Fiction: Tom Corbett, Space Cadet: Stand By For Mars

Tom Corbett, Space Cadet
STAND BY FOR MARS
1952

CHAPTER 1

"Stand to, you rocket wash!"

A harsh, bull-throated roar thundered over the platform of the monorail station at Space Academy and suddenly the lively chatter and laughter of more than a hundred boys was stilled. Tumbling out of the gleaming monorail cars, they froze to quick attention, their eyes turned to the main exit ramp.

They saw a short, squat, heavily built man, wearing the scarlet uniform of the enlisted Solar Guard, staring down at them, his fists jammed into his hips and his feet spread wide apart. He stood there a moment, his sharp eyes flicking over the silent clusters, then slowly sauntered down the ramp toward them with a strangely light, catfooted tread.

"Form up! Column of fours!"

Almost before the echoes of the thunderous voice died down, the scattered groups of boys had formed themselves into four ragged lines along the platform.

The scarlet-clad figure stood before them, his seamed and weather-beaten face set in stern lines. But there was a glint of laughter in his eyes as he noticed the grotesque and sometimes tortuous positions of some of the boys as they braced themselves in what they considered a military pose.

Every year, for the last ten years, he had met the trains at the monorail station. Every year, he had seen boys in their late teens, gathered from Earth, Mars and Venus, three planets millions of miles apart. They were dressed in many different styles of clothes; the loose flowing robes of the lads from the Martian deserts; the knee-length shorts and high stockings of the boys from the Venusian jungles; the vari-colored jacket and trouser combinations of the boys from the magnificent Earth cities. But they all had one thing in common—a dream. All had visions of becoming Space Cadets, and later, officers in the Solar Guard. Each dreamed of the day when he would command rocket ships that patrolled the space lanes from the outer edges of Pluto to the twilight zone of Mercury. They were all the same.

"All right now! Let's get squared away!" His voice was a little more friendly now. "My name's McKenny—Mike McKenny. Warrant Officer—Solar Guard. See these hash marks?"

He suddenly held out a thick arm that bulged against the tight red sleeve. From the wrists to the elbow, the lines of boys could see a solid corrugation of white V-shaped stripes.

"Each one of these marks represents four years in space," he continued. "There's ten marks here and I intend making it an even dozen! And no bunch of Earthworms is going to make me lose the chance to get those last two by trying to make a space monkey out of me!"

McKenny sauntered along the line of boys with that same strange catlike step and looked squarely into the eyes of each boy in turn.

"Just to keep the record straight, I'm your cadet supervisor. I handle you until you either wash out and go home, or you finally blast off and become spacemen. If you stub your toe or cut your finger, come to me. If you get homesick, come to me. And if you get into trouble"—he paused momentarily—"don't bother because I'll be looking for you, with a fist full of demerits!"

McKenny continued his slow inspection of the ranks, then suddenly stopped short. At the far end of the line, a tall, ruggedly built boy of about eighteen, with curly brown hair and a pleasant, open face, was stirring uncomfortably. He slowly reached down toward his right boot and held it, while he wriggled his foot into it. McKenny quickly strode over and planted himself firmly in front of the boy.

"When I say stand to, I mean stand to!" he roared.

The boy jerked himself erect and snapped to attention.

"I—I'm sorry, sir," he stammered. "But my boot—it was coming off and—"

"I don't care if your pants are falling down, an order's an order!"

The boy gulped and reddened as a nervous titter rippled through the ranks. McKenny spun around and glared. There was immediate silence.

"What's your name?" He turned back to the boy.

"Corbett, sir. Cadet Candidate Tom Corbett," answered the boy.

"Wanta be a spaceman, do ya?" asked Mike, pushing his jaw out another inch.

"Yes, sir!"

"Been studying long hard hours in primary school, eh? Talked your mother and father deaf in the ears to let you come to Space Academy and be a spaceman! You want to feel those rockets bucking in your back out in the stars? EH?"

"Yes, sir," replied Tom, wondering how this man he didn't even know could know so much about him.

"Well, you won't make it if I ever catch you disobeying orders again!"

McKenny turned quickly to see what effect he had [Pg 3]created on the others. The lines of bewildered faces satisfied him that his old trick of using one of the cadets as an example was a success. He turned back to Corbett.

"The only reason I'm not logging you now is because you're not a Space Cadet yet—and won't be, until you've taken the Academy oath!"

"Yes, sir!"

McKenny walked down the line and across the platform to an open teleceiver booth. The ranks were quiet and motionless, and as he made his call, McKenny smiled. Finally, when the tension seemed unbearable, he roared, "At ease!" and closed the door of the booth.

The ranks melted immediately and the boys fell into chattering clusters, their voices low, and they occasionally peered over their shoulders at Corbett as if he had suddenly been stricken with a horrible plague.

Brooding over the seeming ill-fortune that had called McKenny's attention to him at the wrong time, Tom sat down on his suitcase to adjust his boot. He shook his head slowly. He had heard Space Academy was tough, tougher than any other school in the world, but he didn't expect the stern discipline to begin so soon.

"This could be the beginning of the end," drawled a lazy voice in back of Tom, "for some of the more enthusiastic cadets." Someone laughed.

Tom turned to see a boy about his own age, weight and height, with close-cropped blond hair that stood up brushlike all over his head. He was lounging idly against a pillar, luggage piled high around his feet. Tom recognized him immediately as Roger Manning, and his pleasant features twisted into a scowl.

"About what I'd expect from that character," he thought, "after the trick he pulled on Astro, that big fellow from Venus."

Tom's thoughts were of the night before, when the connecting links of transportation from all over the Solar Alliance had deposited the boys in the Central Station at Atom City where they were to board the monorail express for the final lap to Space Academy.

