Shuttle Retirement Looms
bush announces manned space exploration initiative The Nation’s New Space Garage
Power Down: Beaming Solar Energy to Earth
Heinlein Award January/February/March 2004 $4.95 Send Your Ballot
SHUTTLE RETIREMENT LOOMS 23rd International Space Development Conference ISDC 2004 “Settling the Space Frontier” Presented by the National Space Society May 27–31, 2004 Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Location: Clarion Meridian Hotel & Convention Center 737 S. Meridian, Oklahoma City, OK 73108 (405) 942-8511 Room rate: $65 + tax, 1-4 people
Co-Sponsors: Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Mars Society Kirkpatrick Science & Air Space Museum at Omniplex NSS of North Texas Huntsville Alabama L5 Society Austin Space Frontier Society
Speakers: Keynote Speaker (Scheduled): Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Mary Fallin, Chair of the Aerospace States Association
Astronaut Donald A. Thomas, Shuttle astronaut and ISS Program Scientist Melchor J. Antunano, M.D., MS, Director, FAA Civil Aerospace Medical Institute Charles Chafer, CEO, Team Encounter (“Humanity’s First Starship™”— solar sails) Gen. Ken McGill, Board Chair, Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Harrison Schmitt (Apollo 17 astronaut, lunar geologist) Rick Tumlinson, Founder, Space Frontier Foundation Prof. Robert Winglee, Department of Earth and Space Sciences, University of Washington Robert Zubrin, President, Mars Society; and many more, both familiar and new.
Program Tracks: Spaceport Issues Symposium • Space Education Symposium • “Space 101” Advanced Propulsion & Technology • Space Health & Biology • Commercial Space/Financing Space Space & National Defense • Frontier America & the Space Frontier • Solar System Resources Space Advocacy & Chapter Projects • Space Law and Policy Launch Infrastructure Debate • Pioneering Space
Planned Tours include: Cosmosphere Space Museum, Hutchinson, KS (all day Thursday, May 27), with Max Ary Oklahoma Spaceport, courtesy of Oklahoma Space Industry Development Authority Oklahoma City National Memorial (Murrah Building bombing memorial) Omniplex Museum Complex (includes planetarium, space & science museums)
See coverwrap of this magazine for additional information and Advance Registration Form.
Updates on line at www.nss.org or www.nsschapters.org. CSA Images
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HHOLQJWKHYLEUDWLRQVLQWKH SLWRI\RXUVWRPDFKDV\RX )ZDWFKWKHWRQ2[\JHQ DQG.HURVHQHEXUQLQJYHKLFOH EODVWLQWRRUELWLVRQHRIWKHPRVW DPD]LQJVLJKWVLQWKHZRUOG &DOOQRZIRUGDWHVDQGWRUHVHUYH\RXU VSDFHRQWKHWRXU 7KH6R\X])*ODXQFKYHKLFOHLV 63$&( DPRGHUQL]HGGHVFHQGDQWRIWKH 2XWVLGHWKH86 VDPHURFNHWXVHGE\ 1660HPEHUV'LVFRXQW&DOOIRUGHWDLOV Own Your Own Mars Exploration Rover Movable Solar Arrays Pancam Mast Assembly High Gain Antenna Authentic NASA Logo Authentic JPL Logo Extending Rover Arm Movable Rover Wheels Comes with realistic Martian base. Working closely with JPL engineers, Code 3 Collectibles has recreated the identical Mars Rovers, Spirit and Opportunity, that landed on the Red Planet in January 2004. Share in the excitement with your own model of the Rover. This authentically #11065 Mars Scale: 1:10 detailed replica is 1/10 scale of the actual Rovers. It measures 6.5” in length, 9” in Exploration Rover Dimensions: width and 6” in height. 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MODULES BY FRANK SIETZEN, JR. 16 4 Launch Pad THE VISION THING 5 Transmissions After floundering for decades, the U.S. space program has a new mission and a broader vision. 6 Mission Control But will it be enough to get us where we want to go? Space Beat BY JEFF FOUST Orbiter Update 18 13 Policy Insight IN SEARCH OF PLANETS AND LIFE When it comes to stars like our sun, planets may 14 Guest Space be the rule rather than the exception. A new 15 Countdown flock of space telescopes will help scientists hone in on the Earth-like worlds. 38 Space Community BY ERIK BAARD 22 48 Lifting Off THE CASE FOR SOLAR POWER FROM SPACE There’s an awful lot of energy to be had out in space. Why we should be looking to solve Earth’s energy crisis by harvesting power from ON THE COVER: the sun. Space shuttle Endeavour over Cook Strait, BY ARTHUR P. S MITH New Zealand, during approach to the International 26 Space Station on Nov. 25, 2002 Photo: NASA AMERICA’S NEW SPACE CATHEDRAL AD ASTRA, which means “to the stars” in Latin, is the The expansion of the Smithsonian Air and Space motto of the National Space Society, an international membership group dedicated to furthering the explo- Musuem in Dulles, Virginia, is a space buff’s ration and development of space. Our bimonthly maga- dream. A look inside the new museum. zine AD ASTRA is only one of many NSS activities aimed at creating a spacefaring civilization. For more informa- BY KEITH COWING PHOTOS BY JEFF FOUST tion on NSS call 1-202-543-1900 or visit www.nss.org/ 34 Background photos: NASA/JPL launch pad MODULESa With new prospects for a return to the moon and missions to Mars, it is impor- NEW tant that NSS focus resources to promote humanity’s reach into the cosmos. As chairman of the NSS Executive Committee, I’m pleased to announce new DIRECTIONS directions for NSS that will provide better service to members and supporters. These new directions consist of three spheres of activity: the way NSS operates, how NSS associates with other organizations, and what NSS does. The primary change in NSS operations will be characterized by a contract with a Washington-based association management firm named Management Greg Allison Options, Inc. (MOI). This will enable NSS to operate more efficiently and Chairman of the effectively. An association management company typically has a number of NSS Executive organizations as clients, so it is able to distribute the needs of its clients across Committee a staff with a wide-range of organizational skills, including key areas such as membership growth and fund-raising. This move should increase financial and membership growth while improving customer service. Secondly, in order to more effectively partner with other space organizations and implement our goals, NSS has opted to be a founding member in the newly created National Space and Satellite Alliance (NSSA). Other inaugural members are The Space Foundation, the Satellite Industry Association, the Washington Space Business Roundtable and the Aerospace States Association. Each organization leads in its particular area of expertise among non-profit space organizations. NSS, for instance, is considered by the Alliance to be the leading membership- based space organization. Working together as the National Space and Satellite Alliance, these organizations will help each other with activities and events to achieve mutual goals. NSS will remain wholly inde- pendent, always speaking for itself. The Alliance only will speak with the unanimous consent of all members. When we agree on goals and objectives, NSS will provide leadership in grassroots advocacy and public outreach. Coupled with collective NSSA expertise, we will dramatically increase our effectiveness. In addition to joining the Alliance, several organizations—including NSS—have opted to move into adjoining offices to further improve communication and coordination. The National Space Society’s new office, as well as our new headquarters team at MOI, will be located just a block north of the White House. NSS is now poised to do new things. NSS is in the process of creating a new and improved Political Action Network that will feature an online resource center, e-mail alerts and direct, old- fashioned, follow-up phone calls for a personal touch. The NSS projects leadership team of Greg Rucker and Gail Leatherwood is rekindling work on space-related programs, such as Project HALO—an NSS chapter project working to launch the first amateur rocket to space. NSS also will be investigating projects to facilitate a return to the moon, exploration of Mars and asteroid defense/utilization. These projects can range from public outreach/education to sponsoring research into living in and traveling to and through space. You’ll see more project information in each issue of Ad Astra. In short, we are looking at a new NSS, with new management and operating modes, and a renewed commitment to our objectives. Together we will build an NSS that will be heard, respected and innovative. We will pursue aggressively our dream of taking humanity to the stars. Join with us. Ad Astra! Greg Allison http://www.nss.orhttp://www.nss.ordg / 4 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars transmissions A MEMORIAL ON MARS The astronauts who perished in the Feb. 1, 2003 Columbia accident are commemorated in a plaque that will 600 Pennsylvania Ave., S.E. Suite 201 remain on Mars. The memorial was Washington, DC 20003 (202) 543-1900 designed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory engineers working on the http://www.nss.org/ Mars Exploration Rover missions. Brian E. Chase The first rover, Spirit, which landed Executive Director on Jan. 3, 2004, carried the plaque Vivian Silver on the back of its primary communi- Membership Database Manager cations antenna. NASA administra- Sherry Wilson tor Sean O’Keefe, also announced Direct Marketing / the rover’s landing site will be Chapter Relations Manager named Columbia Memorial Station. JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2002 $4.95 to the stars THE MAGAZINE OF THE NATIONAL SPACE SOCIETY Publisher Officers National Space Society Hugh Downs, Chairman of the Board of Governors Kirby Ikin, Chairman of the Board of Directors Cliff McMurray, Executive Vice President Greg Allison, Chairman of the Executive Committee Editor-in-Chief Jeffrey Liss, Senior Vice President Greg Rucker, Vice President of Projects Irene Mona Klotz Jay Wittner, Vice President of Membership Frank Braun, Vice President of Public Affairs Senior Contributing Editor Jim Plaxco, Vice President of Chapters Mark Hopkins, Secretary John Kross Joe Redfield, Treasurer David Millman, Assistant Secretary Bob Goetez, Assistant Treasurer Keil Ritterpusch, General Counsel Copy Editor Jonathan Aretakis Directors Photographer Laurence Ahearn David Baxter Marianne Dyson Robby Gaines Rich Godwin Joe Marino Francis Govers Dana Johnson Alan Ladwig Ronnie Lajoie Bruce Mackenzie Stewart Nozette Robert Pearlman Seth Potter Harry Reed Peter Vajk Charles Walker Art Direction and Graphic Design Elaine Walker Alan Wasser Wayne White Philip Young Leonard D. Righter Andrew S. Ladson Advisors Production Services C. J. Cherryh David Criswell Jerry Grey Joe Haldeman Eleanor Helin Mercury Publishing Services, Inc. http://www.mercurypubs.com Mark Holthaus Barbara Marx Hubbard Margaret Jordan Florence Nelson Scott Pace Glenn Reynolds Stanley G. Rosen Stanley Schmidt Craig Ward Ad Astra (ISSN 1041-102X) is published quarterly by the National Space Society. Editorial offices are Governors located at 600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20003-4316. No material in this Mark J. Albrecht Buzz Aldrin Norman R. Augustine Majel Barrett-Roddenbery Alan B. Binder magazine may be reproduced without permission. Frank Borman Ben Bova Bruce Boxleitner Gerald P. Carr Sir Arthur C. Clarke Tom Cruise Periodicals postage paid at Washington, DC, and Michael DeBakey Karl Doetsch Hugh Downs K. Eric Drexler Freeman J. Dyson Edward R. Finch additional entry. Membership inquiries ($38/yr, $25/yr for students under 22 and senior citizens 65 Aaron Freeman Don Fuqua Newt Gingrich Peter E. Glaser John H. Glenn Tom Hanks and older, $12.50 of which is for a subscription to Shelley A. Harrison Robert Jastrow John H. Johnson Arthur Kantrowitz John S. Lewis Ad Astra) should be sent to the National Space James A. Lovell Robert T. McCall Marvin Minsky Kenneth Money Nichelle Nichols Society, 600 Pennsylvania Ave., SE, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20003-4316. Postmaster: Send Frederick I. Ordway III William R. Pogue Neil Ruzic Harrison Schmitt Frederick Seitz address changes to Ad Astra, 600 Pennsylvania John B. Slaughter James A. Van Allen Maria von Braun Glen P. Wilson Simon P. Worden James B. Wyeth Ave., SE, Suite 201, Washington, DC 20003-4316. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 5 MODULESa RED ROVERS LAND ON MARS the rover transmitted its first black- cal composition of rocks and soil and The successful landing of NASA’s and-white images to Earth. a grinding tool to peer beneath the MISSION twin rovers Spirit and Opportunity in “It was so gorgeous to see the surface of rocks. January lifted NASA from its post- horizon in the pictures. It’s what we’d Over the next three months, both CONTROL Columbia doldrums and marked the been imagining for so long,” said Julie Spirit and Opportunity, which landed first safe return to the Red Planet’s Townsend, a mission avionics engineer. Jan. 24 across the globe from Gusev spacebeat BY JOHN KROSS surface since the 1997 Pathfinder The first images showed a flat, Crater, will look for evidence of past mission. The pair of golf cart-sized wind-scoured plain peppered with water activity in the rocks and soil and orbiter update rovers survived perilous plunges small rocks, none more than a few use cameras for geology studies. through the Martian atmosphere, cap- centimeters high. Also visible were ping their seven-month voyages with several wide, shallow bowls that may A VIRTUAL MARS MISSION be impact craters. As the higher-reso- Although, for now, human spaceflight lution color pictures appeared over is locked in low Earth orbit the extra the next few days, mission scientists, months the Expedition Six crew spent who had been getting little rest since aboard the space station after the the landing, chose the name “Sleepy Columbia accident demonstrates that Hollow” for one of the circular people can make the long trip to depressions about 9 meters (30 feet) Mars, says former station science across and about 12 meters (40 feet) officer Donald Pettit. north of the lander. NASA/JPL/Cornell “It’s a window into the interior of Spirit relays a view six-minute finales featuring scorching Mars,” said rover science team leader of Gusev Crater. heat shields, rapid-deploy parachutes, Steve Squyres, with Cornell University. retrorocket thruster firings and encap- Closer to Spirit, scientists were sulation by airbags to soften the intrigued by the thin layer of crumpled NASA impact of touchdown. crust apparently disturbed by retrac- The sixth space station crew, Spirit bounced down Jan. 3 in tion of the lander’s deflated airbags. (from left) Ken Bowersox, Donald Pettit and Nikolai Gusev Crater, a Connecticut-sized “It’s strangely cohesive,” said Budarin, at a welcome home basin scientists believe once con- Squyres, who speculated that evapo- ceremony following their tained a brimming lake. Swaddled in rating water could have left salts extended mission. its air bags, the rover bounced about behind that cemented the Martian Pettit, his commander Ken 25 times after hitting the surface of soil together. Bowersox and cosmonaut Nikolai Mars, said Rob Manning, manager of After spending 12 days scanning Budarin had been planning on a four- the entry, descent and landing portion its surroundings and carrying out engi- month stay aboard the station as of the mission. neering checks, Spirit raised itself up, members of the Expedition Six crew. After a nervous wait of about 20 extended its front legs, and started However, their ride home was can- minutes, mission controllers at trundling over the surface of Mars. celed after the Feb. 1, 2003, Columbia NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in The rover’s first trek was not a long accident and subsequent grounding of Pasadena, Calif., received a radio sig- one: It moved just 10 feet from the the space shuttle fleet. The men nal from Spirit confirming it was func- outstretched petals of its landing plat- ended up flying back to Earth aboard a tioning properly. The call set off a form for an initial round of soil and Russian Soyuz spacecraft after an boisterous wave of cheers and clap- rock studies. Spirit’s science gear extra two months in orbit, inadver- ping in the control room, a celebration includes a microscopic camera, two tently demonstrating humans’ fitness that resumed three hours later when spectrometers to analyze the chemi- for interplanetary travel, says Pettit. 6 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars mission control space beat “The whole experience had an Mars Global Surveyor, which has hounded into silence. Now the space- cano showed sulfur lava flows blan- uncanny resemblance to a trip to and been looking for signs of water-relat- craft that bears his name has itself keting the surface. landing on Mars,” he said. “We were ed carbonate minerals, found only gone silent as well. Another highlight of Galileo’s tour on orbit in a reduced-gravity environ- traces of carbonates in dust, which After 12 years of development, was the moon Europa. Data from the ment for … about as long as a one- probably came from the atmosphere several launch postponements, a six- plucky probe suggest the ice-crusted way trip to Mars … We got in our rather than rocky outcrops deposited world could be hiding a salty ocean up own vehicle (and) piloted it down to by oceans. to 100 kilometers (62 miles) deep. Earth … Then, without any help from “What we don’t see is massive the ground, we secured the space- regional concentrations of carbon- CRUISING WITH CASSINI craft, we opened the hatch, we ates, like limestone,” said Joshua It has not yet reached its intended tar- crawled out. Bandfield, a planetary geologist at get, but the Saturn-bound Cassini “All of this demonstrates human Arizona State University. spacecraft already is hard at work. In beings have enough physical strength Added researcher Philip addition to some collaborative studies and integrity to go on these long mis- Christensen, “This really points to a of Jupiter with the now-defunct sions,” Pettit said. cold, frozen, icy Mars that always has NASA Galileo spacecraft, Cassini helped Not everyone echoes Pettit’s opti- been that way, as opposed to a warm, prove Einstein’s theory of relativity. mism, countering that living aboard humid, ocean-bearing Mars sometime The experiment took place in the the space station cannot replicate one in the past.” Studying the volcanically active summer of 2002, when the spacecraft of the most challenging aspects of On the other hand, newly moon Io was among the high- lights of Galileo’s eight-year human missions to Mars—space observed details in a fan-shaped tour of Jupiter. radiation. The station is cocooned apron of debris on Mars paint a rosier within Earth’s magnetic field and picture and suggest the planet had year journey and an extended eight- somewhat protected from cosmic and long-lasting rivers instead of just brief, year mission, the intrepid Galileo other dangerous radiation. intense floods. Pictures from Global probe steered itself into the giant Unfortunately, research into the Surveyor show what appear to be planet’s stormy clouds for incinera- radiation environment around the eroded ancient deposits of transported tion. The suicidal dive, which took Red Planet suffered a setback with sediment hardened into interweaving, place in September, was orchestrated NASA the demise of the Martian radiation curved ridges of layered rock. to prevent any inadvertent contamina- environment experiment on NASA’s Scientists interpret some of the tion of Jupiter and its moons, some of The Cassini spacecraft is start- 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter. The