Policy: Web Articles
Final frontier beckons for researchers | Nature News
"Spaceflight could soon be opened up to hundreds or potentially thousands of researchers rather than just an elite few, said experts at a space-research conference in Boulder, Colorado, this week.
The Next-Generation Suborbital Researchers Conference, which runs until 20 February, has drawn more than 250 delegates, including space scientists, aerospace-industry representatives and government officials. Their aim is to discuss the logistics of doing research aboard commercial suborbital space flights, which the industry says will soon be routine and affordable."
Air Force space plane shooting for April 2010 launch | Spaceflight Now
"The U.S. Air Force has released new images of its experimental new X-37B space plane as the secretive mission's launch date next April (2010) draws near. An Air Force spokesperson said the unmanned spaceship is scheduled for launch April 19 on an Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral, Fla.
The winged X-37B (no crew), also named the Orbital Test Vehicle, is managed by the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office under the direct supervision of the secretary of the Air Force and the undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology, and logistics."
Musk refutes report slamming safety standards | Spaceflight Now
"A commercial space pioneer and a former astronaut are answering claims by an independent advisory panel that private companies do not meet NASA human-rating standards and last year's presidential review of the space program did not adequately consider safety.
In an annual report released Friday, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel...said it would be "unwise" to abandon NASA's Ares 1 rocket and turn to private companies to transport astronauts to low Earth orbit. The board said potential commercial crew transportation providers do not meet NASA safety standards for piloted vehicles."
Some commentators note that NASA's available safety standards are not clearly defined. SpaceX, the current primary private sector rocket developer contends that its Dragon capsule meets NASA's guidelines and they just need to acquire sufficient budget to develop a launch escape tower. Clear, comprehensive safety standards will be required in order to make objective comparisons between launchers.
Department of Commerce Secretary, Gary Locke's "States of Entrepreneurism" Address
"The United States has not adjusted to a new global marketplace where foreign countries and foreign companies have the ability to outpace their American counterparts. It’s not tenable for...[us] to continue with the status quo. In a world where innovation is critical to U.S. competitiveness, we must do everything in our power to optimize commercialization that stems from our nation’s vast research investments. This is an issue where the Commerce Department is working hard to find solutions.
Last fall, we launched the Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, whose mandate is to drive policies and programs that help entrepreneurs translate new ideas, products, and services into economic growth, and to accelerate technology commercialization of federal R&D.
And today, I want to announce that on February 24 [2010], this Office will host a forum with university leaders and key stakeholders on the roles of universities in innovation, economic development, job creation, and commercialization of federally funded research."
Locke's analysis is dead on and includes references to NASA, aerospace and public-private collaboration in commercialization. The emerging suborbital space vehicle industry is a classic example of what he and the Obama administration are strongly promoting and they surely support STEM education as a critical lifeline essential to feed such entrepreneurial innovations.
Development of the American commercial space industry: imminent federal decisions and implications for economic development in the states
"It’s very early to have much certainty, but I’d say that a shift in federal policy toward commercial operation presages a subtle but notable shift in the center of gravity of the American space program from the South/Southeast to the Far West and Southwest, with lots of interesting economic-development consequences.
The table in this article by Hochman summarizes these data, noting the broad mandates of these space authorities to develop comprehensive aerospace sectors, including enabling technologies of all types. The table also lists states with NASA Centers and their expertises, some but not all of which will be salient to Augustine’s call for enhanced attention to “technology development” necessary to meet long-term, inspirational space goals."
The End of Magical Climate Thinking | Foreign Policy
"The Obama administration succumbed, like many others, to a sort of magical climate thinking that promised a painless and even prosperous transition to a low-carbon future with the tools already at hand. The only official within his administration to accurately grasp the technology challenges faced, Energy Secretary Steven Chu, was sidelined at crucial moments. Here is the back story of how the Obama administration dramatically raised and then dashed America's -- and the world's -- hopes that 2009 would be a pivotal year for remaking our collective energy future." This article places blame on both government and green energy advocates for "magical thinking" about what will surely at minimum be a tough, expensive, decades-long slog. The importance of space infrastructure advancements, especially by the private sector, to developing innovative lower-cost solar power and biospheric and climate monitoring systems will be major. Earth and its environment are increasingly understood as one evolving macro-ecosystem traveling through space over eons.
OnSpace: The Importance of Failure | Aviation Week
"Last night I spoke at a really good workshop hosted by the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University. The subject was small satellites, and Kirk Woellert, under the able guidance of Dr. Scott Pace, pulled together a high-energy group of speakers to go off on a very high energy topic: small satellites, CubeSats and how they are changing us, and we are changing NASA and the space program. "
"The speakers highlighted how important is failure to any reseach program. NASA spends years designing every tiny aspect of research hardware to assure no failure in equipment or result. But taking risk in a research program means allowing failure. And failure is good if there is the chance for repeating the experiment, trying something new, trying again, until you get it right."
The Write Stuff; Commercial Space to add 1,700 Florida jobs but figure may be high | Orlando Sentinel
"The "1700 jobs" figure is the result of a study by the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, an umbrella group of companies and organizations promoting the development of commercial human spaceflight.
Florida is expected to lose as many as 7,000 jobs when NASA retires the space shuttle later this year, and finding a way to replace those jobs has become an urgent political issue.
According to a federation release obtained by the Orlando Sentinel, if NASA invests $2.5 billion in private companies working on developing rockets and capsules capable of taking humans into low Earth orbit, the 1,700 Florida jobs would be created over five years.
Obama administration officials and aerospace industry executives say that the White House is considering investing up to $3 billion in commercial space over four years as part of a revamping of the agency’s current human space exploration plans."
Person Of The Year: The Space Entrepreneur | AVIATION WEEK
Aviation Week and Space Technology, in an article titled "Person Of The Year: The Space Entrepreneur," reported that, "Space entrepreneurs had a big influence on aerospace in 2009, although it does not begin to compare with the impact they are likely to have in years to come." These people are "poised to transform" space access. Even though the government, especially Congress, "remains skeptical" of using commercial companies, space entrepreneurs are "at the center of the debate on how government astronauts will get to space; the very governments they have often disdained are potentially their biggest customers." During a recent House Science subcommittee hearing, some witnesses "criticized the Augustine panel as taking safety for granted in commercial human spaceflight. But proponents argue...risk...is inherent in any worthwhile endeavor, and the space beyond Earth's atmosphere is never likely to become an integral part of mankind's economic and scientific sphere without it." Thanks to AIAA News.
Surprise! - A NASA Overhaul Needed | Houston Chronicle
"NASA's brightest potential future is one where it serves as an enabler, standards-setter and coordinating body for the more entrepreneurial activity needed to bring the cost of spaceflight down. Still needed is a “Moore's Law of Space Travel” in which a clear trend for capability in spaceflight at constant cost may be projected out. The big idea here is to work toward a balance between agile, entrepreneurial models found in the technology sector with the requirements of NASA's future programs. This will mean a gross revision of how the agency does its business. As NASA transitions to a new, younger workforce in the next decade, let us hope it begins rewriting its rules to inspire these individuals to achieve the sort of successes the X Prize winners are achieving at a fraction of the cost of those working in government."