John Kelly: Does NASA know what its goal is, think it's achievable?
12:01 AM, Dec 23, 2012
Linked Article:
http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20121223/COLUMNISTS0405/312230048/John-Kelly-Does-NASA-know-what-its-goal-think-s-achievable-?nclick_check=1Does anyone at NASA even know what the space agency's top goals are?
A couple weeks ago, the National Research Council reported 'there is no strong, compelling national vision for the human spaceflight program" beyond the vague concept that, someday, human beings ought to go to Mars. The nearest-term big goal outlined by the White House's official space policy is to send human explorers to an asteroid, an idea that space employees don't support.
Perhaps it's no wonder. This week, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden appeared before yet another human space flight review committee (this is the second such panel convened over the past four years). He gave a less-than-enthusiastic endorsement of Obama's targeted mission to an asteroid. He didn't say NASA ought not do it, but he loaded up on caveats and qualifiers.
Bolden stressed that the president's goal of going to an asteroid, as a way to learn lessons that might advance our capability to ultimately send people on the longer and more difficult journey to Mars, did not mean that the space agency need launch a human spacecraft to an asteroid's current location. He told the NRC panel that the only way NASA could achieve the goal of a mission to an asteroid by 2025 is if the asteroid were somehow brought closer to Earth, an idea that is getting some discussion in various space policy analysts and even some astronauts.
Keep in mind, 2025 is 13 years from now and eight years past the time when NASA is supposed to, under current space policy, be ready to launch astronauts aboard its planned Orion human exploration spacecraft using a still-in-development super rocket. While many space pundits are focusing on the idea of bringing the asteroid closer, perhaps the more alarming questions center around the space agency's progress on Orion and the Space Launch System rocket development project.
If that rocket and spacecraft, presumably being designed for missions beyond low-Earth orbit, is not likely to be capable of flying a human mission to an intermediate destination such as an asteroid by 2025, then what is the plan for the multi-billion dollar projects? Are SLS and Orion severely behind schedule? Are the rocket and spacecraft going to be flying test missions only, in Earth's orbit, for more than eight years?
Furthermore, if NASA has leadership that believes the agency incapable of flying to an asteroid 13 years from now, when is the agency going to adapt its timelines and long-term budgets?
In a time when the nation has to make hard decisions about its priorities, further uncertainty is not good. NASA leadership appearing to be "adrift" on goals and timelines is not a sign of strength.
Nervous Congressional budget leaders, already less than confident in NASA's ability to deliver what it promises for the money it's provided, are not likely to feel more supportive if the agency can't show that its staff and its top leaders know the goals, agree with the goals and feel confident they're able to achieve the goals.
Somewhere at the top of the agency, or perhaps even at the White House, someone needs to spell out what NASA is supposed to be doing and making sure that the troops know the goal.