curves as traces of ancient meanders which are under scrutiny as possible ing to close in on Saturn. device had been collecting data con- made in a sedimentary fan as flowing life-bearing worlds. and Earth were on opposite sides of tinuously from the start of Odyssey’s water changed its course over time. Despite a few technical prob- the sun and separated by a distance mission in March 2002, but, ironical- “Meanders are key, unequivocal lems, the mission has been among of more than 1 billion kilometers (621 ly, fell victim to a barrage of intense evidence that some valleys on early NASA’s most successful. Shortly million miles). Researchers observed solar radiation in October. Mars held persistent flows of water before Galileo arrived at Jupiter in the frequency shift of radio waves as over considerable periods of time,” 1995, it released a small probe that they passed near the sun, and pre- RED OASIS OR REQUIEM FOR A said Michael Malin of Malin Space plunged into the planet’s atmos- cisely measured the change in round- WET PLANET Science Systems. phere, relaying an unprecedented trip time of the radio signal. Meanwhile, back on Earth, debate weather report on the gas giant. And “The scientific significance of over Mars’ past continues with vari- FIRE AND ICE during its very first orbit of Jupiter, these results is the important confir- ous camps claiming that Mars has Galileo Galilei, the discoverer of Galileo passed Io and revealed how mation of the theory of general rela- always been a desiccated desert or, Jupiter’s four largest moons, lived the the tiny moon had changed since the tivity and the agreement with alternately, a warm, wet place capa- last years of his life a broken man. Voyager flyby of 1979. In particular, Einstein’s formulations to an unprece- ble of supporting rivers and lakes. Threatened by the Inquisition, he was closeup images of the Ra Petara vol- dented experimental accuracy,” said to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 7 MODULESa Sami Asmar, manager of the Radio The rocket carrying Yang Liwei, a flight, the second phase of China’s Science Group, which acquired the 38-year-old fighter pilot, streaked into moon program would send probes to data for NASA’s Jet Propulsion the sky on Oct. 15 from the Jiuquan the lunar surface and return sam- Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. launch site in the western Gobi ples to Earth. Upon arrival at Saturn this July, Desert. Fourteen orbits later, Yang Cassini also is expected to be able to returned a hero when his capsule, GREAT BALLS OF FIRE confirm new Earth-based radar data European Space Agency dubbed Shenzhou V, landed in China’s The most powerful explosions in the suggesting that Titan, Saturn’s Artists impression of Rosetta northern grasslands. universe, gamma-ray bursts, may largest moon, is a very strange place comet probe and lander. The launch of Shenzhou V, which generate the most energetic parti- indeed. Recent radar observations comet chaser was slated to lift off means “divine vessel,” capped a cles in the universe, known as ultra- from the Arecibo Observatory in on Feb. 26, 2004. decade-long effort by China’s secre- high-energy cosmic rays (UHECRs), Puerto Rico detected mirror-like glints Because of the delay, scientists tive, military-linked space program according to new analysis of obser- from the surface of Titan—properties have had to target a new comet—a that leaders hope will boost the vations from NASA’s Compton that are consistent with liquid hydro- chunk of ice and rock known as nation’s image abroad and their own Gamma-Ray Observatory. carbon surfaces. Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The new standing at home. The Chinese gov- Researchers report a newly iden- According to Cornell University destination has posed some engineer- ernment has long been enthusiastic tified pattern in the light from these astronomer Donald Campbell, radar ing challenges for the European Space about its space program, which it enigmatic bursts that could be signals would glint from liquid sur- Agency, not least of which is the fact casts as a symbol of technological explained by protons moving within a faces on Titan, similar to sunlight that the new target is much larger progress in a nation ascendant. hair’s breadth of light speed. These glinting off the ocean. Although than Wirtanen, its original quarry. “The short-term goal is to send protons, like shrapnel from an explo- Titan’s underlying surface is believed When Rosetta reaches the comet, it Chinese into space. The grand vision sion, could be UHECRs, which seem- to be water ice, the complex chem- will release a 100-kilogram (220- for the future is to explore space. ingly defy physical explanation, for istry in the upper atmosphere might pound) lander that is to descend and Both are inspiring to the Chinese peo- they are far too energetic to be gener- have resulted in the icy surface being harpoon itself to the comet’s surface. ple,” said Huang Chunping, chief ated by well-known mechanisms such at least partly covered in liquid “We’ve had to look at all the mis- commander of rocketry for the as supernova explosions. ethane, methane and solid-hydrocar- sion elements and make sure this new Shenzhou project. The new data does not focus bon deposits. mission can be satisfied by the space- Fast off the success of Shenzhou V, directly on UHECR production, but Cassini, which was launched in craft that was ready to be launched in a top Chinese defense official con- rather a new pattern of light seen in October 1997, also carries a January 2003,” said project manager firmed reports in the Chinese media a gamma-ray burst. Digging deep European probe named Huygens, John Ellwood. “We’re very confident that the Middle Kingdom is planning a into the Compton Observatory which will be released to plunge into we’ve looked at all the mission series of lunar missions. According to archives—the mission ended in the hazy Titan atmosphere and land aspects. Ariane is in good shape and I Zhang Qingwei, China is to launch its 2000—investigators found that a on the moon’s surface. think the spacecraft is ready to go.” first satellite to the moon in the next gamma-ray burst from 1994, named three to five years. GRB941017, appears to be different EUROPE GEARS UP CHINA ON “LONG MARCH” Also, the state-run Beijing than some 2,700 other bursts record- FOR COMET CHASER TO SPACE Youth Daily newspaper has reported ed by Compton. In this case, higher- The Old World is stepping up its China recently parted its “Bamboo that China plans to launch a lunar energy gamma-ray photons dominat- preparations for the launch of a Curtain” and gave the rest of the orbiter within the next three years. ed the burst, and were thousands of spacecraft designed to chase and world a peak into the communist The orbiter would circle the moon times more powerful than lower- land on a comet. The Rosetta mis- giant’s plans in space. Against a clear for a year, gathering information energy photons after about 100 sec- sion was scrubbed at the last minute blue sky, China fired its first taikonaut, about the lunar geology, soil, envi- onds. The enrichment of higher-ener- in January 2003 because of prob- the Chinese word of an astronaut, ronment and natural resources. gy photons is inconsistent with the lems with the Ariane booster, but becoming only the third nation to put Signaling that Chinese ambitions in popular “synchrotron shock model” after a delay of more than a year the a human in space. space go far beyond manned space- describing most bursts. 8 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars mission control space beat “One explanation is that ultra- burst model, said co-investigator hole, an object so dense that noth- dle closer to the table, the ball high-energy cosmic rays are respon- Charles Dermer. “In either case, this ing, not even light, can escape its bounces faster and faster. In a sible,” said researcher Brenda result reveals a new process occur- gravity within the black hole’s event gamma-ray burst, the paddle and the Dingus. A delayed injection of ultra- ring in gamma-ray bursts,” he said. horizon. However, black holes are table are shells ejected in the jet. high-energy electrons provides A leading contender for long- sloppy eaters, ejecting material that Turbulent magnetic fields force the another way to explain the unexpect- lived kinds of gamma-ray bursts like passes near, but does not cross, particles to ricochet between the edly large high-energy gamma-ray GRB941017 is the supernova/collap- their event horizons. shells, accelerating them to almost flow observed in GRB 941017. sar model. Collapsars are a special “It’s like bouncing a ping pong the speed of light before they break But this explanation would type of supernova where the core is ball between a paddle and a table,” free as UHECRs.” a require a revision of the standard so massive it collapses into a black said Dingus. “As you move the pad- AN INFRARED EYE IN THE SKY Among the first images taken by NASA’s new infrared Spitzer Telescope is a view of the spiral arms of Messier 81, a neighboring galaxy located in the constel- lation Ursa Major. The telescope clearly shows galaxy details such as old stars, interstellar dust which has been heated by star formation and some embedded sites where massive stars are forming. NASA A stellar nursery shines in infrared light, revealing the birth of protostars. The telescope is named after the late Lyman Spitzer, who was among the first scientists to propose putting observatories in space. NASA to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 9 MODULESa A LOOK AT NASA’S EFFORTS TO PREPARE ORBITER THE SPACE SHUTTLES FOR RETURN TO FLIGHT UPDATE thermal protections system components are manufactured and refurbished. NASA SOMBER REMINDER Charles Stevenson of the Kennedy Space Center, fore- ground, briefs staff and members of the Stafford-Covey NASA Return to Flight Task Group during visit to the Columbia Debris Hangar at KSC. Chartered by NASA Administrator TILE PATCH TEST Sean O’Keefe, the task group will perform an independent Astronaut Carlos Noriega, onboard a KC-135 zero-gravity assessment of NASA’s implementation of the recommen- aircraft, injects material into a special clear damage mold dations by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. to observe flow characteristics of the material in a weight- less environment. NASA is developing a process for repair- ing shuttle tile damage in orbit. The agency is also working on techniques to patch holes in the shuttles’ wings. Lockheed Martin NASA ASTRONAUT OVERSIGHT Carlos Noriega, the NASA astronaut representative NEW CREW assigned to support the Return to Flight Task Group, Astronaut Wendy Lawrence, one of two new crewmem- inspects a space shuttle wing leading edge reinforced car- bers added to the STS-114 flight, inspects the tiles on the bon-carbon thermal protection system panel during a tour wing of Atlantis, which is being prepared to make the first of the Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control Systems post-Columbia mission late this year. Behind Lawrence is facility in Grand Prairie, Texas. Members of the task group’s astronaut Charles Camarda, also a new addition to the Technical Panel visited the facility where space shuttle STS-114 crew. 10 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars mission control orbiter update NASA NOSECAP INSPECTIONS Astronauts assigned to fly the first post-Columbia mission take a look at their ship’s nose cap, which was removed for additional inspections. From left are mission specialist Wendy Lawrence and commander Eileen Collins. Pilot James Kelly is behind Collins. NASA EQUIPMENT CHECK As part of return-to-flight efforts, the shuttle’s Mobile Launcher Platform (MLP) number 3 and crawler transporter are undergoing a series of vibration tests. A pair of shuttle rocket boosters is bolted to the platform for the test. The crawler moved at various speeds up to 1 mph so engineers could gather data about vibrations as the crawler left the Vehicle Assembly Building, traveled toward the launch pad and returned. The primary purpose of the test was to gather data to develop future maintenance requirements on the transport equipment and the NASA flight hardware. n SHORT TRIP The orbiter Atlantis rolls out of the Vehicle Assembly Building for transfer back to the Orbiter Processing Facility. Atlantis spent 10 days in the VAB so Kennedy Space Center technicians could do some work in the shuttle’s hangar. Work includ- ed validation of the bay’s cranes, work platforms, lifting mechanisms and jack stands. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 11 NSS POSITION PAPER The Next Steps for Human Space Exploration In light of the recent loss of the Space Shuttle Columbia and her crew, many people have asked, “Why send humans into space?” The National Space Society (NSS) has identified many fundamental reasons why humans should travel beyond the confines of Earth orbit (to the Moon, Mars, asteroids, and beyond), including the long term survival of humanity and life on Earth, unlimited room for expansion of human civilization, virtually limitless resources providing benefits to Earth, economic opportunities for enterprising individuals, and a wealth of new knowledge and technologies for our society. NSS therefore recommends the following: 1. REVITALIZED POLICY. The U.S. should strengthen its leadership in human space exploration by building on the principles in the 1988 National Space Policy1. Accordingly, the U.S. government should once again direct federal departments and agencies to permanently open the space frontier to enable the U.S. and humanity to receive the enormous benefits from the exploration, development, and settlement of space. 2. LOW COST SPACE ACCESS. Low cost, robust, and reliable access to space is the single largest barrier to further advancement in space exploration and development. Therefore, NASA and the Departments of Defense and Transportation should be directed to place a priority on work to develop the technology and regulations for affordable, reliable, and frequent human access to and from space. Wherever possible, these technologies should share a common architecture and engage the private sector – ranging from entrepreneurs to existing aerospace companies – to ensure that a broad range of approaches are considered. Included in this recommendation is clarification of regulations and policies related to suborbital launch activities. 3. PERMANENT LUNAR BASE. NASA should be assigned the task of preparing for and, immediately after completion of the International Space Station (ISS), establishing a permanent human presence on the Moon. A lunar base would enable the long-term exploration of the Moon, utilization of lunar resources (including energy, oxygen, and metals) to reduce the cost of space operations, and development of infrastructure and test facilities to support the industrialization/commercialization of space and exploration of the solar system. A permanent lunar facility also provides a low gravity, isolated, stable, magnetic-field free, vacuum environment to perform cutting-edge physics, medical research, astronomy, sensitive biological/genetic investigations, and industrial research that could lead to major breakthroughs. A focused but incremental effort to return to the Moon would also give the ISS a renewed objective for testing new hardware, software, human operations, logistics, assembly, and medical safety protocols. This effort would also help drive design and operations choices for the Orbital Space Plane and next generation launch vehicle programs; the use of common architecture in these efforts will save time and money in the long-term. 4. PLANETARY PROTECTION. The Department of Defense should be assigned the task of developing protections for American space assets and the nation from terrestrial and extra-terrestrial threats, including orbital debris and Earth-crossing asteroids and comets. For more information, contact Brian Chase at (202) 543-1900 or [email protected] Updated October 1, 2003 | No. 2003-2 1 The 1988 National Space Policy is archived at www.hq.nasa.gov/office/pao/History/policy88.html 600 Pennsylvania Ave, S.E. | Suite 201 | Washington, DC 20003 | (202) 543-1900 | www.nss.org 12 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars policy insight + grassroots activism MODULESa GETTING UNSTUCK BY CLIFFORD R. MCMURRAY, NSS EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT he human presence in space has been stuck in low- Whether we will win in Congress as we have with the TEarth orbit for more than 30 years, ever since the crew of Bush administration is by no means a foregone conclusion. Apollo 17 returned from the moon in December 1972. Since Practically everyone in Congress agrees that if we are to have then, many missions have been flown with hundreds of astro- a manned space program costing billions of dollars a year and nauts and cosmonauts, but none climbed more than a few risking the lives of astronauts, that program must have a goal hundred miles from the surface of Earth. Lots of plans have worth the cost and risk. But there is not yet a consensus in been made for more ambitious exploration and development Congress as to what that goal should be, or even if we should on the moon and beyond, but nothing has moved beyond the send humans into space at all. The old arguments that space “viewgraphs and pretty artist conceptions” stage. exploration by robots will be cheaper and less risky to human Today, with President Bush’s announcement of a new pol- life, and that the money spent on human space exploration icy for NASA’s human space program, we have a real oppor- would be better spent in tackling social problems here on tunity to change that. Earth, still have a lot of supporters on Capitol Hill. These Even before the loss of Columbia, the White House and arguments may yet prevail, if we are silent now. members of Congress had begun to engage in some intense All of us in NSS believe in a future not just of human soul-searching and questioning of what America’s long-term exploration of space, but of eventual settlement and exploita- strategy for humans in space should look like. The Columbia tion of space by thriving communities of pioneers. We want tragedy added a sense of urgency. President Bush appointed a the experience of space to be open to all people, not just an special task force to reconsider U.S. space policy. The NSS elite few. That’s the ultimate goal. But we’ll never get there Policy Committee was invited to submit a brief statement for without a visionary national space policy, and now – when consideration by this task force. Our vision, which we spelled politicians of both parties are (for the first time in many out in the NSS Position Paper, Next Steps for Human Space years) searching for a policy that makes sense – now is the Exploration (reprinted on the opposite page and available at time to speak out loudly and clearly in support of our the home page of the NSS website) is almost exactly what the dreams. president has now set forth as our new national policy. First, I ask each of you to write President Bush, your senators we return to the moon – but this time to stay, with a perma- and members of Congress in support of the NSS vision for nent lunar base. Then, step-by-step, we continue outward to human space exploration, as articulated in President Bush’s Mars, the asteroids, and the rest of the solar system. new national space policy. We are closer to victory than we’ve In short, we won! But it is only the first round. The presi- been at any time in the past 30 years. If we act together dent can only propose national policy. If the Congress doesn’t today, we can set space policy onto a path that will lead us to back up the president with appropriations to pay for it, the the future we want. Please join the fight! proposed policy dies. It falls to each of us to send a loud and clear message to Congress that this policy has our support. Vice President Cheney, who has been The President’s mailing address is: The address for the House is: CONTACT active in the task force appointed President George W. Bush The Honorable ______INFORMATION by the President to examine U.S. The White House U.S. House of Representatives FOR THE PRESIDENT space policy, can be reached at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Washington, D.C. 20515 AND CONGRESS [email protected]. Washington, D.C. 20500 You can find more detailed address informa- The general address for the Senate is: tion for your representatives (exact building You can reach President Bush by phone, The phone number for the Senator ______and office number, as well as phone number e-mail or letter. The e-mail address is White House Comment Line is U.S. Senate and e-mail address) at www.senate.gov and [email protected]. (202) 456-1111. Washington, D.C. 20510 www.house.gov, respectively. