'President Obama's JFK moment' by Buzz Aldrin

I have a lot of respect for Aldrin. I have been following his ideas and talks for many years.
This is a good idea.
There are quite a few private entrpenuers that have the ideas, the know-how and abilitiies to build what is needed to get us into space.
Now they know the moon is not just for NASA or any other country's government, chances are pretty good they'll start putting those ideas into practice.
Thank you, Mr. President

Buzz Aldrin ~

Often an outspoken critic of the space program, said: "I also believe the steps we will be taking following the President's direction will best position NASA and other space agencies to send humans to Mars and other exciting destinations as quickly as possible. To do that, we will need to support many types of game-changing technologies NASA and its partners will be developing."

Stephen Hawking ~

Hawking believes that traveling into space is the only way humans will be able to survive in the long-term. "Life on Earth," Hawking has said, "is at the ever-increasing risk of being wiped out by a disaster such as sudden global warming, nuclear war, a genetically engineered virus or other dangers ... I think the human race has no future if it doesn't go into space."

Hawking argued that the world can afford 0.25% of its collective GDP to devote to space colonization. "Isn't our future worth a quarter of a percent?" he asked. The physicist also speculated on the reasons that SETI (Search for Extra-Terrestrial Intelligence) projects have not yet detected any alien civilizations, offering three possibilities: that life of any kind is very rare in the universe; that simple life forms are common, but intelligent life rare; or that intelligent life tends to quickly destroy itself.

"Personally, I favour the second possibility – that primitive life is relatively common, but that intelligent life is very rare," he said. "Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth."

im so sick of people saying "wahhh, the debt, the american debt." let's go to mars spend the money on learning something. America hasn't been debt free since 1836 so stop acting like obama spent all our money.

wow.

so this is what my astronomy teacher must have been talking about at the beginning of class tuesday. This is headlines people! pretty amazing stuff.

Imagine a world where not only do you have bullet trains that span the continent in a matter of hours as oppose to a days delays and lay-overs. imagine the change in exchange of thoughts and ideas by gapping large physical distances unobstructed by foul weather etc. we may live to see the day where we too can experience absolute weightlessness in the earths exosphere.

amazing.

When I first heard about Obama's plan to cut the Moon missions I thought it was the single most selfish thing he had done to the American people in his whole Presidency. Now I realize it was to skip the Moon and aim straight for Mars and future colonization. So now I fully support his plans. I just WISH he had said that to the American people in some sort of JFK like speech "We chose to go to the Mars and do the other thing. Not because it is easy but because it is REALLY hard..." etc

His biggest problem is not talking directly to the American people. HOLD MORE PRESS CONFERENCES!!!

I admit, I was not pleased at all when I head this originally. But, I'm willing to concede that Buzz Aldrin knows a heck of a lot more about the space program than I do, so perhaps this is a good move after all.

There's still a part of me that would like to see a return to the Moon though. There's something about it that just stirs up the idea of all that we can accomplish. Then again, going to Mars would be pretty awesome, too.

there is one HUGE gaping flaw in this plan as someone who has followed commercial space development, not a single company is anywhere near being ready for regular safe manned space missions to orbital altitudes, they havent even launched anything let alone proven it was even viable let alone safe! Mean national space programs in china are way ahead of us this isnt reported in the U.S. for some reason but china is already launched manned vehicles into space with astronauts aboard with plans for Military base on the moon.....

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2010/02/01-9

But again, where is the money that would have been used for this going? To militarize space or go to more earthly wars?

Copied-over from another comment:
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We should embark on a huge -but cheap- multi-crew, multi-vehicle mission to Mars.
Three large vehicles that are modular domiciles and workshops, all integrated into rotating artificial-gravity living and maintenance quarters. These would assemble on the surface to carousel living units spinning inside very large Yurt-like interconnected housing. Water-tank walls mute radiation.