Manning, as Tom remembered it, had taken advantage of the huge Venusian by tricking him into carrying his luggage. Reasoning that since the gravity of Venus was considerably less than that of Earth, he convinced Astro that he needed the extra weight to maintain his balance. It had been a cheap trick, but no one had wanted to challenge the sharpness of Manning's tongue and come to Astro's rescue. Tom had wanted to, but refrained when he saw that Astro didn't mind.

Finishing his conversation on the teleceiver, McKenny stepped out of the booth and faced the boys again.

"All right," he bawled. "They're all set for you at the Academy! Pick up your gear and follow me!" With a quick light step, he hopped on the rolling slidewalk at the edge of the platform and started moving away.

"Hey, Astro!" Roger Manning stopped the huge boy about to step over. "Going to carry my bags?"

The Venusian, a full head taller, hesitated and looked doubtfully at the four suitcases at Roger's feet.

"Come on," prodded Roger in a tone of mock good nature. "The gravity around here is the same as in Atom City. It's the same all over the face of the Earth. Wouldn't want you to just fly away." He snickered and looked around, winking broadly.

Astro still hesitated, "I don't know, Manning. I—uhh—"

"By the rings of Saturn! What's going on here?" Suddenly from outside the ring of boys that had gathered around, McKenny came roaring in, bulling his way to the center of the group to face Roger and Astro.

"I have a strained wrist, sir," began Roger smoothly. "And this cadet candidate"—he nodded casually toward Astro—"offered to carry my luggage. Now he refuses."

Mike glared at Astro. "Did you agree to carry this man's luggage?"

"Well—I—ah—" fumbled Astro.

"Well? Did you or didn't you?"

"I guess I sorta did, sir," replied Astro, his face turning a slow red.

"I don't hold with anyone doing another man's work, but if a Solar Guard officer, a Space Cadet, or even a cadet candidate gives his word he'll do something, he does it!" McKenny shook a finger in Astro's face, reaching up to do it. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," was the embarrassed reply.

McKenny turned to Manning who stood listening, a faint smile playing on his lips.

"What's your name, Mister?"

"Manning. Roger Manning," he answered easily.

"So you've got a strained wrist, have you?" asked Mike mockingly while sending a sweeping glance from top to bottom of the gaudy colored clothes.

"Yes, sir."

"Can't carry your own luggage, eh?"

"Yes," answered Roger evenly. "I could carry my own luggage. I thought the candidate from Venus might give me a helping hand. Nothing more. I certainly didn't intend for him to become a marked man for a simple gesture of comradeship." He glanced past McKenny toward the other boys and added softly, "And comradeship is the spirit of Space Academy, isn't it, sir?"

His face suddenly crimson, McKenny spluttered, searching for a ready answer, then turned away abruptly.

"What are you all standing around for?" he roared. "Get your gear and yourselves over on that slidewalk! [Pg 6]Blast!" He turned once again to the rolling platform. Manning smiled at Astro and hopped nimbly onto the slidewalk after McKenny, leaving his luggage in a heap in front of Astro.

"And be careful with that small case, Astro," he called as he drifted away.

"Here, Astro," said Tom. "I'll give you a hand."

"Never mind," replied Astro grimly. "I can carry 'em."

"No, let me help." Tom bent over—then suddenly straightened. "By the way, we haven't introduced ourselves. My name's Corbett—Tom Corbett." He stuck out his hand. Astro hesitated, sizing up the curly-headed boy in front of him, who stood smiling and offering friendship. Finally he pushed out his own hand and smiled back at Tom.

"Astro, but you know that by now."

"That sure was a dirty deal Manning gave you."

"Ah, I don't mind carrying his bags. It's just that I wanted to tell him he's going to have to send it all back. They don't allow a candidate to keep more than a toothbrush at the Academy."

"Guess he'll find out the hard way."

Carrying Manning's luggage as well as their own, they finally stepped on the slidewalk and began the smooth easy ride from the monorail station to the Academy. Both having felt the sharpness of Manning's tongue, and both having been dressed down by Warrant Officer McKenny, they seemed to be linked by a bond of trouble and they stood close together for mutual comfort.

As the slidewalk whisked them silently past the few remaining buildings and credit exchanges that nestled around the monorail station, Tom gave thought to his new life.

Ever since Jon Builker, the space explorer, returning from the first successful flight to a distant galaxy, came through his home town near New Chicago twelve years before, Tom had wanted to be a spaceman. Through high school and the New Chicago Primary Space School where he had taken his first flight above Earth's atmosphere, he had waited for the day when he would pass his entrance exams and be accepted as a cadet candidate in Space Academy. For no reason at all, a lump rose in his throat, as the slidewalk rounded a curve and he saw for the first time, the gleaming white magnificence of the Tower of Galileo. He recognized it immediately from the hundreds of books he had read about the Academy and stared wordlessly.

"Sure is pretty, isn't it?" asked Astro, his voice strangely husky.

"Yeah," breathed Tom in reply. "It sure is." He could only stare at the shimmering tower ahead.

"It's all I've ever wanted to do," said Tom at length. "Just get out there and—be free!"

"I know what you mean. It's the greatest feeling in the world."

"You say that as if you've already been up there."

Astro grinned. "Yup. Used to be an enlisted space sailor. Bucked rockets in an old freighter on the Luna City—Venusport run."

"Well, what are you doing here?" Tom was amazed and impressed.

"Simple. I want to be an officer. I want to get into the Solar Guard and handle the power-push in one of those cruisers."

Tom's eyes glowed with renewed admiration for his new friend. "I've been out four or five times but only in jet boats five hundred miles out. Nothing like a jump to Luna City or Venusport."

By now the slidewalk had carried them past the base of the Tower of Galileo to a large building facing the Academy quadrangle and the spell was broken by McKenny's bull-throated roar.

"Haul off, you blasted polliwogs!"