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 13 guest space MODULESa T/KLUNAR SAMPLE RETURN MISSION DESERVES TOP FLIGHT BY DONALD F. R OBERTSON xciting as farther planetary destinations By definition, the polar surface with its suspected Eare, NASA’s next and highest priority should be the volatiles will differ from the equatorial regions explored proposed lunar south pole sample return. No other by the Apollo expeditions and Russian rovers—perhaps near-term, relatively low-cost mission could do so much a lot different. The landscape inside the most interesting to advance humanity’s future in the solar system. craters remains largely unknown due to the permanent The definitive location of accessible water in perma- darkness and the extremely low lines of sight to Earth- nently shadowed polar craters would have momentous based telescopes. There will be many surprises and consequences for humanity’s future. Instantly, it would dangers—just the things that robots are ill equipped to become much easier to maintain geologists, deal with. astronomers, explorers and other scientists on the Yet, in spite of the risks, NASA must attempt this moon. There they could practice living on an airless, mission as soon as possible. low-gravity world. Extracting resources useful to other The space station project will be completed or aban- space projects could initiate the beginnings of intra- doned within the decade. solar system trade. It is time to plan humanity’s next major goal. To do Launch costs should be relatively low, as the target is that, a definitive determination of the presence or relatively close by, and the flight could be executed in absence of accessible resources like lunar water is critical. weeks, rather than months or years. In addition to natural resources, a lunar polar mis- Though relatively simple logistically, such a mission sion would be scientifically rewarding. The Aitken Basin would be a technological challenge. Any ice at the lunar is believed to be the oldest large crater impact site on the poles is believed to be underground, and dispersed moon. When it was formed, material from deep within through large volumes of regolith. the moon’s interior probably was flung out, leaving a Ideally, human geologists should be sent to conduct well-preserved geologic record of the moon’s early histo- wide-ranging expeditions covering tens or hundreds of ry—and perhaps Earth’s as well. Scientists believe the kilometers. They could dig multiple deep trenches and moon was formed from debris flung out from baby analyze thousands of samples in real time. A robot rover Earth after a huge asteroid strike. mission would be another option. Given this mission’s potential for high scientific and Such a rover would have to operate in the near-total exploration payoff at relatively low cost, NASA should darkness of the polar craters while conducting high- move it to the front of the queue. In an era of tight energy trenching operations and generat- budgets, missions that achieve both scien- ing artificial light. In theory this might be tific goals and advance human expansion achieved with transmitted solar power or into the inner solar system should have a batteries. higher priority than purely “scientific” or More realistically, such a mission may “human space” missions. require some form of nuclear energy. It will also have to maintain satellite com- Donald F. Robertson is a freelance space industry munications links to Earth, which will journalist based in San Francisco. spend much of the time out of sight over the horizon. 14 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars countdown THE WINDS OF CHANGE BY IRENE MONA KLOTZ, EDITOR IN CHIEF, AD ASTRA ollowing a year that opened with the once squarely on the science side of the house taking Fdeaths of seven astronauts and closed with the on new luster in support of the planned return of 100th anniversary of humanity’s first powered flight, men—and presumably women—to the moon. the space community is hearing the knock of Contributor Donald Robertson explains why the opportunity at the door. return of materials from the lunar pole deserves a top We know all about trials and tribulations and how spot on the priority list; Arthur Smith makes a case the two move hand-in-hand in life. The art is learning for harvesting solar power in space; and freelancer how to spring from the lows to soar to the next high. Erik Baard writes about NASA’s plans for looking for There will be plenty to complain about, plenty of life well beyond our solar system. compromises and some long overdue closures as Closer to home, we have a beautiful color postcard individuals, legislators, governing boards, insti- from Mars dispatched by an appropriately named tutes, agencies and companies respond to the space rover probe that has been keeping us all in high Spirit exploration vision laid out by President Bush on since its death-defying plunge to the planet’s surface January 14. This issue of Ad Astra includes an on January 3. insider’s perspective of the policy’s creation, written It is a year of change for NSS as well, with a new by the former editor of this magazine, Frank alliance in the works, as well as a new editor at the Sietzen. His captivating tale and the implications helm of Ad Astra. I will tell you three things about for the space program are fleshed out with a sensi- myself: I have been writing about the space program tively written essay by Steven Wolfe about internal- since 1987 for Florida-based, as well as national and izing the commitment to space exploration and international media outlets, including print, wire, unlocking the key to powerful, communal and radio, online and book publishers; tears welled in my focused results. A second thought-piece about eyes the first time I saw a shuttle launch; and I’m very vision in the space program, by The Space Review good with names. e-zine editor Jeff Foust, illuminates the foibles of I welcome your comments and suggestions as we fly initiatives past. ever forward into the future. The distinction between NASA’s human and Ad Astra! robotic expeditions is changing as well, with initia- tives such as lunar sample return missions that were to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 15 RekindlingRekindling thethe DreamDream Bill Ingalls/NASA n the end, it was a president with no known Bush’s plan calls for the first post-Apollo lunar previous interest in space, a NASA administrator landing to take place as early as 2015, after which the Iwith no space background, and fallout from a United States would begin reducing its use of the national space disaster that combined to bring about International Space Station. And in the decade the most substantial change in U.S. space policy in ahead, all U.S. space station work would shift to nearly three decades. focus on sustaining humans on other worlds. All President On Jan. 14, President George W. Bush announced other research work would cease. a new national space goal to return astronauts to the NASA will be tasked to reinvent itself in other George W. Bush moon and develop multi-mission modular spacecraft ways. Nearly every element of the existing civil space outlines a bold capable of flights to asteroids and Mars. program would change to support Bush’s plan—or If the proposal survives election year politics and risk cutback or termination. In addition, a new, initiative for gets under way this year, it will serve as a catalyst for short-lived commission would be set up to vet manned space change on an unprecedented scale. If it is stopped in NASA’s implementation plan and assure it was capa- the Congress, the future of the space program itself ble of fulfilling Bush’s goals. exploration. will be very much in doubt. Bush’s directive sets as the centerpiece of U.S. THE ROOTS OF CHANGE BY FRANK SIETZEN, JR. space activities the sending of humans out into the The new space policy was in play well before the solar system, starting with the moon, but not ending Feb. 1, 2003, space shuttle Columbia accident. In there. A permanent human presence on the moon November 2001 Vice President Dick Cheney, frus- and Mars is to follow early, initial landings and cir- trated at the Bush administration’s inability to find cumnavigation flights. Under the plan, NASA will anyone willing to succeed Dan Goldin as NASA get an $800-million boost next year, and a five per- administrator, tapped the deputy director of the cent rise each year thereafter to pay for the effort. Office of Management and Budget (OMB), Sean To free up billions more, the shuttle fleet will be O’Keefe, to head up the civil space agency. retired as soon as the space station is finished—and O’Keefe, 47, had served George H.W. Bush as that might be in as few as 21 to 30 more missions. Secretary of the Navy following the embarrassing After that, the ships and their support infrastructure Tailhook scandals. Bush sent O’Keefe to the Navy to would be abandoned. clean up the mess created by that sexual fiasco. 16 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars O’Keefe had been a Republican staffer on the Senate and summer of 2003 became much more focused as Defense Appropriations Committee and a protégé of the president and vice-president weighed in with Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens. He had a reputation then as their views of the state of the civil space program. To a clean-up man, totally loyal to the Bush family and the surprise of many—but not O’Keefe—Bush close to then-Defense Secretary Cheney. At the end made it clear he wanted a new, visionary space goal. of the first Bush administration, O’Keefe went to But he also wasn’t prepared to throw money at the Syracuse University to teach management science. idea, at one point cautioning his team, “Don’t break Now the Bushes were back, and O’Keefe was the bank.” back in the thick of a dysfunctional agency. At a By the end of the summer, the options had November 2001 meeting in the Oval Office, Bush started to narrow. Replacing the fleet of shuttles was himself gave O’Keefe his charge: “That place is deemed too expensive. Worse yet, if the money was messed up,” Bush told a startled O’Keefe. “I want spent on a new big space transportation system, there you to go over there and straighten it up. would be precious little left to spend on something “Whatever you need, you’ve got,” the president for it to carry. added, but this did not mean massive new federal Among the ideas considered: canceling the spending on space—at least not until the chronic human space program and shifting NASA to a space station cost overruns had been stopped. full-time robotic exploration effort; and developing With his bean- counter back- alternative launch technologies, such as the space ele- ground, O’Keefe’s primary thrust was to do just that. vator. Both plans were dumped, and in the end one The day after the inauguration, Bush was pre- idea took root. Manned missions to the moon to sented by NASA chief Goldin with a whopping establish limited landing bases to test advanced space $4-billion cost overrun on the station. O’Keefe’s first technologies emerged as the least risky and most task was to stop this hemorrhage. This he did, by a visionary effort the nation would likely support. By Bill Ingalls/NASA combination of budget reductions and temporary the end of November, the recommendation to the cancellations of station elements, such as a crew president was to resume moon flights—but with an lifeboat and a habitation module. The cuts triggered eye toward other destinations an outcry from the international partners and When the plan was placed before him on Friday, scientists, who were instrumental in building and Dec. 19 in a meeting in the Roosevelt Room in the maintaining critical Congressional support for the White House, Bush balked. “I was concerned that controversial project. But O’Keefe forged on, and by you would present me with a plan that wasn’t vision- January 2003 had stopped the flow of red ink, and, ary enough,” Bush told the group. He wanted to according to some closest to him, had caught the make sure that other destinations, like asteroid ren- ‘space bug.’ dezvous and Mars missions, were part of the plan. “This is clearly more than just about the moon,” THE DARKEST DAY replied Vice President Cheney. All agreed. After a short The hard-fought momentum ground to a sudden pause, Bush turned to the group: “OK, let’s do it!” halt a month later when Columbia fell from the sky, The planning was over. Now, the greatest tests of killing seven astronauts who were returning home public and political support are ahead. It has been 20 from a 16-day science mission. years since Ronald Reagan launched the last success- Bush and O’Keefe now faced an even greater ful space policy effort—building the space station. It space crisis. As O’Keefe met with and spoke to Bush is up to the space community—and the public—to throughout that long weekend, the president made see if this new effort to send humans beyond Earth’s clear that he supported restoration of the shuttle orbit will succeed or end—like every initiative since program. But what also was emerging was a sense the station—in failure. n from Bush that this disaster had exposed a major fault line of space activities: What was the nation Frank Sietzen is the former editor of Ad Astra. He and doing in space? What were the focus and the goal? partner Keith Cowing, editor of NASAWatch.com, first Gradually, as the Columbia accident hearings broke the story of the Bush plan following unprecedented emphasized, it became clear that there really wasn’t access to the administration as deliberations were under an overarching goal that focused all the nation’s space way. The authors are working on a book titled New Moon policy together. O’Keefe quietly began briefing Bush Rising: The Making of George W. Bush’s Space Vision and and Cheney on this shortcoming. What started as a the Remaking of NASA, to be published by CGI Publishing series of informal discussions throughout the spring in June. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 17 THE VISION 18THINGoctober november december 2003 Ad Astra to the stars President George H.W. Bush proposed a grand space vision, the Space Exploration Initiative in 1989, but it went nowhere; will his son be more successful in developing a compelling space vision? BY JEFF FOUST ne concept has gripped the space policy always be, an experimental not an operational vehicle Ocommunity in recent months. There is hardly a and the program still faces a long and difficult road speech, Congressional hearing, or op-ed piece dealing ahead to return the ships to flight. The station, mean- in space that doesn’t discuss, in one manner or while, is awaiting the shuttle’s return to resume con- another, the lack of vision in U.S. space policy and struction although its final configuration may very the importance of developing one. Yet, while there is well fall short of the “world-class” research laboratory NASA widespread concurrence that NASA needs a vision, upon which the program was sold to the American Former NASA Deputy there is little agreement about how to develop one, people and to NASA’s international partners. Administrator Robert let alone what that vision should be. Combined, the shuttle and station act as a drag on Seamans, Wernher von NASA, programs mired in adversity but too difficult, Braun and President LOOKING BACK and with too much invested in them, to easily discard. John F. Kennedy at One can make the argument that NASA has had a The last time a president attempted to define a Cape Canaveral. compelling vision only once in its 45-year history, bold new vision for NASA was in 1989. President and that vision was born of desperation. When John George H.W. Bush, speaking at ceremonies at the F. Kennedy challenged NASA—and the nation—to National Air and Space Museum marking the 20th land a man on the moon by the end of the 1960s, he anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing, promised a did so at a time when the country appeared to be well new spirit of exploration that would send humans behind the Soviets in the space race. That competi- back on the moon – “this time, back to stay”—and tion, with its overtones of technological supremacy on to Mars, all within 30 years. and military might, had turned into a proxy for the Most of what people remember about the Space Cold War. By setting a goal as outlandish as landing Exploration Initiative (SEI) is the price tag: $450 bil- people on the moon in less than nine years, Kennedy lion, or well over $600 billion in current dollars. effectively leveled the playing field: the Soviet lead to That price quickly sank any hopes of making SEI a date was minimized relative to this new, distant goal. reality, and Bush made little effort to support or Moreover, going to the moon, as opposed to revive his initiative in the face of Congressional building a space station or other alternatives consid- opposition. Bush had much greater issues to grapple N ered by Kennedy’s advisors, could not only tap a with at the time—the end of the Cold War, the first recent enthusiasm in space exploration, but also a Gulf War, and a recession—none of which would be latent interest in the moon that could sustain the directly benefited by SEI. program during the trials and tribulations to come. Since then the biggest change in space policy was After Apollo, though, there has not been a similar the incorporation of Russia into the space station intersection of interests and incidents that has led to program, an effort by the Clinton administration to the development of a new vision for NASA and U.S. engage the Russian aerospace industry in peaceful space exploration. pursuits instead of arms proliferation, and an In the early 1970s NASA began work on the attempt to reap cost savings in the process. space shuttle program, and in the 1980s started what Priot to President Bush’s new space policy, the last would eventually become the International Space major overall space policy document issued by the Station. Over time, these programs have evolved White House was the National Space Policy of 1996. from means to