Aldrin: We should reach for the moon

Austin American Statesman ^ | 07/20/06 | Edwin E. "Buzz" Aldrin

[KevinDavis]

This week's successful landing of the space shuttle Discovery was both a technical and emotional relief.

The successful mission marks the beginning of a new chapter in our country's space program.

NASA has shown it still has the right stuff; now it's our turn as a country to prove again that we have what it takes to support the future of space exploration.

We must move forward in upholding NASA's Vision for Space Exploration, which means completing assembly of the international space station and developing the next generation of space exploration vehicles that will take us back to the Moon, on to Mars and beyond.

In the past five years, our country has experienced challenging times, from economic hardships tied to natural disasters, to national security and global competitiveness.

[KevinDavis]

"Shoot for the Moon. Even if you miss, you'll end up among the stars."

[KevinDavis]

[pcottraux]

I don't know if my arms are long enough.

[Bean Counter]

It makes more sense to me to spend the money to establish a long term habitat on the moon, and seek to exploit whatever is there, than to waste a whole lot more on the ISS and low-earth orbit.

Go big.

[KevinDavis]

Ditto....

[af_vet_rr]

For those who believe our country can't afford this, the fact is we can't afford not to. We can't afford to lose the assets, knowledge base and critical work-force skills that define who we are. We also can't risk deferring the benefits of an active space program to other nations.

Many say exploration is part of our destiny, but it's actually our duty to future generations and their quest to ensure the survival of the human species.

Furthermore, for far too long we've been a nation of settlers instead of pioneers - we'll settle for mediocrity and stagnation. We need to get back on track, on the things that made this country great.

[af_vet_rr]

It makes more sense to me to spend the money to establish a long term habitat on the moon, and seek to exploit whatever is there, than to waste a whole lot more on the ISS and low-earth orbit.

Unfortunately we can't ditch the ISS, because of the way it was setup, with all of the international cooperation, it's not just owned by us. Plus it has justified the Shuttle for too many years, and the Shuttle has justified it - everytime the Shuttle is grounded, people freak out that we are back to using Russian capsules, yet the simplistic capsules have proven safer over the duration that the ISS has been around....

[KevinDavis]

That is correct. We need to go back to being a nation of pioneers not settlers...

[B-Chan]

Correct. People create markets. We need to establish permanent human settlements in space -- not to do science so much as to create demand where we want it. Demand drives supply. Put permanent setlements in space and private industry will compete to supply them with the tools and supplies they need. At first the settlers will be on the government payroll, but this is just bootstrapping; as more people move into space the size of the market will grow, drawing the settlers away from government jobs and into private jobs. Eventually all the pioneers will be working privately -- providing material goods (oxygen, water, organic molecules) or services (mining, equipment repair, expertise) to their fellow colonists.

The first colonists will need some sort of work to do. I suggest they become archivists. I think we should "back up" the knowledge of the human race just in case our "hard disk" -- the Earth -- ever "crashes". My plan: we build and staff a large Library of Mankind on the Moon, a facility where the accumulated knowledge of the human race -- scientific, cultural, historical, artistic, and statstic -- is stored (and continuously updated) by both electronic means (data storage) and on permanent media (micro-engraved on artificial diamond "bricks"). The facility would also maintain an "ark" -- a complete record of the genomes of all known living organisms, plus banks of seeds, spores, and frozen animal embryos of every species. (The personnel of the Library themselves would serve as a living "ark" of human DNA, should human life on Earth be threatened.) This lunar library would be located deep beneath the lunar surface at an easy to identify location -- Tycho crater, maybe, or at the lunar south pole.

And once the lunar library is up and running, we should back up the backup -- by building another on Mars.

[SunkenCiv]

Finishing the ISS should be tossed on the rubbish pile of stupid ideas right now. But I'll cut Buzz some slack, as he otherwise knows what he's talking about.

[af_vet_rr]

Finishing the ISS should be tossed on the rubbish pile of stupid ideas right now. But I'll cut Buzz some slack, as he otherwise knows what he's talking about.

It's not an option, as it's not just owned by us.

[SunkenCiv]

It's not an option, as it's not just owned by us.

"Finishing the ISS" is not owned by us? Strange.

[af_vet_rr]

"Finishing the ISS" is not owned by us? Strange.

The ISS is not owned by us (hence the "International" part of "ISS". Not finishing it is not an option for several reasons - it needs a lot more work (I don't even think it will be finished in 2016 as the space agencies are projecting), and if we (the US) abandon it, and leave it to Russia, Japan, Canada, and Europe etc., it will be really hard if we want them to join us on future projects.

Think about it - if you and I went in on a very expensive, resource-intensive project, that was going to take decades, and part of the way through, I pulled out, said "you know what, it's a waste of my time and resources" and then a few years later I came back to you and said "hey, would you like to join me on this project", chances are, unless you are gullable, you are going to come up with an excuse not to, if not outright saying "uhh, no, you screwed me over the last time we worked together".

[SunkenCiv]

Sounds perfect. Since "going international" on space projects is stupid in the first place, not finishing the ISS -- which is a US-funded project for the most part -- is a great way to start. The reason the US won't be getting ahead in space is that it's continuing to fund the ISS, and the STS, which is going to be exclusively devoted to ISS construction. It is a foolish and simpleminded waste of money.

[af_vet_rr]

Sounds perfect. Since "going international" on space projects is stupid in the first place, not finishing the ISS -- which is a US-funded project for the most part -- is a great way to start. The reason the US won't be getting ahead in space is that it's continuing to fund the ISS, and the STS, which is going to be exclusively devoted to ISS construction. It is a foolish and simpleminded waste of money

Exactly - the people benefitting the most from the ISS are the companies that are providing the components.

If you like conspiracy theories, I've heard people say that the ISS was setup the way it was (with international cooperation/ownership/funding/etc.) because it would then be "untouchable" if Congress/NASA decided they needed to axe it.

There is no telling where we would be at if we still had the Saturns and had been using them to build a spacestation (think an expanded Skylab or a series of them).

[dfwgator]

"Been there, done that."

[KevinDavis]

Back to stay...