Political Action for Space

Save the James Webb Space Telescope

2011-07-11T11:51:00.000-07:00

Congress is trying to kill the James Webb Space Telescope. Tell your house representative not to!

This is what I sent to my representative, Dennis Kucinich

"Dennis:

I like next to xxx on yyy drive and I work at NASA as a subcontractor to zzz. I have 3 small children and I have been deeply inspired by the Hubble telescope. The James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's successor, is up for vote to be canceled on Wednesday. While this program is behind schedule and over budget, I implore you to redouble our commitment to making this telescope a reality. It must not be canceled because the marginal return on the discoveries of the Hubble has decreased drastically since the time when it gave us the first ever views of the universe at the level of detail that it can provide.

The JWST is in an entirely different class of telescope. The progress that has been made to date is substantial.

With the Keppler mission discovering new planets around other stars all time time (the count is up past 550 extra-solar planets), we NEED the JWST to image these planets and their solar systems.

For the good of my toddlers, vote to support this instrument so that they too can be inspired by an America that is on the forefront of discovery and inspiring all of us to dream big and reach for the stars!"

NASA 2011 Budget

2010-02-02T19:30:00.000-08:00

I come out of writing hibernation to post on a vital topic to our nations future at a vital moment in time:

On Obama's change in NASA's direction:

First let me say that I am genuinely concerned for my buddies working the Constellation program. I pray for them that their families and their careers may be provided for. I'm really glad that Obama asks for $2.5 Billion in Constellation closeout costs, because I hope that that keeps paying for my friend's kid's baby food. I have already felt the same way for my friend's valiantly supporting the shuttle throughout it's glorious ULF5(7?) end. It's like knowingly marching towards a cliff because you believe in what you are doing.

Secondly, I must say that policy wise, I like Obama's 2011. Here is why:

With regard to the constellation program, here is what is wrong with it, which feelings I have held long before Monday's Moon shattering revelations:

The Orion crew size recently dropped to 4 from 6. 4 is a very small number. That's 1 more than the 40 year old Russian Soyuz. That's 2 less than the space stations current crew compliment. That's less than the fingers that I have on one hand. Its. too. small.

After George Bush axed the ISS lifeboat, Centrifuge Accommodation Module, and habitation module, Mr Bush got us all spun up about the Constellation thing: (Blast you for fueling our dreams with speeches and not cash!)

"Our second goal is to develop and test a new spacecraft, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, by 2008, and to conduct the first manned mission no later than 2014."

CEV has not been funded and is not on track to meet those deadlines. Also, Ares 1, the rocket to take it to space, wouldn't be ready by then anyway. And a crew of 4!!!

"Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020, as the launching point for missions beyond. Beginning no later than 2008, we will send a series of robotic missions to the lunar surface to research and prepare for future human exploration. Using the Crew Exploration Vehicle, we will undertake extended human missions to the moon as early as 2015, with the goal of living and working there for increasingly extended periods. Eugene Cernan, who is with us today -- the last man to set foot on the lunar surface -- said this as he left: "We leave as we came, and God willing as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind." America will make those words come true. (Applause.)"

Roboti-who? Twenty Fift-when!?! Please folks, hold your applause, really.

"NASA's current five-year budget is $86 billion. Most of the funding we need for the new endeavors will come from reallocating $11 billion within that budget. We need some new resources, however. I will call upon Congress to increase NASA's budget by roughly a billion dollars, spread out over the next five years. This increase, along with refocusing of our space agency, is a solid beginning to meet the challenges and the goals we set today. It's only a beginning. Future funding decisions will be guided by the progress we make in achieving our goals."

Two words. Not. True.

If that wasn't enough, NASA picked reliable low performance non space regenerative hypergolic fuel for the thrusters of the Orion capsule, rather than methane, which was in the original planes, which can be harvested from Mars, volatile rich regions of the lunar poles, or anywhere else in the solar system where there is ice. Or an ECLSS by-product. Lame disappointment.

Ares 1 was really behind schedule.

The Lunar Lander contract was not funded. Ares 5 was not funded. And it was January 2010. Come on! The RFI for the Altair Conceptual Design Contract came out a long time ago!

Europe, Russia, Japan, and China were completely out of the Constellation picture. That's not cool. And that's not economically viable. And international partnerships are probably the deciding factor for why the space station has survived to maturity.

Those were probably my biggest misgivings about the current program. When you read the awesome fanfare and plans with which the program was announced, it's easy to see why so many people love it, but the Constellation program, as pointed out by our Augustine graybeards, wasn't living up to the hype, and needed even more cash than Obama is giving the agency to get going.