As the boys jumped off the slidewalk, a cadet, dressed in the vivid blue that Tom recognized as the official dress of the Senior Cadet Corps, walked up to McKenny and spoke to him quietly. The warrant officer turned back to the waiting group and gave rapid orders.

"By twos, follow Cadet Herbert inside and he'll assign you to your quarters. Shower, shave if you have to and can find anything to shave, and dress in the uniform that'll be supplied you. Be ready to take the Academy oath at"—he paused and glanced at the senior cadet who held up three fingers—"fifteen hundred hours. That's three o'clock. All clear? Blast off!"

Just as the boys began to move, there was a sudden blasting roar in the distance. The noise expanded and rolled across the hills surrounding Space Academy. It thundered over the grassy quadrangle, vibrating waves of sound one on top of the other, until the very air quivered under the impact.

Mouths open, eyes popping, the cadet candidates stood rooted in their tracks and stared as, in the distance, a long, thin, needlelike ship seemed to balance delicately on a column of flame, then suddenly shoot skyward and disappear.

"Pull in your eyeballs!" McKenny's voice crackled over the receding thunder. "You'll fly one of those firecrackers some day. But right now you're Earthworms, the lowest form of animal life in the Academy!"

As the boys snapped to attention again, Tom thought he caught a faint smile on Cadet Herbert's face as he stood to one side waiting for McKenny to finish his tirade. Suddenly he snapped his back straight, turned sharply and stepped through the wide doors of the building. Quickly the double line of boys followed.

"Did you see that, Astro?" asked Tom excitedly. "That was a Solar Guard patrol ship!"

"Yeah, I know," replied Astro. The big candidate from Venus scratched his chin and eyed Tom bashfully. "Say, Tom—ah, since we sort of know each other, how about us trying to get in the same quarters?"

"O.K. by me, Astro, if we can," said Tom, grinning back at his friend.

The line pressed forward to Cadet Herbert, who was now waiting at the bottom of the slidestairs, a mesh belt that spiraled upward in a narrow well to the upper stories of the building. Speaking into an audioscriber, a machine that transmitted his spoken words into typescript, he repeated the names of the candidates as they passed.

"Cadet Candidate Tom Corbett," announced Tom, and Herbert repeated it into the audioscriber.

"Cadet Candidate Astro!" The big Venusian stepped forward.

"What's the rest of it, Mister?" inquired Herbert.

"That's all. Just Astro."

"No other names?"

"No, sir," replied Astro. "You see—"

"You don't say 'sir' to a senior cadet, Mister. And we're not interested in why you have only one name!" Herbert snapped.

"Yes, sir—uhh—Mister." Astro flushed and joined Tom.

"Cadet Candidate Philip Morgan," announced the next boy.

Herbert repeated the name into the machine, then announced, "Cadet Candidates Tom Corbett, Astro, and Philip Morgan assigned to Section 42-D."

Turning to the three boys, he indicated the spiraling slidestairs. "Forty-second floor. You'll find Section D in the starboard wing."

Astro and Tom immediately began to pile Manning's luggage to one side of the slidestairs.

"Take your luggage with you, Misters!" snapped Herbert.

"It isn't ours," replied Tom.

"Isn't yours?" Herbert glanced over the pile of suitcases and turned back to Tom. "Whose is it then?"

"Belongs to Cadet Candidate Roger Manning," replied Tom.

"What are you doing with it?"

"We were carrying it for him."

"Do we have a candidate in the group who finds it necessary to provide himself with valet service?"

Herbert moved along the line of boys.

"Will Cadet Candidate Roger Manning please step forward?"

Roger slid from behind a group of boys to face the senior cadet's cold stare.

"Roger Manning here," he presented himself smoothly.

"Is that your luggage?" Herbert jerked his thumb over his shoulder.

"It is."

Roger smiled confidently, but Herbert merely stared coldly.

"You have a peculiar attitude for a candidate, Manning."

"Is there a prescribed attitude, Mr. Herbert?" Roger asked, his smile broadening. "If there is, I'll be only too glad to conform to it."

Herbert's face twitched almost imperceptibly. Then he nodded, made a notation on a pad and returned to his post at the head of the gaping line of boys. "From now on, Candidate Manning, you will be responsible for your own belongings."

Tom, Astro, and Philip Morgan stepped on the slidestairs and began their spiraling ascent to the forty-second floor.

"I saw what happened at the monorail station," drawled the third member of Section 42-D, leaning against the bannister of the moving belt. "By the craters of Luna, that Manning felluh sure is a hot operator."

"We found out for ourselves," grunted Astro.

"Say, since we're all bunkin' togethuh, let's get to knowin' each othuh. My name's Phil Morgan, come from Georgia. Where you all from?"

"New Chicago," replied Tom. "Name's Tom Corbett. And this is Astro."

"Hiya." Astro stuck out a big paw and grinned his wide grin. "I guess you heard. Astro's all the name I've got."

"How come?" inquired the Southerner.

"I'm from Venus and it's a custom from way back when Venus was first colonized to just hand out one name."

"Funny custom," drawled Phil.

Astro started to say something and then stopped, clamping his lips together. Tom could see his face turn a slow pink. Phil saw it too, and hastily added:

"Oh—I didn't mean anything. I—ah—" he broke off, embarrassed.

"Forget it, Phil." Astro grinned again.

"Say," interjected Tom. "Look at that!"

They all turned to look at the floor they were passing. Near the edge of the step-off platform on the fourth floor was an oaken panel, inscribed with silver lettering in relief. As they drew even with the plaque, they caught sight of someone behind them. They turned to see Manning, the pile of suitcases in front of him, reading aloud.

" ... to the brave men who sacrificed their lives in the conquest of space, this Galaxy Hall is dedicated...."

"Say, this must be the museum," said Tom. "Here's where they have all the original gear used in the first space hops."

"Absolutely right," said Manning with a smile.

