Main Article: NASA's Griffin says America needs to commercialize Space.
Poll Results: "ARES V - Love it or Leave it" Find out what DKOS thinks of big rockets. Scroll down for the results.
Star Trek: In the News.
Yesterday's Interesting Comments: "If you have never seen a Saturn V lifting off for the moon at night, you have never seen God. Chicken shit Nixon. The pink slips went out when we landed on the moon. Man must leave this rock or we will be toast. It is only a matter of time. Ask the thunder lizards." - gbinwc
Today's Poll: Did Griffin do a good job for America's interests in commercial space? Take today's poll.
Dr. Mike Griffin, current NASA Administrator, gave a speech on Friday:
"Risk and Rewards in Commercial Space"
He talked about the importance of space prizes and the positive role they can play in space development.
President Bush didn't fill the seat of the Office for Space Commercialization until 2006. I do not feel he was active enough. I hope Richardson, the new pick for Commerce Sec., will do better.
"the role of prizes, such as NASA’s Centennial Challenges, in spurring innovation through competition. I also want to talk about how and why NASA not only should, but must, pursue and nurture appropriate partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector when it is reasonably within the grasp of such firms to meet our needs. I believe that these issues are important, and I have been consistent in my emphasis upon them throughout my tenure as Administrator.
Prizes in general, and NASA’s Centennial Challenges in particular, are a high leverage tool to stimulate innovation. But we must realize that prizes are simply one tool in the toolbox of various procurement instruments available to the government. One size does not fit all. We must be judicious in thinking through the risk and rewards, costs and benefits of prize competitions versus other procurement vehicles such as research grants, cost-plus-award fee or firm-fixed price contracts, or Space Act Agreements. Thus, while I am an advocate for the use of the prize authority we have had at NASA since 2005, something for which I especially want to thank our Congressional authorization committees, I want us to be realistic about their utility.
For example, I think it would be fruitless for the American taxpayer to sponsor multi-billion dollar prizes for manned missions to the moon or Mars, as some have suggested. The high upfront cost and technical complexity of such missions render them unrealistic for a private concern to undertake. It’s an interesting thought experiment, but not an idea which would gain much traction in the real world, in my opinion. So, if it continues to be the policy of the United States government to establish a human presence on the moon, or carry out a voyage to Mars – and I hope it does – then we need to commit proactively to doing it. We should not establish a prize for the accomplishment, and then sit back and wait to see whether or not it is claimed. We should either care enough to make it happen, or not bother at all."
I would like to see an increase in funding for "Capability D" or COTS-D, that part associated with crewed capability.
He states that the new ARES I will be a "backup" to commercial ISS cargo resupply. I agree with that. After 50 years NASA should not be involved int he those activities commercial firms can do.
Jeff Foust over at Space Review does a good presentation on Griffin's legacy on commercial space: "Griffin’s commercialization legacy"
There is also more coverage of Alan Stern by Taylor Dinerman. There was a Great quote from the article: "Alan Stern and the nature of the space industry".
"The 2002 Walker Commission report on the future of the United States aerospace industry warned, "The failure of the education system to engage U.S. students in math and science has a cascading negative impact on U.S. technological leadership and foretells an ever-shrinking cohort of engineers, mathematicians and scientists." There are few signs that anything has improved since then. The worst effect may not be in the raw numbers of trained workers, but in the limits this situation places on the numbers of truly first-class minds who chose to engage in the business"
POLL RESULTS:
Well the opinion was both strong and broad as over whelming support for America's new heavy lift option, ARES V, won with 46%. Direct 2.0, an alterntive heavy lift option placed second with 12%.
STAR TREK: In the News.
Atari assimilates ‘Star Trek Online’ developer
" Cryptic Studios, the developer of the upcoming multiplayer game Star Trek Online, is being acquired by Infogrames Entertainment, the French parent company of Atari."
YESTERDAY'S INTERESTING COMMENTS:
A tip of the hat for G2 Geek:
"Space telescopes YES! Those specs are impressive. 3x sharper and 11x fainter than what we see with the Hubble: excellent, let's do it.
Few things are quite as inspiring as the basic knowledge that comes back from fundamental science projects.
Stupid question department: To what extent would this enable us to gather evidence of smaller planets in nearby star systems?"
I believe that within our local neighborhood we could spot rocky planets, especially if they build an independant sun shade.
TODAY'S POLL: