Daily Archives: June 18, 2017

By Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer | April 28, 2017 04:00pm ET

Credit: NASA

Kennedy's speech, which came just six weeks after cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first person to reach outer space, had a huge impact on NASA and space exploration. It jump-started the agency's Apollo program, a full-bore race to the moon that succeeded on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong's boot crunched down into the gray lunar dirt.

Kennedy, of course, isn't the only leader who had a vision for the nation's space program. Since NASA's founding in 1958, every president from Eisenhower to Obama has left his mark. Take a look at how each U.S. commander-in-chief helped shape and steer American activities in space.

Editor's note: This slideshow was updated on April 28, 2017.

Credit: NASA

However, Eisenhower didn't get too swept up the short-term goals of the space race. He valued the measured development of unmanned, scientific missions that could have big commercial or military payoffs down the road.

For example, even before Sputnik, Eisenhower had authorized a ballistic missile and scientific satellite program to be developed as part of the International Geophysical Year project of 1957-58. The United States' first successful satellite, Explorer I, blasted off Jan. 31, 1958. By 1960, the nation had launched and retrieved film from a spy satellite called Discoverer 14.

Credit: NASA

The Soviets had launched Sputnik I in 1957, and cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin had become the first person in space on April 12, 1961, just six weeks before the speech. On top of those space race defeats, the U.S. plan to topple the Soviet-backed regime of Cuban leader Fidel Castro the so-called Bay of Pigs invasion had failed miserably in April 1961.

Kennedy and his advisers figured they needed a way to beat the Soviets, to re-establish American prestige and demonstrate the country's international leadership. So they came up with an ambitious plan to land an astronaut on the moon by the end of the 1960s, which Kennedy laid out in his speech.

The Apollo program roared to life as a result, and NASA embarked on a crash mission to put a man on the moon. The agency succeeded, of course, in 1969. By the end of Apollo in 1972, the United States had spent about $25 billion on the program well over $100 billion in today's dollars.

Credit: NASA

As Senate majority leader in the late 1950s, he had helped raise the alarm regarding Sputnik, stressing that the satellite launch had intiated a race for "control of space." Later, Kennedy put Johnson, his vice president, in personal charge of the nation's space program. When Johnson became commander-in-chief after Kennedy's assassination, he continued to support the goals of the Apollo program.

However, the high costs of Johnson's Great Society programs and the Vietnam War forced the president to cut NASA's budget. To avoid ceding control of space to the Soviets (as some historians have argued), his administration proposed a treaty that would outlaw nuclear weapons in space and bar national sovereignty over celestial objects.

The result was 1967's Outer Space Treaty (OST), which forms the basis of international space law to this day. The OST has been ratified by all of the major space-faring nations, including Russia and its forerunner, the Soviet Union.

Credit: NASA.

By the late 1960s, NASA managers had begun drawing up ambitious plans to set up a manned moon base by 1980 and to send astronauts to Mars by 1983. Nixon nixed these ideas, however. In 1972, he approved the development of the space shuttle, which would be NASA's workhorse space vehicle for three decades, starting in 1981.

Also in 1972, Nixon signed off on a five-year cooperative program between NASA and the Soviet space agency. This deal resulted in 1975's Apollo-Soyuz Test Project, a joint space mission between the two superpowers.

Credit: NASA

Ford also signed off on the creation of the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) in 1976. The OSTP advises the president about how science and technology may affect domestic and international affairs.

Credit: NASA

While Carter wanted to restrict the use of space weapons, he signed a 1978 directive that stressed the importance of space systems to national survival, as well as the administration's willingness to keep developing an antisatellite capability.

The 1978 document helped establish a key plank of American space policy: the right of self-defense in space. And it helped the United States military view space as an arena in which wars could be fought, not just a place to put hardware that could coordinate and enhance actions on the ground.

Credit: NASA

Consistent with his belief in the power of the free market, Reagan wanted to increase and streamline private-sector involvement in space. He issued a policy statement to that effect in 1982. And two years later, his administration set up the Office of Commercial Space Transportation, which to this day regulates commercial launch and re-entry operations.

Reagan also believed strongly in ramping up the nation's space-defense capabilities. In 1983, he proposed the ambitious Strategic Defense Initiative (SDI), which would have used a network of missiles and lasers in space and on the ground to protect the United States against nuclear ballistic missile attacks.

Many observers at the time viewed SDI as unrealistic, famously branding the program "Star Wars" to emphasize its supposed sci-fi nature. SDI was never fully developed or deployed, though pieces of it have helped pave the way for some current missile-defense technology and strategies.

Credit: NASA

Bush had big dreams for the American space program. On July 20, 1989 the 20th anniversary of the first manned moon landing he announced a bold plan called the Space Exploration Initiative. SEI called for the construction of a space station called Freedom, an eventual permanent presence on the moon and, by 2019, a manned mission to Mars.

These ambitious goals were estimated to cost at least $500 billion over the ensuing 20 to 30 years. Many in Congress balked at the high price tag, and the initiative was never implemented.