"I wonder if we could get off and take a look?" Astro asked.

"Sure you can," said Roger. "In fact, the Academy regs say every cadet must inspect the exhibits in the space museum within the first week."

The members of Section 42-D looked at Roger questioningly.

"I don't know if we have time." Tom was dubious.

"Sure you have—plenty. I'd hop off and take a look myself but I've got to get this junk ready to ship home." He indicated the pile of bags in front of him.

"Aw, come on, Tom, let's take a look!" urged Astro. "They have the old Space Queen in here, the first ship to clear Earth's gravity. Boy, I'd sure like to see her!" Without waiting for the others to agree, the huge candidate stepped off the slidestairs.

"Hey, Astro!" yelled Tom. "Wait! I don't think—" His voice trailed off as the moving stair carried him up to the next floor.

But then a curious thing happened. As other boys came abreast of the museum floor and saw Astro they began to get off and follow him, wandering around gazing at the relics of the past.

Soon nearly half of the cadet candidates were standing in silent awe in front of the battered hull of the Space Queen, the first atomic-powered rocket ship allowed on exhibition only fifty years before because of the deadly radioactivity in her hull, created when a lead baffle melted in midspace and flooded the ship with murderous gamma rays.

They stood in front of the spaceship and listened while Astro, in a hushed voice, read the inscription on the bronze tablet.

"—Earth to Luna and return. 7th March 2051. In honor of the brave men of the first atomic-powered spaceship to land successfully on the planet Moon, only to perish on return to Earth...."

"Candidates—staaaaaaaaannnnnd too!"

Like a clap of thunder Warrant Officer McKenny's voice jarred the boys out of their silence. He stepped forward like a bantam rooster and faced the startled group of boys.

"I wanna know just one thing! Who stepped off that slidestairs first?"

The boys all hesitated.

"I guess I was the first, sir," said Astro, stepping forward.

"Oh, you guess you were, eh?" roared McKenny.

Taking a deep breath McKenny launched into a blistering tirade. His choice of words were to be long remembered by the group and repeated to succeeding classes. Storming against the huge Venusian like a pygmy attacking an elephant, McKenny roared, berated and blasted.

Later, when Astro finally reached his quarters and changed into the green coveralls of the cadet candidates, Tom and Phil crowded around him.

"It was Roger, blast him!" said Tom angrily. "He was getting back at you because Cadet Herbert made him carry his own gear."

"I asked for it," grumbled Astro. "Ah, I should've known better. But I just couldn't wait to see the Queen." He balled his huge hands into tight knots and stared at the floor.

"Now hear this!!!"

A voice suddenly rasped over the PA system loud-speaker above the door. "All cadet candidates will come to attention to receive the Space Academy oath from Commander Walters." The voice paused. "AT-TENT-SHUN! Cadet candidates—Staaaaannnnd TO!"

"This is Commander Walters speaking!" A deep, powerful voice purred through the speaker. "The Academy oath is taken individually.

"It is something each candidate locks in his spirit, his mind and his heart. That is why it is taken in your quarters. The oath is not a show of color, it is a way of life. Each candidate will face as closely as possible in the direction of his home and swear by his own individual God as he repeats after me."

Astro stepped quickly to the window port and gazed into the blue heavens, eyes searching out the misty planet Venus. Phil Morgan thought a moment, and faced toward the wall with the inlaid star chart of the sky, thinking of sun-bathed Georgia. Tom Corbett stared straight at a blank wall.

Each boy did not see what was in front of him yet he saw further, perhaps, than he had ever seen before. He looked into a future which held the limitlessness of the universe and new worlds and planets to be lifted out of the oblivion of uncharted depths of space to come.

They repeated slowly....

" ... I solemnly swear to uphold the Constitution of the Solar Alliance, to obey interplanetary law, to protect the liberties of the planets, to safeguard the freedom of space and to uphold the cause of peace throughout the universe ... to this end, I dedicate my life!"

China's advances in space unnerve US military leaders

From MSNBC Science: China's advances in space unnerve US military leaders

The rise of China's space program may pose a potentially serious military threat to the United States down the road, top American intelligence officials contend.

China continues to develop technology designed to destroy or disable satellites, which makes the United States and other nations with considerable on-orbit assets nervous. Even Beijing's ambitious human spaceflight plans are cause for some concern, since most space-technology advances could have military applications, officials say.

"The space program, including ostensible civil projects, supports China's growing ability to deny or degrade the space assets of potential adversaries and enhances China's conventional military capabilities," Army Lt. Gen. Ronald Burgess, director of the Defense Intelligence Agency, wrote in testimony presented before the U.S. Senate's Armed Services Committee Feb. 16.

Burgess was delivering the DIA's annual assessment of threats to U.S. security and interests around the globe.

China has made no secret of its ambitious space goals. In 2003, it became the third nation — after the United States and the Soviet Union — to independently launch a person into orbit.

In November 2011, China successfully docked two robotic spacecraft in Earth orbit, a key step in its quest to have a manned space station up and running by 2020. Beijing also hopes to land an astronaut (called a "taikonaut") on the moon after its planned 60-ton orbital outpost is operational.

This past December, China joined the United States and Russia as the only nations with operational homegrown satellite navigation systems. China's Beidou system — whose name translates as "Big Dipper" — is somewhat rudimentary at the moment, consisting of just 10 satellites and covering a swath of the Asia-Pacific region from Australia in the south to Russia in the north.

However, China envisions a global system with 35 satellites by 2020. The emergence of Beidou should eventually make China far less dependent on the GPS constellation, which is operated by the United States military and is currently the world's dominant satnav network.

Beidou "will enable subscribers outside of China to purchase receivers and services that give civilian and military applications greater redundancy and independence in a conflict scenario that employs space assets," Burgess wrote.

