Our economy needs a robust space program

Houston Chronicle: Our economy needs a robust space program

Our economy needs a robust space program
By SCOTT SPENCER and CHRISTOPHER C. KRAFT JR.
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Aug. 21, 2010, 3:37PM

As the end of the space shuttle program nears, where and how America next travels into space appears unclear. There are no defined missions, destinations or deadlines. With the upcoming 50th anniversary of the first U.S. manned spaceflight — Alan Shepard's Mercury Freedom 7 suborbital flight on May 5, 1961, - America's leadership in space exploration is at risk of being set adrift into an uncertain future, cluttered with program cancellations, budget cuts and conflicting directives for government and commercial spaceflight development.

In addition to the need to retain the unique technical expertise of tens of thousands of workers, the future of the space program is vital to the economic future of our nation. No other government program can match the economic impact of space program spin-offs that include applications in medicine, computer technology, communications, public safety, food, power generation and transportation. Where our economy goes in the future depends on where we go in space now. MRI testing, flat screen TVs, cordless power tools and solar power are examples of the long-term economic benefits of space technology spin-offs.

A robust manned space program, with well defined missions, destinations and deadlines, is essential for NASA and U.S. advancement in science, technology, engineering and medicine. Such advancements inspire continued academic achievement and employment opportunities in these areas for America's youth.

In the midst of the current political debate about NASA and America's future in space, it is easily overlooked that the dangerous endeavor of traveling into space requires purpose and focus on two principles that have been essential to successful U.S. manned space flight for nearly 50 years - proficiency and redundancy.

Keeping the space shuttles flying will be essential to preserve the continuity of 30,000 jobs and maintaining American technical proficiency with regular space missions. The space shuttles also provide the United States with vital space transportation redundancy.

After the final space shuttle flight, scheduled for next year, the United States would need to depend on Russia for transportation to and from space. While this pay-per-ride arrangement has been used successfully to provide some trips to the International Space Station, this would mark the first time in history that our nation would be left with no alternative but to accept the technical and political risks of depending entirely on a foreign nation for access to space.

It would be prudent to keep the space shuttles flying with new missions to maintain a vital back-up contingency, until replacement spacecraft and commercial space transportation achieve reliable operations.

The space shuttle's unique capability to launch heavy payloads into space, or return hardware from orbit, is the only means available of flying critical replacement components to support the $100 billion International Space Station. If the 300-ton space station is ever taken out of service, the space shuttle is the only vehicle in existence that could safely deorbit the massive structure.

No other spacecraft has flown more flights in the last 30 years and carried more passengers into space than the space shuttle. It is the only reusable spacecraft in the world capable of carrying more than a half dozen passengers and school-bus-sized cargo into space. Although designed to fly at least 100 flights each, the three space shuttles have been flown on average only a quarter of their useful lives.

Since the first flight in 1981, the space shuttle fleet has completed more than 100 missions and carried more than 600 passengers into space. The fleet has accumulated more than 2.5 years in orbit and yet has 75 percent of its design life remaining.

After the tragic loss of the Challenger and Columbia crews and shuttles, modifications to the remaining shuttle fleet and improvements to inspections and flight procedures have made the space shuttle the most reliable and capable vehicle in the U.S. rocket stable.

The space shuttles, used in unmanned and manned mode, plus future variations, have the unique capability to transport humans and large payloads. They also have the capability to assemble vehicles to go to any and every destination in this solar system from the International Space Station as a spaceport in Earth orbit or a more efficient low Earth orbit assembly location.

Some have called for skipping return flights to the moon in order to conduct more spectacular missions to asteroids and Mars. However, regular and extended moon missions, utilizing the spacecraft designed for Mars missions, will be necessary to confirm the readiness of spacecraft, astronauts and flight procedures for future Mars missions. In fact, several dress-rehearsal-type missions, simulating a multiyear Mars mission, within the relative safe-return distance between the Earth and the moon, would be vital before attempting to risk the unforgiving demands of sending a manned spacecraft more than 100 million miles to Mars.

We are requesting that President Obama, Congress, NASA and our fellow Americans continue America's leadership in space with a commitment to a space program with the purpose, focus and deadlines to go to the moon and Mars and generate the tremendous economic benefits that space program spin-offs will provide our economy.

Our proposal is for the development of a modular, reusable Planetary Transport Vehicle (PTV) System for manned landings on the moon, Mars and asteroids. The modular components of the PTV spacecraft would be designed to fit in the cargo bay of the space shuttle to be flown to a spaceport at the International Space Station or a more efficient low Earth orbit location for assembly in Earth orbit.

Designed as an exo- atmospheric spacecraft, reusable PTV landers would operate successive missions entirely in space, traveling to the moon and Mars from the Earth orbit spaceport then returning to the spaceport to be serviced for the next mission. Shuttles and commercial spacecraft would ferry crews back and forth to the PTV spaceport in Earth orbit.

Eliminating the need to launch every moon or Mars lander from the surface of the Earth generates considerable savings in fuel. The reusable PTV also eliminates the expense of throwaway spacecraft and rocket boosters. Modular components of the PTV system create the opportunity to realize additional savings by encouraging funding and construction participation from our foreign-nation partners on the space station to share the costs of international planetary exploration.

As a reusable spacecraft, PTV landers will operate with a high degree of service-proven reliability. This will provide the proficiency and redundancy essential for the success of repeated landings on the moon and Mars.

The PTV spacecraft fleet, supported by the space shuttle assembly missions and the return to Earth of PTV modules when needed for repair, refurbishment or replacement, will also create a significant market for commercial spacecraft to ferry crews, supplies and fuel to the PTV spaceport in Earth orbit.

Given the modular simplicity of the PTV spacecraft landers, it is conceivable that our nation could mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with the resumption of lunar flights in 2019. An asteroid flight in 2025, establishing a permanent base on the moon to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday in 2026 and a mission to land on Mars by 2035 would be more feasible goals with the experience gained from utilizing the PTV spacecraft.

This is the course that our country should follow into space for the next decade to the moon, Mars and beyond.

A robust space program with a focus on mission definition, destinations and deadlines is essential to avoid stagnation of leadership, economic progress and the technological achievements of our nation.

Kraft is the former director of NASA's Manned Spaceflight Center in Houston. Spencer is a transportation management consultant in Wilmington, Del.