President Bush's Space Exploration Goals

The White House released today the President's goals for space exploration. The Crew Exploration Vehicle intrigued me. I submitted two questions to NASA's Chief Scientist concerning what was different about this plan and what will the new vehicle be like. If I get a response, I will post the answers here.

The President's plan for steady human and robotic space exploration is based on the following goals:

• First, America will complete its work on the International Space Station by 2010, fulfilling our commitment to our 15 partner countries. The United States will launch a re-focused research effort on board the International Space Station to better understand and overcome the effects of human space flight on astronaut health, increasing the safety of future space missions.
• To accomplish this goal, NASA will return the Space Shuttle to flight consistent with safety concerns and the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board. The Shuttle's chief purpose over the next several years will be to help finish assembly of the Station, and the Shuttle will be retired by the end of this decade after nearly 30 years of service.
• Second, the United States will begin developing a new manned exploration vehicle to explore beyond our orbit to other worlds -- the first of its kind since the Apollo Command Module. The new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, will be developed and tested by 2008 and will conduct its first manned mission no later than 2014. The Crew Exploration Vehicle will also be capable of transporting astronauts and scientists to the International Space Station after the Shuttle is retired.
• Third, America will return to the Moon as early as 2015 and no later than 2020 and use it as a stepping stone for more ambitious missions. A series of robotic missions to the Moon, similar to the Spirit Rover that is sending remarkable images back to Earth from Mars, will explore the lunar surface beginning no later than 2008 to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, humans will conduct extended lunar missions as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods.
• The extended human presence on the Moon will enable astronauts to develop new technologies and harness the Moon's abundant resources to allow manned exploration of more challenging environments. An extended human presence on the Moon could reduce the costs of further exploration, since lunar-based spacecraft could escape the Moon's lower gravity using less energy at less cost than Earth-based vehicles. The experience and knowledge gained on the Moon will serve as a foundation for human missions beyond the Moon, beginning with Mars.
• NASA will increase the use of robotic exploration to maximize our understanding of the solar system and pave the way for more ambitious manned missions. Probes, landers, and similar unmanned vehicles will serve as trailblazers and send vast amounts of knowledge back to scientists on Earth.

Comments

[Bruce W. Cobb]

Re: Crew Exploration Vehicle(CEV)

You submitted to NASA two specific questions:first, what was different

about the CEV from prior space vehicles?;second, what was the CEV be like?

NASA failed to answer these questions with any specifcity. Instead you

received what amounted to a political speech. The news media has already

described the President's vision for space exploration. I share that vision.

But, the man didn't answer your question. I will await an answer. Bruce W.

Cobb

[Rich]

When asked about the CEV, O'Keefe couldn't even state whether the vehicle was reusable or not. It sounds like that they don't know yet.

[Adrian Reilly]

It sounds like the CEV is going to be a beefed-up version of the Apollo-like OSP option. I understand that the CEV is intended to carry at least 4 people to LEO. If it will be reusable, there would be several options:

1) Only the crew capsule would be recovered and reused.

2) Crew capsule and propulsion/service module would be recovered separately.

3) The entire vehicle would be designed as a ballistic reentry vehicle and recovered in one piece.

Other questions come to mind:

-- Will the CEV be hard-landed (like the Soyuz), or water-landed? In either case the landing/recovery footprint will be much smaller than that of the Apollo, because of major advances in GPS guidance (a water landing into KSC's Mosquito Lagoon should be a snap in good weather).

-- Will it use parachutes or a Ram-air type chute? Chute technology has also advanced to the point where precise landings are possible, as well as some serious gliding capability (ask any extreme parachute sports enthusiast, Special Ops, or air-drop specialists).