An Open Letter to NASA

A message to the NASA Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee:

As a child I was fascinated by the space program. I wanted to become an astronaut and took all the math and science classes that I could in preparation to becoming an astronaut; I even started flying lessons at 13.

Unfortunately my future was taken away from me as launches were cut and almost everyone (except me apparently) seemed to lose interest in the promise of space. Oh sure, there was Star Trek but, for me, it only made the longing worse.

It’s too late for me, but not for the youth of today. There are so many reasons why we need to, no MUST, go back to space (and not just earth orbit) – survival of the human species is one big one (big rocks DO fall from the sky).

We need a truly functional space station, bases on the Moon, humans on Mars, and we need to be exploring the asteroid belt for the valuable resources it holds. We need to be planning a colony on Ganymede or Callisto, exploring the life that most likely exists on Europa. We need to be researching how to get beyond our solar system and out to the stars.

Just like man explored the surface of this planet and made great voyages over land and sea, it is time for us to begin our next big exploration. Our future depends upon it.

So, that's my letter. Follow the link at the top of this post if you would like to express your opinion directly to NASA. You can also attend one of the meetings in person. Here's the info I got from The Planetary Society:

"Next week, the committee is holding three meetings where the public is invited to propose their ideas and to make comments. The meetings are scheduled for three U.S. areas where the space program contributes mightily to the local economies:"

HOUSTON, TEXAS
Tuesday, July 28, 2009, 10 a.m.-4 p.m.
South Shore Harbour Resort & Conference Center, Crystal Ballroom Salon A & B, 2500 South Shore Blvd., League City, TX 77573, 800-442-5005.

HUNTSVILLE, ALABAMA
Wednesday, July 29, 2009, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
The Davidson Center for Space Exploration, The U.S. Space & Rocket Center, One Tranquility Base, Huntsville, AL 35805, 256-837- 3400.

CAPE CANAVERAL, FLORIDA
Thursday, July 30, 2009, 8 a.m.-4 p.m.
Hilton Cocoa Beach Oceanfront, Grand Ballroom, 1550 North Atlantic Avenue, Cocoa Beach, Florida 32931, 321-799-0003.

Fixing Our Economy - A Few Suggestions

By now I think even the most skeptical and conservative would have to agree that we are in, at the least, a recession here in the U.S. Personally I’m inclined to agree with those that feel this started late last year as that is when my computer consulting business saw the bottom drop out of it.

Because this is an election year there has been much mud and smoke thrown about as both major political parties describe how wonderful their plan is and how bad the other party’s plan would make things. I’m not here to say which side is best, rather I want to point out some [possible] long-term solutions that are not being discussed:

Energy

Currently we import and consume too much oil. Oil is not a sustainable resource and, while we can’t agree on when it will run out, we will eventually run out of it. There are other ways to produce energy. We need to fund, at a national level, research on alternatives. There are a number of, I feel, obvious benefits from this, including:

• We reduce the amount of money flowing from this country and spend it here at home instead.
• Money spent on research should spur an increase in engineering and other related fields. This country desperately needs more high-wage jobs as opposed to our current choices of “paper or plastic?” and “you want fries with that?” opportunities.
• Reduction in air, water, and land pollution.

Check out official energy statistics from the U.S. Government showing how much we import and from which countries.
Read what the Apollo Alliance has to say on clean energy and good jobs.
I have more ideas posted on my alternative forms of energy blog post.

Science

Nations prosper that invest in science and engineering. For many years the U.S. was a leader in new technologies and we prospered because of it. Now, unfortunately, few students are interested in math and science because there are not enough new jobs being created.

I know that a lot of people feel that ‘pure science’ research is just money being thrown away. However, research spurs new ideas and new products. New products lead to new jobs. Have you seen the unemployment numbers lately? This country has been on a net job loss for too long. When people have a job they can spend money on things they need. Spending leads to investment with leads to even more jobs and a way out of this recession.

Check out what the HPC Wire has to say about current science funding.
See a comparison of U.S. to China science funding.

The future of this country

The U.S. is still a superpower, but for how much longer? China is in the process of outpacing us in both scientific funding and space exploration.

