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Science

2010-07-01 12:04:00

Space shuttle recycling?

What Happens to Manned Space Exploration when the Shuttles are retired?

Answer: This is the billion-dollar question in the space industry today and there is no clear answer at this time. The current administration has indicated they would like to hand over low earth orbit flights to private companies and have NASA focus on doing research into exploring space beyond low earth orbit. Low earth orbit means flights ranging less than 1240 miles above the earth like the space station that generally hovers around 200 miles above earth’s surface. The plan would be to service the space station via private contractors or by buying seats or payload space on spacecraft operated by foreign nations like Russia for example.

Last week one of these private contractors, SpaceX, successfully launched its rocket, the Falcon 9, designed to carry cargo to the international space station within the next three years. It was a beautiful launch and an interesting concept though not NEW really. From the beginning of the space race in the U.S., private contractors have participated in the design, build, servicing and launching of spacecraft. This would be a change in terms of ownership though, these new private contractors would competitively bid to provide a service (deliver a payload) at a set price for NASA and for other countries or for private companies as well. Think of this as a taxi ride rather than buying the car. Some of these contractors will even be offering space flights to private individuals for a price, which is already done via Russian spacecraft. None of this comes cheaply of course but the thought is that this will make spaceflight a more cost competitive "business" and thus allow NASA to free up more of its budget to develop new technology and push the boundaries of space exploration beyond where we’ve already been. This potential change has stirred up some serious debate. People want proof that the craft will work and be able to deliver what they claim on budget, on time and in a safe manner. Those same concerns, however, exist with the Constellation program, which was slated to be the next NASA craft to launch. There is also concern that our nation will be without the capability of servicing the space station with our own vehicles for many years and relying on foreign spacecraft to do so makes a lot of people uncomfortable. There is also a real fear that NASA, an entity that our nation has taken great pride in and worn as a badge of honor, might fall behind other nations in their efforts to explore, discover, create and accomplish things that no other country has before us. Americans hate to be second best at anything and since our trip to the moon, space exploration has been a trophy on our mantle that we do not wish to hand over. The next few years will be very interesting as NASA remakes itself and private companies begin to play a larger role in the space transportation field. Marisa Honomichl is Vice President of Marketing and Development at the Kansas Cosmosphere and Space Center in Hutchinson. The Cosmosphere houses one of the largest collections of space artifacts in the world including the Apollo 13 space capsule. The mission of the Cosmosphere is "Honoring the Past and Inspiring the Future of Space Exploration." This is accomplished through educational programming such as space exploration camps for students in the summer. Feel free to contact the Cosmosphere for more information on their camps and programming at (800)397-0330 or visit www.cosmo.org.