Wednesday, July 20, 2005

White House Memo Calls For Slashing Remaining Space Shuttle Flights





"According to a White House staffer, a memo representing official Bush administration space policy calls for no more than 15 space shuttle flights before the fleet is retired in 2010."

We are gearing up for a bleak new space age in which the only space endeavors financed by the government are those designed to kill large numbers of people.

5 comments:

Kyle said...

Yo Mac -

Perhaps the "small government" types are right. Maybe ALL space exploration and exploitation should be by the private sector. If paying customers line up as expected, there would be (financial)room for actual science along the way.

Allen and Rutan proved it is viable, and Branson has the pockets to sustain it.

What is needed is a few more Allen-Rutan-Branson groups to pony up the bucks! As Fred (Virgil)Ward said, "No BUCKS...no Buck Rogers".

Amen

You know, "Dreamworks SKG Space Operations" would be a marketers dream!

And if you want to chanpion exploration of the ultimate "vacuum", what better benefactor than the ever-vacuous Donald Trump?

*LOL*

Kyle
UFOreflections.blogspot.com

W.M. Bear said...

kyle -- Bill Gates' net worth by itself would pay for a manned Mars' expedition. The problem is, most rich guys like this are looking for a profit in it somewhere and there's none to be had, not for a while at any rate. Just to get into low Earth orbit will probably take a cool $bil. Sure, you may develop a space-tourism industry but it will take awhile and require sinking a lot of capital into the venture to start before they start seeing any return.

Mac said...

Kyle--

You know, I'm honestly surprised The Donald hasn't tried to seize a bit of the space pie by now; maybe he's afraid he'll be shown up by Branson.

WMB--

I've always been infuriated by Gates' sitting on his billions. If I had that money I'd not only finance a Mars mission -- I'd be the first human on the surface!

Ken said...

First off, the shuttles are 60s technology, and not nearly so durable or quickly reuseable as forecast. IMO they really do need to be replaced, and that soon. They are not cost effective, demonstrably unsafe, overly expensive, and VERY inefficient. And it seems as if the best replacement will come from the private sector.

As I understand it, there's sufficient mineral wealth of many sorts on Luna to create massive profit. Utilizing solar or nuclear energy, it ought not be so hard to refine. As for transport, an electromagnetic rail gun/mass driver would easily place huge quantities into Earth orbit, and economically at that.

Also, it appears that a huge amount (1,000,000 tons or more) of Helium 3 is available on Luna. This could be used in fusion reactors, and therefore be of the greatest value. We sure as hell need SOME kind of environmentally friendly energy source, one not controlled by religious fanatics, for our own national security. Also, global warming IS happening, and even though I feel the human contribution to be the lesser, I could be wrong, and every little bit helps.
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http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/helium3_000630.html

Scientists estimate there are about 1 million tons of helium 3 on the moon, enough to power the world for thousands of years. The equivalent of a single space shuttle load or roughly 25 tons could supply the entire United States' energy needs for a year, according to Apollo 17 astronaut and FTI researcher Harrison Schmitt.
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So, the profit's there. What's required is vision, something that is too often in short supply within the business world, as well as the courage to take risk. But vision is not ENTIRELY lacking in many large organizations, nor is courage. I very much suspect a major effort in this area within a couple of decades, perhaps sooner, especially if alternate lift vehicles prove out, as I feel they will. After all, Rutan surprised every one. This can be done. It just needs money and guts, which are out there.

As for Bill Gates ... never mind. I'd start to froth, and that scares the dog. :-)

As for the government doing this, well, I have little confidence in government at all. Whilst there is a long list of governmental successes, on the whole I feel the Gov would screw up a wet dream, I really do.

W.M. Bear said...

As I understand it, there's sufficient mineral wealth of many sorts on Luna to create massive profit.

The problem, as I see it, is to generate the huge amount of venture capital needed in the first place to exploit this wealth. I agree, I think there are IMMENSE profits to be made in space with industries like lunar and asteroid mining, and zero-g manufacture, especially of nanotechnology products, to say nothing of space tourism. Etc., etc., etc. But to exploit this potential requires at the very least tens of billions of dollars of seed money just to start. I think eventually these space investment gigabucks will be forthcoming. It's just a question of when. Unfortunately, my guess is later rather than sooner. And it seems clear to me that, at least initially, it will have to be a consortium of government and private organizations. (Maybe the Chinese space program will get us off our ass.)