Also, with the light gravity on Mars, it may be possible to build extremely high landing platforms and a space-elevator on Olympus Mons.

What part of "We're $12 trillion in debt" does this person not understand?

[continued]

There. THAT'S why returning to the moon would be a worthwhile effort. The moon is freakin' massive. What we did is comparable to an alien coming to Australia, walking around Melbourne for a bit, and leaving, claiming he's seen all the earth has to offer.

[continued]

14) Neighborhood watch
The orbital scopes like Hubble get all of the credit for cool deep-space discoveries, but no one's keeping an eye on our local neighborhood. That's why we're finding more and more asteroids after they've passed the Earth. The Moon provides the kind of dull, stable platform for the astronomy that no one else wants to do.

15) Greenhouses
Lunar regolith can't really grow plants by itself, but the addition of humus (not hummus), other nutrients, and careful recycling does allow for plant growth. Plants grown in Lunar soil may provide new fragrances, flavors, and vintages. Spices were one of the early high-value, low mass/volume goods that helped create the trade routes of old.

16) Metals
Vacuum-processed ultra-pure aluminum. Vacuum-processed ultra-pure titanium. Vacuum-processed ultra-pure iron. Vacuum-processed ultra-pure magnesium. You want it? We've got it.

17) Volatiles
The Sun has been burying light elements in the Lunar soil for aeons. All it takes is a little baking at about 1100 K, a little shaking to agitate the particles, and a place to liquefy the output. Cold-traps are particularly useful for this.

18) Extreme sports
Imagine bicycle races at 250 kph. Imagine regoboarding the southside of Copernicus. Imagine flying in a large underground cavern. Imagine high-jumping in 1/6th G. Or long-jumping.

19) Spaceships
Some items, like advanced electronics, will be shipped from Earth for a very long time. But things like spacecraft structural elements (and fuel) can easily be done on the Moon, obviating the need to waste the lift mass from Earth's gravity well.

20) EML-1
Having such a large neighbor so close by creates a warp in Earth's gravity well. There are certain areas of relative stability, and one lies on the line connecting the center of the Earth and Moon. Putting a station at that point (or rather in a halo orbit around it) allows for all kinds of unexpected benefits.

21) GEO assets
We have billions of dollars of orbital assets in geosynchronous orbit. It's cheaper in fuel to go from EML-1 to GEO and back, than to go just from LEO to GEO. Over time, this will allow for a huge decrease in the cost of refueling, repairing, and upgrading, as well as building larger and more capable platforms.

22) Solar power satellites
Placement of large solar arrays in GEO orbit allows for the collection and transmission of energy to fixed points on Earth, such as military bases. This will also provide a long-term source of energy, as the Sun is not expected to expire for another 4.5 billion years or so. Besides, most of the energy we use here on Earth is second or third-hand solar power anyway. Pieces of the solar power satellites, like PV cells and structural elements, can come from the Moon.

23) Free-flyer platforms
Another consequence of the warping of Earth's gravity well is that trajectories can be created that sort of wander out from EML-1, and then wander back (like the Genesis mission which went via EML-1 to SEL-1 and back). This affords materials scientists and companies the opportunity to send free-flyer platforms on long-term, jitter-free production runs. Results can be studied on the station and new production runs undertaken quickly.

24) Constant access
The entire Lunar surface is accessible 24-hours a day from EML-1 for about the same delta-V (~2.5km/s). From EML-1 most inclinations of LEO are accessible for less than 1.0 km/s (with aerobraking and time, ~3.77km/s for a direct burn). GEO is constantly accessible, as is deep space.

25) A true space-faring civilization
The Moon is the ideal location to get our feet wet, and getting there can lay the foundation for a civilization that can go beyond the Moon to Mars and the asteroids and other destinations of interest.

[continued]

"We already went to the moon!!! Why go again???"

1) Hydrogen
Whether in water form or not, we do know that there is hydrogen at the Lunar poles. This can serve a minimum of two ends: water for a base, fuel for rockets.

