New Mars Forums

jabe

Member

From: toronto Canada

Registered: 2003-10-02

Posts: 24

Re: New Space Vision - NASA's first info to general public

WEll,
it looks interesting.  [http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=11605]Space vision  now has some more "official" info...
any thought on it?
cheers
jb

Rxke

Member

From: Belgium

Registered: 2003-11-03

Posts: 3,669

Re: New Space Vision - NASA's first info to general public

It's still ver vague...

and it looks like Mars human missions are an afterthought, cfr the robotic missions to Mars part, and 'let's see what we achieve on the moon'

I guess that was to be expected.

sounds like "Mars by 2050, if we're lucky" or something, I'm afraid

Michael Bloxham

Member

From: Auckland, New Zealand

Registered: 2002-03-31

Posts: 426

Re: New Space Vision - NASA's first info to general public

Refering to:[http://www.nasawatch.com/misc/New_Space_Vision.pdf]New Space Vision (PDF) Distributed to NASA Employees 16 Jan 2004.

Much more resolved than Bush's speech, IMHO...

-Exploration of the solar system will be guided by compelling questions of scientific and societal importance.
-Consistent with the NASA Vision and Mission, NASA exploration programs will seek profound answers to questions of our origins, whether life exists beyond Earth, and how we could live on other worlds.

It's great to see 'societal importance' up there. Is this the first time such a thing has been mentioned by NASA? The second highlight gives me hope NASA will start listening to the visionaries. Wait a minute, do we want that?...

-Consistent with recent discoveries, NASA will focus on likely habitable environments at the planet Mars, the moons of Jupiter, and in other solar systems.

This is great; Notice no mention of the Moon.

-Where advantageous, NASA will also make use of destinations like the Moon and near-Earth asteroids to test and demonstrate new exploration capabilities.

This appears to clear up Bush's lunar misconception. Although we can't be sure what 'where advantageous' means exactly. Also notice reference to 'near-earth' asteroids, not Kuiper belt ones...

-Acquire crew and cargo systems, as necessary, during and after availability of Shuttle.

This might refer to a new or adapted launch vehicle, as it does not refer to the CEV, below.

-Crew Exploration Vehicle

-Develop a CEV to travel beyond low Earth orbit, the first new U.S. human space flight vehicle since the 1980s.
-Undertake first test flight is planned by the end of this decade in order to provide an operational capability to support human exploration missions no later than 2014.

Notice 2008 has been changed to 'end of this decade'.

-Timing of human missions to Mars will be based on available budgetary resources, experience and knowledge gained from lunar exploration, discoveries by robotic spacecraft at Mars and other solar system locations, and development of required technologies and know-how.

This is expected. I only hope NASA discovers it has what it needs before 2020...

-Other Solar System Exploration

-Conduct robotic exploration across the solar system for scientific purposes and to support human exploration.
-In particular, explore Jupiter's moons, asteroids and other bodies to search for evidence of life, to understand the history of the solar system, and to search for resources.

I wonder what they mean by that?

And finally,

-Conduct advanced telescope searches for Earth-like planets and habitable environments around other stars.

Is interstellar travel part of Bush's long term agenda?

Overall, I reckon this looks pretty darn good.
It's all coming together for NASA; we're finally headed somewhere.

---

- Mike,  Member of the [b][url=http://cleanslate.editboard.com]Clean Slate Society[/url][/b]

Shaun Barrett

Member

From: Cairns, Queensland, Australia

Registered: 2001-12-28

Posts: 2,843

Re: New Space Vision - NASA's first info to general public

Thanks, Michael!
    Your excerpts from the NASA spiel certainly do make it look like there's room for manoeuvre in this plan of President Bush's.
    My first impression was that this plan was a sell-out to the military, who lust after total control of all cis-lunar space. But, the way you set it out, it almost looks like Bush is actually aiming at Mars but using a softly-softly back-to-the-Moon-gradually approach, so as not to scare off the faint-hearted!

    I very much hope you're right.   

---

The word 'aerobics' came about when the gym instructors got together and said: If we're going to charge $10 an hour, we can't call it Jumping Up and Down.   - Rita Rudner