China operates many other satellites, for research, weather monitoring, communications and reconnaissance purposes. But it's tough to know exactly what the nation is getting out of these spacecraft, even the seemingly innocuous ones, according to Burgess.

A Chinese LM-3C rocket carrying a Beidou navigation satellite lifts off from Xichang Satellite Launch Center on Nov. 1, 2010.

"Beijing rarely acknowledges direct military applications of its space program and refers to nearly all satellite launches as scientific or civil in nature," Burgess wrote.

While the United States has at least nominally separate civil and military space programs, China's space activities are driven almost entirely by the People's Liberation Army, experts say.

China is developing some space technology with indisputably military applications. In January 2007, the nation shot down one of its own weather satellites with a missile, spawning thousands of new pieces of space junk.

The test drew strong criticism from the United States and other countries. But China has continued to develop its anti-satellite (ASAT) capabilities in the years since, aided by advances across various sectors of its space program, according to Burgess.

Beijing "is developing jammers and directed-energy weapons for ASAT missions," he wrote. "A prerequisite for ASAT attacks, China's ability to track and identify satellites, is enhanced by technologies from China's manned and lunar programs as well as technologies and methods developed to detect and track space debris."

The United States has long enjoyed playing a dominant role in space, giving the nation the "ultimate high ground" in military conflicts for decades, experts say. ASAT capabilities — whether they're developed by China or other nations — represent a genuine threat to this dominance, Burgess and other analysts contend.

"From the counter-space perspective, Russia and China continue developing systems and technologies that can interfere with or disable vital U.S. space-based navigation, communication, and intelligence collection satellites," Burgess wrote.

Keeping it in perspective
Burgess' testimony should come as no surprise, some analysts say, since the U.S. military has had its eye on China's space progress for quite some time.

"There's nothing new in this testimony as far as China is concerned," said Brian Weeden, a technical adviser with the Secure World Foundation and a former orbital analyst with the U.S. Air Force. "We know what they're doing. They're on almost exactly the same development path as both the United States and the Soviet Union used when they first started their space programs."

Weeden pointed out that the new DIA assessment deals only with China's space capabilities, not the likelihood that Beijing would deploy them against U.S. assets anytime soon.

"My guess is that the more detailed analysis — of just how threatening the capabilities are, what the likelihood is, what the intentions are and how much of an impact they could have on what the U.S. wants to do — that's, of course, all the classified bits," Weeden told Space.com.

While China is indeed ramping up its space program, it's also important to keep in mind that the nation still trails the United States in most areas, from planetary exploration to space-based reconnaissance and navigation, he added.

"As far as milestones and capabilities, I would say they're a couple of decades behind," Weeden said.

NASA Official Announces Chair of new Mars Program Planning Group

PR, Market Watch: NASA Official Announces Chair of new Mars Program Planning Group


WASHINGTON, Feb. 27, 2012 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- NASA' s associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate, John Grunsfeld, has named former veteran NASA program manager Orlando Figueroa to lead a newly established Mars Program Planning Group (MPPG) tasked to reformulate the agency's Mars Exploration Program. Figueroa's first assignment is to develop a draft framework for review by March 15.

Grunsfeld made the announcement at an annual gathering of Mars scientists and engineers in Dulles, Va. Figueroa, a consultant with more than 30 years of aerospace experience, will lead the scientific and technical team to develop an integrated strategy for NASA's Mars Exploration Program in light of current funding constraints. The team's initial focus will be on a possible 2018-2020 robotic mission. The program's official framework will be developed in consultation with the science community and international partners and is expected to be released for full review as early as this summer.

"The team will develop a plan that advances the priorities in the National Research Council's Decadal Survey, which puts sample return as the top scientific goal, and leverages NASA's research in enabling technology," Grunsfeld said. "Our investments in the new Mars program will incorporate elements of advanced research and technologies in support of a logical sequence of missions to answer fundamental scientific questions and ultimately support the goal of sending people to Mars."

The MPPG will report to Grunsfeld, a physicist and five-time flown space shuttle astronaut. Grunsfeld is chairing the overall, agency-wide reformulation strategy along with William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for the human exploration and operations directorate, NASA Chief Scientist Waleed Abdalati and NASA Chief Technologist Mason Peck. The MPPG will ensure that America maintains the critical technical skills developed over decades needed to achieve the highest priority science and exploration objectives.

NASA has a recognized track record of successful Mars missions. The rover Opportunity, which landed on Mars in 2004, is still operating despite an official mission timeline of 90 days. There are also two NASA satellites orbiting the Red Planet; the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter and Mars Odyssey. The duo continue to return unprecedented science data and images. This August, NASA will land the Mars Science Laboratory, "Curiosity," on the planet's surface. This roving science laboratory will assess whether Mars was or is today an environment able to support life. In 2013, NASA will launch the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution orbiter, the first mission devoted to understanding the Martian upper atmosphere.

NASA will continue to gather critical information to help scientists understand the Red Planet. These data will be used in future years to meet President Obama's challenge to send humans to Mars in the mid-2030s.

"We'll look at all of the assets NASA is developing to reach, explore and study Mars, as well as spacecraft at or on its way to Mars," Figueroa said.

NASA already has been developing technology that will improve precision in landing, the ability to conduct scientific analysis remotely, handle and collect samples, and transmit larger volumes of data back to Earth.

"The science and engineering communities have worked continuously over a decade to define our knowledge gaps for Mars exploration, so we have a solid starting point," Grunsfeld said.

Mars exploration is a top priority for NASA. America's investment in exploring Mars during the past decade totals $6.1 billion. NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden directed Grunsfeld to lead the agency-wide team in order to optimize a coordinated strategy of Mars exploration and continue America's leadership role in the exploration of the Red Planet within available future budgets.

