Six weeks ago, on February 1, 2010, the Administration of President Obama released the Fiscal Year 2011 budget request for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The request, with the support of NASA Administrator Charles F. Bolden (Maj. Gen., Ret.), calls for canceling development of the agency's next-generation space transportation system, known as Constellation, and replacing it with an increased emphasis on commercial launch providers to Low Earth Orbit along with research into heavy-lift and advanced propulsion systems and Earth science.
"We tasked an independent committee with reviewing U.S. human space flight plans and activities, with the goal of ensuring that our nation is pursuing the best trajectory in this arena - one that is safe, innovative, affordable, and sustainable," NASA and the Office of Science and Technology Policy said in a joint statement issued at the time of the public release of the Administration's budget request. "The analysis and findings provided by this review committee, which was chaired by Norm Augustine, indicated that the Constellation program is challenged by a broad spectrum of problems and fundamentally 'unexecutable'... Toward this end, President Obama has directed us to cancel the Constellation program, in favor of a new approach unfolding on five fronts." The space community has been bitterly divided since the President's announcement. Potential key players in the commercial sector have lauded the idea of opening up human Low Earth Orbit transportation to private enterprise to a degree greater than ever before. Other people, primarily among NASA's contractor and civil service base, have decried the policy proposal as being the "end of NASA's manned spaceflight program". These people worry, understandably so, about what will happen to the industrial infrastructure and jobs that have long supported NASA's manned space transportation requirements. Still others argue that, regardless of the specifics, the Administration's proposal lacks a clear vision to provide a direction forward for the agency as it seeks to once again explore beyond the confines of near-Earth orbit. Finally, elected leaders across the country are wary of drastic changes in policy and the ramifications on their respective constituencies. This concern is magnified in an election year when all 435 members of the U.S. House of Representatives and 33 United States Senators are up for re-election. Needless to say, the President's budget request was not met with unanimous support. Confusing matters more, the opposition is not united in its reasons for opposing the proposed changes to the space agency. It is under this cloud of Fear, Undertainty and Doubt, the dreaded FUD, that President Obama decided to call for a summit on April 15 to discuss his vision for the future of NASA and space exploration. The summit will be held in Florida, presumably at or near Kennedy Space Center. This is wholly appropriate as this is the only place humans have ever left the planet to walk on the surface of another celestial body. Kennedy Space Center, and the surrounding community of Brevard County, will bear the brunt of any changes in NASA's mission and will be hit hardest by the job losses resulting from the retirement of the space shuttle and Constellation's demise. In light of this, the Aerospace Research & Engineering Systems Institute, Inc. enthusiastically welcomes the President to the Space Coast for an important meeting with key stakeholders in the space program and challenges Mr. Obama to articulate a clear, detailed vision for NASA. We hope that the President will help to fill in details of his vision and offer opportunities for the world-class workforce at Kennedy Space Center to continue to play a vital role on the front lines of humanity's quest to explore the heavens. However, the space summit must offer more than symbolic statements or ambiguous promises of change. Change is already in the air and, for the Space Coast, it is synonymous with fear. The President must offer detailed ideas and concrete proposals to back them up. If nothing else, President Obama has the obligation to remove some, if not all, of the uncertainty regarding the future of NASA, regardless of what is proposed. It is better to know what's coming and to be able to plan for it, than to not know and live in fear. If the President offers meaningful proposals, ones that lay the groundwork for a bright future for NASA and Kennedy Space Center, then there will be the opportunity to grow broad-based support in the public, private sector and elected leaders. Indeed, the April summit could be President Obama's "Kennedy moment" to lay out a space program worthy of a great nation. In spite of the ambiguity and proposed cancellation of the Constellation program, the President's FY 2011 budget request includes some very positive ideas as well. ARES Institute, Inc. supports increased support for commercial launch services, who are current and potential users of the Eastern Range at Cape Canaveral along with NASA. "A greatly strengthened U.S. commercial space industry competing for this critical part of NASA's mission will harness our nation's entrepreneurial energies, create thousands of new jobs and catalyze the development of other new businesses that capitalize on affordable human access to space," says the joint statement. We couldn't agree more. We also support increasing research into heavy-lift propulsion systems, which will help a stagnant liquid-fuel propulsion industry that has seen only one large liquid-fueled rocket engine developed in over 35 years, the RS-68 used on the Delta IV launch vehicle. Increased R&D activities are vital to a vibrant domestic propulsion industry. Additionally, we also support an increased focus on advanced propulsion systems such as VASIMR, which hold the promise of bringing drastically reduced deep-space travel times and making trips to Mars, or beyond, practical. Finally, we wholly support ensuring the life of the International Space Station to at least 2020. ISS is the most complex and magnificent technological and engineering achievement in the history of Mankind. "NASA will plan (working together with its international partners) to extend the operation of the International Space Station (ISS), likely to 2020 or beyond, and to expand efforts to utilize the ISS for scientific, technological, diplomatic and educational purposes," according to NASA. The Space Station is truly the first "home" in space and is where we will learn how to live and work in the harshest of environments and gain critical knowledge for exploring beyond the safety of our home planet. ISS is making possible discoveries and inventions that have the potential to improve the daily lives for billions of people on Earth. It may even save lives by enabling the discovery of cures to some of the world's deadliest diseases such as HIV and salmonella. However, we are dismayed that these laudable proposals have to come at the expense of Constellation. Constellation provides the chance of returning people to the Moon and exploring Mars and beyond, and doing so within the lifetimes of most Americans. Moreover, it is a concrete program, with real work, construction and milestones. It's the loss of those things that brings the most fear in the space community. President Obama has an obligation to fill that void with his vision for the future of space exploration and provide detailed proposals and milestones to go with it. This should be the primary focus of the summit. If the President follows this recommendation, the reception to his proposal and budget request could become decidedly less frigid and he may find a surprisingly strong level of support. If he does not, if President Obama offers only vague words of encouragement without seeming credible, then the April summit will go down in history as another failure of the Administration and NASA both to communicate their vision and to work with the stakeholders and those most affected in order to bring it to fruition. It is for these reasons that the Aerospace Research & Engineering Systems Institute, Inc. wholeheartedly welcomes the space summit and looks forward to working with the Administration of President Obama and NASA Administration Bolden as we all seek to chart a hopeful course for the future of America's manned space program and the future of space exploration. ### The Aerospace Research & Engineering Systems Institute, Inc. (ARES) is a registered IRS tax-exempt 501(c)3 not-for-profit corporation in the state of Florida. ARES Institute engages in education and public outreach programs in support of continued space exploration and the creation of a spacefaring civilization. For more information, visit http://www.aresinstitute.org
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