With regard to the new program, It really is pouring in a lot of money into developing new capabilities. Whatever Obama's 8 year successor dreams up (moon, mars?), he will have a beefier toolbox to make his plans with. If Obama gets a advanced interplanetary propulsion (VASIMIR) and a matured heavy launcher and multiple commercial providers for crew to Low Earth Orbit by the end of his presidency... that would be so enabling-ly awesome.

Any multi-billionaire person or government could throw some seriously cool hardware to all of the places in the inner solar system that they wanted to go. So long as that person was buddy with the US government and Obama follows through with that export control reform.

The program of record would not do that.

So I'm excited about the new direction.

And by the way, for the first time since George Bush Senior, NASA's budget will see year over year increase. Clinton reduced the budget 7 out of his 8 years. George W funded NASA at lower levels than he himself established in the VSE in 2005. It's like getting a mortgage on your house that costs $2000 a month because your boss says that you are getting a raise, and then he doesn't give it to you, so you are stuck with your income of $1900. What happens to a space program in that situation? Crappy design. Behind schedule. COMPROMISE!

Rock on Obama's 2011 NASA Budget! May you live forever (Or at least through the Congressional process, which is run by a bunch of vote hungry short sighted sensationalists!)

I am more excited about a career with opportunity for lots of cool developmental projects in 2020 using cutting edge technology than to find myself trying to pick up the pieces of all those NASA folks who are retiring as they leave me with a program that still hasn't landed on the moon, is under capability, and hasn't broken any new ground beside the schedule.

Now, go! Tell your representatives what you think! Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen to tell them to say "Heck yes," to the NASA part of Obama's 2011 budget. Don't let the crazies get in it's way!

2010-01-10T21:43:00.001-08:00

Getting Set up with ping.fm

Huntsville

2009-10-25T00:30:00.001-07:00

I'm sitting in front of a rusty gate closed by a chain and padlock. Birds are chirping behind me and I hear crickets in the woods on both sides. I feel a peaceful serenity and solitude at the end of this torn up road. In the distance in front of me, beyond the gate and a row of low trees rise two towers of steel webbed girders, adorned with propellant and oxidizer tanks and cranes that look as if they have been caught in a spider's web waiting to be consumed and sucked dry. I can not see the base of the towers; they are obstructed by different kinds of trees. A low pitched whirr is coming from the base of the towers, perhaps some sort of refrigeration system? A wren calls out. The road that I am on, at the southern end of Redstone Arsenal and the Marshal Spaceflight center, is cracked and the asphalt litters the road in spots with pebbles. A wasp just performed a flyby of my computer screen. Perhaps he wonders why someone has come here to sit on the hood of his car and type into his computer. The wildlife gets louder. Perhaps they are more comfortable now that I have been here for a while. I wonder how the wildlife reacted when the mammoth F-1 engines were tested at this test stand in the 1960s.
This morning, my manager told me that the engineers had not considered the magnitude of the acoustic shock from the engine, and with no suppressing countermeasures, windows for miles around were broken out by the shockwave. That was the first time the engineers working on that engine had operated something so powerful. Perhaps only weaker than the atom bomb, but the F-1 engines sustained continuous explosion, while a nuclear bomb is over in an instantaneous flash.

I hear a clang. The whirring stops. When the airplane overhead moves on, I expect to hear no man made sounds at all. Only the birds and crickets inhabit this place, along with the inanimate man made objects.

Two walkers approach me from behind, and give me a nod. They reach the gate, turn around, and return back down the winding wooded avenue.

30 minutes ago I stood in front of the Jupiter C, Redstone, Saturn 1, Hermes, and V2 rockets lined up in a row about a mile north of where I sit. The Jupiter was riveted together, like a vintage airplane with round rivets that protruded from the metal, unlike modern airplanes where the rivets are flush. It looked like something that was put together a long time ago. These rockets weren’t that big, either. I looked up at the Redstone rocket, which carried Allan Sheppard into his suborbital flight so long ago. I could be on top of that, I thought. It's not even that tall. I did a full walk around the Jupiter C. The V2 Stood next to the Hermes. It's comical bulbous pointy shape pointed to the sky. "I aim for the stars" was the name of the movie made about Von Braun. "But sometimes I hit London," a satirist suggested as an addendum to the title. That V2. Here in Alabama. Far from Penuumbre where it was conceived and manufactured. It came to these woods in Alabama with the designers to show the hunters how to begin the ascendance above the atmosphere. This same machine above me at the time served as a beacon along the trail to the stars, whereas if it had been picked before one of the other V2 rockets in the final days of World War Two at Penuumbre it could have been one of the rockets that killed 168 people at Woolworths in New Cross, London. Its brother V2, which actually struck Woolworths, could be the one standing erect at the Redstone arsenal in 2009. Would it feel survivor’s guilt like the Apollo moon walker Eugene Cernan felt guilt for not being shot at in fighter planes over Vietnam because her was flying in space missions to the moon?