For more information about NASA's Mars programs, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/mars

Researcher: Obama Budget ‘End Of The Mars Program’

From CBS DC: Researcher: Obama Budget ‘End Of The Mars Program’
WASHINGTON (AP) — NASA is making a cosmic U-turn on the road to Mars.

For the past two decades, the U.S. space agency has been practically obsessed with Mars. It has hardly missed an opportunity about every two years to fling robotic spacecraft at the red planet.

This summer, the most high-tech rover ever, Curiosity, will land near the Martian equator in search of the chemical building blocks of life. The more scientists study Mars, the closer they get to answering whether microbial life once existed there, a clue to the ultimate question: Are we alone?

Presidents have long talked about sending astronauts to Mars. Two years ago, President Barack Obama stood in Kennedy Space Center and said it was more of a priority than going to the moon and wanted astronauts there by the mid-2030s.

But robotic Mars missions slated for 2016 and 2018 were cut from the president’s new budget proposal, even though NASA has spent $64 million on early designs with the European Space Agency for the two missions. The most ambitious Mars flight yet and one the National Academy of Sciences endorsed as the No. 1 solar system priority — a plan to grab Martian rocks and soil and bring them back to Earth — is on indefinite hold.

“We’re really at a crossroads,” NASA planetary sciences chief Jim Green said.

NASA will skip the 2016 launch opportunity and if officials are lucky, they hope still to salvage something relatively cheap for 2018, when Mars passes closest to Earth. But it won’t be the large rock-collecting mission that scientists had been counting on. What a new mission for 2018 would be is still not clear even to NASA senior officials.

To scientists, the message from the White House seems simple: Bye-bye, Mars.

On Monday, upset Mars researchers are meeting with NASA officials to figure out how to reboot the program beyond the 2013 mission.

If Obama’s budget sails through as outlined, “in essence, it is the end of the Mars program,” said Phil Christensen, a Mars researcher at Arizona State University. It’s like “we’ve just flown Apollo 10 and now we’re going to cancel the Apollo program when we’re one step from landing,” he said.

It’s not that NASA officials don’t think Mars is worth exploring further; it’s just that they don’t think they can afford it anymore. Obama has proposed cutting 10 other federal agency budgets this year including Defense, Homeland Security and Education. NASA’s 0.3 percent budget cut was among the smallest. In fact, the $28.3 billion cuts to the Defense Department dwarf NASA’s entire $17.7 spending plan for 2013.

“We’re trying to identify a way to (explore Mars) in these very difficult fiscal times,” NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said last week at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., the epicenter of Mars research.

Researchers are partly to blame because they promise to do a mission cheaply and when they get approval, costs soar, said Alan Stern, a former NASA sciences chief. He called it “committing suicide in slow motion” and said it’s been happening in the Mars program since 2006. An even more over-budget space telescope forced more cuts to NASA science.

The Curiosity mission costs $2.5 billion — almost $1 billion over budget.

Many scientists believe the life question can only be answered by examining Martian samples back on Earth and that astronauts should not set foot on Mars before that happens. Stern said: “We are probably back to being 15 to 20 years from a Mars sample return.”

If NASA ignores Mars for a decade, it runs the risk of a brain drain, said Ed Weiler, who resigned last year as NASA’s sciences chief because of budget battles over Mars.

“Landing on Mars is a uniquely American talent and there aren’t too many things that are uniquely American,” Weiler said.

In 19 tries, Russia has had little to no success when it comes to Mars. The European Space Agency currently has a spacecraft circling the planet but its lander crashed. NASA has had six Martian failures during its 20 tries.

The Europeans are talking to the Russians and Chinese to replace the U.S. in the upcoming missions.

Earthlings have been captivated by Mars since the 1900s when amateur astronomer Percival Lowell saw what looked like canals. The life question was tackled by the twin Viking spacecraft, which landed in 1976. Their rudimentary experiments failed to turn up signs of life and NASA lost interest. The space agency launched an ambitious probe in 1992 but lost contact with it right before it was to slip into orbit.

After that failure, NASA came up with a blueprint for Mars: Each mission followed up on discoveries found in the previous flight, and all focused on water, a key element for life.

“It’s become a more interesting planet every time we go back there,” said Wesley Huntress, who spearheaded the new Mars program and went on to run NASA’s sciences division.

That’s why the Planetary Society and others are lobbying to save the Mars program, starting with meetings this week. Bill Nye, the former science television personality who heads the society, said exploring Mars is central to humanity’s future: “We do it to learn more about ourselves, to learn more about our relationship with the cosmos, to learn more about our place in space.”

In visit to NASA Glenn, space agency boss Charles Bolden views icing research, discusses space exploration future

From Cleveland.com: In visit to NASA Glenn, space agency boss Charles Bolden views icing research, discusses space exploration future

CLEVELAND, Ohio — NASA administrator Charles Bolden flew more than 100 combat missions during the Vietnam War, and guided four shuttles into space and back. But during his visit to NASA's Glenn Research Center this week, the veteran pilot and former astronaut learned something new about flight: that high-altitude ice crystals can choke a jet engine.

"Wow!" the space agency's boss said, peering through 3-D glasses at a vivid computer simulation of the process, as frost hardened on a virtual engine's whirling blades. "I didn't even know about this."

Early next year, Glenn engineers will study the real thing. In a refurbished $15 million tunnel the size of a railroad car, they'll fire up an actual jet engine and spray ice crystals into it, to monitor what happens and figure out how it can be prevented.

Research work like that, with direct commercial applications, will allow the Glenn center to remain relatively stable at a time when sharp budget cutbacks are rocking other segments of NASA.

The space agency's proposed $17.7 billion 2013 budget, which Bolden unveiled last week, contains deep cuts in areas such as planetary science, including the cancellation of some high-profile robotic missions to Mars and Jupiter's moon Europa.

