Off topic: NASA Administrator O'Keefe on Bush Space Initiative

[John Jacobus <crispy_bird@YAHOO.COM>]

I received through another mailing list and thought it

would be of interest since there was some discussion

of this program.



---------------FYI

The American Institute of Physics Bulletin of Science

Policy News Number 7: January 30, 2004



To the Moon & Mars: NASA Administrator O'Keefe on Bush

Space Initiative



Earlier this month, President George Bush outlined a

new space policy in a major address at NASA

Headquarters.  Under this plan, the space station will

be completed by 2010.  Station research will center on

the effects of space travel on human biology.  A new

space craft, the crew exploration vehicle, will

conduct its first manned mission no later than 2014,

with "extended human missions to the moon as early as

2015."  Bush also said that "our third goal is to

return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for

missions beyond."   "With the experience and knowledge

gained on the moon, we will then be ready to take the

next steps of space exploration:  human missions to

Mars and beyond," the President said.



Following this speech, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe

responded to questions about the new space policy. 

O'Keefe's remarks provide greater detail about the

Administration's intentions, and serve as a preview of

coming congressional hearings.  The following excerpts

are from this briefing; paragraphs have been combined

in the interest of space:



SCIENCE AND THE MANDATE:



"This afternoon we got a mandate. And we got support

for a set of specific objectives that very clearly

identifies exploration and discovery as the central

objective of what this agency is all about.  It has

always been so. In 45 years of this agency, certainly

that has been what an awful lot of what that mandate's

been about. But to have it emphasized specifically as

a reason in and of itself for these purposes is the

important dimension of what this policy is all about. 

It will be informed by the science, to be sure. And

there are science objectives you'll see, as we walk

through in the months ahead in the course of

discussion with our oversight committees in Congress,

in the appropriations committees and the public at

large, exactly what the aspects of this program will

be in order to carry out those science objectives . .

. .  But they're specifically driven by exploration

goals."



THE SHUTTLE AND SPACE STATION:



"But the objective will be to continue, as you heard

the president identify, the shuttle program, with the

objective of completing the International Space

Station by the end of the decade and, at the point at

which that completion occurs, to retire the shuttle at

that time.  Consistent with that, the International

Space Station will continue to operate throughout this

period and into the next decade, which is the period

beyond the scope of the president's budget."



THE BUDGET:



"Based on the budget profile projections that will be

submitted, with the horizon through fiscal year '09,

thereafter, in order to sustain this effort, the

working assumption is that it be a program that can be

sustained at an annual rate that would increase by not

more than the rate of inflation. That's projected

throughout the course of the next decade.  So as a

consequence, the primary resources that are necessary

are occurring in this period, from '05 to '09, and

then expanding as a consequence of the transformative

efforts that are involved."  O'Keefe later elaborated:

"Well, what the president defined and described was a

consequence of this effort, of looking at the overall

top line, the dollar amount. What you see in fiscal

year '05 will be equating to about $16.3 billion and

increasing at a rate of about 5 percent or a little

more for the next couple of years thereafter.  That

equates to about a 5.5 percent increase in that first

year, then progressing about 5 percent each year for

the next couple of years and then leveling at about 3

percent thereafter.  But most of the adjustment, as he

described it and discussed it or alluded to it, is a

reorientation of efforts within the existing program,

that while that is an increase, it also is a more

significant one on a net basis as a consequence of the

reorientation of various programs."





ROBOTIC AND HUMAN CAPABILITIES:



"This will involve a range of not only the kinds of

mission objectives, capabilities, development of

robotic as well as human capabilities, to be very sure

-- the crew exploration vehicle is one of the primary

assets to accomplish that -- but also to emphasize the

power generation propulsion capabilities necessary to

achieve these goals.  Development, again, is more in

the direction of robotic as well as human capability

requirements and a transition on the International

Space Station during the course of our immediate

period of the research agenda to really examine,

specifically as he [President Bush]  mentioned in his

speech this afternoon, the means by which we can

conquer the human effects that are encountered as a

consequence of long-duration space flight. And that

will become the primary, almost singular, focus of our

research agenda in the time ahead.  So we're

re-ordering -- what you'll see in the program -- the

very specific emphasis on the research on station to

emphasize life sciences, human physiology, the human

affects and consequence of long- duration space flight

and develop the means by which to mitigate those

consequences in order to facilitate the opportunity

for broader exploration objectives of longer duration.

