Some Love Space, Others Not So Much

Here we go! Burt Rutan and his team have announced their intention to claim the Ansari X Prize. The foundation managing this $10 million commercial space race requires that any team planning to go ahead with the daunting task of launching a vehicle to space twice within two weeks must give at least 60 days notice. This has been done in accordance with the rules, and so it seems that SpaceShipOne is poised to win the contest hands down. The first launch is scheduled to take place on September 29, 2004. A second launch will need to be completed by October 13. Although a challenge for some, the Rutan crew have anted up and dare speak of three launches to space within that time span!

But where are the other 26 competitors? With the January 1, 2005 deadline for the competition rapidly approaching, only one other team has announced plans to show off their vehicle. This is the da Vinci Project Team, and their ride to space is appropriately named Wild Fire. Although few teams are ready to launch (many are still in planning, design, and construction phases), the real prize lies in successful commercial space transportation, where big dollars are to be found according to the nascent space tourism industry. The future is coming, and these people get to live it firsthand and love every second of it.

Switching gears, I feel compelled to discuss a few news bits/commentary which deride space exploration (especially manned space missions). The first appeared in last week’s issue of C&E News. Editor-in-chief Rudy M. Baum, in his weekly Editor’s Page entitled Exploring the Solar System, expresses awe at the new images from the Cassini spacecraft, closely showing the composition of that planet’s rings through a false-color UV spectrograph. I am not sure if he is simply trying to rouse his readers in an attempt to make for more colorful feedback, but he segues into the Challenger disaster and discusses how robotic space exploration should completely replace any current and planned future human endeavors into space. He cites the inability for the ISS to support a full shuttle crew in the event of a mishap in space before a rescue mission could be mounted and goes on to extoll the virtues of remotely viewing and studying our solar system. I know that some hold this view for various reasons, including risk of life, financial burden, and limited ROI (the latter of which can be argued), yet he chooses to take this argument to a new level (emphasis mine):

I’m not sure carbon-based life forms will ever belong in space. Our silicon-based robots are much better surrogates for extending human senses and exploring the solar system and deep space. It’s time that we pull the plug on the pointless and wasteful romantic fantasy that is manned exploration of space.

Yikes! Such a broad proclamation that human beings should never venture into space is extreme and, of course, will never come to fruition. How can anyone, namely the editor of C&E News, make such a fanatical claim. It strikes to the very core of who we are: explorers attempting to understand our universe. Writers often speak of having real-world experiences upon which they can build their style and general understanding of society. A robot could not serve to replace these personal accounts no more than a robot can replace first-hand experience of our five senses off world. The notion of manned exploration may sound naïve and “romantic,” but I feel in my heart that space is our destiny, as we have so much to learn and see close up. These adventures in and of themselves are as or even more valuable than the scientific return: we as human beings define our entire existence on that which transpires around us. To limit that environment to the space within the bubble of Earth’s atmosphere is to imprison our curiosity about ourselves and the nature of the universe.

With that off my chest, I bring you item number two in the “no love for space” column: the lack of stance by Democratic nominee for President John Kerry on NASA and all-things space. I know that space is often a non-issue in Presidential elections, but this year may reverse that trend due in part to President Bush’s new space initiatives, which Senator Kerry has derided on several occasions. For a more complete read of this delectable tidbit of election-year politics, see SpaceRef John Kerry on Space (an excerpt from New Moon Rising – The Making of America’s New Space Vision and the Remaking of NASA by Frank Sietzen Jr. and Keith L. Cowing which will be in bookstores in early August 2004). Here’s the low down for those in need of an executive summary: Kerry spurns the Bush space proposal, but has no meaningful alternative backed by the work on a huge group of people over a substantial time period (as the current administration’s proposal was). In addition, he has made broad statements supporting “the government’s commitment to scientific achievement through increases in research funding for the Department of Energy, NASA, and the National Science Foundation,” without any cost proposals etc. Finally, his voting record probably speaks the reality of what will happen under his administration with regards to space—cost cuts for the ISS, shuttle, international commitments, and more.

Space is a big issue for me—geek, Star Trek fan, chemistry major, what else would you expect?—and as you can see by the length of this post, I get all fired up inside when I read these pieces. So for the week, the score is 2 – loves space, 2 – others not so much. (I have to count myself!)