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Features
Is
Aerospace Industry Up to USA Moon / Mars Initiative? Boeing and Lockheed
say they are up to the challenge, but experts point to
a growing 'brain drain,' with few newcomers entering
the field, report John Schwartz and Micheline Maynard,
writing for The
New York Times. Bright engineering students are
more likely to go into areas like the Internet or biotechnology.
Cai von Rumorh, SG Cowan aerospace analyst, asks, "Is
the nation really going to support, given the budget
deficit, spending more money on a manned mission?" Obviously
Boeing stands to benefit tremendously, but the sweeping
consolidation of the aerospace industry has sharply reduced
competition and the creative clash of ideas. On top of
that, the space unit of Boeing lost nearly $1.8B on $3B
in revenue last year. However, former astronaut and director
of program development for Boeing NASA Systems in Houston,
John Lounge, said he was energized by the prospect of
the Bush proposal. John Logsdon, director of the Space
Policy Institute, says, "The grand challenge of
missions to the Moon and to Mars may be just the thing
to breath new life into those programs. What this vision
does is provide a focus, not only for revitalization
of NASA, but the revitalization of the U.S. civil space
capability, including the industrial base, including
academia." Lounge added, "This is a 100-year
activity. This is something we choose to do because it's
fundamental to our nature to explore."
NASA
Public Relations Must Improve to Get to the Moon. NASA's reluctance
and inability to provide a cost estimate for its new
Moon / Mars initiative seems to be hurting the plan
more than helping it, Jeff Foust says in a recent Space
Review article. Without a cost range for the
plan, it has been completely open to public and legislative
scrutiny, with some cost estimates being as extreme
as US$1 trillion. Foust says that, with utilization
of private enterprise, there is no way a return to
the Moon could cost so much. Dennis Wingo, in a SpaceRef.com article,
estimates the return cost at around $33B. He uses numbers
from NASA's thorough 1992 First Lunar Outpost study
for his estimate. Also, Wingo writes that human spaceflight
is safe and lunar settlement can be made easier with
private enterprise. Foust writes that, had NASA given
at least some sort of cost estimate, less energy would
be used in arguing over the point and more energy could
go towards learning about the plan's benefits and thinking
about how to implement it. He provides a conversation
excerpt showing how far Sean O'Keefe and the President's
science advisor, John Marburger, will go to not provide
a cost estimate. Foust says the NASA public relations
department also blundered in its timing and lack of
information concerning the cancellation of the Hubble
repair mission. The resulting outrage and arguments
have diverted focus from the Moon / Mars Plan, which
needs all the support it can get.
Lunar
North Pole Discovered Favorable for Observatory, Base. A
recent presentation by John Hopkins University researcher
Ben Bussey at the Lunar and Planetary Sciences Conference
in Houston TX reveals a “peak of eternal light” at
the Moon’s
north pole that could prove optimal for
a future observatory and/or base. After careful study of
images from the 1994 US Clementine orbiter mission, Bussey
and his team have discovered four areas around the rim
of a 73km crater named Peary that have constant sunlight
during at least the lunar summer months. Bussey’s
analysis of the Moon’s south pole show no evidence
of permanent sunlight, but rather two regions – 10 km apart
– that are collectively illuminated for more than 98% of
the time. Areas of permanent illumination are valuable
because they permit abundant solar power generation, and
daily temperature changes only swing about 20 degrees Celsius
(as opposed to 250 degrees at the lunar equator). Unusual
lighting conditions at the Moon’s
poles are attributed to its 1.5 degree perpendicular spin
axis relative to the plane of Earth’s orbit around
the sun. A paper written by Steve Durst and presented at
the 3rd Intl Lunar Exploration Working Group 1998
meeting in Moscow supports Bussey’s consideration
of a near-term human presence on the lunar north pole. “A
north pole robotic station could start as simply as a 1-meter
lunar dish capable of … lunar surveillance, SETI,
astronomy and Earthwatch. Additionally, the priority of
power production could be met through solar power collection
and beam transmission testing. The priority of water ice
confirmation and access for eventual human settlement could
be achieved through dish mount instrumentation,” writes
Durst. “Indeed,
a north pole observatory site “at the top of the
world” is
worth serious consideration.” |
