Changing Horses in Mid Stream

February 11, 2010 by J Paul Douglas
Filed under: Civil Space Flight, Commercial Space Flight

The Obama Administration’s proposed cancellation of NASA’s Constellation program to take astronauts back to the moon and beyond has unleashed a firestorm of emotional debate. Scientists, astronauts, politicians, bloggers and the general public are all weighing in on this unexpected turnabout. If the Administration’s proposed 2011 budget is passed by the Congress, Constellation will be scrapped in favor of funding commercial providers taking astronauts to the International Space Station. The frontier of deep space will be abandoned.

Over the past year, SpaceTalkNOW has argued against NASA’s exclusivity in manned space flight and in favor of a symbiosis between civil and commercial sectors. That message remains unchanged. Private industry can and should take over low earth orbit, thereby leaving NASA to concentrate on deep space beginning with the moon. Obama’s proposed budget for 2011 gives a much-needed and overdue boost to commercial, human space flight, but it does not provide for balance. It makes a radical swing to the opposite end of the spectrum and leaves the country with no long-term goal. Instead of building a bridge to low earth orbit and the International Space Station from which we can launch into the rest of the solar system, the plan is building a bridge to no where. Low earth orbit is merely the foothold with which to propel us to our real destination: deep space. Yet the President’s plan would make it the destination.

What we’ve been presented with by pundits on both sides of the fallacious civil-versus-commercial human space flight argument is a false dichotomy: the assertion that it must be either one or the other when in fact a third option is available. And its an option that is almost painfully obvious.

Our goal as a nation should not be low earth orbit; it should be the frontier, which now begins at the moon. Exploration of our nearest neighbor in space and cultivating its rich and abundant set of natural resources will benefit all of mankind and create incalculable opportunities. That is a worthy goal for our national space program.

In support of that goal, the commercial sector should provide the necessary orbiting infrastructure including transport services, fuel delivery and storage, cargo delivery and warehousing, lodging and food service to name only a few.

It’s a simple concept: NASA serves as pathfinder, continuously pushing back the frontier, and the private sector follows behind, transforming each beachhead and supplying the needed materiel for the conquest of the next.

Some are arguing that the proposed budget supports human space flight to the frontier by creating more robotic, lunar precursor missions. But without the stated goal of sending people there, one can hardly argue that these are precursors at all. Without deep space as the stated and programatic goal of NASA, we’re left like the Spirit Mars Rover, spinning our wheels and going no where.

The President should reconsider his proposed budget. Leave in support for the private sector. Yes, increase spending for commercial crew, but also realize that it is not an either/or proposition. Civil and private sectors must work together, in tandem, and in support of deep space as our destination. Canceling Constellation removes the reason for a build up of commercial capability and makes about as much sense as funding a massive, new buggy whip industry.

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