A Look at John McCain's Space Plan August 29, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Apollo, cooperation, Google Lunar X Prize, McCain, Obama, space tourism , add a commentAfter recently taking a look at Barack Obama‘s detailed space plan, it’s now time to sit down and take a gander at his counterpart John McCain‘s own plan for our spacefaring future.
While McCain’s plan is only about a third of the length of Obama’s (989 words to 3,486), there’s still enough information and context that can be discerned from it to give an idea of what a McCain administration’s space policy could shape up to be like.
- Batting leadoff is this first-sentence statement : “For the past 50 years, space activities have contributed greatly to US scientific discovery, national security, economic development, and national innovation, pride and power.” The placement of “national security” second on that list is notable, and not a surprise given McCain’s military background.
- The plan goes on to briefly discuss Sputnik, the reaction to it, and how that led to a dominance in American science and technology, noting: “The end of the Cold War and the space race has greatly reduced the profile of space exploration as a point of national pride…”, creating a “degree of ‘mission-rut’” for NASA.
- After noting “Much of our communications infrastructure is dependent upon space based assets that are essential to the quality of our everyday lives and the economy”, the report goes on to detail how China, Russia, India, Japan and Europe are all “active players” in space exploration.
- McCain then writes briefly about the increasing activity in the commerical sector and mentions the Google Lunar X Prize and space tourism, specifically noting the “importance of investments in key industries such as space to the future of our national security, environmental sustainability, economic competitiveness, and national pride as a technological leader”; again, a distinct foreign policy lean with national security being first on the list and “competitiveness” and “pride” being in there also.
- An entire paragraph is devoted to discussion of the following quote regarding the Nixon administration’s mulling of the cancellation of Apollo and non-approval of the Space Shuttle:
“[That policy] …would be confirming in some respects a belief that I fear is gaining credence at home and abroad: That our best years are behind us, that we are turning inward, reducing our defense commitments, and voluntarily starting to give up our super-power status and our desire to maintain world superiority.”
-Casper Weinberger, Office of Management and Budget Deputy Director, 1971
- McCain then states, rather significantly, that “Three and a half decades later this seems equally valid, if not more so given the increased number of countries that are making significant investments in space.”
The report then concludes with a little on McCain’s contributions to the space program as a Senator and on NASA’s current policies and projects.
McCain’s last statement about Weinberger’s quote, combined with the foreign policy leaning of the plan, clearly illustrates that McCain sees Constellation and the rest of NASA’s programs as key to American international standing, prestige, and competitiveness.
This is somewhat of a contrast to Obama’s plan, which has a focus that is notably more domestic, primarily discussing the private sector. A perhaps even more notable contrast is that while Obama’s plan discusses international cooperation quite a bit, it is something that is not mentioned a single time in McCain’s plan.
The differences in the two plans are fascinating, and more than I would have expected, illustrating that this is definitely a subject that both candidates take very seriously, and that they both have their own distinctive styles towards handling.
Picture of the Week: Moon Princess August 26, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Apollo, Gaia Selene, Google Lunar X Prize, Japan, Kaguya, Mooncast, Mythology, Picture of the Week , add a comment
A main facet of the Google Lunar X Prize‘s award conditions is the completion of a ‘Mooncast‘, including HD video, from the surface of the moon, representing something of a next step forward from what JAXA’s Kaguya carried forward from Apollo.
For a remarkably thorough and neat examination of the Kaguya craft itself, see this Discovery Channel profile on it.
Barack Obama Outlines Extensive, Detailed Space Plan (News) August 17, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Astrobotic, Current News, economy, McCain, National Aeronautics and Space Council, Obama, Operationally Responsive Space, private sector, space conflict , 4commentsToday, presidential candidate Barack Obama has released a new, extensive plan for the future of American space exploration. (John McCain’s plan; I’ll put up a full analysis of McCain’s corresponding plan in the coming days.)
Obama’s plan is a big one: a total of 3,486 words and six pages as a PDF (versus McCain’s, which has 989 words), with plenty of details and specifics. Some moon colonization-specific highlights:
- This statement, in particular, stuck out to me, in reference to his plan: “…achieving this vision, Obama will reach out to include international partners and to engage the private sector to amplify NASA’s reach.” That sounds a lot like what companies such as Astrobotic (see bottom of that page) are suggesting is a better system (and are positioning themselves to be the deliverers of): have government agencies utilize private sector companies for services such as data collection, in order to save on costs and spur private sector development. It’s very interesting to see such particular wording in Obama’s plan: ‘amplify NASA’s reach’.
- Obama goes on to state that he would reinstate the National Aeronautics and Space Council, originally in operation from 1958 to 1973 and last seen briefly from 1989 to 1992. It would report directly to the president, and “coordinate civilian, military, commercial and national security space activities”. This is a very significant idea, that could go a long way in spurring our heels in the Base Race.
- The plan states support for international cooperation, noting NASA’s current efforts and that Obama will “not only continue but intensify this effort”.