ends in and of themselves: cheap, fre- This document lays out the roles and responsibilities of quent space access for the shuttle and a base for wide- NASA, the Defense Department, and other federal ranging scientific research and other work for the sta- departments and agencies in space. The document is tion. Neither was part of a well-defined, widely rational but uninspiring: the “goals” of the U.S. space accepted vision for space exploration. program, as defined in the policy, are deliberately Only in the wake of the Columbia accident has vague, with few detailed metrics and deadlines by NASA acknowledged that the shuttle is, and will which to measure progress. One of the few things the to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 19 document makes clear is that the human role in space Ernest “Fritz” Hollings, a South Carolina Democrat, is limited in the current policy to Earth orbit: “The introduced S.1821, the National Space Commission International Space Station will support future deci- Act of 2003, which would create a permanent com- sions on the feasibility and desirability of conducting mission initially tasked to review NASA’s shuttle further human exploration activities,” it states. return-to-flight efforts. Beyond that, though, the 12- person commission would perform a more compre- PRESIDENTIAL PLANS hensive review of the nation’s space plans. That The Clinton-era space policy survived for three years report, to be completed by September 2005, would into the presidency of George W. Bush primarily include “recommendations for future national goals through bureaucratic inertia. In the greater scheme for the development and use of space” and “a blue- of things, including a recession and war against ter- print of capabilities that could and should be rorism in Afghanistan and Iraq, space is a relatively achieved by the end of the present decade, by 2015, minor issue. It wasn’t until 2002 that the Bush and by 2025 in order to better position the nation to administration convened an interagency panel to achieve those goals.” perform a “phased review” of national space policy. While this commission would weigh in on any At the start of 2004, that effort has led to only one future goals or vision for the U.S. space program, published policy document, on commercial remote Hollings himself doesn’t believe that it will be with- sensing, released in April 2002. A second policy doc- in the purview of the commission to draft those ument on space transportation was nearly complete goals itself. “My bill is not intended to supplant, nor sub- “This country is capable of stitute for, the president’s desire to set a new goal into place for the Human Space Flight Program. great things once we focus, Merely setting a far-reaching goal into place for NASA and for the nation is not enough. It will not but getting us focused is resolve the many complex issues raised by Admiral Harold Gehman and the Columbia Accident always a challenge.” Investigation Board,” he said. The bill’s future is unclear. It had been referred to Senator Sam Brownback the Senate Commerce Committee, where Hollings is the ranking minority member, for consideration. as of Feb. 1, 2003, but was put on hold in the wake When introduced, the bill had six co-sponsors, all of the Columbia accident. It still has not been com- fellow Democrats, including presidential candidate pleted, or at least not released. John Kerry of Massachusetts. Hollings also had Members of Congress, meanwhile, not only have announced his intent to retire after the 2004 elec- their own visions for NASA, but their own ideas of tions, so if his bill is not enacted into law by then, how to develop that vision. Sen. Sam Brownback, a someone else will have to take over the effort. Kansas Republican who chairs the science, technology Yet another path toward a new vision for NASA and space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce is to set goals in law. Congressman Nick Lampson, Committee, has frequently spoken of the need for the a Texas Democrat, reintroduced his Space United States to “dominate the Earth-Moon orbit.” Exploration Act, a bill he had previously introduced “We have to step back and really establish a in 2002 only to see it die in committee. The bill, national vision for space, engage the American pub- designated HR 3057, would establish a series of very lic with that, and make sure that the vision is sus- specific, ambitious goals for NASA’s human space- tainable with us as a nation,” Brownback said during flight program. Those goals range from the develop- a meeting of the Space Transportation Association. ment of a vehicle within eight years of the bill’s pas- “I look back and ask, ‘Why did George Bush Sr. sage that could ferry people from Earth orbit to fail with his plan of going to Mars?’ As I look at that, lunar orbit, to establishment of a “human tended I don’t know that it sufficiently engaged the public,” habitation and research facility” on the surface of a Brownback said. “This country is capable of great Martian moon within 20 years. things once we focus, but getting us focused is always “America’s human spaceflight program is adrift, a challenge,” he said. with no clear vision or commitment to any goals Other Congressional leaders are taking different after the completion of the International Space approaches to NASA’s vision. In November, Sen. Station,” Lampson said in a statement issued at the 20 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars bill’s reintroduction. “The real obstacle we face in “Merely setting a far-reaching goal into overcoming the drift in the nation’s human space- place for NASA and for the nation is not flight program is not technological and it’s not finan- enough. It will not resolve the many cial—it’s the lack of commitment to get started. “We don’t need another national commission to complex issues raised by Admiral come up with goals for human spaceflight beyond Harold Gehman and the Columbia low-Earth orbit. What we need is a national com- Accident Investigation Board.” mitment to carry out any one of the many worthy goals that have been articulated to date,” he said. Senator Ernest “Fritz” Hollings REALITY CHECK be on far bigger issues, notably Iraq and the econ- What this review makes clear is that there is wide- omy. That makes it unlikely that the president and spread interest in developing some kind of vision leading members of Congress will be willing to for NASA in the form of a goal or goals for human expend the time and political capital needed to spaceflight beyond Earth orbit. Beyond that gener- push through a new vision for space exploration, al interest, however, there is little consensus regard- particularly one that may require significant addi- ing not only what that vision should be—moon, tional funds at a time when budget deficits are Mars, asteroids, or elsewhere—but also how that approaching half a trillion dollars. vision should be developed among the executive Unlike the 1960s, there are no geopolitical or and legislative branches and the general public. other external factors that could support a new space That dissonance is a recipe for yet another space exploration vision. While some have invoked policy failure. China’s entry into human spaceflight as one moti- A vision requires leadership from the highest lev- vating factor, the slow, methodical pace of their els of government—nothing short of the president efforts—their publicly stated plans for the next 10 as demonstrated by his January 14 speech—but it years are no grander than a small space station— cannot be imposed on Congress and the public by have yet to trigger a significant reaction in executive fiat. The failed Space Exploration Washington, and are unlikely to do so. Initiative is proof of that. While Congress must play For now, “vision” primarily is a buzzword intend- a role in shaping this vision, it seems unlikely that it ed to set NASA off on a new direction and in the process resolve all the other “We choose to explore problems facing the agency. It’s a tempting solution, but also space because doing so too simplistic. “Merely announcing a bold improves our lives and new plan to travel to the Earth’s moon or to Mars is not suffi- lifts our national spirit.” cient. We must challenge our assumptions, question our deci- President George W. Bush sions and designs, revisit our approaches, and rethink our can mandate a particular detailed vision through nation’s ambitions and goals for space,” said Hollings. legislation like Lampson’s Space Exploration Act. “We must submit ourselves to the discipline to begin And although activist organizations including the anew. The future of space and our nation’s reputation National Space Society, the Mars Society and the that we carry into history rests in the balance.” Planetary Society all push for a bold new direction The question remains whether Hollings and his for space exploration, the general public is, if not less colleagues, as well as the president and the American interested, less engaged in the debate. Moreover, people, have the willingness to devote the time and support for NASA among the various sectors of the energies needed to tackle those tough issues. If not, American public is not universal. These are all con- then any new vision for NASA will render space policy cerns that need to be addressed if any vision can be as blind as it has been for the last few decades. n successfully translated from speeches to spacecraft. This year is an election year, and the focus of Jeff Foust is editor of The Space Review online publication. the presidential and congressional campaigns will (http://www.thespacereview.com) to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 21 BY ERIK BAARD robes zooming toward Mars and Saturn’s planet-size moon, Titan, garner a lot Pof attention, so it’s easy to forget that plenty of worlds are out there, circling stars other than our sun. Reminders of that fact come from a new Australian study arguing that planets may be the norm for sun-like stars, and from a NASA astrobiology road map for find- ing signs of extraterrestrial life. To find life, astronomers must first locate Earth-like planets. They try to spot their rocky centers, and then follow through with studies to determine what kinds of atmospheres—if any—are wrapped around them, said David J. Des Marais, a senior scientist at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Northern California. He also is the lead author of the road map, the result of collaboration between 20 scientists that includes hunts for life both by robotic probes in our solar system and by telescopic surveys to find potential abodes for life around other stars. “Our current method does best at finding big planets close to stars, but with every year it’s like a curtain is being pulled back from that stage, and we’ll see smaller plan- ets further out,” Des Marais said. Citing the opinions and work done by NASA colleagues, he said, “We may find a dozen or two dozen Earth-sized planets in the next eight years or so.” But such discoveries will rely on new telescopes that must be planned now, in a very broad, interdisciplinary effort as laid out in the road map published in a recent issue of the journal Astrobiology. “The new telescopes need to be optimized for that search based on examples from our own solar system,” Des Marais said. The road map therefore aims for a continu- ity of research toward its seven main scientific goals: • grasping the broad array of potentially life-sustaining environments in the universe • finding evidence of such environments inside the solar system • gaining knowledge about life’s emergence • determining how early life interacted and evolved with its changing environment • understanding the mechanisms of evolution • estimating how evolution may continue into the future • recognizing signs of life on early Earth and in other worlds 22 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars The nitty-gritty work of these lofty endeavors will take place in Des Marais agrees with that assessment, and points out that mountaintop observatories, aboard robotic probes and in laborato- even with the powerful new space-based telescopes in place, we can ry clean rooms. But it will also happen at the bottom of the ocean hope for only a fraction of worlds to be detected, because only 0.5 and in slime-filled caves, where bacteria and other life forms adapt- percent of planetary systems will orbit their stars on a plane that is ed to extreme conditions have carved out improbable niches. in the line of sight of Earth. But that still leaves perhaps 100,000 “We can do a lot of this with the technology available today, extrasolar systems to find with the Kepler telescope alone, he said. but with a sense of purpose,” Des Marais said. “A road map is just After the Kepler provides a reliable statistical base, the next gen- that, a guide to what we can meaningfully do today. In the late eration of telescopes could deliver the thunderclap of revelation. “If ‘70s and early ‘80s or so, the community fragmented. Everybody there were another Earth out there, we’d see that,” Des Marais said. had a favorite object in the solar system, so it was hard to get peo- “But the problem is that Earth is almost an ideal target. It’s got 50 ple behind a broader mission. I think probably the important percent visible light penetration to the surface, a big 20 percent point is that the road map shows a continuity of efforts between atmospheric oxygen signal.... Oh my gosh, it’s almost too perfect.” what was thought to be exobiology and what was planetary sci- Using the standard of that perfect Earth, most mainstream sci- ence and geology.” entists will winnow the enormous planet list by looking for signs of But most of the glory will go to NASA’s three planned space- water, oxygen and carbon. David Grinspoon, however, will be plan- based planet-hunting telescopes. First to launch will be the etary dumpster-diving to give some of the discarded candidates for Kepler in 2007. The next two missions will be orbiting arrays of life a second or third look. telescopes that are still being designed. The Terrestial Planet “My view is that hoping to find the holy grail of another Earth Finder is slated for roughly 2015. A much more ambitious suc- is narrow-minded. To a limited extent it’s a reasonable starting cessor to the TPF, called Life Finder, is expected to be completed point, but if you go too far with it, you’re applying pre-Copernican sometime beyond 2020. thinking. We’re back to thinking of ourselves as the center of the These telescopes will look for the telltale dimming of light when universe,” said Grinspoon, a principal scientist in the Department a planet passes in front of a star, and for chemical signatures of Space Studies at the Southwest Research Institute and author of revealed when light from that star passes through a planet’s atmos- Lonely Planets: The Natural Philosophy of Alien Life. phere. The current standard method, called a Doppler exoplanet Grinspoon argues for seeking out broader principles, rather search, relies on detecting the wobbling of a star caused by the grav- than familiar particulars. “I would look for disequilibrium, a mix- ity of planets revolving around it. ture of chemicals that’s difficult to produce,” he said. According to University of New South Wales astronomy pro- That rule applies to Earth because of its free oxygen, pro- fessor Charles Lineweaver and doctoral student Daniel Grether, duced by plants, and its waste products, like methane and these telescopes will have plenty to look at. The pair argues in a ammonia, from animals. paper accepted for publication by Astrophysical Journal that at least But it can take other forms too, he said, like sulfur dioxide and 25 percent of sun-like stars will prove to have planets, and that per- hydrogen sulfide coexisting in an atmosphere. In those cases, haps nearly 100 percent do. Planet-seeking surveys of the nearest “something would have to be actively altering that atmosphere. The 2,000 stars have so far yielded about a 5-percent positive result. planet is not sitting there passively. That could be a dead giveaway, “Strictly speaking, the analysis we did, and the greater than 25 or rather, a live giveaway.” n percent result we got, refers to only the sun-like stars since these have been the major focus of the Doppler exoplanet searches. About Erik Baard is a freelance writer based in New York City. 10 percent of the stars in the galaxy are sun-like,” Lineweaver said. “However, there is very little reason to believe that our result applies only to sun-like stars.” So, if the same proportion applies to all stars in the Milky Way, our solar system could be only one of 100 billion in the galaxy, he said. Take an even wider view—of the 100 billion galaxies in the universe—and our familiar collection of planets could be just one of 10 trillion, he said. His optimistic statistical model stems from recognition of how superficial our view of even closely neighboring stars is. “Most planets are too small or take too long to orbit their host stars to be detected,” said Lineweaver. Imagine alien scien- tists using the same methods we do now to search their local 10 to 50 light-years of space. “If the sun were one of the stars being monitored, (they) still wouldn’t have detected any planets around it,” Lineweaver said. NASA to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 23 The human thirst for knowledge ultimately cannot be satisfied by We need to see and examine and touch for ourselves. -- President 24 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars touched down for a three-month science mission on January 3, 2 3, January on mission science three-month Exploration a for Mars down touched Spirit NASA´s from view color 360-degree A oe, which Rover, 004. (NASA) 004. y even the most vivid pictures or the most detailed measurements. t George W. Bush, January 14, 2004 to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 25 TheCaseforTheCasefor SolarPowerSolarPower fromSpacefromSpace Space-based power is a potential multitrillion-dollar market. Can we make the launch systems investments to tap it? BY ARTHUR P. S MITH nergy policy is in the news again, with debates the sun pass just through the region between Earth Ein Congress, statements from presidential candi- and the moon — that’s enough energy for each man, dates, consternation over U.S. dependence on the woman and child in the United States to power and Middle East for oil, and a California recall election sustain an entire U.S. economy all by themselves. traceable in part to energy supply problems for Gathering power in space and transmitting it to that state. Earth should not be a mystery to us in this 21st cen- Use of energy, whether fuel for transportation, tury. Communications satellites already do it rou- electrical energy running the Internet, or the destruc- tinely. One significant obstacle to power applica- tive energy released in weapons, is central to our tions, however, is regulatory oversight. There is no economy and security. It is with good reason that the spectrum allocated to power transmission, as there is technical term for energy use per unit time, “power,” for communications. Since frequency of operation suggests control in the human world as well. Three has a significant impact on transmitter design, which actions taken now—working to reserve radio spec- may alter the design of the overall solar power sys- trum for power transmission, focusing on reductions tem, the earlier we have