NASA Chief Outlines New Nuclear, Space Plane Efforts
By Leonard David
Senior Space Writer
posted: 06:40 pm ET
24 January 2003
NASA chief, Sean O'Keefe confirmed today White House support for the space agency to accelerate work on space nuclear power and propulsion, as well as grapple with the challenges of extended long-duration human spaceflight.
O'Keefe discussed a speed up in several space research areas over NASA Television from the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. He said that President Bush's release on February 3 of the space agency's Fiscal Year 2004 budget will carry "a number of very important initiatives", central to the agency's future directions.
There are a couple of themes to be on the lookout for," O'Keefe said. First and foremost, he said, is an acceleration of work on power generation and propulsion capabilities, to be undertaken through Project Prometheus.
A second theme, O'Keefe noted, is taking on a list of daunting medical issues related to long-duration human space travel.
"We are beginning to discover what in many ways our Russian cosmonaut colleagues and the Russian Space Agency have known from their experiences in the past," O'Keefe said. The consequences of longer duration spaceflight have some "really serious consequences," he added, noting bone and muscle loss caused by long-term stints in microgravity, as well as increased radiation exposure.
Steam-power
NASA's O'Keefe said the objective of Project Prometheus is to hone technologies that allow the agency to fly to "any number of destinations" that are possible in the future. Without those technologies, NASA remains severely limited and restricted in its ability to move humans rapidly through space, as well as capture a greater science return beyond low Earth orbit, he said.
"Where we are right now…we are very much restricted by speed, power generation, and propulsion limitations. In the space exploration side of the equation, because of these kind of technical limitations, we're still in the Age of Sail," O'Keefe said.
"When we conquer those limitations, then we are aspiring to the Age of Steam," the NASA chief added.
Within range…within reach
Project Prometheus, a multi-pronged nuclear effort, includes development of a space nuclear reactor. Given the power levels attainable with that capability, NASA will attain flexibility in selecting future exploration objectives, O'Keefe said.
Moreover, space nuclear power "opens up an aperture, dramatically, in terms of the kind of space science experimentation we can pursue," O'Keefe said. "It's something that we've fantasized about in the past. It's within range. It's within reach," he said.
"That's a lot of what the Project Prometheus effort is all about. Thinking about how do we get past what has been a technical, enduring kind of limitation that we've lived with through the entire 45 years that we've been an agency," O'Keefe told his NASA employees.
Fleet of space planes
In other topics, O'Keefe touched on the Orbital Space Plane (OSP).
Over the next 18 months, a number of alternative designs and approaches are to be reviewed. That work will involve industry input, as well as NASA experts.
Beyond that 18-month period, an OSP developmental phase will include flying test hardware over a three-year period.
An initial ability of an OSP to take on crew return and transfer duties at the International Space Station is targeted for decade's end. A fully operational fleet of space planes -- the number yet to be determined -- is eyed to be up and running in the 2010 to 2012 time frame.
"We'll have a better grip on that in the next 18 months," O'Keefe said. Meanwhile, NASA is on a "vigorous schedule" to identify the appropriate upgrades and capability improvements to the existing Space Shuttle fleet, he said, better using those craft for cargo hauling and heavy-lift assignments.
Educator recruitment
O'Keefe underscored his excitement over the newly announced NASA Educator Astronaut Program.
Launched by the agency on Tuesday, more than 600 teachers have been nominated to become permanent members of the Astronaut Corps, O'Keefe noted. NASA web sites that carry information about the program have already been accessed by some 200,000 people, he said.
Reaction to the recruitment effort has been "overwhelming," O'Keefe said, clearly indicated the tremendous drawing card that is NASA. Submissions will be accepted until the end of April, beginning of May, he said.
Among an outpouring of responses, O'Keefe singled out one student's plea in nominating his teacher: "Because we all hate him and want him to leave, please take him!"
"Remember…you are nominating your teacher for a roundtrip, not one way," O'Keefe explained.