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Short Sharp Science: A New Scientist blog

Congress to NASA: build powerful moon rocket ASAP

David Shiga, reporter

How soon should the US send astronauts to the moon, asteroids and Mars?

The White House wants to delay work on missions to beyond low Earth orbit - which are pricy - until after 2015, but needs congressional approval to do this. Now a senator who oversees NASA policy says that work on a powerful new rocket that would enable such missions should begin next year.

Under former president George W. Bush, NASA focused on building the Ares I rocket to send astronauts to the International Space Station after the space shuttle fleet retires. There were also plans to build a more powerful Ares V rocket to fly astronauts to the moon and beyond.

Barack Obama's White House wants to cancel both Ares rockets. Under its new plan, commercial space taxis would be used to ferry astronauts to the space station. A so-called heavy-lift rocket with similar capabilities to the Ares V would be developed to fly astronauts to asteroids and ultimately to Mars, but that costly effort would not begin until 2015.

But many members of Congress, which will have to approve the White House's new plan for it to proceed, have been sceptical of the proposed change in course. They fear that the heavy-lift rocket is being pushed too far into the future, delaying NASA's return to human space exploration.

Now it seems Congress will try to tweak the plan so that NASA starts work on that rocket much sooner. Florida senator Bill Nelson, who chairs a Senate committee that oversees NASA policy, has sent a letter to Maryland senator Barbara Mikulski, who chairs the Senate committee that sets NASA's budget, recommending that work begin on the heavy lifter in 2011.

The White House has not responded publicly to Nelson. But his letter is a reminder that if the White House seeks to shift the course of US space policy, it is going to have to make any changes acceptable to those who hold the purse strings.

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Oh, by all means, don't let record debts and deficits deter you. Spend away! After all, it's not your money.


Sometimes the cost of NOT investing and spending more than you have is higher - especially if it causes you to lose out on future economic opportunity and a share of the pie down the road. I'm not saying this is 100% the way to go - heck, I'm not even American - I'm just saying, you don't want to fall too far behind out there...



Its imperative that the human race resume the journy in to space for the survivel of the species and the world as a whole.
Once its gone there will by no more.
The abillety must be there to intercept wayward astroids and to deflect or distroy them.
Other wise the human will go the same way as the dinosaurs.
And there after it will make no difference to what ever god you pray to.


Tom, I hope you are not a supporter of Obama and are just hiding behind the deficit.
Taking away our manned space program is taking away a source of national pride. Having to ask for a ride to space is a national embarrassment. The only good thing about canceling these rockets is maybe NASA can get rid of some of the deadwood who have been resting on their laurels and get some young blood in who have the same can do spirit the engineers who gave us the Saturn and Apollo programs had.


I hope you are not an opposer to Obama and just hiding behind "national pride". Quite honestly, that's the worst excuse I've ever heard to continue with Bush's ill-thought out plan.

The cancellation of the Ares program is the right thing to do; Shifting some of the workload from NASA to the private industry will be both more effective and economical.

And while inducing debt isn't always a bad idea, spending money on flying people to the moon is a complete and utter waste.


Bushs moon program was in part a response to Chinese challenge. Articles in Xinhua News Agency and Beijing Youth Daily in 2004 were saying China had plans to land a man on the Moon by 2020. China has since switched focus to building a space station. Thus, no reason to go to the Moon for the US either.


The whole idea of scraping the moon and going to an asteroid is a mistake. Asteroids are small, transient objects. That makes them insignificant as territory or as a political tool. They do have finacial value though. The trip to an asteroid should therefore be left to the private sector.

The Government should remain focused on putting us back on the moon and establishing mining/research operations asap. We are already in need of resources from the moon afterall. Helium 3 for example, which has been farmed from the decay of spent nuclear fuel, is running low as stockpiles degrade. It is relatively abundent on the moon.


I don't think that this is a pissing contest with China, or has anything to do with national pride. We know that some day we (mankind) will need to fend for our little planet. Apophis springs to mind - which I believe has a chance of annihilating us ~26 years from now. Maybe the moon is a dead rock, but the tools required to get us there might ultimately save us all.

(PS. Thank you, NS, for letting us post comments without having to pay for the privilege!)


Now that even bigger quantities of water have been found on the Moon, it is clear that the next big thing is to build a self-sustaining permanent base on it. Take it as an insurance policy if a major disaster strikes the earth suddenly as it has happened many times before, wiping 90% of life. We need a base from which to rebuilt the human civilization.


It is totally insane that every country on Earth is trying to conquer space on its own, duplicating efforts/research and wasting unbelievable amounts of money and time. Conquest of space should be exclusively an international collaborative effort as all humankind stands to benefit from it. The costs should be divided, and the gains accordingly to everyone's financial contribution. The concept of "national pride" is part an narrow, retrograde, fascist ideology which will bring nothing good to humankind.


Just spend the $10-15 billion on the space elevator already.
Start in 2011 and it's ready by about 2018-20, assuming we survive 2012.
It'll be able to lift bigger payloads, more often (daily) at nearly no cost or risk, and to boot, well have a space station/terminal already constructed at the end of the line at La Grange.
And all before the first new rocket even lifts off.
The elevator can be built now - why continue to bother with antiquated rocketry?


The first flight to the Moon was a " top-down " decision made by a charismatic President of the USA for reasons of prestige and National Security that was understood by all except the usual merchants of doom and gloom.
The decision to end the Apollo missions was based on pragmatic realism; viz never push your luck!
Going the ISS route was the ideal " cold shower " needed to sober-up the space exploration industry, diffuse the " cold war " rhetoric and take stock. Job done.
The enforced retirement of the Shuttle, ( leaving access to LEO and the ISS solely in the hands of the Russians ), and NASA's budget restructuring designed to kick-start the nascent private sector space exploration industry, are the catalyst's for a " bottom-up " resurgence in the race for a sustainable presence on the Moon and beyond.
This time around the ( same ? ) case for the space race being funded by the US Government is having to be made by the US Senate with China being the unspoken " bogeyman " threatening to frighten the horses and goad the politicians, rather than the President, into taking action.
What goes around, comes around......


I'd suggest that the US could solve its deficit problem by spending much less on defence and more on productive activities such as uplifting the economic wellbeing of its immediate neighbours, Palistinians, Iraq and Afganistan and on heroic endevours such as a permanent manned station on the moon from which to launch to the Asteroids. It would find that it did not need such a large defence budget anyway.


For humankind us must be have permanent residence in the moon and to explore that with new tech.


Write all your experience. Do not forget to write the description of your experience. Since you are a fresh graduate, you may not have any previous experience. But that's not an excuse to have a blank CV. Try to include the small part time jobs you did in summer. You can also include voluntary jobs.

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