President Obama unveiled his new plan(PDF) for NASA. After scrapping the manned space program Constellation last fall the President pushed back plans to return to the moon and send a manned mission to Mars. This announcement and policy reversal struck some stargazers and scientists as disappointing.
The President’s plan reverses former President Bush’s plan for a new moon shot and focuses on private space flight, international cooperation and near-earth environmental observation.
Commerce Secretary Gary Locke says the new space policy will be good for business and inspire new jobs in the burgeoning private space industry.
“This policy is about energizing competitive domestic industries through innovation, entrepreneurship and technological leadership in space. It recognizes the sea changes occurring in the space community, with federal budgets tightening at the same time that commercial space capabilities and markets are gaining momentum.”– Secretary of Commerce Gary Locke
The new plan includes robotic probes to the sun, a manned mission to an asteroid and to Mars. It also puts new emphasis on near-Earth monitoring satellites to study climate and other environmental changes.
“Fifty years after the creation of NASA, our goal is no longer just a destination to reach. Our goal is the capacity for people to work and learn and operate and live safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in ways that are more sustainable and even indefinite. And in fulfilling this task, we will not only extend humanity’s reach in space—we will strengthen America’s leadership here on Earth.”—President Barack Obama
Falcon Rocket, courtesy of SpaceX
Goals for Space Science, Exploration, and Discovery
The Administrator of NASA shall:
•Set far-reaching exploration milestones. By 2025, begin crewed missions beyond the moon, including sending humans to an asteroid. By the mid-2030s, send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth
•Continue the operation of the International Space Station (ISS), in cooperation with its international
partners, likely to 2020 or beyond, and expand efforts to: utilize the ISS for scientific, technological, commercial, diplomatic, and educational purposes; support activities requiring the unique attributes of humans in space; serve as a continuous human presence in Earth orbit; and support future objectives in human space exploration
•Seek partnerships with the private sector to enable safe, reliable, and cost-effective commercial spaceflight capabilities and services for the transport of crew and cargo to and from the ISS
•Implement a new space technology development and test program, working with industry, academia, and international partners to build, fly, and test several key technologies that can increase the capabilities, decrease the costs, and expand the opportunities for future space activities
•Conduct research and development in support of next-generation launch systems, including new U.S. rocket engine technologies
•Maintain a sustained robotic presence in the solar system to: conduct scientific investigations of other planetary bodies; demonstrate new technologies; and scout locations for future human missions
•Continue a strong program of space science for observations, research, and analysis of our Sun, solar system, and universe to enhance knowledge of the cosmos, further our understanding of fundamental natural and physical sciences, understand the conditions that may support the development of life, and search for planetary bodies and Earth-like planets in orbit around other stars
•Pursue capabilities, in cooperation with other departments, agencies, and commercial partners,
to detect, track, catalog, and characterize near-Earth objects to reduce the risk of harm to humans from an unexpected impact on our planet and to identify potentially resource-rich planetary objects.