Glenn, however, will get a $17 million boost from its $641 million 2012 budget. The money will support projects such as the engine icing research, the center's ongoing share of work on NASA's new heavy-lift rocket and space capsule, and infrastructure upgrades at the Cleveland campus and its Plum Brook testing station near Sandusky.

Congress likely will revise NASA's austere spending plan due to concerns that it jeopardizes America's space leadership. Though Bolden insisted, in a wide-ranging question-and-answer session at Glenn Tuesday, that NASA's exploration plans are still ambitious, he stressed the need to face fiscal realities, and to rein in cost-overruns like those that plagued the agency's now $8 billion James Webb Space Telescope, set to launch in 2018.

"If we want more money," Bolden said of NASA, "the best way to do in this day and age is to set a plan in place as [Glenn Director] Ray Lugo and his team have done here . . . and work to it so that everything is on time and on cost, over and over again."

In light of the recession-battered economy, NASA is seeking no funding increases for the next five years. Those spending constraints, coupled with the ballooning cost of the Webb telescope – a successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, with a price tag eight times its original $1 billion estimate – forced the space agency to make what Bolden described as tough cuts elsewhere.

Among them are two unmanned Mars exploratory missions collectively known as ExoMars that NASA was to undertake with the European Space Agency in 2016 and 2018. The probes were to study the Martian environment and search for signs of present and past life, using an orbiter and rover.

That was to pave the way for a future joint robotic mission to bring Martian soil samples back to Earth. All are precursors for human exploration. President Obama's goal is for NASA to land astronauts on Mars sometime in the 2030s.

Some observers have worried that the cancellations will further erode America's space-faring reputation, and will damage the international partnerships that NASA increasingly relies on to make big-ticket "flagship" exploration missions possible. Reports indicate that European space officials are seeking Russia's cooperation to keep the ExoMars missions alive.

View full sizeNASA/JPL-CaltechNASA's Mars Science Lab rover, shown in this artist's rendering, is scheduled to land on the Red Planet in August. It's about the size of a Mini Cooper.

Bolden said NASA's Mars exploration program is still robust, with the car-sized Mars Science Lab rover en route for an August landing, and an atmospheric probe called MAVEN set to launch in November. Discussions with the European Space Agency about alternatives to ExoMars are underway, he said.

"We want to satisfy our European partners," he said. "They don't think we're backing away from them, contrary to what's been written in the press. They understand the exact fiscal situation we're in. They know we want to work with them to try to accomplish the objectives of ExoMars."

A lower-cost Mars soil sample-return mission might be possible, Bolden said.

"We think we can do it without making it a flagship," the administrator said. "This country has made its role as a leader in exploration by flagship missions. That's something we have to do. But you don't do a flagship mission every year, or every two or three years. We have two underway" – the Mars rover and the Webb telescope – "and that's about all this agency can handle."

NASA's major emphasis also is on continued development of a rocket and crew capsule for deep space exploration, and on nurturing American commercial space transporters to take over re-supply and replacement-crew flights to the International Space Station. NASA handled those transport duties until last year's retirement of the shuttle fleet, which is supposed to free up money for other missions. NASA currently pays Russia to ferry crew and cargo to the space station.

An upstart U.S. aerospace company, Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is readying a demonstration cargo-carrying flight for an April 20 launch. If successful, the unmanned vehicle would be the first commercial spacecraft to rendezvous with the space station, with regular cargo missions to follow. Bolden said U.S. commercial crew-carrying flights probably will begin between 2015 and 2017.

Their destination, the International Space Station, had been scheduled to cease operations in 2020, but Bolden said the station's U.S., Russian, Canadian, Japanese and European partners are discussing extending its life through 2028.

View full sizePlain Dealer file, Marvin FongThe 12-story tall vacuum chamber at NASA's Plum Brook testing station exposes spacecraft to the airless conditions, heat and cold of space. Other Plum Brook facilities simulate the vibration and shockwaves of rocket launch.

NASA's new deep-space rocket and crew capsule project, called the Space Launch System, is intended to deliver astronauts to an asteroid landing by 2025, and to Mars by the next decade. The Glenn center is overseeing development of some of the rocket's components, and plans to test the crew capsule, Orion, at its Plum Brook facility, where the world's largest space-environment vacuum chamber is located.

NASA already had invested $150 million in improving Plum Brook's testing facilities, and will spend $25 million more for upgrades in 2013, Lugo said. In addition to the Orion tests, Plum Brook may soon host trials of commercial spacecraft from SpaceX and another company, Sierra Nevada Corp., Lugo said, as well as tests of a European Space Agency rocket engine.

Bolden's meeting with Glenn officials this week emphasized applying NASA know-how to aid commercial projects and solve real-world problems, like the engine-icing issue. The risk of ice buildup on airplane wings and tails has been known for decades, with significant contributions from Glenn researchers. But the icing threat to jet engines has gone largely unrecognized.

There are no known crashes, said Glenn project manager Ron Colantonio, but at least 150 instances of engine failure where icing is the likely culprit. "We're trying to be pre-emptive and understand the problem before there's a fatal accident," he said.

View full sizeNASASensors on this modified Gulfstream jet will allow NASA Glenn researchers to collect data about conditions where ice crystals form at altitudes up to 40,000 feet.

A modified jet will gather high-altitude data about ice crystal-forming conditions, which occur near storm systems. That information will help Glenn engineers recreate the icing conditions in the testing tunnel. Jet engine-makers can test ice-damping designs there, and the test results should help the Federal Aviation Administration develop new safety standards.

"This is tangible evidence, the work going on here, that we're really trying to stay out in front of the power curve so we can help the nation," Bolden said.

Obama campaign could trip over space policy

From Houston Chronicle: Obama campaign could trip over space policy
WASHINGTON - President Obama's visit to the political battleground of Florida on Thursday will showcase a robust economic agenda, reap hundreds of thousands of campaign dollars and - he hopes - stymie any Republican effort to render the intricacies of his space policy into a bumper sticker.

