A 28 exploration, theagencyshould: program. IfNASA isto spearheadspace to develop abalancedspaceexploration willing toinvest real space economy. gineers andscientists, anddevelop atrue opportunities for anewgeneration ofen can expandtheaerospace pie,opennew Coupled withinternational alliances,we are surveyingthesolarsystemandbeyond. Earth orbitandspacesciencemissionsthat advanced commercial development inlow Such successful collaborations have already will helpusaccelerate anewlunarprogram. pole by2024. with ahumanmissiontothemoon’s south FAULT; TOLEARNANDIMPROVE IT’SANOPPORTUNITY ACCELERATING THEU.S. SPACE PROGRAMREQUIR America isready toexplore 2024, currentplans. fouryearsearlierthantheagency’s U.S. VicePresidentMike Pence,speakingattheU.S. SpaceandRocket CenterinHuntsville,Alabama,March26,directedNASAto | SPACENEWS 05.06.19 America mustcontinue tobealeader, Public-private-academic partnerships to beginexploringspaceagain Pence challenged thenation cil meeting,U.S. Vice President t therecent National Space Coun- COMMENTARY and intellectual capital, Jack Burns - maximize thetaxpayer’s investment inspace. maintain alaserfocus onmissionsthat exploration missions. space economy that supportsscienceand space anddevelopment ofa sustainable pursuing thevasteconomicresources of and create real jobsat home. American firmstospureconomicgrowth technologies andknowledge transfer to development andacceleration ofaerospace as secondtonone. tion, andaerospace technologyresearch exploration andutilization. expand Americaninvolvement inspace demic partnershipsandothermeansthat system, incorporating public-private-aca- swiftly expandinghumanity into thesolar • Streamline agencyoperations and • SupportAmericancompaniesin • Establishits spacescience,explora- Demonstrate preeminence inspaceby • • Defineaclearstrategic visionfor the ES MEASUREDRISKS.FAILURE ISNOTA eral government will betheanchortenant airline andcomputerindustriesthat thefed- in recognizing, aswastruewiththeearly ternational sources. We mustberealistic from government, commercial andin- must bematched byappropriate funding ing outthepresident’s SPD-1, ourambitions and, thus, thefundingtosucceed.Incarry- without sufficient buy-in from Congress exploration, buttheyultimately collapsed grand ambitionsfor post-Apollo space resources. Past administrations have had space exploration, NASA will needadequate But tocarryoutthisvisionaryprogram for Earth newknowledge andopportunities.” across thesolarsystemandtobringback tional partnerstoenablehuman expansion exploration withcommercial andinterna- an innovative andsustainableprogram of Directive 1,which callsfor NASA to“lead President DonaldTrump’s Space Policy These goalsare incorporated into landhumansonthemoonby

NASA TV in the development of cislunar space over Such water ice can be used to support lead a sample return mission to the South at least the next decade. Our investments a human presence on the lunar surface by Pole Aitken Basin to collect this invaluable today will enable entrepreneurs to close providing oxygen to breathe, water to grow evidence of our planet’s beginnings. their business plans in the future. crops, and protection from solar radiation. A sustainable lunar program must The moon is the obvious and practical Water can also be broken into hydrogen include humans on the surface by the destination to renew our ambitions for deep and oxygen, and reassembled as rocket middle of the 2020s, not the end of the space journeys of discovery. However, be- fuel. Manufacturing rocket fuel on the decade. This lander would reuse systems fore we begin, we need to clearly articulate moon, with its much lower surface gravity, and technology from the years of invest- the reasons for going to the moon so Con- could fuel a future cislunar transportation ment in America’s deep space spacecraft, gress and the public will embrace this goal. economy. Several private companies have including Orion, Curiosity and InSight, Pieces of this plan exist but it currently lacks already formed with the goal of mining coupled with elements from the robust cohesion. We must clearly communicate a water on the moon. But, first, we need to and growing commercial industry. Such bold plan at this juncture with the full par- determine if we can practically extract this an approach logically begins with what ticipation of taxpayers, Congress, industry water ice from craters at just 40 degrees we have now and would incrementally in- and international partners. All are thirsting above absolute zero. This requires a robotic crease