2) Oxygen
The heavy part of the LH/LOX fuel mix is the oxygen, about 7/8ths of the weight. Instead of launching all the fuel for cislunar maneuvering from Earth, launch 8x the hydrogen from Earth and mix it with the Lunox.

3) 1/6th gravity
This will provide engineering fun and challenges for future generations of engineers. How does one design an extensible tower for a solar mirror with 1/6th the force of gravity?

4) No weather
This goes hand-in-hand with #3. Engineering design will be significantly different in a vacuum environment with no water, wind, rain, hurricanes, or tornadoes. Corrosion takes a different form.

5) Vacuum
A critical part of many of the engineering processes used here on Earth, requiring the expenditure of large amounts of energy to create a vacuum. The Moon has about 15,000,000 square miles of it.

6) Glass
A good proportion of the Lunar soil returned by astronauts was in the form of glass. Lunar glass has the distinct characteristic of having formed in a water-free environment, making it anhydrous. What advantages this may offer in the field of optics is largely Luna Incognito. Then there's fiberglass, composites, etc.

7) Human factors
Having 1/6th of Earth's gravity, the heart doesn't have to pump as hard to supply oxygen to the brain. While for a youth this would have an atrophy-type effect, for those advanced in years it can serve a rejuvenative effect, as the heart is suddenly relatively stronger. This allows for longer productive lives for our citizens. And you can fly in a large enough space.

8) Crater history
The Moon is the best record in our local neighborhood of the history of bombardments from space. Earth is too dynamic to sustain a record, but the Moon is perfect. By establishing an impact history in size and time we can look for any cyclicality in the timing of impacts, and if so, where are we in the cycle?

Addendum: Dr. Paul Spudis has pointed out that the Moon also provides a historical record of the Solar System's journey around the galactic core as well.

9) Cold-traps
At the Lunar poles, there are places the sun never shines. These everdark craters seem to hold the bulk of the hydrogen detected at the poles. Excavations outside the craters can create additional cold-traps for later industrial use.

10) Solar mirrors
Mounted on extensible towers, mirrors can be placed in perpetual sunlight to illuminate selected areas. This requires the high-technology capability to turn the mirror. No batteries required.

11) Solar power towers
Extensible towers at the poles will allow the placement of solar cells or films in constant sunlight. It doesn't matter so much hitting the perfect peak for one's ground-based system as making the tower high enough to peek over the horizon, which on the Moon is very short.

12) Radio silence
While not a perfectly radio-silent environment, the far side of the Moon is far better than anything on Earth or even in orbit. Large arrays can allow for a leap in precision for radio astronomy and SETI.

13) Solar cathedral
A number of religions and cultures around the world still use the Lunar calendar in the conduct of their affairs. Part of this involves determining the beginning of each lunar month. Building a Solar cathedral on the Moon will allow an unprecedented degree of precision in making that determination. It's also a good way of getting different faiths to work together.

[continued]

The most recent Google X Prize is pretty much supporting Aldrin's claim that the Moon now is going to be left to the private sector. The new X Prize calls for a robot to be sent to the Moon by commercial rocket enthusiasts.

Going for Mars is the real job nowadays it seems. Hopefully, one day the government will have enough money to fund more space exploration without having to be too picky... but that day is not today.

Let's make with what we got, because their ain't much money to go around.

