Earlier this month, President George Bush outlined a new space policy
in a major address at NASA Headquarters. Under this plan, the space
station will be completed by 2010. Station research will center on
the effects of space travel on human biology. A new space craft, the
crew exploration vehicle, will conduct its first manned mission no
later than 2014, with "extended human missions to the moon as early
as 2015." Bush also said that "our third goal is to return
to the
moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond." "With
the experience and knowledge gained on the moon, we will then be
ready to take the next steps of space exploration: human missions to
Mars and beyond," the President said.
Following this speech, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe responded to
questions about the new space policy. O'Keefe's remarks provide
greater detail about the Administration's intentions, and serve as a
preview of coming congressional hearings. The following excerpts are
from this briefing; paragraphs have been combined in the interest of
space:
SCIENCE AND THE MANDATE:
"This afternoon we got a mandate. And we got support for a set
of
specific objectives that very clearly identifies exploration and
discovery as the central objective of what this agency is all about.
It has always been so. In 45 years of this agency, certainly that has
been what an awful lot of what that mandate's been about. But to have
it emphasized specifically as a reason in and of itself for these
purposes is the important dimension of what this policy is all about.
It will be informed by the science, to be sure. And there are science
objectives you'll see, as we walk through in the months ahead in the
course of discussion with our oversight committees in Congress, in
the appropriations committees and the public at large, exactly what
the aspects of this program will be in order to carry out those
science objectives . . . . But they're specifically driven by
exploration goals."
THE SHUTTLE AND SPACE STATION:
"But the objective will be to continue, as you heard the president
identify, the shuttle program, with the objective of completing the
International Space Station by the end of the decade and, at the
point at which that completion occurs, to retire the shuttle at that
time. Consistent with that, the International Space Station will
continue to operate throughout this period and into the next decade,
which is the period beyond the scope of the president's budget."
THE BUDGET:
"Based on the budget profile projections that will be submitted,
with
the horizon through fiscal year '09, thereafter, in order to sustain
this effort, the working assumption is that it be a program that can
be sustained at an annual rate that would increase by not more than
the rate of inflation. That's projected throughout the course of the
next decade. So as a consequence, the primary resources that are
necessary are occurring in this period, from '05 to '09, and then
expanding as a consequence of the transformative efforts that are
involved." O'Keefe later elaborated: "Well, what the president
defined and described was a consequence of this effort, of looking at
the overall top line, the dollar amount. What you see in fiscal year
'05 will be equating to about $16.3 billion and increasing at a rate
of about 5 percent or a little more for the next couple of years
thereafter. That equates to about a 5.5 percent increase in that
first year, then progressing about 5 percent each year for the next
couple of years and then leveling at about 3 percent thereafter. But
most of the adjustment, as he described it and discussed it or
alluded to it, is a reorientation of efforts within the existing
program, that while that is an increase, it also is a more
significant one on a net basis as a consequence of the reorientation
of various programs."
ROBOTIC AND HUMAN CAPABILITIES:
"This will involve a range of not only the kinds of mission
objectives, capabilities, development of robotic as well as human
capabilities, to be very sure -- the crew exploration vehicle is one
of the primary assets to accomplish that -- but also to emphasize the
power generation propulsion capabilities necessary to achieve these
goals. Development, again, is more in the direction of robotic as
well as human capability requirements and a transition on the
International Space Station during the course of our immediate period
of the research agenda to really examine, specifically as he
[President Bush] mentioned in his speech this afternoon, the means
by which we can conquer the human effects that are encountered as a
consequence of long-duration space flight. And that will become the
primary, almost singular, focus of our research agenda in the time
ahead. So we're re-ordering -- what you'll see in the program -- the
very specific emphasis on the research on station to emphasize life
sciences, human physiology, the human affects and consequence of
long- duration space flight and develop the means by which to
mitigate those consequences in order to facilitate the opportunity
for broader exploration objectives of longer duration. So as a
consequence, all the inter-relationship between these factors will be
built into this program for the purpose, again, specifically of
pursuing the exploration agenda with the science to inform that set
of goals as we move ahead."
CREATION OF EXPLORATION SYSTEMS ENTERPRISE:
"So we will create an exploration systems enterprise within the
NASA
framework that will, again, be on par with space flight, space
science, earth science, biological and physical research, education
and safety and mission assurance and aeronautics."
ROLE OF PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION:
"That said, the focus of the president's commission will be to
examine implementation strategies of this vision. So the charge, the
mandate, the terms of reference, if you will, of this commission is
to take this policy objective, the presidential directive, the
policy, the strategy, and the vision that's stated therein and
provide it to this commission with the objective of them helping us
to find what implementation strategies should we be examining to
include a broader range of a variety of different commercial
alternatives, looking at international participation, workforce
challenges that we've talked about and will continue to be
encountering as a consequence of the requirement to recruit and
retain the kind of quality workforce that's necessary. It will be a
whole range of specific objectives that we'll talk about and provide
very specific detail on their terms of reference. But the question
of what should the vision be, that which has dominated the public
debate, certainly in the congressional arena as well as a consequence
of responding to the Columbia Accident Investigation Board view that
there be a national debate and a focus on the vision, and there be a
provision of one. This resolves the question of: What is the
vision?"
INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION:
"Well, last night and this morning I had the opportunity to speak
to
my counterparts with the heads of agencies, if you will, of the
International Space Station consortia, from the European Space
Agency, from Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Space Agency, the Canadian
Space Agency. And the enthusiasm and interest in opening up the
dialogue about what the degree of international participation
could/might be in the very near future here as we discuss this is
pretty high. And I think the enthusiasm they expressed to me was,
they're anxious to have an opportunity to begin to see the detail of
where we're going with this and where there may be opportunities to
collaborate. If any of us had any doubt about the utility of the
international cooperation and its depth of, I think, commitment, the
fact that the partnership has hung together and continues to operate
International Space Station today as a result of all of the partners
stepping up in the wake of the shuttle fleet grounding as we have
worked through the challenges and the tragedy of Columbia, that
demonstrates that there is lots of interest there, and capability
there, in order to perform in that manner. So in the time ahead, I
think we'll see more and more of different ideas of what they'll be
exploring and looking to, to look at cooperative arrangements and
partnering arrangements. And we're looking forward to engaging in
that discussion." O'Keefe later added: Well, I think it is very
much
going to be a U.S.-led endeavor. That's our intent. And, again, much
of what we have been directed and what the president envisions we do
is to achieve this set of American, U.S. exploration objectives. To
the extent we can do this collaboratively, cooperatively and in
partnering with international participation, we are encouraged to do
so. And there is enthusiasm from our partners in examining the ways
that they can do that productively. So I think we have always been
and will continue to be open to varying alternatives that our
partners and our collaborators of an international nature may
suggest. And we'll continue that way." When later asked about the
participation of India and China, O'Keefe replied: "Well, it poses
some interesting questions. And it certainly opens up the
opportunity. And I think the expectation that the president has, in
all of the discussions we have had leading up to this set of
decisions of what this direction is, is that we look at this
differently. We think about these challenges in different ways. And
so there is, I think, an opportunity to kind of open that debate. Who
knows? I wouldn't want to speculate on this outcome at this time,
but I sure know that there isn't a finite answer that would suggest
one way or the other at this juncture. That's kind of exciting."
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