Credit: NASA

According to the policy, the United States' chief space goals going forward were to "enhance knowledge of the Earth, the solar system and the universe through human and robotic exploration" and to "strengthen and maintain the national security of the United States."

This latter sentiment was consistent with other space policy statements from previous administrations. However, some scholars argue that the 1996 document opened the door to the development of space weapons by the United States, though the policy states that any potential "control" actions would be "consistent with treaty obligations."

Credit: NASA

Bush also dramatically shaped NASA's direction and future, laying out a new Vision for Space Exploration in 2004. The Vision was a bold plan, calling for a manned return to the moon by 2020 to help prepare for future human trips to Mars and beyond. It also instructed NASA to complete the International Space Station and retire the space shuttle fleet by 2010.

To help achieve these goals, NASA embarked upon the Constellation program, which sought to develop a new crewed spacecraft called Orion, a lunar lander named Altair and two new rockets: the Ares I for manned missions and the Ares V for cargo. But it was not to be; Bush's successor, President Barack Obama, axed Constellation in 2010.

Credit: NASA/Bill Ingalls

A year later, Obama announced his administration's space policy, which represented a radical departure from the path NASA had been on. The new policy canceled George W. Bush's Constellation program, which the Augustine Commission had found to be significantly behind schedule and over budget. (Obama did support continued development of the Orion spacecraft for use as a possible escape vehicle at the space station, however.)

In place of Constellation, Obama's policy directed NASA to focus on getting humans to an asteroid by 2025 and then on to Mars by the mid-2030s. This entails, in part, developing a new heavy-lift rocket, with design completion desired by 2015.

The new policy also seeks to jump-start commercial spaceflight capabilitites. Obama's plan relies on Russian Soyuz vehicles to ferry NASA astronauts to the space station in the short term after the space shuttles retire in 2011.

But over the long haul, Obama wants this burden shouldered by private American spaceships that have yet to be built. So Obama promised NASA an extra $6 billion over five years, which the agency would use to help companies develop these new craft.

Credit: Bill Ingalls/NASA

In March 2017, Trump and White House officials rolled out a 2018 "skinny budget" request that proposed a $19.1 billion budget for NASA, a slight decrease of 0.8 percent over 2017 funding levels. The budget request does call for the cancellation of NASA's Obama-era Asteroid Redirect Mission, as well as ending four Earth science missions, including the Deep Space Climate Observatory already in orbit. NASA's Education Office would be eliminated under that plan.

The White House is proposing an increase in spending on planetary science, $1.9 billion (up from $1.63 billion) to support NASA's 2020 Mars rover and Europa Clipper mission, but did not include funding in its proposal for a Europa landing mission.

More details on Trump's space policy plan are expected to accompany the White House's full 2018 budget request in May 2017.

In the meantime: See what the first 100 days of Trump's administration have meant for space exploration.

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Michael was a science writer for the Idaho National Laboratory and has been an intern at Wired.com, The Salinas Californian newspaper, and the SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory. He has also worked as a herpetologist and wildlife biologist. He has a Ph.D. in evolutionary biology from the University of Sydney, Australia, a bachelor's degree from the University of Arizona, and a graduate certificate in science writing from the University of California, Santa Cruz. To find out what his latest project is, you can follow Mike on Google+.

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Presidential Visions for Space Exploration: From Ike to Trump

Ever since we first looked up at the stars, weve been trying to find ways to get there. We managed to make it to the moon in the 1960s and have an established presence in orbit for the better part of the last 30 years. Weve watched the technologies change and advance and followed along every step of the way. Now, as we get closer to our goal of reaching the Red Planet, current trends in technology and engineering are transforming our old ideas about space exploration.

[Image Source: NASA]

How is space exploration changing and how could it impact our first steps into the universe? Lets have a look.

Anyone can take a telescope and point it at the sky, but it takes a skilled hand and a sharp mind to find something in all that black. Traditionally, telescopes relied on mirrors and the principles of light refraction. New technologies, however, are shaking that up, enabling astronomers to see further and more clearly than ever before.

Modern telescopes rely on spectrography, enabling bundles of squeezed light to be transmitted to the computers and analyzed.

These new advanced technologies have enabled us to make some of the most amazing discoveries of our time, like the Trappist 1 system a seven-planet system that is potentially habitable just 39 light years away from our own little blue dot. Theres no way wed have been able to see that amazing new system relying on the just light we could capture with our simple telescopes.

3D printing isnt just for toys and trinkets anymore. Here on earth, its been used for everything from creating custom replacement parts to building prosthetic limbs for amputees. It could change the way new tools and replacement parts for satellites are created. It may even have implications for the International Space Station.

In 2014, the ISS used a 3D printer to build a ratcheting wrench. According to NASA, it took less than a week to design the ratchet, have the design approved by the engineers and build the ratchet itself the last part took only four hours.

This technology could potentially change the way rockets and supply runs like SpaceXs Dragon shuttle are packed. Instead of sending up bulky replacement parts that take up space, may or may not be needed and add additional weight to the rocket, NASA or SpaceX can send up the components needed for a 3D printer.