So what you say? Why waste money on science and space? Look at some of the spin-off products from our space program are now part of our daily life:

• NASA technology gave us a "cool" laser, which provides thousands of patients with an alternative to heart bypass surgery.
• Hubble Space Telescope technology has made it possible to do certain breast biopsies with a needle instead of a scalpel.
• The foam insulation that covers the shuttle's external tank, developed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center and Lockheed-Martin, is used to make molds for fitting artificial limbs.
• Medical personnel can monitor fetal activity inside the womb using a small pill-shaped transmitter developed at NASA's Ames Research Center.
• The same material used for lightweight, durable spacesuits is used as permanent covering for shopping centers and sports stadiums. NASA technology also is used to pad football helmets and baseball and soccer chest protectors and shin guards.
• NASA-driven technology also makes possible satellite TV transmission and telephone signals that are beamed around the world.
• It has led to microcapsules that help clean up oil spills and to satellite remote sensing technology that locates and maps forest fires.

There's a lot more. Read the full list at the NASA Solutions site.
Read about recent developments in China’s space program.
Take a look at China’s overall space program and plans.
Read about some of the medical benefits that have come from space exploration.
Space exploration is important, read more here.
Mining resources from space, read more here.
Take a look at planet Earth as seen from space.

After World War II this country invested in both science and space. Our economy boomed. People from all over the world flocked to this nation because of the availability of high-paying jobs and the many opportunities for all to prosper. If we are going to get out of our current mess we need to look at what worked for us before. We can’t afford to wait.

Mars, God of War

One week ago an emissary from Earth landed near the north pole of Mars. The Phoenix Mars Mission has a primary goal of determining how much water ice is on Mars which will be a big factor in shaping how humans ultimately might be able to colonize the planet.

Planetary colonization is not just the stuff of science fiction. If we are to survive as a species then we must expand beyond planet Earth. Human population continues to rise; resources continue to dwindle here on Earth. But there are other planets in our solar system with mineral and water resources that we can utilize. Even the asteroid belt is full of chunks of water ice and metals.

But enough of our possible future, back to current events: Even though the lander has only been on Mars for a week there are a number of incredible images from this mission. One of my favorites was taken by the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter. It captured an image of the Phoenix as it was descending towards the surface. This is the first time an image has been captured of a spaceship coming in to land on another planet. Check out the image here.

My other favorite image was first distributed yesterday and is shown as the current image on the Astronomy Picture of the day site. NASA had been hoping that they might be able to dig down through the soil with the lander’s robotic arm to reach water ice, but the braking rockets on the lander may have already exposed some ice under Phoenix. Check out an image from under the lander here. If you don't see the image, click on the archive link and look for June 2nd.

The artist’s rendering of the Phoenix lander shown at the top of this post is from this site.

Here’s an interesting fact you might not know: on Mars when the sun sets the sky turns blue but during the day the sky is pink - just the opposite of Earth.

Pictures from home

Every human, every plant, every animal, everything we have ever known has come from one place: Earth. We argue over borders, fight over territory, and pollute the land, soil, water, and air. It is our only home. We think of it as limitless, with endless resources available for us. It is not. Earth is a lovely planet, but it is finite and fragile. To help illustrate this I have collected a series of images of our home -- from near to far. Each image has a link back to its source if you want more information on the picture.

The first image was taken from orbit by a satellite. What you are looking at is the ocean in the vicinity of the Bahamas. The Web site is "Earth As Art".

This next picture was also taken from Earth orbit by the crew of the International Space Station. Here you can see some of the curve of the planet.
Now we've moved out of Earth orbit. This picture was taken by the Apollo 8 astronauts during one of their orbits of the moon. What a lovely, blue world.
We continue to move out in space away from Earth. This image was taken by the Mars Global Surveyor. For more information about this image you can also read this article from the National Geographic News. The image you see here has been greatly enlarged - go to the Mars Global Surveyor link to see the actual image.
This last picture is part of the first family photo ever taken of the planets of our solar system. You are looking at home from 6.4 billion kilometers away. Earth is a pale, blue dot less than the size of a pixel. Click on the image to view the whole family.

Explorers wanted

Humans have been quite adventurous in the past. Our ancestors crossed vast continents, explored the wide oceans, braved ice and deserts as they expanded across the face of our home, Earth. Who knows how many lives were lost in this process, how many ships never returned, how many wagon trains never reached their destinations? Did this stop us? No, if it had we would not be where we are today.

But what about now? Since we’ve covered this planet, space must be our next destination. So why aren’t we doing more? Yes, I know, we’ve had a number of accidents and we’ve lost people and space ships. These are disasters that need to be examined so we can learn from our mistakes [and honor our lost heroes], but these should not be disasters that cause us to stop trying. Did our ancestors stop when a ship was lost, when a caravan did not survive? No, they kept trying and so should we.