a frequency allocation deci- in costs for space launch, and investing in space sion, the better. The Federal Communications solar power system research—hold the promise of Commission and the International Telecommuni- opening up vast new sources of power within the cations Union should be prodded to start work on next 10 to 15 years. this issue now. Space is big. There is an awful lot of energy out The potential for power from space has been rec- there, and the crumbs we fight about here on Earth ognized for more than 30 years. Studies in the late are laughably tiny in comparison. Zettawatts from 1970’s by NASA and the Department of Energy pro- 26 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars Current costs put the capital investment needed for a space solar power system well above the $2-per- watt of competitive terrestrial options such as fission plants and wind turbines. R&D work is needed to bring these costs to where the vast energy resources of space are within reach of a large utility project. The cost of components is the first problem here. Current prices for solar electric power systems are about $2.50 per peak watt, a price that has been declining by about 7 percent per year for the last few decades. The day/night cycle, non-ideal sun angles, weathering, and cloud cover reduce power output enough to make the final cost per average watt $10 or more. Terrestrial solar power is still too expensive for wholesale utility use, but it is now competitive for homeowner installation in many areas. In space you can get peak power almost all the time. The $2.50-per-watt homeowner systems are not space-rated, but the space market is still small; with a larger market, suitable photovoltaic elements could be produced at comparable cost. Transmitting power from space will have somewhat higher losses than transmitting from a terrestrial power plant. Nevertheless, component costs are potentially much closer to wholesale utility requirements for space solar power than they are for terrestrial solar, and with continued improvement in prices, in another 10 to 15 years component costs should not be an obstacle to large-scale installation. The other cost of concern is delivery to orbit. NASA Typical communications satellite solar panels have a mass per kilowatt of about There is another way duced a reference design for solar power satellites 20 kilograms, so with current launch costs to reduce launch costs. using then-current technology that proved technically of $10,000 per kilogram, that comes to … Instead of launching feasible, but expensive. NASA returned to the subject $200 per watt – 100 times too high to be the final components with an exploratory study from 1999 to 2001. A competitive at the utility level. Bringing from Earth, manufacturing review by the National Research Council found the that number down requires both improve- facilities are sent from program to have a credible plan that required signif- ments in mass per kilowatt and cheaper Earth to the moon to icant funding increases. Rather than strengthening access to space. build the solar power the program, however, all funding for the space solar Mass per kilowatt is sensitive to solar power group ceased after September 2001, and power system design. The NASA/DOE system components essentially no R&D work on power from space is reference design came to 10 kilograms-per- there. And to save even now being done in the United States. kilowatt, but more recent studies of light- further on launch costs, Worldwide more than a trillion dollars a year weight design options have suggested mass the solar components goes to the energy industry, and utilities routinely could be as low as one kilogram per kilo- stay on the moon and construct multibillion-dollar power plants. The ener- watt. Significantly more R&D effort to transmit power directly gy industry has a bigger wallet than the entire U.S. validate these designs and settle on a few from there. federal discretionary budget. Money is not directly cost-effective approaches would be the problem here; profitability is. The two essential extremely helpful here. The lower the mass require- factors in the cost equation are the cost per delivered ment, the less we need to bring down launch costs to watt of the solar power components, and the cost per break the $2-per-watt barrier. delivered watt of getting those components to their Lower launch costs are a major goal of all space final destination in space. advocates. The X-Prize contenders, Space-X, even to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 27 the major aerospace EELV programs all have the should be much lower, and the costs for such an intention of significantly reducing launch costs. approach are less dependent on reducing launch Whether any rocket-based system will succeed costs from Earth. remains to be seen. Perhaps we will have to wait for Component and launch will not be the only space elevators to see much reduction in the cost to costs. For example we need to learn how to cost- orbit. But there are some indicators that we could see effectively put together very large (kilometer-scale) some improvement over the next decade with a suf- objects in space. Improved robotics and computa- ficiently large and competitive launch market. tional capabilities should make this much less expen- Competition in the commercial launch market sive now than was true for the 1970’s era designs, but already has some providers such as Sea Launch offer- it is another area where we need some experience to ing $4,000- to $5,000-per-kilogram prices to low- be confident in cost estimation. Further R&D in Earth orbit. Use of solar electric propulsion allows robotics also may be needed. Artist’s impression of a higher orbits at only slightly higher cost. Given the Looking at the major cost areas again, for the solar power satellite. multitrillion-dollar potential market for space-based wholesale utility market space solar power is currently Pictured is the assem- power, increased funding for launch systems devel- about a factor of two too expensive with regard to cost bly of a microwave opment to accelerate these improvements also would of materials and components, and at least a factor of transmission antenna. be a worthy investment. 10 on the launch cost side. Both cost barriers have realistic chances of being overcome in the next decade. The prospects for space-based solar power are at least as bright as for fusion power. These two options were identified as the only long-term sus- tainable energy sources in a report published in Science magazine in 2002. While space solar power has received essentially no government funding for two decades, fusion gets close to $1 billion per year. The ITER fusion project scheduled for completion in 2014 will cost $5 billion for a research reactor that produces only thermal power. In contrast, a space solar power study by John Mankins presented at the 38th annual International Astronautical Federation conference found some sys- tems with an estimated cost of $6 billion to $8 bil- lion, producing 250 megawatts of electricity available for commercial sale, readily expandable to several gigawatts, and offering a profitable return on invest- ment. With some further research those numbers can likely be improved upon, but the funding has been terminated rather than increased. We already have an immense fusion reactor working for us in our solar system, ultimately NASA responsible for almost all our energy choices. All we There is another way to reduce launch costs. In really need to do is make better use of it by tapping David Criswell’s Lunar Solar Power proposal, into it more directly. Any rational energy policy for instead of launching the final components from the United States must support the steps needed to Earth, manufacturing facilities are sent from Earth make that happen: increased investment in reduc- to the moon to build the solar power system com- ing launch costs, reserving radio frequency spec- ponents there. And to save even further on launch trum for power transmission, and moving toward costs, the solar components stay on the moon and an investment of $1 billion per year for a robust and transmit power directly from there. The initial cap- diverse research and development program for ital investment is higher than for an Earth-launched space solar power. n system primarily due to the much larger antennas needed to transmit power efficiently from the Arthur P. Smith works for the American Physical Society and moon to Earth, but overall costs per delivered watt is the president of the Long Island Space Society. 28 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars Making a Difference in Washington: The NSS Legislative ConferenceConference July 11-13, 2004 What is the NSS Legislative Conference? Space policy is made in Washington D.C. by your elected representatives. At the National Space Society Legislative Conference, we will visit the offices of your U.S. Representatives and Senators, and speak with them directly on the importance of space development and access. As citizen lobbyists, we will represent the 20,000 members of NSS, presenting specific proposals for legislation and funding that will bring the creation of a spacefaring civilization closer to reality. The greater our participation, the more seriously our representatives will take our members’ concerns and recommendations. The NSS Legislative Conference is your opportunity to actively participate in your country’s gov- ernment, supporting budget decisions and legislative action that affect what you really care about. This is an enjoyable and educational way to become involved in the future of our country. What will we be doing at the Conference? Sunday, July 11, 2004 Monday, July 12, 2004 Tuesday, July 13, 2004 • Policy briefings • Capitol Hill and • Congressional visits • Training session and Administration speakers • Reception protocol review for Hill with Q&A opportunities visits (REQUIRED for • Congressional visits all participants) • Review of briefing packets How do I sign up for the Conference? Go to www.nss.org, download the registration form, and fax or mail it to NSS Headquarters, 600 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Suite 201, Washington, D.C. 20003. Any questions regarding the conference should be directed to the conference chairman, Dr. Peter J. Schubert at [email protected] or call 317-843-9822. Special room rates are available for conference participants at the Radisson Hotel Old Town Alexandria (901 N. Fairfax Estate, Alexandria, VA 22314, 703-683-6000), which will also be the location of the Sunday briefings and training session. The hotel offers free shuttle buses to the Washington area Metrorail service that provides easy access to all of the Washington area. More information is available online at www.radissonoldtown.com. http://www.nss.org • phone: 202.543.1900 Before the space frontier can be permanently settled by humans, we must be clear about why we go BY STEVEN WOLFE s we mark the first anniversary of the shuttle REFLECT ON YOUR ORIGINAL MOTIVATION AColumbia tragedy, there is a renewed urgency to At some point in your life there was a moment when reflect on why we ever got into the space business in you were overcome by the full magnitude of the the first place and why permanent human settlement unlimited possibilities awaiting humanity in space. of space is worth the risk of life itself. You may have directly experienced some of the mag- For many of us, it was the space settlement vision nifigence of the Universe within which humanity that stimulated our original passion for space. Not to itself is completely insignificant. This moment may be confused with a clunky, overpriced NASA pro- have been euphoric or simply a feeling of “Yeah, gram, the space settlements vision, in its purist sense, that’s for me.” This was the moment the passion for embodies all our hopes and dreams of what space space was born in you. means to the future of civilization. In order to move Take some quiet time to reflect on that original forward, we need to reassure ourselves that this vision moment of inspiration as if for the first time. No mat- is still very much a living possibility. ter when or how it occurred, try to separate yourself a For far too many of us, the space settlement little from the experience and ask yourself questions dream was long ago put on the back burner of our about what you see. If your peak experience came at the hearts. If you are fortunate enough to work in the time of the Apollo launch, for example, ask yourself space industry, you may feel satisfied that you have a what was it about that mission that stirred your emo- job that at least remotely relates to your passion. To tions. In this way you will gradually achieve greater be sure, we celebrate the occasional successes in space depth of understanding about your desire for space. technology, science and politics. But, however much In examining this moment, it is not so much that we may think we are contributing to the space cause, we are seeking an explanation that can be articulated, the predominant feeling is one of frustration and as much as we are attempting to connect with our regret that our dream for space settlement is not any emotional state at that moment. To be sure, this exer- closer today than it was on the day Aldrin and cise, if fully embraced, requires delicate consideration Armstrong walked on the moon. and a high degree of openness. If you are willing to With Columbia, we are coping with a major set- give in to this inquiry fully, you are likely to reach a back. This is surely a time of renewal. Not just in depth of your own self you never experienced before. making necessary fixes to the space shuttle and plan- This inquiry may also spark new peak experiences, ning its successor technology, but it is also a time to which is only natural as you examine anew the nature renew our own original passion for space. Not in a of your passion. superficial way that will quickly fade when the demands of everyday life creep back in. Real renewal REALIZE THE PROFOUND “RIGHTNESS” will require that you be willing to go much further in OF YOUR ORIGINAL INSPIRATION honoring your core passion than you may ever have As a result of your reflection, you should arrive at a before. It requires you to find a way back to the place where the “rightness” of the space vision is moment your passion for space was first realized. unquestionable. There is nothing hokey or fringy Once there, you will discover all the strength and about the space settlement passion. It is the direct wisdom you need to get through this difficult period, recognition of humanity’s destiny, and should be a and more importantly, actually take part in laying the source of great motivation, not hesitation. It is not groundwork for human evolution into space. something to shy away from, or to take casually. This kind of self-reflection will require effort on Seeing the “rightness” in this effort will provide the your part. If you are interested enough, the following clarity of mind that you need to carry you forward. steps will take you on an internal journey back to In order for us to make real progress in settlement your original passion. matters, we cannot doubt its imperative. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 31 TheThe spacespace settlementsettlement dreamdream waswas bornborn inin youyou soso thatthat youyou wouldwould strivestrive forfor itsits fulfillmentfulfillment inin thisthis generation,generation, notnot deferdefer itit toto thethe next.next. BECOME FIXED IN THIS PERSPECTIVE If you are unsure of what action to take, turn Once you have accepted the rightness of the set- inward again, and trust that the right course will tlement mission, you must cultivate an unwaver- present itself. If no appropriate action seems obvious, ing stance in relationship to it. There must be a there is no need to remain idle. Apply yourself to fundamental orientation about human expansion whatever feels closest to the mark. It is important, into space that is expressed through you within however, to remain open to any new insights that whatever professional and personal context you may arise that will provide clearer direction. may be living. In other words, your worldview is altered such that the settlement imperative SPIRITUAL SPACE becomes a core value. If we dare to consider this journey to original passion This kind of fixed perspective is arrived at by in a spiritual context, the search as described here is repeatedly reflecting upon the source of your moti- synonymous with the transcendent journey to high- vation at its deepest level. Let this become a regular er consciousness that men and woman have aspired practice, which can be in the form of deep contem- to for millennia. Seeking to understand your urge to plation and/or meditation. If you get to that fixed move into space is to directly experience the primor- perspective, than it doesn’t matter what others dial force of evolution moving within you. think. You can’t be moved by criticism, ridicule or To help clarify this statement, let’s look at what self-doubt. we mean by “evolution” in the way it is used here. Science is beginning to recognize that evolution is a TAKE ACTION CONSISTENT WITH THIS STANCE phenomenon that permeates the entire universe. Correct or right action will naturally arise from the Darwin’s theory of biological evolution is just one fixed point of view you have established. expression of evolution’s perpetual process of matter Depending on who you are, and where you are, organizing itself into increasingly higher forms of these actions could be big and far-reaching or sub- complexity. This process has been ongoing since the tle and discrete. There should be ease in your big bang, and occurs in every moment and every actions that come from your connectedness to your square centimeter of time and space. The spiritual original passion. But do not confuse ease with lax- dimension is added when we accept that a higher ness, however. Once you are clear on the direction intelligence is guiding evolution’s march. to take, you must act upon it with all determination The creative force of evolution abounds all and confidence. around us. Every time we stand in awe of a natural or Your course of action may be obvious. Perhaps man-made wonder we are directly connecting with you will recall a long put off activity; something that that force. If we can stay with that experience long you heard fleetingly will suddenly seem much more enough, it can have a transcendent affect on us. relevant; or you may feel the need to reestablish con- Indeed, if you are sensitive enough, the movement of tact with people you know share your passion. Resist evolution is obvious everywhere. But most of us are the temptation to take impulsive actions that may so dense we need dramatic examples of evolution to not help the cause of space, and could even hurt its experience even an inkling of the universal dimen- progress. Before acting, ask yourself how much self- sion. Man landing on the moon is such an example. ish motivation is contained in the act. The birth of a child is another. 