I guess that I am too stupid to figure our US currency. We were bankrupt in 1933. We have not been a productive nations since the declaration of bankruptcy. WWii followed by the Korean war caused us a big drain and the rebuilding of the Europe we ravaged cost a fortune through the years, we have caused the slaughter of our youth and still we have not produced anything to backup the money we are spending. It looks to me like the Government creates a debt of hundreds of billions of dollars and just wipes the slate clean and starts over. In the mean time the slate to be cleaned is showing figures of trillions of dollars. Now over the years we continue to wipe this slate clean, what will all of those nations who have been paid off with american treasury bonds and certificates think when they wake up and find out that while they have been counting their riches we have been preparing to bury them. Will we be able to convince these nations that we do not owe them any money because we have been bankrupt since 1930 and have had not produced any wealth since and if we never had any wealth we couldn't have become indebted to these other nations. Or will we manufacture tons of Balloons and fill them up with air and give them to China and Dubai and Russia and Europeans all of whom own America today and tell them we created all of that money out of Air so here you are AIR FOR AIR. But how can the government ever pay the fathers and mothers and wives for the deaths of the millions going on billions of innocent deaths.

I'm a bit confused by it since I always thought that a base on the moon was a necessary stepping stone to exploring the solar system.

But Buzz Aldrin no doubt has more experience and much more knowledge of the situation so he probably has a better grasp of it than most.

so it's about aiming higher than the moon and not retreating to our bunkers I'll buy that.

I think this is great. Americans were already on the moon and wasting billions of dollars to go there again when we can move ahead to bigger and better research and technological advancements is awesome. Other countries are doing so already, so good move to not be left behind.

Editorial Continued

Enter the new Obama administration. Before deciding what to do about national space policy, Obama set up an outside review panel of space experts, headed up by my friend Norm Augustine, former head of Lockheed Martin and a former government official. Augustine's team took testimony and presentations from many people with ideas on what way forward NASA should take (that group included me). In October, it presented its report to the President and to Dr. John Holdren, Obama's science advisor and a friend and colleague of mine. The report strongly suggested the nation move away from the troubled rocket program, called Ares 1, and both extend the life of the space station and develop commercial ways of sending astronauts and cargoes up to the station. And it suggested a better way to spend our taxpayer dollars would be not focused on the Moon race, but on something it called a "Flexible Path". Flexible in the sense that it would redirect NASA towards developing the capability of voyaging to more distant locations in space, such as rendezvous with possibly threatening asteroids, or comets, or even flying by Mars to land on its moons. Many different destinations and missions would be enabled by that approach, not just one.

But with the limited NASA budget consumed by the Moon, no funds were available for this development effort-until now. Now President Obama has signaled that new direction - what I'm calling Flexible plus, containing much of the steps called for in the Augustine report. If Congress agrees, we'll turn over all space taxi services to the private sector and aim NASA at fully using the station - extended to at least 2020 in Obama's plan-and spending a billion dollars a year in creating these new private sector spaceships. When the time comes to start building deep space transports and refueling rocket tankers, it will be the commercial industry that steps up, not another government-owned, government managed enterprise. And if we want to use the Moon as a stepping stone in the future, we'll have to join with our international partners for the effort. No more "go it alone" space projects. If you or your children or grandkids ever hope to fly into orbit, these new vehicles are their only hope for a ride to space.

There is little reason to believe that Congress would add this kind of budget boost to the Bush lunar program, since it hasn't done that for the past six years. But if we really wanted to establish new companies and create new jobs in the space business, then Obama's idea is clearly the way to go. America's space entrepreneurs have all the talent and tools they need to take advantage of the proposed Obama plan. Even our rocket pads at the Kennedy Space Center, where the same pads from which Apollo 11 was launched more than 40 years ago are still used, will get a user-friendly makeover. And NASA will do what it does best - preparing the capability to explore.
I know that change can be a scary thing. And I know the forces of the existing Constellation program are already preparing to fight the Obama plan. But I hope when the emotion subsides, my friends in Congress will see as I see the wisdom and strength that this new approach will give our nation's space program.

I'll be speaking out about the plan more in the weeks ahead. In the meantime, I ask my friends and readers to get behind Obama's new policy. Join with me and help usher in a new age of space. A space program that truly goes somewhere! With his deeds, not only words, President Obama has revitalized our struggling space program. His has been a "Profile in Courage" when it comes to space and science. And that's why I call it his JFK moment.