Bush eyes missions to moon, Mars.

CBC News ^ | Jan 9, 2004 | CBC News Online Staff

[AntiKev]

WASHINGTON -

President George W. Bush will announce plans next week to expand the U.S. space program by building a science base on the moon and working towards a manned mission to Mars, White House officials say.

Twelve people have walked on the lunar surface since Neil Armstrong made his famous "one giant leap for mankind" back in 1969. The last moon flight was December 1972. But officials say Bush wants a permanent station on the moon.

One official said Bush envisions preparing for a Mars expedition in 10 years.

White House spokesman Scott McClellan confirmed an announcement will take place next week, but would not reveal any details.

McClellan did say that the announcement is tied to a review of the space program that began after the Columbia space shuttle disaster last February, which killed all seven astronauts.

Some scientists say the moon is a necessary place to test equipment and techniques that would be used in a mission to Mars.

[AntiKev]

Finally, a President committed to returning to the Moon, going to Mars and beyond. Although I still say it should be up to the private sector to go back to the moon.

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[theDentist]

I wonder if he'll include Howard Dean in the announcement? After all, it's always good to have someone on the dais who seems to have been there before!

[hopespringseternal]

Pinging the usual suspects.

[hchutch]

The good news is we're getting ambitious.

The bad news is we're scrapping the shuttles - and I'd prefer to have our own form of getting to the space station as opposed to relying on the Europeans or Russians.

Time to bring back the X-30, X-33, and the Delta Clipper?

[traumer]

Will cost $$ we don't have....
Why not to send there the illegals ??

[NordP]

Your post was SO RIGHT on target, I just HAD to post it again!!!

"Finally, a President committed to returning to the Moon, going to Mars and beyond. Although I still say it should be up to the private sector to go back to the moon."

NordP

[theDentist]

The excitement is building! And can you imagine how this will effect the Tech Industry? This may be the greatest boon to our nation in 20 years!

[Poohbah]

The X-30 was simply not possible--indeed, the engine technology (scramjet) has never demonstrated net thrust. The X-33 was, to quote the cavalry, "all horses**t and no gunsmoke." LockMart grossly exaggerated how much performance improvement the linear aerospike engine would produce. As for the Delta Clipper, that was a program that never had a real constituency (it was run out of the SDIO, and government funds died with the end of the SDI program), but it was definitely the most promising of the three.

[RightWhale]

The first Mars mission will be a fly-by. Perhaps they will enter Mars orbit, perhaps not. Either way it is a vastly simpler and cheaper mission than a Mars landing. It is also appropriate: there is no urgency to land on Mars. We are a long way from a sustainable base on Mars, and we should not conduct another one-off mission to either the moon or Mars.

[AntiKev]

The first Moon missions were flyby's...if I recall correctly. Apollo 8(ish) was the first to circle the moon, and 11 landed. They will do something similar with Mars, except less missions in between, why go all that distance and do one orbit?

[boris]

"Finally, a President committed to returning to the Moon, going to Mars and beyond. Although I still say it should be up to the private sector to go back to the moon."

His daddy announced with great bravado the "Space Exploration Initiative". We started attempting to resurrect NERVA (nuclear rocket engine). Right on the line; a few of the original experts were still alive and some of the technical data still in existence. I was on that team.

Guess what? The instant Clinton was elected, the second thing he did (right after gays in the military) was to cancel SEI.

Now those remaining experts are dead and the technical data is in the great shredder in the sky.

--Boris

[RightWhale]

Even one orbit of Mars would be better than flying by--blink and miss it. A big ship of the kind that would have crew would also have serious cameras and radars, so if they could drop into orbit for 2-3 months, they could map the whole planet in super high res. They could also carry about 100 of these Beagles and Rovers and drop them all over the surface. Could be highly productive. Don't know what the follow-on might be, maybe a fully automated power station and water plant with a 500,000 gallon tank.

[boris]

You have freepmail.