not land.

Under the proposed timeline, work on a lander would not start until that year.

ejectr
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posted 02-11-2018 06:10 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for ejectr   Click Here to Email ejectr     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
If this was 1961... that would be 1968. Sound familiar?

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-11-2018 06:45 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
In Apollo, NASA began contracting for the lunar module in 1962. It then took six years for the first lunar module to fly — and that was with full funding.

Under the current White House's proposal, NASA will receive a small bump to its budget in 2019 and then will flat line through 2023 (to quote the New York Times, "with inflation, NASA's buying power would erode, effectively a budget cut each year.") The space agency won't even begin considering a lunar module until 2023.

That is if Congress adopts the President's budget request...

Grounded!
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posted 02-11-2018 08:36 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Grounded!   Click Here to Email Grounded!     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by ejectr:
If this was 1961... that would be 1968. Sound familiar?
It does, and it was along time to wait when I was young.

Excuse my impatience, but it has already been 45+ years since we walked on the moon. It is entirely possible that all the Apollo era astronauts will have left us by the time we set foot there again, and that, in my opinion, is sad.

328KF
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posted 02-11-2018 10:13 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for 328KF   Click Here to Email 328KF     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by Robert Pearlman:
...any return of astronauts to the lunar surface will take place after the current administration leaves office, even if re-elected for another term.
So what? I really don't understand the point here. Presidents come and go. The current policy will guide the program for the next several years, but the biggest thing going for lunar exploration right now is the infrastructure being put in place to actually make it happen.

Commercial space services are maturing, interest in the moon has gained momentum, and a lot will happen (new technologies, new partnerships, etc.) which will keep us moving toward the goal.

Even if we shoot ourselves in the foot again and the next President cancels [fill in your favorite program here], I believe manned lunar exploration and exploitation will probably still happen in roughly the same timeframe.

It's a whole new game today. It's not 2009.

It would be great to hear more of a long range vision from the NASA Administrator, but now over a year into the term, Congress has failed to find the time to approve him.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-11-2018 10:58 PM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
quote:
Originally posted by 328KF:
So what? I really don't understand the point here.
It sets a timeline.

When SPD-1 was signed, there were some (elsewhere online) who suggested it meant we would see new moon landings within the next seven years. This budget proposal clarifies the Adminstration's expectations.

Robert Pearlman
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posted 02-12-2018 09:34 AM     Click Here to See the Profile for Robert Pearlman   Click Here to Email Robert Pearlman     Edit/Delete Message   Reply w/Quote
And then again, maybe there is not a timeline at all. From Ars Technica:
...the agency will fund small- to medium-sized landers between now and 2023 (up to 1,000kg to the surface of the Moon), before finally beginning work on a human-rated lander in late 2023 or 2024. There is no projected date for actual human landings, which presumably would come much later in the decade. (Certainly these would not occur before 2024, the last year of a Trump presidency if he were to win a second term).

Moreover, this notional timeline for a lunar program start has little or no actual budget attached to it, and there are no details in this document about whether such a program would include robust international partnerships, or the extent to which private-partnerships would be utilized. In short, not much appears to have changed. NASA will continue to fund a "gateway" concept for a small outpost in orbit near the Moon in the mid-2020s, with landings somewhere, at some point in the distant future.


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