My Space Blog

There was a lot of talk this week about the possible decision by the Obama team to merge certain NASA and military activities – specifically, to use existing military vehicles to loft humans into space.

The issues are these:

• The US sees itself in a race with China to return to the moon.  China is moving ahead with its own space program.  It’s already achieved lunar orbit, there was a spacewalk earlier this year, and it plans for an unmanned moon landing in 2013, followed by a manned mission in 2020, dates approximate.
• Pentagon launch vehicles such as Delta and Atlas are well established, at least the names.  There is talk of scrapping the new Ares rocket program currently under development and using existing military launch vehicles instead.  The Pentagon likes this idea, of course.  NASA is balking, and there is unfortunately publicized discord between the Obama administration and NASA’s Republican-appointed administrator, whose wife is actively campaigning for him to keep his job.
• Finally, there is the ever present talk of cost savings.  Everyone’s got an opinion on that topic, including me.  Undoubtedly, the reports and analysis will start unfolding soon.

Here’s my singular thought for now.  The last vehicle that we got from the military was the Hummer.  Isn’t there a lesson here?  Food for thought.

More reading:

• Richard Korman
• Bloomberg
• TGDaily
• Terrestrial Musings
• Just Get There

INDIA has become what it says is 5th to put a spacecraft into Lunar Orbit.  (It’s the fifth individual nation, after the US, the Former Soviet Union, Japan, and China.  The European Space Agency, a consortium of 17 18 nations, has also succeeded in the endeavor).

Chandrayaan-1 Success Makes India Fifth to Reach Lunar Orbit

I’ve put up some Chandrayaan-1 information.

(Also updated: there are 18 member nations in ESA, and we congratulate the Czeck Republic on their admittance in 11/08).