Features

Revolutionary 'Return to Moon' Conference Tackles Key Issues. Deemed successful by many of its roughly 150 participants, the 'Return to the Moon 6' (RTM6) conference on 21-23 July in Las Vegas saw a wide variety of people working toward the same goal -- human settlement of the Moon. Special present and past 'Heroes of the Moon' awards were given to President George W. Bush (presented to NASA's Chris Shank) and to Sy Liebergot of Apollo 13 fame respectively on Friday evening. Event organizer Space Frontier Foundation (SFF) scheduled five qualified NASA speakers for RTM6. Such official agency participation would have been unheard of prior to the Earth, Moon, Mars and Beyond / Vision for Space Exploration (EMMB / VSE). NASA Administrator Mike Griffin allowed Shank, his representative, to tell the conference NASA cannot successfully complete the EMMB / VSE as planned without the private industry's commercial support. Low-cost space solutions provider t/Space also had a strong presence at the event. The SFF used the conference to announce the formation of the Institute for Space Law and Policy. Executive Director Berin Szoka started the institute along with Ed Hudgins and SFF founder Rick Tumlinson. It will follow-up progress made at the RTM6 with 'International Traffic in Arms Regulations' and 'Space Property Rights' sessions at the Space Frontier Conference this October in Los Angeles. RTM7 is expected to take place in Las Vegas again next year, probably around 20-22 July.

NASA Needs Commercial Sector to Return to Moon. At last week's 'Return to the Moon 6' conference, Chris Shank, special assistant to NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, outlined the agency's revised plan for returning humans to the Moon, including the increased role of the commercial sector. According to The Space Review's Jeff Foust, Shank suggested the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) could not fully support the ISS while simultaneously developing the Moon. "NASA needs commercial ISS crew and cargo operations," he says. "For servicing the ISS, the CEV is only intended as a backup capability." This will allow the CEV to focus on sending human crews to live and work on the Moon, according to NASA's new exploration outline. "Our target, in the 2018 timeframe, is to make the seventh human lunar landing," says Shank. The first human CEV mission is planned for 2011, with a minimum of two each year. Eventually, each mission will carry four astronauts to the lunar surface, most likely the south pole, with the overall goal of building up a permanent outpost. Brant Sponberg, Program Manager of NASA's Centennial Challenges and the new Innovative Programs, says, "We're trying to design this so that there's a wide range of activities that industry can pick and choose from." He sees these activities and technologies being developed by private enterprise "up to a certain point," and then being turned over to NASA.

India Astronaut May Take US Shuttle Ride into Space. Last week's meeting between India Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and US President George W. Bush in Washington DC has turned out to be very fruitful. On Friday, Deputy Chief of the US Mission in India Robert Blake told reporters in Chennai, India that the US plans to put an India astronaut into space, possibly on a Space Shuttle. This initiative is being seen as part of the EMMB / VSE. The exact details and modalities of the training would be finalized by September when the US-India Joint Working Group on Civilian Space Cooperation meets. In addition, Blake confirmed that two USA instruments would be on India's Chandrayaan-1 (about US$90M), also called Chandrayaan Pratham (First Journey to the Moon), which is due to launch in September 2007. The Moon Mineralogy Mapper, being built by NASA, has been included in the mission. Also, the Mini-SAR of Johns Hopkins University has been cleared by ISRO. By year-end India plans to conduct a unique trial called ‘Space Recovery Experiment' in which a 525-kg capsule launched aboard the Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle will be orbited around the Earth in space for a week and then brought back into the sea, about 140 km east of Sriharikota.