32 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars It’sIt’s easiereasier toto seesee evolutionevolution unfoldingunfolding inin thethe bloombloom ofof aa flowerflower thanthan itit isis inin aa rockslide.rockslide. ThisThis isis whywhy therethere isis soso muchmuch spiritualspiritual potentialpotential inin thethe spacespace settlementsettlement dream.dream. WhatWhat couldcould bebe moremore dramaticdramatic thanthan witnessingwitnessing lifelife evolv-evolv- inging fromfrom aa singlesingle planetplanet toto aa multi-planetarymulti-planetary existence?existence? NASA/JPL While evolution is occurring in all places at all ticipate in the actual construction of space settle- times, some of its manifestations, at least from our ments. But it will be the deliberate actions of those limited perspective, are more apparent than others. who are most aligned with the evolutionary impera- It’s easier to see evolution unfolding in the bloom of tive who will provide the leadership and set the a flower than it is in a rockslide, for example. whole space settlement enterprise in motion. This is why there is so much spiritual potential in The settlement of space is an unbelievably diffi- the space settlement dream. What could be more cult project for our species. Its success will require dramatic than witnessing life evolving from a single- sustained determination of legions of individuals planet to a multi-planetary existence? Those who feel around the globe. To get this project moving forward the pull of the space cause have a unique opportuni- in a meaningful way will first require that those ty for Awakening because evolution is so much more already enthusiastic get behind the effort with far obvious here than it is in other aspects of life. greater integrity than they have yet exhibited. It just won’t happen any other way. THE EDGE OF EVOLUTION Remember, the space settlement dream was born The glaring fact of our current situation, of course, is in you so that you would strive for its fulfillment in that our space dream is not yet manifest. We feel only this generation, not defer it to the next. It was, and the evolutionary tension impelling us to take action is, a call to you to take some action in this lifetime; and make it a reality. The transcendent “whoosh” and if you are not meant to see it through to com- experience won’t occur for most people until we have pletion, than you must at least lay a foundation on done our part in creating that new reality. We are at which those who will follow can build. the stage of the flower bud, not the bloom; the preg- This process of renewing your passion for space nant woman, not the newborn. will bring you, if you are fortunate, to a very lonely In this stage we represent only the potential for place. It is a place where you realize that success or the extension of life into the cosmos, with no guar- failure of this entire enterprise rests solely in your antee that we will succeed. Humanity is the means by hands. Will you ignore this responsibility, or will you which evolution has determined to achieve its end. give yourself over to it regardless of how you may feel Yet, while we are commanded to take this action, we about your own capabilities? Taking right action, still have free will to act or not. But to not act in despite how you may feel inside, is not only necessary building civilizations beyond this planet is quite lit- to complete the evolution of humanity into space, erally to go against the very demand of the universe. but it is the very means to your own spiritual If we are resolved to participate in this effort, we Awakening, and quite possibly that of the entire must be willing to get very close to the evolutionary planet as well. n tension throbbing within us, and boldly act in accor- dance with it. If these ideas seem a bit heavy to con- Steven Wolfe was the legislative aide for space policy to sider, look into your own desire for space and you the late Congressman George E. Brown, Jr. (D-CA), where may begin to see the truth contained in them. he drafted the Space Settlement Act of 1988. He served as I am not suggesting here that everyone interested executive director of the Congressional Space Caucus and in space needs to embrace the spiritual dimension. on the board of the National Space Society. He writes about Opportunists are as likely as the pure of heart to par- space policy for several publications and is working on a book. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 33 The new museum is so large that the entire Air and Space Museum would fit inside its 10-story hall. Photos by Jeff Foust Udvar-Hazy CenterAmerica’s New Spaceany have referred to the National Air and Space CatheHere, according to Gen. Dailey, great care was MMuseum on the Mall in Washington D.C., as a taken in the design of the Udvar-Hazy Center, utiliz- shrine to achievements in air and space. If the origi- ing ramps, lighting, etc., such that you can get at eye- nal museum is a shrine, then its new annex, which level with nearly every item on exhibit. BY KEITH COWING opened in December adjacent to Dulles International The museum is named after its prime benefactor, Airport, is a cathedral. Steven Udvar-Hazy. The total cost for the facility will Nothing is small about this place: the building, be $311 million—all of it raised from private funds. the exhibits, the scope of achievements displayed. While a substantial amount already has been raised, The new museum, named the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy $90 million more is still needed to completely pay Center, is so large that the entire Air and Space for construction. Museum would fit inside its 10-story hall. With this In addition to the private construction funds, vast increase in display space, virtually all of the Congress paid for the planning activities and Smithsonian’s aviation and space collection can now Virginia provided the new road infrastructure. In be displayed. Previously, only about 10 percent of the addition, local school districts are contributing to collection was available for public viewing. various educational activities that will be a core fea- There are a few things still lacking. National Air ture of this museum’s outreach mission. and Space Museum Director Gen. Jack Dailey made At the center’s opening, Dailey spoke fondly of repeated mention of the fact that the museum does the museum’s construction contractor which has not not have a B-24 in its collection—yet. only passed on 100 percent of all cost savings accrued Unlike the downtown museum, everything is all during construction, but also has rushed some things together—and juxtaposed in provocative ways. Small to completion even though the contract does not call prop planes sit beneath a Concorde jet; Mercury and for it. The most visible example is the James Gemini capsules are next to a space shuttle; wood McDonnell hangar, which houses the space shuttle and canvas next to titanium alloy. To be certain, this Enterprise. can be said of the museum downtown, but here great There was one item in particular that I wished to attention has been given to making things accessi- see—Enterprise. Over the past 25 or so years I have ble—unlike the downtown museum where much of seen all other shuttles, either as they were being the interesting stuff is 50 feet over your head. assembled (I stood inside portions of Atlantis, 34 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars A hedralDiscovery, and what would eventually become Endeavour when I worked at Rockwell International) or when they were launched or landed. Yet I had never managed to actually see Enterprise—even though she has sat in a hangar 11 miles from my home the entire time I have lived in Virginia. Enterprise was used for a series of approach and landing tests, which were conducted at Edwards Air Force Base in California. These flights consisted of B lofting the Enterprise on top of a modified 747 and then letting the Enterprise fly free to glide in for a landing as an unpowered glider. Enterprise flew only five missions on her own in 1976. While some consideration was given to modifying Enterprise to fly into space, cost and weight issues led to a deci- sion not to make the modifications. After serving as a public relations centerpiece at a variety of international venues in the early 1980s, including the Paris Air Show, Enterprise was deliv- ered to the Smithsonian Institution in November 1985. After being housed outdoors for a time, a special hangar was assembled around Enterprise. While Enterprise was protected from the elements, the hangar was cramped and not equipped for any maintenance or restoration. Enterprise was brought back out of retirement briefly two years later to test some emergency landing restraint system hardware in 1987, C to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 35 developed in the aftermath of the Challenger In the case of Enterprise, it was modified some- accident. Enterprise also was tapped to serve last what after its initial test flights were complete. A year after Columbia’s demise, when portions of paint job for the Paris Air show brought its original the leading edges from both wings were removed paint scheme a bit closer to what Columbia and the for tests and inspection. other operational shuttles looked like. Its cockpit and When the Smithsonian takes possession of an other parts also were removed. aerospace artifact, it is restored to a condition suit- I asked Dr. Valerie Neal, Enterprise’s curator, able for display. Sometimes things need to be totally what time frame in Enterprise’s life she was aiming disassembled and then rebuilt. While many artifacts for. She said that they had decided that they would are restored to flight-capable condition, they will seek to maintain the vehicle in ‘as delivered’ condi- never be flown again, per Smithsonian policy. Several tion—i.e., as it looks right now. of the items on display—the SR-71A, Concorde, As part of this process, several of the leading edge and XV-15 arrived at the museum under their own units removed for use in the Columbia accident power — with only their fuel, hydraulics and other investigation will need to be reinstalled. In addition, potential hazards removed. although Enterprise was shielded from the weather, Often, an artifact arrives at the museum having some corrosion needs to be repaired. served other uses after it fulfilled its original intent. The process of getting Enterprise ready for formal Sometimes restoration can bring a plane back to the display will take several months. Because of the condition it was in when it was delivered from the cleaning process, the McDonnell Hangar where she factory. In other cases, a decision is made to pick a sits will be sealed off from public view until March moment in time as a guide for restoration. 2004, when she is scheduled to go on display. Previous page: A The Gemini 7 capsule, with the shuttle Enterprise in the back- ground. B A boilerplate Apollo capsule is one of the hodgepodge of other space artifacts at the new museum. C While the museum has no actual launch vehicles at the new center, it does have on display a number of models of launch vehicles, including versions of the Titan, Delta, and Ariane. In the back- ground is the forward fuselage section of the Concorde. D D A ground level, nose-on view of the space shuttle Enterprise. E Sections of the leading edges of both wings of Enterprise are currently missing. NASA took them earlier this year for use in the Columbia accident investigation. E 36 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars Unlike Enterprise’s Soviet kin—the Buran series of shuttles—she will not have holes cut in her or be converted into a restaurant. Rather, she will be exhib- ited as the trailblazer she represents. Beyond DC Enterprise is but one of the marvelous artifacts in this museum. When totally filled, more than 300 air- Other places to see relics from space-days past: craft and spacecraft will be on display. There are a lot of fun things for folks to do as Florida’s Kennedy Space Center features a rocket garden, two IMAX space films, well. In addition to the large educational facilities, walk-through exhibits about the early human space program and Mars missions, there is an immense IMAX theater, a gift shop, and a full-size shuttle replica, a memorial to America’s fallen astronauts, an actual plenty of room to just sit and gaze at all of these won- 363-foot, 6.2-million pound Saturn 5 moon rocket and bus tours. derful machines. There also is a 3-degree motion- http://www.kennedyspacecenter.com/html/exhibits.html based simulator, which takes you to the International Space Station. Alabama’s U.S. Space and Rocket Center has films, hands-on learning exhibits and Despite a few nits, this expansion of the already rides, such as the Space Shot, where you can experience for yourself what it feels magnificent National Air and Space Museum is simply like to be aboard a rocket and a gravity-force accelerator. The center also has an astonishing. I am certain that in the years to come this Apollo Command Module, a Blackbird spy plane and a lunar lander, as well as a place will become as popular—if not more so—than its rocket park filled with relics from the early space program. Exhibits include a sister facility in downtown Washington, D.C. n Saturn 5, Juno, Jupiter, Redstone, Jupiter-C, Atlas, and other boosters and engines. http://www.spacecamp.com/museum/ Keith Cowing is the editor of Spaceref.com. Mississippi’s Stennisphere has the largest rocket test complex in America and offers visitors the opportunity to see where the space shuttle main engines are tested. The center features real rocket engines and scale models of spacecraft, exhibits on NASA missions and a Navy exhibit that lets you forecast the weather. http://www.ssc.nasa.gov/public/visitors/ Virginia’s Air & Space Center features IMAX movies, an Apollo command module, a lunar lander simulator, a Martian meteorite, the hatch from a Gemini capsule, a Mercury capsule, sounding rockets and dozens of historic aircraft. http://www.vasc.org/index.html In Texas, Space Center Houston offers a realistic tour of the human space pro- gram, with flight simulators, shuttle landing trainers and a hands-on satellite retrieval simulator. Also on display: Mercury, Gemini and Apollo capsules; mock- ups used for astronaut training and tram tours of the Johnson Space Center. http://www.spacecenter.org F The Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center features the largest collection of Russian space artifacts outside of Moscow as well as an extensive display of his- toric relics from the U.S. space program, including the famed Apollo 13 capsule and the restored Liberty Bell 7 Mercury capsule. http://www.cosmo.org F The center has a number of smaller space artifacts, including an Apollo space suit (right) and other items. G The Mercury-Atlas 10 capsule, nicknamed “Freedom 7 II” by Alan Shepard, who would have flown it. The capsule is in pristine condition, with its retrorocket pack still attached. G to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 37 MODULESa Space exploration has united the Sema Basol joined teacher Neme them to think about global friend- world better than any other institu- Alperstein to put together the curricu- ship. Students came from Turkey, tion. Early manned spaceflights of the lum used at the event, which took Greece, North and South Cyprus, 1960s provided everyone with a new place July 13-19, 2003. Israel and Azerbaijan for the first ULTURES MELD perspective of our planet. The only Sema is the head of the Global space summit. Counselors and C borders seen from space were natural Friendship Through Space Education teachers arrived from the United AT YOUTH ones (the rivers, mountain and Organization, based in Pacific States, Turkey, and the Ukraine, giv- oceans) not arbitrary man-made ones Palisades, Calif. (http:// www.gftse. ing the space summit representa- SPACE SUMMIT based on politics. org). One of the goals of GFTSE is to tives from a total of eight countries. IN TURKEY Even at the height of the Cold raise money to provide scholarships Pam and I flew out from Los War, the Soviet Union and United to deserving 12- to 16-year-old stu- Angeles, joining Neme in New York States started to swap scientific data dents to attend Space Camp at the for the continuation of our flight to BY LARRY EVANS, Istanbul and then south to Izmir. We ORANGE COUNTY SPACE SOCIETY spent several days getting acclimated to the new country, its food, hospital- ity, and the 10-hour time difference from Orange County, Calif. Then the festivities began. Kaya Tuncer, founder of Space Camp Turkey, summed it up at the opening ceremonies when he told the 126 stu- dents: “This whole week is for you.” Photos by Larry Evans He then read a list of firsts that Students sign T-shirts as a memento of their fun-filled week would happen in the coming days. in Turkey. “There are so many firsts that I had to on spaceflight, and eventually the Aegean Free Zone in Izmir, Turkey. write them all down so I wouldn’t counties even began to swap astro- Pam is a second-grade teacher at miss any of them!” he said. His list nauts and cosmonauts. Today, 16 Bellflower Christian School in included first contact between space countries are partners in space California and Neme is a sixth-grade station crewmembers and Turkey and through the International Space teacher at Harry Eichler School in Station program. Queens, New York. Together, they Those of us within the National formed a partnership with school Space Society always believed that teachers in Izmir and Istanbul. better relations come from igniting Students became friends by crossing people’s interest in space and science. cultural barriers using email to learn Recently, we had an opportunity to put about each other’s countries and this to the ultimate test: Our Southern share their excitement about space. California chapter, the Orange County Out of this seed blossomed the Space Society (OCSS), participated in idea to create a special week for a the first Global Friendship Youth Space select group of students from differ- Summit at Space Camp Turkey. ent countries to educate them about Turkish dancers perform in front OCSS members Pam Leestma and space-related subjects and inspire of a shuttle simulator. 