Any tools or replacement parts that are needed, even if its something that breaks unexpectedly, can be designed and printed in a matter of hours.

Since the cost of launching these rockets is directly tied to the weight of the cargo, finding ways to reduce that weight makes it easier to reduce costs and keep the rockets flying.

Big data is a buzzword in nearly every industry, and space exploration is no exception. There is so much data coming in from multiple sources every single day that it would take a human being lifetimes to process all of it. Thats where computer processing and analysis comes in.

Computers can sort through the data in a fraction of the time that it would take a human being, finding patterns and important data points wed likely miss. Astronomers are still trying to process data that reaches as far back as the Big Bang, the beginning of the universe, and computers are the only way to do that.

NASA is already using big data to sort through the information that its been gathering from the Curiosity rover currently stationed on Mars. In the not too distant future, one of the space agencys radio telescopes is expected to bring in more than 700 terabytes of data every single second that its online. By comparison, one terabyte will hold 20 Blu-ray quality movies or 250,000 high-resolution pictures.

While we dont have enough data to start making any sort of predictions, in time, the use of big data, when paired with predictive algorithms, could allow us to make predictions about celestial events.

Technology has always shaped the world we live in. From the invention of the wheel to the fabrication of the first internal combustion engine, weve always strived to make the world adapt to us and reach beyond our world.

The advances weve made in the 50 years since we first walked on the moon might seem small were still using rockets to get us off the planet, after all but every step weve taken for space exploration will make it easier once we start leaving our planet behind and heading out into the universe.

Whenever we feel alone, we look up and out into the universe and wonder if were the only ones out there. It wont be long before we can walk there ourselves and become the space-faring species that weve dreamed of for so long.

Sources: BusinessInsider, Phys, NASA

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Here's How Current Trends Are Changing Space Exploration as We Know It - Interesting Engineering

By Larry Williams II Times Record lwilliams@swtimes.com

Robots. Artificial hearts. 3D printing of human tissue.

It may sound like science fiction, but as Dr. J.D. Polk, chief medical officer at NASA, pointed out at his keynote lecture, Journey of Exploration, during the 32nd Annual Arkansas Osteopathic Medical Association convention Saturday, these are all science fact thanks to space exploration.

Youd be surprised how much exploration has to do with medicine, said Polk to a packed lecture hall at the Arkansas College of Osteopathic Medicine (ARCOM), 7000 Chad Colley Blvd. Right now, NASA is the busiest its ever been.

Polk was referring to the planning and preparation occurring at NASA for the first manned mission to Mars. He said the United States space agency is busier now than they were during the Apollo missions of the 1960s.

The amount of technology invented (for the Apollo program) is huge, said Polk. Right now, we all think that hydrogen fuel cells for cars is a new invention. Hydrogen fuels cells are how the lunar module landed on the moon. The biggest hassle was power, at that time. We didnt have solar panels.

Along with power, the space program also needed to reduce a computer the size of a room to fit on the lunar module, which was 23 feet tall by 31 feet wide and deep. The circuit board was born, which is now present in everything from a cell phone to childs toy.

An iPhone has more computing power than the lunar module, added Polk.

He noted that the amount of technology needed to be invented for the Mars mission will far outstrip the lunar missions. On the moon, astronauts stayed for a handful of days.

A one-way trip to Mars will take approximately six months.

Mars and Earth dont stay lined up constantly, said Polk. You have to wait until the two of them are lined up before you launch. And then, because they dont stay together, youre staying on the surface of Mars for 18 months, and then its another six months back.

Polk, as chief health and medical officer, is responsible for writing up the human factors for all of the vehicles being developed for the Mars mission. Such considerations as time spent in a zero-gravity atmosphere, both on the vehicles and on the planet, and how that affects human health come into play.

Outside of the future Mars mission, Dr. Polk showed the trickle-down effect of space exploration technology into medicine. The same impeller design used by the space shuttles fuel pumps was used by a cardiothoracic surgeon in Texas on a miniature scale to keep end-stage heart failure patients alive.

A lot of things came from the space shuttle, said Polk. The space shuttle windows, because they get hit with micro-meteoroids, they get scratched constantly by small bits. If you can imagine something the size of a grain of sand hitting that glass at 17,500 miles per hour, its going to leave a mark.

Because of that, we now have scratch guard lenses for eyeglasses.

NASA has two robots who have inspired prosthetics for the physically disabled: Robonaut and Valkyrie. Because of them, Polk showed slides of current hardware for amputees that perfectly mimics human movement.

But perhaps the most astonishing technology previewed was 3D printers that produce skin grafts for burn victims. Polk said that a sample of a patients cells would be taken as the raw material for the printer, thus eliminating the chances of rejection of the new graft by the patients body.

This isnt just something thats five, ten years down the road, said Polk. This is happening now.

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Space-driven technology aids medicine, NASA doc says at Fort Smith convention - Times Record