Wednesday / 5 February 2003

Lunar Plans and New Propulsion Technologies are Spotlighted at STAIF 2003. The Space Technology and Applications International Forums wrap up today in Albuquerque NM. Braid Blair of the Colorado School of Mines estimates 400 in attendance. Eric Rice of Orbital Technologies serves as program chair for STAIF's 1st symposium on space "colonization" and is also participating in the Space Colonization Technical Committee meeting being held at STAIF. Rice believes a grassroots approach involving education, outreach and legislation is what it will take to open up space to all people. Emphasis on the NASA Prometheus (www.nuclearspace.com) nuclear power propulsion program is muted following Saturday's Columbia Space Shuttle tragedy notes space.com reporter Leonard David, however the mood among conference attendees indicates readiness to proceed with nuclear propulsion at an aggressive pace. Sessions today focus on lunar bases, space settlement and power considerations. Mike Duke (Colorado School of Mines) et al suggest using lunar ice to make propellant for near-Earth space missions; Anita Gale and Richard Edwards (Space Settlement Design Competitions) discuss space infrastructure development; Architect Laurie Barlow looks at LEO habitat construction for 100-person dwelling; Darel Preble (Space Solar Power Institute) discusses Aquaplex lunar settlement simulation, and other presentations focus on extracting and using power in space. www.unm.edu/~isnps.

Jupiter Mission Highlighted in New NASA Budget. The proposed $15.5 billion budget for FY 2004 provides for a number of new programs including sending a nuclear-powered robot spacecraft to Jupiter and putting a comms sat in orbit around Mars by 2009. The proposal was completed before the Columbia accident and represents a 3.1% increase in the 2003 budget. However due to the tragedy the budget could be altered in the months to come. Underlying the proposal is a reorganization of NASA's major divisions and it reflects O'Keefe's emphasis on management reforms and cautious, affordable space programs. Project Prometheus is a $3 billion program to develop nuclear-powered spacecraft. The new fission motors would be tested on the new Jupiter mission that would have a probe sent to the icy moons of Europa, Ganymede and Callisto. The craft would search for evidence of subsurface oceans that may harbor organic material. Spending for the Shuttle program would increase slightly to $3.9 billion, but that figure will likely change as the remaining three Shuttles will probably need improvements. It is unlikely that Columbia will be replaced; instead NASA will probably use the remaining three orbiters to complete ISS. Accelerated spending ($550 million) on a new orbital space plane (OSP) is also in the budget. It could lead to the eventual replacement of the aging Shuttle fleet. Info on OSP at http://orbital.com/.

USA Could Not Afford to Lose Its Leadership As China Competes for Space Role. Robert Walker, chair of the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry, said the USA could not afford to lose its leadership role in human space exploration, despite a lack of funding and "sense of lethargy" that characterized the program in recent years, according to Reuters (www.reuters.com/). He said China was striving to put humans in space within a year and to reach the Moon within a decade. Apollo 11 veteran Buzz Aldrin also said Sunday on NBC-TV that a "space race" still existed and China was part of it. He believed the Chinese "see themselves having a destiny of the next century." While acknowledging the Bush administration faced competing demands for funding as it prepared for a possible war with Iraq, Walker pointed out that space exploration was an important arena for driving technological developments. "You're always evaluating these things in terms of the immediate need, but once we figure out that the Chinese have ambitions in this area, we will not want to fall behind," said Walker. The Columbia accident could help reinvigorate the nation's "lethargic" space program, aerospace experts said.