38 january february march 2004 Ad Astra to the stars space community a video conference between Space a nearby field for launching. This was Camp and the Johnson Space Center an exciting day since they got to see in Houston, Texas. something that they built with their Entertainment that evening was own hands actually take to the air. A spectacular, highlighted with a per- new generation of rocket scientists formance by a troupe of traditional had been initiated. Turkish dancers. The backdrop was a On another day, students tried on very 21st-century space shuttle space suits and learned why an astro- simulator. Also included was a spe- naut must depend on these garments cial video to introduce the students to for their very lives above the atmos- prominent space personalities such as phere. Other activities included: don- Brian Chase of the NSS, Peter ning rocket packs to float around on Diamandis of the X-Prize Foundation, Students and counselors gather at Space Camp Turkey. an air-bearing floor; twirling in three John Spencer of the Space Tourism represent all of the countries involved this high-fidelity mockup, the com- directions simultaneously on the Society and Edmund Burke from the in the summit. Questions were com- mander, pilot, and mission specialists Multi-Axis Trainer; walking up and Endeavour Center. posed and submitted to NASA to ask interacted with another flight team in around walls on the Space Station Throughout the week, the stu- American ISS astronaut Ed Lu. The dents participated in their regular window of opportunity was very Space Camp curriculum as well as short, only 20 minutes, so the activity many special activities. The highlight had to be rehearsed to a fine drill to of this was the first-ever contact guarantee that everyone would have accomplished via short wave radio a chance to ask his or her questions. between the International Space Everything went perfectly, and all the Station and Turkey. students were able to speak with Ed Aziz Sasa, president of the before the station went out of range. Turkish Amateur Radio Club, and his Later in the week, a second spe- team set up their equipment in a cor- cial hookup was accomplished, this ner of Space Camp across from the time between the camp and the computer lab and near a full-scale Johnson Space Center. This time, model of the unmanned lunar explo- the students were able to converse ration craft Surveyor. One of the first via video link with astronaut Dr. Students test their space suits in front of the shuttle simulator. things they had to do was to get a call Ellen Baker. They asked about her Mission Control to launch into orbit, Mobility Trainer; building a computer- sign for the contact. experiences in space, including the perform an EVA (Extra-Vehicular modeled space station in the comput- Based on their location in Turkey time when she was part of the first Activity, or spacewalk), and then re- er lab; driving a tiny remote-con- and the fact that the communication crew to dock with the Russian Mir entered to land at the Kennedy Space trolled rover across the nearly airless would take place at Space Camp Space Station. Center in Florida. plains of simulated Mars; growing Turkey, they came up with YM3SCT. In Team-building is one of the pri- What a ride, and yet no one ever real plants in the hydroponics lab; the parlance of radio, this call sign mary tasks of Space Camp. Several left the third floor of the Space Camp learning astronaut landing tech- would translate into “Yankee-Mike- exciting simulators support that building in Izmir. niques; and discovering what con- Three-Sierra-Charlie-Tango.” aspect of training. The largest simu- During classroom time, students struction in weightlessness might be Out of the 126 students present, lator is a full-scale nose section of built their own model rockets and like using the Zero-Gravity Wall and 20 were selected by their teachers to the Space Shuttle Discovery. Aboard then, several days later, took them to later with a day in a pool. to the stars Ad Astra january february march 2004 39 MODULESa By Graduation Day, the students future as a space-faring race, living who were once just a group of kids and working together on planets with- from diverse parts of the world were in our own solar system and beyond. now a cohesive team, excited about science and the possibilities opened up PROGRAM FORGES COMMON by their experiences at the Youth Space GROUND BY SETTING Summit and Space Camp Turkey. SIGHTS ON THE STARS “I don’t remember any other The National Space Society recently experience in my life that provided so became a partner in the Permission much responsibility, fun, excitement, to Dream (PTD) program, which and information,” said Melike sends telescopes around the world Abacioglu, a student at Robert to school children and eventually College in Istanbul. “We all started to will connect them via the internet to think being an astronaut would be share observations and insights. Presentation at the observatory of the Hanjiang Experimental School. They have a first-class telescope inside the dome, as well as some enthralling. I loved it.” The program was initiated in pretty beautiful space illustrations (note the space shuttle in the During the cultural presentations China by Frank Braun, an NSS officer, background!) Pictured are Mr. Ma, head of Geography Section of the held at the midpoint of the space Hanjiang Education Bureau; Mr. Wang, vice head of Hanjiang summit, Steven Stavoulakis, the stu- Education Bureau; Mr. Fang, head of the Hanjiang Science Bureau; me; Mr. Wang, headmaster of the Hanjiang Experimental School. dent moderator of a set of mini-plays about life in Greece in ancient and were incredibly appreciative. They are Chinese space ads, temples, ate modern times, had a fairly profound now organizing to make the best use things that I am not sure I will ever eat way of describing the political versus of the donation. over here, and drank a lot of Chinese personal situation between his coun- We met with the local ‘secre- liquor. (Toasting is apparently a big try and Turkey. It is certainly applica- tary’ of the area—in China that part of ceremonial meals there.) ble to us all. means the head of the local govern- So thanks for making it all hap- “Even though there are some ment—and with the heads of all the pen. Overall, it was a big success. problems between the politics of our local education- two nations, Greeks and Turks [as peo- al offices. The ple] at least always try to get along Mr. Lee, PTD sponsor, in front of news coverage a brand new space-related well,” he said. “As long as people do was great! We Chinese advertisement. The ad not treat each other with prejudice, is promoting a brand of milk, also talked the essential thing—to maintain and the blue circle on the right about a future peace between these two nations—is says, in English and Chinese, collaboration for “Special milk for China’s astro- not hidden in politics and international a community nauts.” How cool is that? views. The important thing is to be planetarium. able to look for and see the personali- and Chinese-American businessman Along the ty behind the person’s face before you Cheong Lee. way we saw look at their nation. Don’t ever forget George Whitesides just returned Possible future home of a community planetarium for Yangzhou. The that we are just human beings and the from a trip to China to deliver 16 tele- site is currently under development by Mr. Lee, PTD’s sponsor in China. In addition to the buildings already under construction, Mr. rest is just politics.” scopes. Here is his report: Lee wants to create a top-quality educational center that includes a What better sentiments for all of The telescopes made it to China planetarium. We briefed senior officials from the regional govern- us to remember as we look toward our and the local officials and teachers ment on the planetarium programs in Brazil. 40 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars space community NATIONAL SPACE spaceflight, the ability to promote Arthur C. Clarke, Wernher von Braun, Committee member John Strickland. SOCIETY AWARDS the vision extolled, and the capabili- Gene Roddenberry, Robert Goddard, This is described on the ballot includ- BY DR. DANA JOHNSON ty to manage teams, large or small, Buzz Aldrin, Carl Sagan, Neil ed in this issue of Ad Astra. Chairwoman, NSS Awards Committee and often interdisciplinary, that are Armstrong, and Robert Zubrin. It is very important that you, the The National Space Society has a characterized by a remarkable sense While other NSS awards are members of NSS, express your long tradition of recognizing its mem- of loyalty and cohesion. decided by the Awards Committee views by voting for a candidate of bers and chapters as well as those Past recipients of the von Braun based on recommendations from the your choice for this year’s Heinlein individuals or groups who have made award have included Donna Shirley, Board of Governors, the Board of award. Please take time to review outstanding contributions to space George Mueller, Max Hunter, and Dr. Directors, and the membership at the guidelines, and send in your vote programs and activities consistent Ernst Stuhlinger. Given in memory of large, the Heinlein award recipient as soon as possible (look for your with the Society’s vision and goals. the noted author Robert A. Heinlein, alone is chosen by current NSS mem- ballot on the coverwrap!). We look The Society acknowledges these the Heinlein award has recognized bers in good standing in a voting forward to seeing you at the ISDC contributions through the Space the achievements of Gerard O’Neill, process overseen by Awards awards banquet in May! a Pioneer awards, given in such cate- gories as legislator, business/corpo- about man’s struggle to leave the makes an appearance with her GROUPS UNVEIL rate, business/entrepreneur, scien- planet. Executive Director Brian Chase Nova-episode-in-8-minutes number SONGS OF SPACE CD tist/engineer, education, mass says, “I am confident that music and “If We Had No Moon.“ media, wide media, compelling art, songs will go with us to the stars and Wholesale copies are available and special merit. that future explorers will hum and direct from the publisher (eli@ Of particular mention is the Space whistle the songs from this very album prometheus-music.com) to resell for Activist award, given to an NSS mem- while mining the moon or planting a chapter fundraising and as an outreach ber who has exemplified the spirit and Martian garden.” tool to spread the NSS message. goals of the Society. Additionally, The 17 tracks span a range of HOW TO ORDER Chapter awards are given by the Vice styles, including folk, rock, majestic TO TOUCH THE STARS President of Chapters. These awards BY MARK UNGAR ballads and ska. NSS members receive a 15% discount are designated “Chapter Excellence,” After six years in the making, an NSS- Winning entrants of the NSS off the usual $15.97 price. “Special Merit,” and “Meritorious sponsored CD of songs celebrating the Apollo Awards for Space Songwriting By Internet: Service,” and are made for such history and future of space exploration (created by former Chairman of the www.prometheus-music.com/ efforts as membership recruitment, was released in January. To Touch The Executive Committee Dr. Robert Zubrin) buy/thestars-nss.html publicity, education, chapter newslet- Stars is a joint project of the NSS, are featured. As Dr. Zubrin puts it: “If By Postal Mail: ters, explorer, public outreach, and Prometheus Music and the Mars we are to win the hearts and souls of Send a check for $15.97 per CD, plus $2 other key chapter activities. These Society. Right now, $2.50 of each CD humanity to the vision of a space-faring shipping and handling to: awards are given at the ISDC awards purchased at http://www.prometheus- future, the space exploration move- Prometheus Music banquet annually. music.com/buy/thestars-nss.html will ment must also develop its songs.” (c/o Eli Goldberg) Two major awards, the Wernher go directly to the NSS as a donation to Other tracks were penned by a 333 Franklin St. #5 von Braun and Robert Heinlein support society programs. variety of space-struck songwriters. Mountain View, CA 94041 awards, have been given in alternat- At a time when a lack of public Notable composers include Judy Please indicate that you are an NSS ing years. Chosen through a rigorous interest and excitement are cited in Collins, whose soaring “Beyond the member—the Society will receive a evaluation process by the NSS the NSS Roadmap as a key barrier to Sky” (here sung by Margaret Davis) $2.50 donation for each CD that you Awards Committee, the von Braun space settlement, the diverse songs was written to honor astronaut buy! Please include your NSS member award recognizes those individuals on the compilation are intended to Eileen Collins. Popular contempo- number, located in the upper-left of with a visionary outlook toward evoke a sense of vision and inspiration rary songwriter Christine Lavin your Ad Astra mailing label. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 41 MODULESa NSS CHAPTER PROJECTS Fax: 510/520-6070 • Chapter website REGION 04 Welcome to the NSS Chapter Projects [email protected] • Host for ISDC 2004 United States Air Force Academy page! Here you can find out what projects • Volunteers for the Challenger Learning Chapter are underway or being planned by National Center at Chabot Space and Science Austin Space Frontier Society Kyle Vacca Space Society chapters. You also you can Center, Oakland, CA. John Strickland PO Box 2649 publicize your own projects, ask for help, 12717 Bullick Hollow Road USAF Academy, CO 80841 and share your experiences in this space. Sacramento L-5 Society Austin, TX 78726 719/333-4759 In every issue of Ad Astra, we will Robert Compton 512/258-8998 [email protected] highlight chapter projects which are not 3945 Grey Livery Way [email protected] • Sponsored astronaut visits and presen- only newsworthy, but also inspiring to Antelope, CA 95843 • Revision of Boy Scouts of America tations to cadets other members. 916/344-3290 Merit Badge Handbook on Space • Conduct observatory nights If you have questions or need more [email protected] Exploration • Coordinate and conduct trips to information about any project, or want to www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Laun • Space issue and briefing paper for sen- Cheyenne Mt, Lockheed Martin and contribute to any current or planned proj- chpad/1939 atorial campaign of John Cornyn of others ect you see here, please contact the per- • Prototype H2O2/kerosene rocket (static Texas son shown. test completed) • Participation and papers at conventions Wichita Chapter of NSS Ad Astra! • Web site and councils on space-related issues Dr. Randall Chambers • Public shopping center displays 2704 Winstead Circle REGION 01 NSS of North Texas Wichita, KS 67226-1179 Orange County Space Society NSS Seattle Louis Mazza 316/684-2614 Larry Evans David Stuart PO Box 1671 Fax: 316/684-6748 st PO Box 53241 14618 21 Ave. SW Arlington, TX 76004-1671 [email protected] Irvine, CA 92619 Seattle, WA 98166 972/681-3600 • Magazine and newspaper articles Voice/Fax: 949/770-0702 206/241-6165 www.utdallas.edu/plemmos/nss • Educational and training programs at [email protected] [email protected] www.nssnt.org the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space • Public displays and programs www.hometown.aol.com/clvancil • Chapter website Center • Student Space Congress • Space Day displays and volunteers • Information table and display at The • Support for and participation in estab- • After School Academy • NSS speakers and staffed display table Science Place, Dallas, TX lishing ASTRA KANSAS DAY proclama- • Space Camp Southern California at Norwestcon, regional Sci-Fi conven- • Co-authored Boy Scouts Merit Badge tion and celebration for the governor of tion Handbook revision Kansas Oasis • Donated World Space Week posters to • Evaluation and judging of presentations Steve Bartlett REGION 03 schools, libraries, and The Science at Wichita State College of Engineering 7108 Peabody St. Tucson L5 Space Society Place and National Institute for Aviation Long Beach, CA 90868 Dick H. Fredericksen Research’s Engineering Openhouse and Phone: 562/627-3991 7351 E. Speedway #11-G San Antonio Space Society Banquet www.oasis-nss.com Tucson, AZ 85710 Carol Redfield • Numbered NASA HSF News Digest [email protected] 520/722-2230 609 Ridgeview Drive Reports • Public talks and lectures [email protected] San Antonio, TX 78253 • Participated in NARAM-44, the th • Star Parties at Mount Wilson www.azstarnet.com/public/nonprofit/tucl 210/679-7625 National Association of Rocketry’s 44 Observatory 5 Fax: 210/522-3729 Annual Meeting and Competition. • Mars Rover Simulator • Judging space-related exhibits at [email protected] • Speakers for space-related convention regional school science fair • Support for Radiance Academy West, a Heart of America Chapter NSS panels • Chapter newsletter charter school the chapter helped to George Howard • Monthly newsletter “The Odyssey” start PO Box 22537 • List of space-related websites world- Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS • Support for activities at St. Mary’s Kansas City, MO 64113-0537 wide c/o Syd Henderson University 816/523-7593 102 W. Linn Apt. 1 • Support for Young Astronauts organiza- [email protected] REGION 02 Norman, OK 73069 tion at Galm Elementary School • “William Bent Station” project to give Golden Gate Space Frontier Society 405/321-4027 • Distribution of CDs from NSS Education idea of what it would be like to live in a Brook E. Mantia [email protected] Committee Adopt-A-School packet Moon or Mars base. PO Box 11341 members.aol.com/osanss/science • Produce CD of abstracts from ISDC Berkeley, CA 94712-2341 • Bimonthly newsletter “Outreach” 2003 Utah Space Association Phone: 510/393-0518 • Bimonthly e-mail newsletter “Update” J. David Baxter 42 january february ma rch 2004 Ad Astra to the stars space community 378 I Street • Planetarium presentations Erie, PA 16510 • Promotion of Space Exploration Act of Salt Lake City, UT 84103 814/899-8069 2002 801/359-0251 Cuyahoga Valley Space Society [email protected] • Challenger Center [email protected] George F. Cooper III • Astronomy Night • Promote local space development http://members.aol.com/utahspace 3433 North Avenue • Blastoff Rocket Club authority • Quarterly newsletter “Aurora” Parma, OH 44134 • Chapter website 216/749-0017 Philadelphia Area Space Alliance International Chapters [email protected] Earl Bennett Queensland Space Frontier Chapter REGION 05 • Monthly chapter newsletter PO Box 1715 Noel Jackson Huntsville Alabama L5 Society Philadelphia, PA 19105 PO Box 419 Gregory H. Allison Lunar Reclamation Society, Inc. 215/633-0878 Nundah Queensland 4012 PMB 168 Peter Kokh [email protected] Australia 1019A Old Monrovia Road PO Box 2102 pasa02.tripod.com 61-7-3266-6324 Huntsville, AL 35806 Milwaukee, WI 53201-2102 • Presentations at Super Science [email protected] 256/859-5538 414/342-0705 Weekend, New Jersey State Museum • Literary Project—donation of chapter Fax: 256/461-3045 [email protected] • Special Awards judging at George library materials to schools and library [email protected] www.lunar-reclamation.org Washington Carver Science Fair http://hiwaay.net/~hal5 • Monthly publication “Moon Miners’ • Special exhibit at New Jersey State Deutsche Raumfartgesellschaft e.V • Public lectures on space-related sub- Manifesto” Museum in conjunction with NASA German Space Society jects • Booth and exhibit at Aviation Career Traveling Exhibit Michael Stennecken • Continuation of Project HALO, including Day, Mitchell Field • Presentations at Philcon Science Fiction Greta-buenichmann-Str. 3 test firings of large and small hybrid • “Rockets for Schools” annual rocket Convention 48155 Muenster rocket motors launch event Germany DC-L5 (Metro Washington DC) +49 251 131857 Middle Tennessee Space Society Sheboygan Space Society Donnie Lowther [email protected] Chuck Schlemm Wilbert G. Foerster PO Box 16630 www.drg-gss.org 508 Beechgrove Way 728 Center St. Arlington, VA 22215-1630 • Item in personal package of Russian Burns, TN 37029 Kiel, WI 53042-1034 703/567-1630 cosmonaut to ISS and back 615/441-1024 920/894-2376 [email protected] [email protected] [email protected] • Cable access program “Around Space” Don’t see your project here? Want to • One-hour weekly television program www.tcei.com/sss make a correction, add your project? Ask “Space TV” • “Rockets for Schools” display REGION 08 for help? To do any of these things, send • Display at Dickson Renaissance Center • Chapter website Suffolk Challengers for Space your information and/or questions to: • Participated in Girl Scout Jamboree Prof. Reagan Lorraine Lavorata Astronomy Night REGION 07 182 Millard Avenue G. B. Leatherwood • Educational presentations to groups of Baltimore Metro Chapter of NSS West Babylon, NY 11704 NSS Director of Projects—Chapters Vanderbilt University Childcare children Dale S. Arnold, Jr. 631/321-0964 776 Spring Valley Parkway • Display tables at Cumberland Science 102 F Seevue Ct. [email protected] Spring Creek, NV 89815-6224 