Lunar News Network

Candidates on Space

CNN has a report on where the candidates stand and space policy issues (Candidates and the space race):

One issue the presidential candidates are not saying much about is space exploration. But some scientists, military experts and intelligence analysts say the next president may well determine whether America keeps an edge in space.

The report goes on to note that the candidates have offered few specifics and their lack of vision raises the danger the U.S. leadership in space will fall behind our international competitors. Actually, this report doesn't really tell us much at all about where the candidates stand on space issues. Come on CNN,  you can do better. At least give us a few quotes from the candidates.

International Space Spending

It will not come as a surprise to most of you to learn that many countries have ambitious space programs. This report (Guardian - Global space spending up 11 pct to $251 billion) follows the money and finds that the U.S. enjoys a sizable lead:

Revenues from worldwide government and private spending on space projects rose to $251 billion last year, up 11 percent from 2006 despite slowing growth in many countries, an analysis released on Tuesday said. [...]Combined U.S. defense-related spending totaled $45 billion, or 71 percent of U.S. government space spending. [...] China's civilian space spending may have totaled $1.5 billion in 2007, the Space Foundation said, calling this a conservative estimate. [...] Russian space spending rose 49 percent to $1.32 billion in 2007 from a year earlier, driven largely by increased investment in Russia's GLONASS global navigation satellite system, the analysis said.

China Moon

The race to the Moon is heating up (Forbes - A New Space Race?):

China has plans to expand its lunar program, with the goal of putting an unmanned vehicle on the Moon by 2012 and sending people there by 2020. At the moment, China does not have plans to send people to Mars. [...] For the moment, China’s space program seems to be an effort to get a technological leg up on nations like Japan, which launched a lunar space probe last year, and India, which plans to do the same thing soon.

Lunar X Prize

Here is the latest from the lunar Googleplex (NYT - A Google Competition, With a Robotic Moon Landing as a Goal):

The return to the moon is part of the Google Lunar X Prize, a competition sponsored by Google with $30 million in prizes for the first two teams to land a robotic rover on the moon and send images and other data back home. At Google’s headquarters here on Thursday, 10 teams from five countries announced their intention to participate in the competition. They include a team led by William L. Whitaker, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University and renowned roboticist; an affiliation of four universities and two major aerospace companies in Italy; and one group that is a loose association of engineers coordinating their efforts online.

This is a private effort that I see as a wonderful adjunct to the NASA effort, it can promote space exploration, increase public support and enthusiasm, and inspire new generations of students to study science. Go Google!

Narrowing the Gap

Here is a news report about the NASA budget, it also addresses the gap issue as well as growing international competition (Houston Chronicle - Refueling NASA):

Despite Congress' rejection of a billion-dollar funding increase for NASA next year, Texas lawmakers haven't given up the fight to increase the agency's budget. In a tour of the development lab for the Orion crew exploration vehicle at the Johnson Space Center, U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and U.S. Rep. Nick Lampson, a Democrat, called for an additional $2 billion to speed up construction of the Orion and the Ares rocket system to launch it into space.

The NASA budget approved by Congress is just over $17.3 billion. The added funding is needed to shorten a dangerous 5-year gap between the decommissioning of the three aging space shuttles in 2010 and the first scheduled flight of Orion in 2015. During that time, the United States would have to pay Russia to ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station using disposable Soyuz space capsules.

In laying out an ambitious plan to return Americans to the moon and then voyage to Mars, the Bush administration ignores the risk of leaving the manned space program grounded at a time when China is gearing up for its own efforts to go to the moon.

The Wrong Stuff?

MSNBC - NASA chief: China will beat US back to moon:

“I personally believe that China will be back on the moon before we are,” NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a low-key lecture in Washington two weeks ago, marking the space agency’s 50th anniversary, still a year away.

“I think when that happens, Americans will not like it. But they will just have to not like it.”

Griffin’s candor startled many in the space community, but insiders acknowledge the reality. China has pulled off two manned spaceflights with its own rockets and is eager to head for the moon.

This is an incredibly discouraging mindset for the NASA administrator to have. I wonder how effective he can be in leading the U.S. space program when he has this kind of attitude?  Don't we need someone with a "can-do" attitude, someone willing to do everything possible to focus national attention, interest, and funding on the larger goals of space exploration? Or, perhaps he is merely playing the China in an attempt to rouse our competitive spirit?

Google Sponsors Lunar Prize

Google continues to sponsor lunar exploration with a new prize to promote commercial exploration of the Moon (Space.com - Google to Sponsor $30 Million Lunar X Prize):

Silicon Valley giant Google Inc. is teaming with the X Prize Foundation to launch a commercial race to the Moon with $30 million in incentives to collect along the way. [...] The goal of the new prize will be to land a privately funded robotic rover on the Moon that is capable of completing several mission objectives, such as: roaming the lunar surface to a distance of at least 1,640 feet (500 meters) and relaying video, images and data back to Earth.

This stunning development is sure to capture the imagination of millions of Earth-bound humans as we begin to actively participate in lunar exploration. Brilliant!

Link Fest

I've had a very busy week and I've not really had a chance to keep up on the news, which apparently never slows down. It's been an interesting week for the U.S. space program, we said no to Russia and the idea of exploring the Moon together, NASA announced it was going to develop a policy on what to do if an astronaut dies during a mission, and then sadly, one of the pioneers of the space program, Wally Schirra Jr., died.  So, without any further comment, here are the links:

Sci-Tech Today - Russian Says US Refuses Moon Offer

Space.com - On Trip to Mars, NASA Must Rethink Death

Houston Chronicle - Schirra dies at 84; was part of original Mercury 7 team

Lunar Lander Challenge

Space.com: The future will take to the skies over New Mexico next month as teams compete in the Lunar Lander Challenge sponsored by NASA under their Centennial Challenges program.

Commercial Space

Universe Today - NASA Invests in SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler:

NASA has announced a $500 million investment in two aerospace companies: SpaceX and Rocketplane-Kistler to help develop vehicles capable of resupplying the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle is retired. The funding is split between the two companies, and requires them to meet a series of milestones as they develop their vehicles between now and the end of the decade.

This is what I like to see, government and the private sector collaborating in space.