Put space policy on the presidential to-do list

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — With the lack of jobs and the shape of America’s economy today, I'm sure space exploration isn't on top of the must-do list for President Barack Obama and his Republican challenger, Mitt Romney.

.....Governor, the truth is that NASA needs to use the spaceflight hardware and facilities it already owns, and spend only what taxpayers can afford. If it did, America could once again lead the world in space. Take it from a reporter who has covered NASA for every day of its five decades in existence: America’s space program does not need another busload of suits with untanned faces stabbing holes in the air, debating over things about which they know little.

For example, NASA has been lectured tirelessly on the reasons why astronauts need not return to the lunar surface. "We've been there before," the current president once said.

"I find that mystifying," says Neil Armstrong, the first human to walk on the moon."It would be as if 16th-century monarchs proclaimed that 'we need not to go to the New World, we have already been there.' Or as if President Thomas Jefferson announced in 1808 that Americans 'need not go west of the Mississippi, the Lewis and Clark expedition has already been there.'"

The important thing is to get America back to blazing a trail on the space frontier, ...

Right now, that's impossible: Russia and China are the only nations on Earth flying humans into outer space. Since the grounding of the space shuttles, the United States, the former world leader in space, hasn’t had a single rocket or spaceship it can call its own.....

Space code of conduct: the challenges ahead ......."On the issue of nonproliferation efforts, states like Iran and North Korea mostly have a “diverse” view from the rest of the world. It would be welcome if such states would also participate in this negotiating process. It is important to note that space is different than other “standard” arms control and disarmament approaches formulated in the 20th century. Such discussions are more about sustainability and encouraging more states to benefit from this technology than about preventing proliferation of any technology or weapon.

In the space arena there exists a possibility that debate could follow a similar pattern as happened in past, particularly in regards to nuclear, biological, and chemical weapons negotiations. Also, while some have compared the space legal regime with the “laws of sea” regime, there is a need to delink any such mindset in this regard. It is important to learn from the past experiences, but there is a need to avoid getting trapped into the similar disarmament discourses. As in the past, the self-styled disarmament advocates are expected to view the issues related to space mostly with a utopian vision, and there is a need to guard against views that are extremely idealistic in nature but do not match up with geopolitical realities.

Space negotiations are going to happen in a changed geopolitical atmosphere than that of the Cold War era. The last two decades have seen a gradual change in the geopolitical and geostrategic landscape of the world. States like China, India, and Brazil have emerged as major economic powers while the economic stability of the EU is rapidly declining. The US still has its superpower status, but with shrinking influence. All this indicates that the power balance is showing signs of realignment.".......

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".........NASA/HQ plans to issue a Request for Proposal (RFP) for the following Commercial services; these services include, but are not limited to, the following:

(1) Oral interpretation and written translation of official and technical/scientific/engineering documents; (2) Language translation (verbal & written) of many countries; i.e. Russia, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Spain, Brazil, India, Israel, China, Indian, Korea, Portugal, etc; (3) Visa processing for Former Soviet States (Russia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Moldova, Ukraine, Georgia, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan), Russian Federation, and China; (5) Desktop publishing of translated text; (6) Processing letters of invitation and assignments required to support official travel to countries by way of drafting letters, completing appropriate documentation, database entry and continued communication to the client on processes and status updates; (7) Administrative coordination, advance preparation and support of conducting onsite overseas official meetings and high level visits; 8) Overseas logistics support primarily for the Former Soviet states and China, providing administrative, clerical and in-country ground transportation logistic services; (9) Conversion of foreign currency and metric measurements to the US currency and measurement system and US to foreign systems; (10) Website localization; (11) Video/Audio voice-over narration services; and (12) Instantaneous telephone interpretation services ."..... Source

Belarus to help build space facility (financed by China) in Venezuela....."The space base will be just one of the projects that will be carried out by Venezuela, China and Belarus, Diaz Nuñez said.

"The satellites are being manufactured today in China but the agreement has already been reached for them to be assembled in Venezuela," Diaz Nuñez said.

The three partner countries will also build a power plant in the state of Barinas, a project valued at 900 million dollars.

The project will be financed by China, while Belarus will provide the technology.".....

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"“.........Cooperation in the exploration of the Moon and Mars are among the promising cooperation areas of the new Ukrainian-Chinese cooperation program on the exploration and use of space for peaceful purposes for 2011-2015, which was signed in September 2010.

Adviser to the head of the State Space Agency of Ukraine (SSAU) Eduard Kuznetsov said earlier that Ukraine planned to implement a project called Selena in 2017 involving the launch of a small scientific satellite to fly around the Moon.

The lunar satellite will be developed by Dnipropetrovsk-based Pivdenne Design Bureau and will be equipped with the new Ukrainian Krechet upper stage. The satellite is planned to be launched with the help of the Russian-Ukrainian Dnepr rocket.

According to data from open sources, China is planning to send astronauts to the Moon in 2020-2022.” Source

We cannot afford to walk away from science and technology. It’s sad so many can’t see the connection of pushing the space frontier with soft power, and the importance of staying ahead and how it pertains to our economy and national security interests.

How can Europe, China, Russia, Japan, India and others continue on the path we blazed? Why have we been sidelined? This is about policy more than money. We have the money to have a program but this administration pulled the plug on ANY direction.

But of course that fits with Obama’s Science and Technology adviser’s admonition during a Q&A session with science graduate students — that it isn’t a bad thing that the U.S. won’t be number one in everything (John P. Holdren, the same man who co-authored “The Population Bomb” with Paul and Anne Ehrlich — all are still active and influencing policy).

Part 2:

It’s decision time for future spaceflight at NASA - Space agency should give the prime role to veterans in the 20-teens

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — In the beginning, it was said that all NASA Administrator James Webb had to do was take a couple of buckets up to the Hill, and Congress would fill them with money.

It certainly is not that easy today. The country cannot afford waste. A prudent NASA should take advantage of the $6.6 billion worth of spaceport facilities and flight hardware that it bought and paid for — facilities that are now growing grass in the Florida sun.

NASA should be doing everything possible to launch American astronauts from their own Cape Canaveral pads.

Instead, the agency is doing everything but. It’s been drifting, delaying and courting upstart aerospace companies to build what’s already been built, ignoring the days when America was clearly No. 1.”......

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48211307/ns/technology_and_science-space/

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