Museum Bel Air, MD 21014 [email protected] Phone/Fax: 775/753-9165 • Monthly presentations during public 410/879-3602 www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hall/ Email: [email protected] viewing nights at the Vanderbilt Dyer [email protected] 5950/challengers.html Observatory • Display and manned table at Andrews • Aid to Internet space start-up company AFB air show • Educational lectures on French space REGION 06 • Science programming at Maryland program Chicago Society for Space Studies Regional Science Fiction Convention Lawrence Boyle • Judging and prize awarding at Long Island Space Society PO Box 1454 Maryland Regional Science Fair Arthur Smith North Riverside, IL 60546 • Display and space backdrop at outdoor 8 Cherry Lane 708/788-1336 community festival Selden, NY 11784 708/455-6229 631/732-1367 [email protected] NSS North Coast Chapter [email protected] www.astrodigital.org/csss Edward C. Longnecker www.lispace.org • “Cartoon History of the Space Program” 88 Pine Leaf Drive • Chapter web site to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 43 National Space Society appreciates the financial support of all of its members, and would like to recognize the top donors in the last year Major NSS Donors (donation levels reflect cumulative contributions from May 2003–January 2004). Buzz Aldrin Council Dana Johnson Mary Morss Majel Barrett-Roddenberry David Peter Kapelanski Stanley J. Novak Paul Canolesio J.Michael Lekson Allan M. Schiffman Lars S. Easterson Charles T. Lenzmeier & Phyllis Ooi Robert Edwards Dean E. London Eric Tilenius Greg Foote John H. McQuilkin Visionary Stephen Donaldson Hugh Hotson Jr. Frederick Ordway III Seymore Graff Don Kimball Jay Wittner Jack Bader The Gryphon Fund Jeffrey Kodosky Lori Cooke-Marra Mark Hopkins Ronnie Lajoie Pioneer S. Bruce Edwin Jones, Phd. Steve Price Thomas Defilipps Georgette Koopman David Shulan P. Alpaugh Robert Dettmer George Lagorio Fred Simms Edward Apke Michael Downey J. Lekson James Skaggs Janet Asimov Mike Dudley James Maenpaa John Swanson Richard Beers Terry Gray Stephen Marshall Mike Symond Amy Bouska Kane Gross Alden McKelvey Michael Tomkins Bruce Boxleitner Mark Herrup Rear McQuilkin Cynthia Yarborough Explorer Daymon Duncan Robert Hunter Glenn Mclntyre Donald Russo Jack Egan Michael Huston Eric Moller Richard Salonek Jennifer Adams Christopher Ellsworth W. Iller Mike Neary Peter Schenck Dwayne Addison James Fackert Earnest Jackson II William Nowlin Gary Scotto Roger Bara Marc Foulkrod Stephen Jensen C. Osborn Brandon Sherlock L. Baxter Mary Friese Keith Keeter Kurt Paasch Kathy Shinn Michael Bellardi Joseph Gillin William Kelley D. Penn Shirley Sontheimer Robert Bigelow Jonathan Gjessing Kenneth Kerr Erik Peterson Robert Stepp Peter Bissegger Steven Goddard Michael King Robert Peterson Adam Temple David Blanchard Robert Gounley Thomas Kistler Jared Polis John Tenopir Blandy Boocock Joseph Guerin William Knowles Charles Poteet IV Richard Thayer Chris Brand Eric Gunnerson Jeffrey Labaw Richard Potthoff Pat Tomasko George Brickner Anthony Haga Khajak Lajinian John Pritchard Terry Troup Geoffrey Buckley David Hampton Barry Lamont Roger Raham Richard Trub Jose Bueno George Hanff David Lerner George Ray Richard Uren Randall Chambers Ed Harris Michael Livanos Mike Rees Richard Vail Paul Clark Thomas Harris Charles Livingston Ruth Remmel John Vance Lammot Copeland Herbert Hartman, Jr. Edwin Louie Marc Rhodes Richard Von Glahn Mr. Crowley William Hettchen Dennis Lydick Pete Ricketts Jocelyn Wallace Hoyt Davison Armand Hilaire David Lyon George Roberts Richard Waters Robert De Bock Derek Ho John Magee Guillermo Rodriguez Doug West Donald Disraeli Robert Hoffman Jerilee Mattingly David Rucker Rick Donovan Justin Houk Donald McClellan Randy Rumley 44 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars 44 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars ROBERT ZIMMERMAN “Leaving Earth is one of the best and certainly the most comprehensive summary of our drive into LEAVING space that I have ever read.” —Arthur C. Clarke LEAVING EARTH Space Stations, Rival Superpowers, and the Quest for Interplanetary Travel Robert Zimmerman 304 pages • 6 x 9 • ISBN 0-309-08548-9 • Hardcover • $27.95 “I thought I knew it all but the book revealed aspects of the Shuttle-MIR program and my MIR 18 mission of which even I was unaware.” —Norm Thagard, former NASA astronaut and the first American to fly on a Russian rocket and to live on Mir EARTH “Zimmerman’s comprehensive account of the push to ‘live’ in space is necessarily SPACE STATIONS, RIVAL SUPERPOWERS, populated largely by Russians, but it is an adventure AND THE QUEST FOR INTERPLANETARY TRAVEL that belongs to the entire human race.” —George Dyson, author of Project Orion and Darwin Among the Machines J To order: Call toll-free 1-888-624-7651 or browse before you buy—preview a full-text, H searchable version or buy a downloadable, PDF online at www.nap.edu. From Joseph Henry Press • An imprint of The National Academies Press STATEMENT OF OWNERSHIP to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 45 MODULESa TX - Clear Lake Area Chapter of NSS MO - Heart of America Chapter NSS REGION 02X Murray G. Clark George Howard P.O. Box 890588 P.O. Box 22537 Houston, TX 77289-0588 Kansas City, MO 64113-0537 National Space Society Chapters Region Two Chapters Organizer 281/367-2227 816/523-7593 Bryce Walden [email protected] [email protected] The NSS Chapter List is available at P.O. Box 86 www.nsshouston.org/ Oregon City, OR 97045 UT - Utah Space Association http://www.nss.org/chapter. 503/655-6189 TX - NSS of North Texas J. David Baxter Please direct all changes to NSS [email protected] Louis Mazza 378 I Street Headquarters at [email protected]. PO Box 1671 Salt Lake City, UT 84103 CA - Golden Gate Space Frontier Arlington, TX 76004-1671 801/359-0251 Society 972/681-3600 [email protected] CHAPTERS COORDINATORS Brook E. Mantia [email protected]/www.issint.org http://members.aol.com/utahspace/ P.O. Box 11341 V.P. of Chapter Affairs Berkeley, CA 94712-2341 TX - San Antonio Space Society Jim Plaxco 510/393-0518 Carol Redfield 700 Cape Lane 925/520-6070 FAX 609 Ridge View Dr. REGION 05X Schaumburg, IL 60193 [email protected] San Antonio, TX 78253 847/923-7122 210/679-7625 [email protected] CA - Sacramento L5 Society 210/522-3729 FAX Region Five Chapters Organizer Robert Compton [email protected] Harry Reed U.S. Chapters Coordinator 3945 Grey Livery Way 163 Harrison Rd. Bennett Rutledge Antelope, CA 95843 NM - New Mexico Space Society Benton, KY 42025 4264 E. Maplewood Way 916/344-3290 Fred Aiken 270/527-2386 Centennial, CO 80121 [email protected] P.O Box 94133 [email protected] 720/529-8024 www.adguy.com/sac.L5/index.html Albuquerque, NM 87199-4133 720/529-8024 FAX 505/856-2145 AL - Huntsville Alabama L5 Society [email protected] OR - Oregon L5 Society [email protected] Gregory H. Allison Bryce Walden PMB 168 International Chapters Coordinator P.O. Box 86 1019A Old Monrovia Road Michael James Oregon City, OR 97045 Huntsville, AL 35806 PO Box A2078 503/655-6189 REGION 04X 256/859-5538 Sydney South, NSW 1235 503/655-6189 FAX 256/461-3045 FAX Australia [email protected] [email protected] 61-2-9808-1429 www.OregonL5.com Region Four Chapters Organizer http://hiwaay.net/~hal5 [email protected] George Howard WA - NSS Seattle P.O. Box 22537 GA - NSS Atlanta David Stuart Kansas City, MO 64113-0537 Bill Gardiner UNITED STATES 14618 21st Ave. SW 816/523-7593 1197 Spur 138 Seattle, WA 98166 [email protected] Jonesboro, GA 30231 206/241-6165 770-473-7617 REGION 01X [email protected] CO - Front Range L5 Society 770-477-0515 FAX www.hometown.aol.com/clvancil Bill Nelson [email protected] 2295 Gross Circle East #2 Region One Chapters Organizer Boulder, CO 80302 KY - Kentucky Chapter of NSS James Spellman, Jr. 303/247-9797 Harry Reed 4617 Oak Lane, Mtn. Mesa REGION 03X [email protected] 163 Harrison Rd. Lake Isabella, CA 93240-9713 Benton, KY 42025 760/379-2503 CO - Mile High L5 Society 270/527-2386 [email protected] Region Three Chapters Organizer Mark Schloesslin [email protected] Claire Stephens McMurray 6937 E. Briarwood Circle CA - NSS Western Spaceport 1206 Classen Blvd. Englewood, CO 80112 TN - Middle Tennessee Space Chapter Norman, OK 73071 303/779-5692 Society James Spellman, Jr. 405/329-4326 [email protected] Chuck Schlemm 4617 Oak Lane, Mtn. Mesa [email protected] 508 Beechgrove Way Lake Isabella, CA 93240-9713 CO - United States Air Force Burns, TN 37029 760/379-2503 AZ - Tucson L5 Space Society Academy Chapter 615/441-1024 760/379-2503 FAX Dick H. Fredericksen Kyle Vacca [email protected] [email protected] 7351 E. Speedway #11-G PO Box 2649 http://hometown.aol.com/wspaceport/ Tucson, AZ 85710 USAF Academy, CO 80841 TN - NSS Memphis/Mid-South Welcome.html 520/722-2230 719/200-6506 Robert Hudson [email protected] [email protected] 3861 Trufant CA - OASIS www.azstarnet.com/public/nonprofit/tucl5 Memphis, TN 38128 Steve Bartlett KS - Wichita Chapter of NSS 901/388-1480 PO Box 1231 OK - Oklahoma Space Alliance NSS Dr. Randall Chambers [email protected] Redondo Beach, CA 90278 Thomas Koszoru 2704 Winstead Circle www.memspace.org 310/364-2290 514 Fenwick Ct. Wichita, KS 67226-1179 http://www.oasis-nss.org Norman, OK 73072 316/684-2614 [email protected] 405/366-1797 316/684-6748 FAX REGION 06X [email protected] [email protected] CA - Orange County Space Society http://members.aol.com/osanss/science/ Larry Evans Region Six Chapters Organizer P.O. Box 53241 TX - Austin Space Frontier Society Larry Ahearn Irvine, CA 92619-3241 John Strickland 610 West 47th Place 949/770-0702 12717 Bullick Hollow Road Chicago, IL 60609 949/770-0702 FAX Austin, TX 78726 773/373-0349 [email protected] 512/258-8998 [email protected] [email protected] 46 january february m a r c h 2004 Ad Astra to the stars space community IL - Chicago Society for Space MD - Baltimore Metro Chapter of NSS NY - NSS/NYC University of New South Wales Studies Dale S. Arnold, Jr. Candace Pankanin Space Frontier Society Lawrence Boyle 102 F. Seevue Ct. 300 Gorge Road #66 Jennifer Wood PO Box 1454 Bel Air, MD 21014 Cliffside Park, NJ 07010 c/o Student Guild North Riverside, IL 60546 410/879-3602 201-945-0769 1st Floor, East Wing 708/788-1336 [email protected] [email protected] Quadrangle Building 1/455-6299 www.nssnyc.org University of New South Wales [email protected] PA - NSS North Coast Chapter New South Wales 2052 www.astrodigital.org/csss/ Edward C. Longnecker Australia 160 W. 8th St. Apt. 3E 61-2-9746-5518 IL - Chicago Space Frontier L5 Erie, PA 16501 SPECIAL INTEREST CHAPTERS [email protected] Society 814/459-2572 Bill Higgins [email protected] CA - Space Nursing Society MS 355, Fermilab Box 500 Linda Plush, RN Batavia, IL 60510 PA - Philadelphia Area Space 3053 Rancho Vista Blvd H377 CANADA 630/393-6817 Alliance Palmdale, CA 93551 [email protected] Earl Bennett 661/949-6780 Calgary Space Frontier Society www.astrodigital.org/csfs PO Box 1715 [email protected] Paul Swift Philadelphia, PA 19105 www.spacenursingsociety.com 218 - 200 Lincoln Way IL - Illini Space Development 215/633-0878 Calgary, Alberta T3E 6K6 Society [email protected] AL - The Odyssey Foundation Canada Joannah Metz pasa2.tripod.com Harry K. Coffman 403/287-3107 314 Talbot Laboratory 104 S. Wright St. P.O. Box 18987 [email protected] Urbana, IL 61801 VA - DC-L5 (Metro Washington DC) Huntsville, AL 35804 217/244-4263 Donnie Lowther 404-786-5958 Niagara Peninsula Space Frontier [email protected] PO Box 3955 [email protected] Society www.uiuc.edu/ro/isds Merrifield, VA 22116 www.theodeysseyfoundation.org/ Raymond Merrick 703/354-2665 PO Box 172 IL - Illinois North Shore NSS [email protected] Thorold, Ontario L2V 3Y9 Jeffrey Liss www.aroundspace.com Canada 1364 Edgewood Lane INTERNATIONAL CHAPTERS 905/680-9784 Winnetka, IL 60093 [email protected] 847/446-8343 AUSTRALIA 312/201-0737 FAX REGION 08X [email protected] NSS of Australia Philip Young GERMANY OH - Cuyahoga Valley Space Region Eight Chapters Organizer GPO Box 7048 Society Bennett Rutledge Sydney NSW 2001 Deutsche Raumfahrtgesellschaft e.V. George F. Cooper, III 4264 E. Maplewood Way Australia German Space Society 3433 North Avenue Centennial, CO 80121 61-2-9614-1900 Michael Stennecken Parma, OH 44134 720/529-8024 [email protected] Greta-Buenichmann-Str. 3 216/749-0017 720/529-8024 FAX http://nssa.com.au 48155 Muenster [email protected] [email protected] Germany Central Coast Space Frontier +49 251 3944 863 WI - Lunar Reclamation Society, MA - NSS Boston Chapter Society +49 251 3944 864 Inc. Roxanne Warniers Tony James [email protected] Peter Kokh 5 Driftwood Rd. 98 Malison Street www.drg-gss.org P.O. Box 2102 Acton, MA 01720 Wyoming, NSW 2250 Milwaukee, WI 53201-2102 978/266-2625 Australia 414/342-0705 [email protected] 61-2-4329-4748 [email protected] http://nss.ac/ma [email protected] IRELAND www.lunar-reclamation.org NY - Long Island Space Society Newcastle Space Frontier Society NSS Ireland WI - Sheboygan Space Society Arthur Smith Jack Dwyer Alan Kelly Wilbert G. Foerster 8 Sherry Lane PO Box 1150 P.O. Box 6896 728 Center St. Selden, NY 11784 Newcastle, NSW 2300 Dublin 2 Kiel, WI 53042-1034 631/732-1367 Australia Ireland 920/894-2376 [email protected] 61-24963-5037 +353-1-87-2220425 [email protected] www.lispace.org/ [email protected] www.tcei.com/sss www.nssa.com.au// NY - New Frontier Society of Greater Rochester, NY Queensland Space Frontier Society MEXICO REGION 07X Carl Ellsbree Noel Jackson 117 Kirklees Rd. P.O. Box 419 Sociedad Espacial Mexicana, A.C. Pittsford, NY 14534 Nundah Queensland 4012 Jesus Raygoza B. Region Seven Chapters Organizer 585/381-4218 Australia Apartado Postal 5-75 Bennett Rutledge [email protected] 61-7-3266-6324 Guadalajara, JALISCO 45042 4264 E. Maplewood Way http://space.rochester.ny.us [email protected] Mexico Centennial, CO 80121 3/647-5710 720/529-8024 NY - Suffolk Challengers for Space Sydney Space Frontier Society [email protected] 720/529-8024 FAX Prof. Reagan Lorraine Lavorata Wayne Short [email protected] 182 Millard Avenue GPO Box 7048 West Babylon, NY 11704 Sydney, NSW 2001 631/321-0964 Australia NOTE: [email protected] 61-2-9150-4553 [email protected] [email protected] This list is constantly changing. http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/ Visit www.nss.org for the Hall/5950/challengers.html most current chapters listing. to the stars Ad Astra january february m a r c h 2004 47 lifting off MODULESa PAVING A NEW ROAD TO SPACE BY BRIAN E. CHASE, NSS EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR The day we’ve been waiting for has finally arrived. A U.S. president how we promote ourselves to policy-makers and again has decided that the future of humanity belongs in the stars. the general public. Why don’t we have organiza- President George Bush has set us on a path to return to the moon— tions running issue ads and funding industry-wide this time to stay, and eventually go on to Mars and even asteroids. Political Action Committees to get our messages But will we reach that point, and how will we do so? across? As a sector, even combining the size and We certainly won’t get there by building a circular firing squad. influence of major aerospace companies, we lag far Too often we see passion for the exploration, development, and behind our political competitors in virtually every settlement of space turn into raw hostility toward those who share area of impacting public policy and opinion. similar objectives but differ in methodology. Who do we really Yet the policy arena is just one aspect of the Brian E.Chase think we’re convincing with behavior like that? challenges facing us. The rubber meets the road We stand on the threshold of the expansion of our civilization into in the business community, where everyone from the biggest federal the solar system, and we should not confine our thinking to narrow contractor to the smallest startup company is trying to turn a profit agendas that isolate us from the general public or from each other. in space. And that—not sole reliance on federal funding—is the real There are many visionaries within the space advocacy movement, key to our long-term success. and it is healthy to have debate regarding our “next steps.” But I see But to make that a reality, entrepreneurs and advocacy organiza- a disturbing trend to attack the ideas of other rather than work tions need to recognize the important role NASA has to play in our together for the common good. space exploration efforts and that, despite some needed reforms, The official NSS position is that we support a return to the moon the federal government is going to be an important partner for the first, for a variety of practical reasons. But would we have withheld foreseeable future. In turn, NASA, other federal agencies and the support if the White House opted to go to Mars first? Absolutely not! established aerospace industry need to recognize that free market We believe the moon is just the first step in a bold and aggressive solutions may provide critical technologies and skills to tackle some exploration and eventual settlement of the solar system, and there are of our greatest challenges. many paths to get us to that point. Finding common ground is never easy, but it’s more important The space advocacy community is too small to become fractured in than ever if we are going to move forward as a nation and truly build a political environment consumed with critical domestic and interna- a space-faring civilization. President Bush has given us the vision, but tional issues. We could take some cues from the health care, trans- we have a lot of work ahead of us to make it a reality. portation, defense and other special interest and industry sectors in Ad Astra! Visionary Donors B UZZ A LDRIN C OUNCIL I NDIVIDUALS Majel Barrett-Roddenberry Edward Apke Jack Bader Richard F. Beers Michael Cronin Stephen R. Donaldson Paul Canolesio Michael Downey Hugh Downs Vernon Edgar Steven Goddard David R. Hamlin Lars S. Easterson David Hampton Mark Herrup Adrian S. Hooper Hugh Hotson, Jr. Robert Hunter Robert Edwards Gregg Foote Dave Jacques William Jaeger Randy D. Kelley Don Kimball Jeffrey Kodosky David Peter Kapelanski Georgette Koopman Ronnie LaJoie Evan Malone Eugene Montgomery James O’Neil J. Michael Lekson Frederick I. Ordway III Christopher Pancratz Ed Post Guilermo P. Rodriquez Greg Rucker Charles T. Lenzmeier Neil Ruzic Randall Skinner Charles E. Stauble Mike Symond John A. Swanson Dean E. London Eric W. Tilenius Adrian Tymes Jeffrey C. Walker Glen P. Wilson Jay Wittner Mary Morss John H. McQuilkin Stanley J. Novak C ORPORATIONS Allan M. Schiffman & Phylis Ooi Fisher Space Pen Lockheed Martin Raytheon SGI Space Adventures Eric Tilenius 48 january february march 2004 Ad Astra to the stars 2TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY 0 OF THE NATIONAL SPACE . . SYMPOSIUM MARCH 29 ~ APRIL 1 2004 THE BROADMOOR COLORADO SPRINGS “Champions of the High Frontier” created by Robert T. McCall • 2003 Douglas S. Morrow Public Outreach Award Winner • www.McCallstudios.com The year 2004 marks the Twentieth Anniversary of the National Space Symposium, an annual event considered the premier U.S. policy and program forum. This four-day "must do" opportunity for information and interaction on all sectors of space—commercial, civil and national security—is attended by industry leaders, military and government officials, space educators and media. Record numbers are expected to attend. Secure your attendance today with online registration. www.spacesymposium.org • 800.691.4000 http://www.nss.org • phone: 202.543.1900