So as a consequence, all the inter-relationship

between these factors will be built into this program

for the purpose, again, specifically of pursuing the

exploration agenda with the science to inform that set

of goals as we move ahead."



CREATION OF EXPLORATION SYSTEMS ENTERPRISE:



"So we will create an exploration systems enterprise

within the NASA framework that will, again, be on par

with space flight, space science, earth science,

biological and physical research, education and safety

and mission assurance and aeronautics."



ROLE OF PRESIDENTIAL COMMISSION:



"That said, the focus of the president's commission

will be to examine implementation strategies of this

vision.  So the charge, the mandate, the terms of

reference, if you will, of this commission is to take

this policy objective, the presidential directive, the

policy, the strategy, and the vision that's stated

therein and provide it to this commission with the

objective of them helping us to find what

implementation strategies should we be examining to

include a broader range of a variety of different

commercial alternatives, looking at international

participation, workforce challenges that we've talked

about and will continue to be encountering as a

consequence of the requirement to recruit and retain

the kind of quality workforce that's necessary.  It

will be a whole range of specific objectives that

we'll talk about and provide very specific detail on

their terms of reference.  But the question of what

should the vision be, that which has dominated the

public debate, certainly in the congressional arena as

well as a consequence of responding to the Columbia

Accident Investigation Board view that there be a

national debate and a focus on the vision, and there

be a provision of one.  This resolves the question of:

What is the vision?"



INTERNATIONAL PARTICIPATION:



"Well, last night and this morning I had the

opportunity to speak to my counterparts with the heads

of agencies, if you will, of the International Space

Station consortia, from the European Space Agency,

from Rosaviakosmos, the Russian Space Agency, the

Canadian Space Agency.  And the enthusiasm and

interest in opening up the dialogue about what the

degree of international participation could/might be

in the very near future here as we discuss this is

pretty high.  And I think the enthusiasm they 

expressed to me was, they're anxious to have an

opportunity to begin to see the detail of where we're

going with this and where there may be opportunities

to collaborate.  If any of us had any doubt about the

utility of the international cooperation and its depth

of, I think, commitment, the fact that the partnership

has hung together and continues to operate

International Space Station today as a result of all

of the partners stepping up in the wake of the shuttle

fleet grounding as we have worked through the

challenges and the tragedy of Columbia, that

demonstrates that there is lots of interest there, and

capability there, in order to perform in that manner. 

So in the time ahead, I think we'll see more and more

of different ideas of what they'll be exploring and

looking to, to look at cooperative arrangements and

partnering arrangements. And we're looking forward to

engaging in that discussion."  O'Keefe later added:

Well, I think it is very much going to be a U.S.-led

endeavor. That's our intent. And, again, much of what

we have been directed and what the president envisions

we do is to achieve this set of American, U.S.

exploration objectives.  To the extent we can do this

collaboratively, cooperatively and in partnering with

international participation, we are encouraged to do

so. And there is enthusiasm from our partners in

examining the ways that they can do that productively.

So I think we have always been and will continue to

be open to varying alternatives that our partners and

our collaborators of an international nature may

suggest. And we'll continue that way." When later

asked about the participation of India and  China,

O'Keefe replied: "Well, it poses some interesting

questions. And it certainly opens up the opportunity.

And I think the expectation that the president has, in

all of the discussions we have had leading up to this

set of decisions of what this direction is, is that we

look at this differently. We think about these

challenges in different ways.  And so there is, I

think, an opportunity to kind of open that debate. Who

knows?  I wouldn't want to speculate on this outcome

at this time, but I sure know that there isn't a

finite answer that would suggest one way or the other

at this juncture. That's kind of exciting."



###############

Richard M. Jones

Media and Government Relations Division

The American Institute of Physics

fyi@aip.org    http://www.aip.org/gov

(301) 209-3094

##END##########







=====

+++++++++++++++++++

"I have sworn upon the altar of God, eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man."

Thomas Jefferson



-- John

John Jacobus, MS

Certified Health Physicist

e-mail:  crispy_bird@yahoo.com



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