For the past several years, there has been a widespread feeling in the space community, difficult to articulate but nonetheless quite real, that America's space program is adrift. Following the cancellation of U.S. plans to return to the moon and the retirement of the space shuttle, and with no obviously meaningful goal ahead, there is a clear sense that our space program lacks purpose and direction.
Lately, however, there has been a renewed "buzz" in the space community around the question of whether the United States should carry out the first human flyby mission to Mars in 2021. A particularly favorable planetary alignment makes such a mission possible at that time, and then not again until the 2030s. This early opportunity to gain experience toward the goal of human exploration of Mars and the value of such a mission as an inspirational kick-start to what is widely seen as a rather moribund national civil space policy have been attractive to many. Contrariwise, the difficulty of readying the hardware required by 2021 and the many unknowns that will inevitably be faced by the crew that must fly the mission are equally daunting to many others. Nonetheless, the goal is so challengingly tempting that in February it was the subject of a special hearing convened by House Science Committee Chairman and champion U.S. Rep. Lamar Smith, R-San Antonio, "Mars Flyby 2021: The First Deep Space Mission for the Orion and Space Launch System?"
Much was said at that hearing, but a particularly insightful comment was offered by U.S. Rep. Eddie Bernice Johnson, D-Dallas, in her opening remarks. She offers her own answer to the question posed in the hearing topic: "no," because with our present development plans, this would not only be the first deep-space mission for Orion and SLS, but the first mission. More important, she then goes on to pose several questions of her own, questions that make plain what must be remedied about our nation's civil space policy: "However, I think this hearing does provide a good opportunity to again stress that we need a clear, thoughtful road map for our nation's human-exploration program. Successive NASA Authorization Acts have made clear that Congress believes that Mars is an appropriate goal for our nation's human spaceflight activities. It's time for NASA to tell us how they intend to achieve that goal. What technologies will be needed, what sequence of intermediate destinations should be pursued and why, and what are the risks that will need to be addressed?"
Exactly so. But rather than being an impediment to the mission, these are precisely the questions for which Mars Flyby 2021 can focus our nation and our space agency on that which is needed to provide the answers. And yes, we need to answer these questions and many more, but doing so starts with the decision to take the first steps. But unlike the situation in the time of Apollo, what faces us for Flyby 2021 are not questions of fundamental feasibility but rather are matters of routine engineering development, well within our capability to pursue.
A commitment to the first human mission to Mars would provide just the impetus we need as a nation to address the political and technical issues that are the present day roadblocks on our path to Mars and, later, beyond. The goal is near enough to require action rather than talk, yet far enough to be attained without undue pressure on the budget. It offers a clear and sorely needed pass-fail test of American resolve - this particular goalpost cannot move, and is not subject to political reinterpretation. The questions we have to answer to give ourselves the best chance for mission success are precisely the questions that must be answered before humans will ever walk the surface of Mars. For these reasons and more, the congresswoman's questions should be seen not as reasons to stay, but as reasons to go.
In its largest sense, the overarching purpose of U.S. civil space policy must be to make America the world's pre-eminent space-faring nation. No lesser goal is worth the effort, risk and expense of the enterprise, and no greater goal is needed. We cannot and must not try to "go it alone"; great nations must embrace alliances and partnerships. But our nation should settle for nothing less than partnering from the front as humankind undertakes to explore and develop what President John F. Kennedy first called "this new ocean."
It is absolutely true that we need "a clear, thoughtful road map for our nation's human exploration program." No single mission or destination can provide that road map or can fully embody our space policy or the strategy by which it is carried out. But such a mission can be on that road; it can exemplify that strategy and policy, it can be a goal that "will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills," as Kennedy said of the lunar goal in 1962.
Mars Flyby 2021 could fill exactly this role on our way to the space frontier. And realistically, we will spend just about as much money at NASA if we are bold as we will if we remain timid. So, let's use that money to be bold - again.
SOURCE: Houston Chronicle