Like, "Hey NASA, if you need a ride to the space station, call Moscow."

The Democrat's visit comes as NASA quietly deepens politically embarrassing reliance on Russia to loft U.S. astronauts and cargo to and from the $100 billion U.S.-built International Space Station. The development hands Republicans a potential avenue of attack on Obama in the fall campaign - a contest that could turn on the results in space-conscious Florida, home of the Kennedy Space Center.

Obama's political vulnerability has only increased with the delayed test of an unmanned U.S. commercial spacecraft to service the space station and continued snafus with Russia's workhorse Soyuz spacecraft.

"It's been foolish for us to give up the strategic national capability to send humans into space - and then to depend upon Russia or any other entity," says former NASA chief Mike Griffin.

"Access to space should have been a campaign issue in every election since Nixon cancelled Apollo in the 1970s," added Griffin, an adviser to GOP presidential candidate Mitt Romney.

Congressman Pete Olson, a Sugar Land Republican, welcomes prospects for a partisan clash over space policy, figuring it might bolster congressional support for operations at Houston's Johnson Space Center, home of mission control for manned operations and the astronaut corps.

"Presidential candidates have an obligation to clearly outline their level of support for U.S. human space exploration," says Olson, whose district hosts JSC's multibillion-dollar contribution to the Houston-area economy. "President Obama's actions prove he doesn't believe a vibrant space program is important to American prosperity, technological advancement or national security."

Not a partisan issue?

But Democrats say Obama is not solely responsible for NASA turning to the Russian space agency to taxi U.S. astronauts into orbit.

"You'd have to distort reality to make that a partisan issue in the fall campaign," insists John Logsdon, a space historian and veteran of the Columbia accident board who helped Obama develop his policies. "We are where we are because of decisions by the last two presidents and both parties in Congress. This should not be a campaign issue."

NASA has contracted with its one-time Russian rival to ferry 24 U.S. astronauts to the orbiting laboratory aboard the Soyuz spacecraft over the next four years as the timetable slips for NASA-approved commercial spacecraft to step in to deliver U.S. astronauts to low-earth orbit.

But the agency is making provisions to extend its reliance on the Russians for another 18 months from July 2016 through the end of 2017. Doing so could require the administration to ask Congress to again waive the restrictions of Iran, North Korea, Syria, and the Nonproliferation Act (INKSNA) to allow NASA to purchase Russian launch services.

William Gerstenmaier, head of NASA's human space exploration and operations, says NASA may end up buying seats aboard both the developing U.S. commercial spacecraft and the established Soyuz to assure astronauts can reach the space station.

Spacecraft 9 years away

As things stand now, NASA doesn't plan to have a government-owned spacecraft for manned operations until 2021, when a new deep-space, heavy-lift rocket and the Orion spacecraft are expected to be available. Those would be used to reach an asteroid by 2025 and Mars orbit by 2035. The space station is due to plunge into earth's atmosphere in 2020.

"I have long been concerned about the gap in U.S. human spaceflight capability which has led to the reliance on Russia for the delivery of crew to the International Space Station," said Texas Republican Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison. "Our NASA goal should include the capability to launch crews to low-Earth orbit, including missions to service the space station, as we maintain space superiority by developing a robust heavy lift and crew exploration vehicle development to enable us to go beyond low-Earth orbit."

The timetable for relying on Russia is rooted in tragedy and economic reality.

President George W. Bush sought to revive the nation's space faring after the shuttle Columbia tragedy in 2003 by setting an end date for the 30-year space shuttle program and financing a back-to-the-moon effort. But a White House commission appointed by Obama in 2009 concluded the nation could not afford Bush's ambitious vision.

The sobering assessment prompted Obama to focus on supporting the commercial spacecraft industry to eventually service the space station and devoting the bulk of NASA's efforts to new technology and eventual deep space exploration.

"Americans don't like relying on Russia to get into space," says a space policy expert who has worked at the space agency, the White House and Capitol Hill. "This is one of those rare moments that transcend the intricacies of the space program."

The $8.8bn Nasa telescope that is 100 times more powerful than Hubble and will let us look back into the dawn of time

From the Daily Mail: The $8.8bn Nasa telescope that is 100 times more powerful than Hubble and will let us look back into the dawn of time


It’s one of the most technologically advanced devices ever built and will give cosmologists incredible insights into the origins of the universe.

Nasa's James Webb Telescope, if it’s a success, will herald a new era in the understanding of the universe, because it will be able to look further back in time, and with more clarity, than any telescope that exists today.

Nasa boasts that the telescope is 100 times more powerful that the Hubble, a device that has already given star-gazers thousands of stunning images of the cosmos.

But the project has a dark side - it is costing the U.S. space agency so much money that it is acting like a financial black hole, sucking funds away from other projects and threatening their future.

The telescope began as a $500million project in the late 1990s, but that cost has now ballooned to over $8.8billion.

Last year Congress tried to permanently halt the project. It’s all systems go at the moment, but it’s such a drain on Nasa’s budget that the agency may only be able to afford one big science mission per decade from now on, with some key projects killed off.

For example, House Science Committee staff warn that a mission to bring Martian soil back to Earth may now be too expensive to carry out.

Not only that, but Webb will sit much further out into space.

Hubble is in orbit 350 miles above the Earth. Webb will gaze into the cosmos almost a million miles from Earth.

The area of Webb’s mirror, meanwhile, is six and a quarter times larger than Hubble’s. The larger primary mirror the more light from objects the telescope can see.

It will also have new communications networks to transmit and store large quantities of data and ultra-sensitive infrared detectors to record extremely faint signals.

All this means Webb will see objects that are fainter and farther away and allow scientists to peer back to a time when galaxies were just forming.

The Webb Telescope is due to launch in 2018, with various components currently undergoing rigorous testing.