The author, William Burrows, states in his book, “The Survival Imperative: Using Space to Protect Earth,” that the current generation “increasingly has no sense of joy of purposeful adventure.” We need to inspire them, instruct them, encourage them, and motivate them. If nothing else will get people moving, then they need to look at how MUCH money can be made out in space (after all money seems to be the only thing that so many people are interested in)! John S. Lewis states in “Mining the Sky”, “[L]et's consider the smallest known M-type asteroid, the near-Earth asteroid known as 3554 Amun (two kilometers in diameter): The iron and nickel in Amun have a market value of about $8,000 billion, the cobalt content adds another $6,000 billion, and the platinum-group metals add another $6,000 billion.” That comes to a total of $20,000 billion. Current estimates put the total number of asteroids above 1 km in diameter in the solar system to be between 1.1 and 1.9 million. You do the math. If that isn’t enough to create a ‘gold-rush’ type stampede, I don’t know what will.

Albert Einstein once wrote in a letter to his son, “Life is like a bicycle, you have to keep moving in order to keep your balance.” We [humanity] have stopped moving, we’re stagnate, overweight, out of shape, uninspired, and without a vision. We need people who are willing to brave the dangers and take us that next step. Heck, if I had the money to build a ship (or two), I’d be willing to go. I suspect that space travel could not be any more dangerous than a trip down the average interstate highway (Florida, California, or Chicago for example!).

One last thing to consider: If the dinosaurs had a space program they would still be here. Big rocks do fall out of the sky. We need to be somewhere else before the next extinction sized rock heads our way. Don’t think they are out there? Read this!

Space Exploration is Important

I’m mad, not as in crazy but rather angry, upset, and quite disappointed. An elderly gentleman that I respect greatly for his wisdom and knowledge said that he felt all the money that the government spent on the space program was an absolute waste. He feels that “all that money could have been put to better use solving problems here in our country”.

This is not the first time I’ve heard someone say this. I know that many people feel this way. However, have any of them actually taken the time to look in to the issue? How much money does NASA get every year? What is that money used for? How much money does the Federal Government put to other programs? How much money have we spent on our latest “war”?

OK, let’s tackle these questions:

Has anybody really checked out the facts? In my opinion, no. If they had, they would see how little goes to NASA, how much the space program benefits EVERYONE, how much useful technology we’ve gotten as a spin-off, and how much more money the Federal Government manages to waste (ever heard of ‘pork-barrel’ spending?) in other areas.

How much money does NASA get every year? Not much, especially compared with the overall budget. Wikipedia has a very interesting article on this. NASA has received an average of $12.681 billion dollars (adjusted for inflation) per year over its forty-nine year history. That’s barely a drop in the budgetary bucket. For comparison, lets look at what the Federal budget spent on other things in 2007:

• $586.1 billion for Social Security
• $548.8 billion for Defense (not including the “war”)
• $394.5 billion for Medicare
• $367 billion for Unemployment and Welfare
• $76.9 billion for Veterans’ benefits
• $33.1 billion for natural resources and the environment
• $26.8 billion for community and regional development

Check out this other Wikipedia article for a full breakdown plus links for additional information. And here’s one fact for you: Americans spent over 19 times as much at restaurants in 1997 as the federal government spent on NASA that year.

What does NASA spend ‘all that money’ on? Well, among other things, NASA has procurements, grants, and awards that go to businesses, educational institutions, and non-profit organizations throughout all 50 United States. Millions of dollars are spread throughout the country. Check out this map showing the disbursements. As for all their space exploration programs, research centers, aeronautical programs, etc., you should check out this site by NASA.

I’ve already addressed the issue of how much money the Federal Government puts to other programs, so let’s look at our “war” spending. Much of the money for the war does not come out of the annual Federal budget, instead it is done as ‘Supplemental Funding’. For example, in FY 2006 $153 billion in Supplemental Funding was added to the base budget of which the War on Terror received $120 billion and a massive $33 billion went to events such as Hurricane Katrina. My source for this information is here. Total estimates for our “War on Terror” go as high as $2.4 trillion. TRILLION. Check out this CNN Money article and be sure to follow their link in the middle of the article.

Right now this lovely little planet is our only home. The environment is not in the best shape right now and many feel the future is only going to deteriorate. Personally, I’d like to see humanity expand beyond Earth. Our future, if we have one, is in space. Check out these folks.

Scotty, where are you when I need you?