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08.09
Independent Panel Charged to Outline Sustainable
Path for U.S. Space Exploration
By
IEEE-USA STaff
In early May, the Obama
Administration announced it would conduct an
independent review of the U.S. human space
flight program with the goal of ensuring that
the nation is on a vigorous and sustainable path
to achieving its goals for future space
exploration. The review was widely interpreted
as signaling a redirection of the current, but
largely unfunded national space goal, set by the
Bush Administration in 2004, of returning
Americans to the Moon in 2020, as the first step
toward an eventual Mars expedition. Neither the
Bush Administration or Congress, however, has
been willing to foot the estimated $108 billion
bill for support of this space exploration
program, leaving NASA in limbo at a time when
its space shuttle and space station are
approaching the end of their projected
operational life-spans.
The Obama Administration
indicated that the review would be conducted by
a blue-ribbon panel of experts led by Norman
Augustine, the former CEO of Lockheed Martin,
and nine other members drawn from industry,
academia, the Air Force and NASA’s astronaut
corps. Highly regarded in Washington inner
circles, Augustine previously served on the
President’s Council of Advisors on Science and
Technology under both Democratic and Republican
administrations, led the 1990 Advisory Committee
on the Future of the U.S. Space Program, and was
a driving force behind the National Academies’
landmark 2007 report, Rising Above the
Gathering Storm: Energizing and Employing
America for a Brighter Economic Future, as
well as serving on a number of other
high-profile national commissions.
The Review of Human Space Flight
Plans Committee (aka Augustine Review Committee)
was charged to examine ongoing and planned
National Aeronautics and Space Administration
(NASA) development activities, as well as
potential alternatives, and present options for
advancing a safe, innovative, affordable, and
sustainable human space flight program in the
years following Space Shuttle retirement. The
panel was directed to work closely with NASA and
to seek input from Congress, the White House,
the public, industry, and international partners
as it develops its options.
In June, NASA established a Web
site [www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/]
supporting the Augustine Review Committee, which
was designed to facilitate a two-way
conversation with the public about the future
direction of the agency's space flight programs.
In addition to providing reference documents and
information, the site allows the public to track
committee activities, receive regular updates
and provide input and suggestions directly into
the process.
"The human space flight program
belongs to everyone," committee chairman Norman
Augustine said. "Our committee would hope to
benefit from the views of all who would care to
contact us."
The Augustine Review Committee
then held its first in a planned series of
public meetings on 24 June in Washington, D.C.
The Commission heard testimony from Presidential
Science Advisor John Holdren, NASA and
international space partner officials, corporate
officials, several Members of Congress, and the
public. In his remarks, Holdren emphasized the
Administration’s support for NASA and its
programs, but urged the panel to assess the
future of the space station after 2015 and to
consider all options in light of federal
resource constraints, and invited the committee
to offer its best advice on how to balance
NASA’s program priorities.
In its June issue, IEEE
Spectrum inserted itself into the public
policy discussion with a special issue entitled “To the Red Planet: Humanity’s
Greatest Adventure Is Within our Grasp.” In her
introduction, Spectrum editor Susan
Hassler noted: “Why Mars? Why Now? Forty years
ago, Apollo astronauts took humanity’s first
baby step into the cosmos. It’s time to take the
next one.”
The Committee’s initial public
hearing prompted a 2 July letter from U.S.
Representatives Gabrielle Gifford and Pete
Olsen, the chair and ranking minority member
respectively of the House Science Subcommittee
on Space and Aeronautics, in which they urged
interested individuals and organizations to
provide input to the review. They expressed
concern that “without strong input from the
space community on the importance of human space
exploration, the Augustine panel may limit its
review and narrow its recommendations to options
that conform to short-sighted budgetary
guidance.” Instead, they voiced their resolve to
seek strong funding and “stability of purpose”
for NASA’s human space flight programs and urged
support for a “next giant leap for mankind
initiative.”
Since its kick-off meeting, the
Augustine Review Committee has conducted site
visits to NASA facilities in California, Texas,
Alabama and Florida, and has its final public
meetings set for 5 August and 12 August in
Washington. The committee is expected to outline
a half-dozen options to President Obama in its
final report, ranging from a budget constrained,
incremental approach to space exploration to an
aggressive short-term focus on a manned mission
to Mars. One anticipated option would be to
focus NASA on a "flexible path" of progressively
longer and more challenging space flight
missions to various locations in the galaxy,
such as deep space visits to Lagrange points,
asteroids and/or a fly-by of Mars, possibly with
an astronaut-controlled robotic landing.
The Committee's final report is
due to the White House by the end of August,
with congressional hearings on the report and
its recommendations anticipated in September.
IEEE-USA invites interested IEEE
members to provide input to this review of the
nation’s human space flight program. The NASA
Web site provides means for individuals to
submit comments, ask questions, share opinions
on various topics, and follow the committee’s
activities via Twitter, Facebook and other
social media. For more information, see:
www.nasa.gov/offices/hsf/
Comments may be submitted to
todaysengineer@ieee.org.
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