Vision For Space Exploration Facing Critical Juncture

Space.com ^ | 4/12/06 | Jeffrey Bell

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Another space news website has published a leaked NASA study called "LRA-0" which is spreading despair and gloom through the space community. Many people are surprised that the architecture for returning men to the Moon laid out in the famous ESAS report is declared to be totally unworkable in this new document

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Looks like some problems with the original vision. I know Bell does not like the manned program, but he does have some points.

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Interesting

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"It was clear to many astute observers that the ESAS program was a political one. It was designed to mollify Congress by keeping almost every worker in the dying Space Shuttle program in his present job, performing the same task in the same factory in the same politician's district".

It's sad that NASA is now no more than a pork barrel project for congress. To say the space program has lost it's focus and is driven by politics is a huge understatement. The only part of NASA that still functions is the unmanned side.

[nuke rocketeer]

Yes, I have told others that NASA has bureacrasclerosis. After the big cuts at the end of Apollo in the 70's, it morphed into just another bureaucracy. The 'can-do' engineering organization that made the achievements possible in the '60's died. Then it was an excellent blend of government/private organizations all focused on one goal...the exploration of space. It's a sad truth that once you dismantle an organization and let the remnants drift aimlessly, focused only on survival as an organization, putting it back together is damn near impossible. There are no Von Brauns and Fagets to provide the technical vision and the organization is procedure-bound, not goal oriented, except for small pieces like JPL, which is still operated by the Engineering/science people working together. JPL has important lessons for the rest of NASA, where the Science people run the group, set the project goals and needs, and then get out of the way of the engineering folks to get it accomplished. It also helps that it is small enough that political interference is minimal, if nonexistent. NO major pork to be handed out, so the politicos are not interested.

I am seeing a nuclear version of that now where I work. Back in 1986, Westinghouse was an integrated, multifaceted industrial/engineering company building nuclear power plants. after 1986, they shut down and sold off the company in bits and pieces until all that was left is an engineering services company. Now that we have orders for new plants, the company is scrambling to try to get the old design and production organization put back together. It's painful to watch and participate, though it looks like we will get it done.