Manned Space: Too Fail To Big

To paraphrase Bill Freeza, how many times do the court astronauts (and scientists) have to be wrong about the impact of expensive government economic interventions in the space industry before we add them to the unemployment rolls?

…why are [space] activists who promote enlarging the size and scope of… [manned space] shocked when one [space] program after another is hijacked by [both new and old space] corporations that find it easier to seek favors in Washington than customers in the marketplace?

Interventionist thinking is furthered by the insidious onset of the fantastical (and I mean that in a bad way) efforts like the Beyond Planet Earth effort at the American Museum of Natural History, presented with a scientific veneer when being steeped in science fiction is the reality. Note: is it just me that thinks perhaps the museum was trying to be ironic in placing a futures display in a history museum? Perhaps it would be better called, in this example, the American Museum of Science Fiction Futurism?

As the Beyond Planet Earth exhibition is profiled by the New York Times, it is “to look forward 50 or 100 years.” What will this future yield?

The exhibition plays shamelessly to those of us who were captivated long ago by science fiction dreams and the notion that humanity’s destiny is somehow tied to the stars. For the most part these plans don’t come with price tags attached nor, for that matter, any indication of what currency the price should be denominated in.

Snip

Getting there [to the moon, regularly, by 2030] is also going to be interesting. By then, [exhibit curator] Dr. [Michael] Shara figures, we will have had enough of the violence of rockets and will descend and ascend from the lunar surface on a lunar elevator, “a skinny cable rising thousands of miles from the Moon into the sky,” anchored at the far end by the gravity of the Earth. In time, Dr. Shara said, the cable could be extended almost all the way to Earth.

The ‘violence’ of rockets is a big cost regarding space access, but let’s be real: something beats nothing. While it’s possible that breakthroughs in materials will have occurred by 2030 (and support a space elevator) and that an economic case for going to the Moon may be supportable, with the trend line we’re on, it seems… improbable. And there’s all that pesky radiation as well.

Don’t like Moon life? Well, how about Mars?

Some geologists think that Mars could be transformed, or “terraformed,” into a livable planet over time in what would be the grandest and most expensive engineering project ever, one that would take thousands of years and entail the Mother of All Environmental Impact Statements and, yes, “trillions of dollars.” Only trillions?

These may well be the same geologists who think that California’s high-speed rail can also be brought in on spec, on budget, and on schedule.

Somewhere, teased out of all this, is the profound lesson that humans are the only creatures who can lie to themselves.

To quote myself, I have seen the future of space (and warfare) and it’s unmanned.

 

 

The Imperial Space Policy?

Congress: who needs ‘em?  From Science Insider…

The Obama Administration has carved out a loophole in the recent congressional ban on scientific interactions with China that would permit most activities between the two countries to continue.

Why does such a loophole need to be carved out?  From what and for what benefit, especially when the administration is all about closing loopholes?

It turns out the loophole being pursued relates to a ban on scientific interactions (less delicately said,  specific prohibitions on the one-way tech and science transfer valve from the U.S. to China), which was a part of the recent 2011 budget agreement.

The ban says that no funds can be used by NASA or the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) "to develop, design, plan, promulgate, implement or execute a bilateral policy, program, order, or contract of any kind to participate, collaborate, or coordinate bilaterally in any way with China or any Chinese-owned company." It also prevents any NASA facility from hosting "official Chinese visitors."

The intent of that language seems pretty unequivocal.  However…

Appearing today before [a House…]panel to defend the Administration’s 2012 budget request for science, presidential advisor John Holdren told [Chairman Frank] Wolf that, in effect, the ban doesn’t apply to the president’s ability to conduct foreign policy.

Well.  Holdren then received a follow-up from subcommittee member John Culberson.

…The president just signed into law an absolute, iron-clad, and unambiguous requirement that none of the funds be made available to the administration may be used by NASA or your office… [to carry out] a bilateral policy with China or any Chinese-owned company. It’s not ambiguous or confusing. But you’ve just told us that you have embarked on a policy to evade and avoid this very specific requirement.

So, it appears loophole development is being pursued in the name of space exploration/scientific cooperation with the Chinese.  For example, maybe in order to go to Mars?  From Space News:

U.S. President Barack Obama views China as a potential partner for an eventual human mission to Mars that would be difficult for any single nation to undertake, a senior White House official told lawmakers.

Mars, eh?  Mars (where a manned visit is decades away, if ever) sounds more like an excuse to undertake an effort with China rather than a reason to do so. 

China hasn’t put a man in space for a couple of years.  Maybe they’re re-wondering what such an effort even gets them, other than prestige.  Perhaps China could set their space program aside and work on internal human rights issues, the nuclear weapons and prison-planet conditions in neighboring North Korea, or even an iPod/iPad/iPhone maker suicide prevention program.

Yes, it would be difficult for any single nation to undertake a Mars mission, but why would we/they even want to undertake it to begin with (although it’s likely to be more significant scientifically and to humanity than visiting an asteroid)?  Or better said, why manned spaceflight?

Let us first characterize the radiation environment.  After that, we’ll likely need to genetically modify a radiation-resistant astronaut.  It’ll make the trip—and life after it—more successful.

 

 

Earth-bound Mars Simulation About to Hit a Major Simulated Milestone

Yes, a significant part of the Mars 500 simulation is about to get to a major milestone.

Here’s what the AP had to say about this leg of the simulated mission to Mars.  The simulation is from inside a lab in Moscow.

The six men are due to "land" on Mars on Feb. 12 and spend two days researching the planet. They then begin the months-long return flight to Earth, expected to be the most challenging part of the mission.

"It will be very tough on the boys because of the monotony," Morukov said. "The fatigue and the thought that the mission is over can be fraught with negative consequences."

The Mars-500 experiment is being conducted by the Moscow-based Institute for Medical and Biological Problems, the European Space Agency and China’s space training center.

In an effort to reproduce the conditions of space travel, with exception of weightlessness, the crew has living quarters the size of a bus connected with several other modules for experiments and exercise. A separate built-in imitator of the Red Planet’s surface is attached for the mock landing.

A real mission to Mars is decades away because of its huge costs and major technological challenges, particularly the task of creating a compact shield that would protect the crew from deadly space radiation.

Here’s what Songs of Space and Nuclear War had to say about the event when it kicked off:

Humble Pie sang of 30 days in the hole.  Six ‘terrastronauts’ (I made that up in case you like it) are looking at 500 days of lock-up in a Moscow-based simulated spacecraft. The purpose is to serve as a sort of pathfinder-effort culminating in a manned mission to Mars.  It’s all sponsored by the European Space Agency.

The simulation is needed to examine the human needs for what would be a 520 day mission to Mars–250 there, explore for a month, and 230 for the trip home.  Coming back, we’re looking at space tail-winds, eh?

When might such a Mars mission actually occur?  I’m not really sure, but if you’re reading this, you’ll almost certainly be dead.  Does that sound harsh? Sorry.

The six will remain in lockup until November 2011 unless some sort of sci-fi type event occurs.

Although this was a male-only crew, remember that Mars needs women, something the AP failed to notice.