the wild blue nowhere
Continuing problems at NASA.
In the wake of the recent release of the investigative report into the destruction of the Columbia, NASA seems prepared to embrace an additional layer of bureaucracy and a "safety at all costs" policy that will almost certainly continue the developmental and technological stagnation there. The Space Shuttle, it must be noted, is thirty year old technology. Thirty years ago, the Internet consisted of exactly twenty-five computers, liquid crystal displays were cutting edge, and Elton John was considered an innovative artist. Eight years in development, Columbia's first flight was a major news story in April 1981 - twenty two years ago.
Meanwhile, Mars and Earth are making their closest approach to each other in 60,000 years. Instead of an astronomical curiosity, this fact could have established late August 2003 as the target date for a manned Mars landing. A truly visionary NASA could have built upon the success of Apollo and used the ensuing three decades to overcome the massive technical challenges involved in delivering a crew to the Red Planet. Instead, with public interest waning in lunar landings, Nixon cancelled the final moon missions and NASA's main focus until the first shuttle launch revolved around a pointless political mission in support of American-Soviet détente and orbiting leftover Saturn V parts as a makeshift space station.
Despite NASA's troubles, there are some positive signs internationally. Within the last week, India has approved plans for an unmanned moon mission by 2008. Although little specific information can be gleaned from within the secretive Chinese space program, there is talk of a manned Chinese mission in October. The privately funded X-Prize competition is drawing to a close, which may put a private craft into suborbital flight. Non-chemical technologies, such as nuclear propelled Project Prometheus, and magnetic solar sailers offer truly revolutionary means of getting people around the solar system. It is these experimental programs that should be the focus of NASA, not an obsolete low orbit craft that has never been an economically viable means of launching payloads.
Regrettably, what the authors of the Columbia crash report seem not to acknowledge is that space travel is an inherently high risk activity. Twenty-one were killed recently by a launchpad explosion in Brazil. In July, an unmanned prototype of Japan's space shuttle crashed during flight. The history of the Soviet space program is riddled with fatal accidents. While the report was correct to condemn the poor management at NASA that allowed mounting evidence of the danger of foam strikes to effectively be ignored, suggesting that the space agency place absolute safety above all other concerns will only lead to a hamstrung and impotent American space program - at the very time that other nations are making their first steps into manned flight. Inasmuch as any diverse group of individuals can have a national character, a vital part of the American character is an eagerness to take on great challenges, and escaping the bounds of Earth is in many ways the greatest human challenge of all. To forsake this for a mistaken notion of complete safety would be tragic.
05.09.2003 © ljr