- Specific support is put forward for the prevention of armed conflict in space, with Obama stating he would “work with other nations to develop ‘rules of the road’” for “acceptable behavior”; oppose “the stationing of weapons in space”; and work to protect assets from attack and enable rapid recovery from them, specifically noting the Operationally Responsive Space program as a method of this.
- Regarding commercial access to space, Obama says we must “unleash the genius of private enterprise to secure the United States’ leadership in space”. Now that’s a statement.
To summarize, the most significant info one can take from this plan is probably the rather specific nature of his commerical sector statements: “Unleash the genius…”, “amplify NASA’s reach”… Mr. Obama sounds very serious about spurring the private sector, and his related points in the plan are some of the least generic of report.
Often time, big economic booms in America are spurred by the rise of new industry (the World War II build-up, the 90′s internet boom), and with the economy in the state it’s in, perhaps Obama sees the potentially explosive commercial space industry as one of the ways out.
Picture of the Week: What Ocean? August 16, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : cooperation, European Space Agency, NASA , add a comment
The above is a picture of two ESA astronauts, André Kuipers and Frank de Winne, training underwater at a Houston NASA facility. The ESA is actively recruiting astronauts as it explores its Moon mission options, with cooperation (like the training above) and more concrete indications of plans to work together on the moon becoming more and more common as of late.
NASA abandons accelerated Orion 2013 plan (News) August 12, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Altair, Ares I, Ares V, Constellation, Current News, NASA, Orion (craft), Space Shuttle , add a comment
Yesterday, it was announced that NASA was abandoning its idea for an ambitious, accelerated launch of its next-gen Orion spacecraft, pushing back the date a year. While the announced launch date is March of 2015, they were hoping to get the craft up and launched as soon as 2013; now they are looking an an internal date of 2014 (with the ‘announced’ launch date still sitting pretty on 2015).
MoonPop: "Fly Me to the Moon" August 11, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : MoonPop, South Korea , add a commentThis song has been stalking me as of late (today it was the song on the music player of my favorite–and totally not moon-related–coffeehouse’s website…my first time at the website, and it’s that song of all the possible choices for me, moon blogger/frequent patron…weird), and so without further adieu, here’s a little spotlight onto the lunar entry into pop culture made famous by Frank Sinatra: “Fly Me to the Moon”.
The song, written as a pop standard by Bart Howard in 1954, was actually orginally titled “In Other Words”, but that oh-so-catchy first line eventually became the title. It was first recorded by Kaye Ballard, and after numerous others had recorded versions, Sinatra recorded his own iconic whirl on it in 1964.
Since then, it has been covered by countless more artists, inspired punny movie titles, and (of course) actually been sung in space.
I’ve got a whole playlist of moon tunes that I swing to while blogging away here, that I’ll share as soon as I figure out a practical way for it to be more interactive (e.g. listenable) right here at the blog…:) But, for now, enjoy that video above and the litany of links I’ve provided for ya as per usual :)
Picture of the Week: Peek-A-Boo August 8, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Lunar Reconaissance Orbiter, Picture of the Week, selenodesy, Selenology, Vision for Space Exploration , add a comment
That is a picture of a Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) mockup, with the Narrow Angle Camera being looked at by a team member identified as ‘Cathy’ (which, looking at the team’s members, is probably the Deputy Project Manager Catherine Peddie).
The LRO is the first major mission of the Vision for Space Exploration era of NASA, with an expected launch of February 27, 2009. It’s mission is largely one of documentation, with a more in-depth look at the selenology and selenodesy of the moon in preparation for the set-up of colonies there before 2030 or so. In addition to what will assuredly be lots of neat, pretty pictures, the LRO will send back valuable information about radiation, water, and other key environmental elements that may or may not be present on the moon.
CNN Article/Video Interviews with Odyssey Moon Ltd.'s Bob Richards August 5, 2008
Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Integration, Odyssey Moon, private sector , add a commentAs part of their ongoing “Just Imagine” feature, CNN put up a written interview and a couple of video features on Bob Richards, CEO of Odyssey Moon Ltd., and both his company and the Google Lunar X Prize it’s competing for in general. (Mr. Richards actually posted a comment on this very blog last month, which [to be honest] thoroughly surprised me at the time, haha.)
All three pieces give an interesting (and more intimate than is typical) view into the commercial venture aspect of colonization, which falls under what one could call the integration of the moon into our societies. The private sector reaching the moon may well become more significant that the actual governmental colonization efforts, as far as the Moon’s presence and influence in our daily lives; and it’s happening a lot sooner.
“In 2020 the moon is going to be part of our human society, of our economic sphere. Human beings will be there. I think the private sector will outpace governments for a while, but the governments will be working in concert and we will be establishing a moon base, prospecting for resources, we’ll be trying to understand how we can utilize the moon for the benefit of life on Earth.”
-Bob Richards, from a CNN interview
Check out all three pieces as linked above, especially the three-and-a-half minute “The Reality of Space” feature. It’s some of the highest-quality material I’ve come across, and is a great preview of what I’m sure will be a flood of constant coverage over the next twenty years and beyond, as well as an interesting (albieit brief) portrait of an important figure in the integration process.