Features

Commercialism Could Get NASA to ISS Cheaper, Accelerate Return to Moon. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin recently unveiled his plan to involve newer, 'non-traditional' private companies in the EMMB / VSE by soliciting cargo and crew delivery services to and from the ISS, pledging that "the government will not provide the requested or required service if there is a commercial provider who can do it." According to Space.com's Space News, several companies are encouraged by Griffin's remarks, including Constellation Services International (CSI), Transformational Space Corporation (t/Space), and Elon Musk's Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX). Company Founder and CEO Elon Musk says, "This is a market SpaceX has been interested in for a long time." CSI President Charles Miller says he is "enthusiastically looking forward" to the crew / cargo solicitation, adding that CSI's LEO Express Space Cargo Services uses standardized containers that give flexibility in choosing a carrier. T/Space President David Gump calls Griffin's approach "eminently reasonable and a great path forward." He believes t/Space's Crew Transfer Vehicle (CXV) can deliver cargo and crew to not only the ISS, but to NASA's future Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) as well, and at a greatly reduced cost. Gump says this would allow the CEV to focus on what it is truly intended for -- human exploration of the Moon, Mars and Beyond.

ISS NASA Workshop Example of Griffin Pushing Agency Toward Successful Lunar Settlement. "The results were the most innovative and creative products and ideas I have ever seen," says forty-year NASA employee Ken Cox of the ISS Entrepreneurial Paradigm Workshop held 21-22 June in Santa Clara CA [see LED Year 5, Number 125]. NASA head Mike Griffin himself initiated the event, which explored private, biotechnological utilization of the ISS. He realizes NASA may be spread too thin with settlement of the Moon on its hands, so he is wisely and innovatively exploring options for entrepreneurial operations to handle the American science done aboard the ISS. The workshop itself was a paradigm shift that could lead to far-reaching changes at the agency. NASA Ames head Scott Hubbard, Constellation Services International Chief Operating Officer David Anderman, Bruce Pittman of Profit Engineering and Tom Taylor of Kistler Aerospace were noted participants. Also represented were Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Orbital Technologies Corp, Lunar Transportation Systems, Spacehab, Rocketplane, XCOR, and many other NASA centers, universities, and private enterprises, including biotech firms. The event's high-level participation ensures Griffin is making a substantial effort to see NASA work hand-in-hand with private enterprise to achieve the EMMB / VSE. Info www.aeroi.org/iss_epp.

The Greening of the Moon. SMART-1 Project Scientist Bernard Foing, in discussing the steps needed to develop bases on the Moon, tells Astrobiology Magazine that growing flowers there can help turn the Moon into an oasis. Foing's colleagues have developed a concept of a small life science prototype, the First Extraterrestrial Man-Made Ecosystem (FEMME), to learn how such life would adapt. A collaborative effort with botanical groups in Ukraine and the Netherlands is looking at very resistant plant forms, especially tulips. The idea is to create a very small camera so that people could see a tulip grow on the Moon with the Earth visible in the background. Other flowers being considered include ornamental plants that would bring psychological comfort to lunar settlers. Also, the scientists are attempting to grow plants in a greenhouse that could be used to make a salad. ESA's MELISSA project is experimenting with recycling animal wastes to be used to grow algae. Foing foresees growing bacterial colonies on the Moon using experiments such as FEMME, followed by more advanced projects on future lunar landers in the 2010 to 2015 time frame." After that, we could consider the next steps to take for animal life and then human," says Foing.