Space Platforms: Reports
Endorsements Coming In for Obama's Space Plan
"President Obama’s new plan for NASA, released February 1st, is endorsed by bipartisan groups representing governors, former legislators, astronauts, and former NASA senior managers and a half dozen editorial boards." See the Commercial Space Federation's links to all and the good news for commercial space.
Review of Human Spaceflight Plans Committee - Final Report | NASA
Here's the options agenda to support heated discussions over the next few days and weeks by NASA and the Obama administration. Commercial space seems to be baselined.
Sustainable Utilization of the ISS Beyond 2015 | IAC 2009
"This International Astronautical Congress (IAC) session summary addresses the significant and unique value of the International Space Station (ISS), with growing potential to deliver future benefits beyond 2015, in areas such as: biotechnology and life sciences; Earth imaging; engineering research and technology; materials science; and various commercial applications. Presenters also considered how enhanced management of operations costs can maximize ISS productivity."
Chairs: Paul Eckert, Boeing (Human Space Endeavours Symposium); Helmut Luttman, EADS Astrium (Space Operations Symposium)
Rapporteur: Rachid Amekrane, EADS Astrium (Human Space Endeavours Symposium)
Humans to Mars: Logical Step or Dangerous Distraction? | AIAA Space 2009
"This paper examines post-Apollo proposals for human exploration of Mars and assesses their failure to win enduring political and public support. There are lessons to be learned that are applicable to current exploration efforts. Foremost among them is that the path to solar system exploration that has dominated the space community's thinking since the 1950s may not be a logical or politically feasible approach for the 21st century. The paper proposes that human exploration of the Moon and Mars should be decoupled and treated as separate ventures with each justified by its own merits and pursued at its own pace." Good arguments are made for this viewpoint which include the role of commercial space and public benefits.
Mid & Long-term Prospects for Human Spaceflight | Center for Strategic & International Studies
"The next decade, ushered in by the new U.S. president and his administration, will be crucial to space exploration. Indeed, during the next decade, the Space Shuttle will have to be retired, the International Space Station (ISS) made a visible success, and humans returned to the moon. In fact, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) recently identified retirement of the Space Shuttle as one of the 13 most urgent issues that the new administration will need to address. Accordingly, CSIS put together a select working group to provide objective, bipartisan, and pragmatic insights into this complex set of issues." These recommendations have major relevance to the future of entrepreneurial space commerce. This May 2009 report can be purchased online at this url.
Lunar Science: Window to the Past and Stepping Stone to the Future | NLSI
This recent white paper sent to the Augustine Panel by NASA describes how "the NLSI will bring together scientists and engineers from the academic community and NASA Centers to advance lunar science, support both human and robotic missions to the Moon, train the next generation of lunar scientists and communicate the excitement of this scientific exploration to the public." The Google Lunar X-prize announced in Sept '07 has galvanized the emerging entrepreneurial space community. Nineteen international teams are registered and this will inevitably spur development of a commercial lunar industry. NASA is having policy discussions focused on allowing NASA to buy services including payload transport to the Moon from these companies once reliable capabilities are demonstrated. NLSI is pursuing options to contribute small science payloads to private missions to the Moon". Stay tuned.
International Space Station National Laboratory Workshop | SpaceRef - Space News as it Happens
On March 31, 2006, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) held its first in a series of 2006 Congressional forums on the Hill to help educate Congress on important aerospace issues facing the industry today. The Forum focused on the rapidly diminishing federal funding for space life science research within NASA and options forrestoring and sustaining this essential National capability.
The Forum facilitated an open dialogue between industry, academia, Congress and the Administration on life science research issues facing the U.S. and the need for action to ensure future competitiveness in a widening international space life science community. Panelists discussed the precarious state of this research and its criticality to successfully meeting President Bush’s challenge to NASA to conduct a human mission to the Moon by 2018 as a precursor to a subsequent years long mission to Mars.