the nation’s capability for ever more for leadership by the United States. prospecting expedition to the moon. Such extensive human-robotic exploration by The first element of the strategic plan for a mission could be formulated using the infusing new technologies and ideas over space exploration has already begun with public-private-academic model to provide time. This approach will bypass historic de- Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS), the scientific and engineering expertise to lays in completing new human missions. a NASA program to provide private-sector harvest this valuable lunar resource. NASA Indeed, the Apollo Applications Program transportation to the moon. Nine large to has begun to reformulate the canceled Re- of the 1970s had this concept at its core. It startup-sized companies were recently source Prospector mission to include a rover provided stunning achievements, such as selected by NASA as potential transpor- and a suite of instruments that will extract Skylab and Apollo-Soyuz, and conceived of tation service providers. Furthermore, samples from a meter below the surface. bolder applications leading to a dual flyby NASA selected 12 science and technology Before a human mission to the moon’s of Venus and Mars – a bridge to the needed payloads in March to fly on these commer- south pole, it is urgent that we launch a technological advances for Mars landings. cial landers. One experiment, on which I robotic mission within the next few years. We should pay attention to this lesson from collaborate, will carry a radio science pay- In December, the Chinese Chang’e-4 history and do likewise. load on a CLPS lander. This project could spacecraft was the first to land on the If this strategic vision for lunar devel- be the first step in placing an array of low far side of the moon. The moon is tidally opment is to succeed, there must be a radio-frequency telescopes on the moon’s locked with the Earth so the farside always change in our tolerance for risk. As we all farside—the only radio-quiet environment faces away from the Earth. The Chang’e-4 know, space is a difficult, demanding, and in the inner solar system. mission was made possible by placing a dangerous environment for humans and Such a radio array would search for communication satellite in a halo orbit machines. But, as was true in the days of the magnetic fields that might sustain life around the Earth-moon L2 Lagrange point Apollo, we need to take measured risks to around planets orbiting other stars. And about 65,000 kilometers above the farside. accelerate America’s space program — to it would detect, for the first time, the first This landing was a significant accomplish- explore, to discover and to invent a cislu- generation of stars in the early universe – ment for the Chinese space program but it nar economy. This will require a culture both priorities of the Astrophysics Decadal was also a disappointment that NASA was change where failure is not a fault but rather Survey. This array could also be deployed not there first. There is much more to be an opportunity to learn and improve, as is by a rover on the moon’s farside, tele- done on the lunar farside. The South Pole true in all entrepreneurial organizations. operated by astronauts working on NASA’s Aitken Basin, where Chang’e-4 landed, is Equally important is stability of national lunar Gateway. the largest, oldest, and deepest crater in leadership and our goals for the space There is much more that robotic mis- the inner solar system. It holds the key to program where long-term objectives and sions to the moon should do. Results from understanding the history of how both the proper funding are maintained giving us NASA’s LCROSS impactor mission and Earth and moon were bombarded with all the best opportunity to succeed. SN India’s Chandrayaan-1 point to an abun- asteroids billions of years ago, a process dance of water ice within permanently that likely reshaped the surfaces of all the JACK BURNS IS PROFESSOR OF ASTROPHYSICS shadowed craters at the lunar poles. This terrestrial planets and possibly induced life AND VICE PRESIDENT EMERITUS AT THE is a game-changer. Water is the key to sus- to form on our home world. After decades UNIVERSITY OF COLORADO BOULDER. HE SERVED taining human exploration and economic of planning by the American planetary ON THE PRESIDENTIAL TRANSITION LANDING development on the moon and beyond. science community, it is time for NASA to TEAM FOR NASA IN 2016 AND 2017.

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