The V2 rocket and Von Braun both came here to Alabama to shake their dark past of fatal slave labor from Jews and merciless arbitrary killing against the people of London. They came to Alabama, with no pretentions about their past, but a dogged determination to make good with the evil gift that had been a mainstay of Nazi desperation in the waning days of World War Two. Still, here at the Redstone armory, both Von Braun and V2 were saddled side by side with the development of the nuclear-carrying ICBM missiles. Hitler had pushed rockets for war in the 1940s, and in the 1960s, Von Braun was not free from the clutches of a country that used every advance in space exploration to further the military technology of missiles.

I pondered on the simple calculations that I had done the night before as I took my propulsion midterm exam. Those formulas that I employed to answer the arbitrary questions, did the engineers who built this hardware really know them much better than I did when they were grappling with the Redstone rocket design? I saw the smooth tubular shell of the rockets. "How complicated is it in there?" I wondered. As I looked carefully, I saw a bird pecking about inside the rocket inside the mesh. That bird was more familiar with the inner workings of the rocket than I was. When I draw my sketches on paper for a homework problem, they are so simple. I know that there are mysteries that the engineers had to discover and uncover as they built these rockets. The unseen intricacies underneath the white painted skin are what has become ingrained in these Alabama hunters. It's that mystery that has been frozen into these steel webbed towers that rise before me. They wait for us to build again.

I hear a rocket firing to my left. It is still going. Is it an engine? It sounds throttled back. The birds complain, breaking out into shrieks. I still hear the sound. It sounds like metal being dragged across the floor. It sounds like a waterfall.

The rocket is throttled up again. It sounds like sparks flying. It sounds like standing under a shower head, echoed through the hilly wooded countryside. I can’t imagine anything other than a rocket test that could make that noise. Now I hear crows in front of me beyond the trees beginning to caw. Perhaps they have had enough. Or maybe they are going to go and see what I can only imagine as I sit here.

These test stands wait here. They stand ready for America to build new engines, to try new technologies never before built by man. These towers are sleeping giants ready to roar to life with the birth of the engineering artifacts that will carry other men’s dreams, other men’s fears, and other men’s pride forward and upward through the atmosphere to unknown worlds and lands..

Men like Von Braun, who walked this very road countless times from the time that the government brought him here to this army base in 1960 with a mandate to put America on the Moon. Some of the Alabama country folk stopped hunting deer in the forests to start building rockets. They never stopped hunting deer, they just moved to other forests. One of the first things that I heard here in Alabama was when I got my security clearance at the Arsenal entrance: A group of locals were standing outside the security post and one said: “When I was gutting a deer this weekend…” in a deep southern drawl. I smiled as I headed to the rental car. These Alabamans didn’t put down their guns when they picked up their tools to construct this oddity in the universe; this portal to change. Where hunters ascend to Knowers. Doers. Makers. Be-ers.

I sit here, surrounded by birds, the very creatures that moved Wilbur and Orville off the sands of the beach in Kitty Hawk. An airplane flies above me now, a creature of man’s making that further moved men to build spaceships and rockets. I sit in front of the towers with their mechanical whirr (it started up again). The towers are creatures that are moving me to some future transcendence. What is it? I can envision interplanetary voyages, as the Wright brothers and Da Vinci envisioned flight when seeing the birds; as Goddard, Oberth, and Braunn envisioned space travel after seeing the airplanes. I see the current day spaceships, the test stands before me right now... I envision permanent settlement on the Moon and Mars. I envision simplified reliable rockets bringing up satellites, experiments, people, and energy into space. I envision a people who identify themselves not with their country, but with their planet and solar system. I envision knowledge spread among the people.

The walkers return again. The same walkers, dressed in sweatshirts and jeans. How many times do they make this trip? I asked them what the noise was earlier. They didn’t even notice. They told me, in their Alabama accents, about how different parts of the arsenal were used to test army missiles and NASA motors. They didn’t notice the sounds. It is such a regular occurrence to them that it only enters their subconsciousness. Those sounds are as natural to them as the birds and crickets.

I set the laptop down and walk down a small street that comes off the dead end where I sit toward the sound that I heard earlier. Perhaps I will catch a glimpse of the source of the noise. Writing on the back of a receipt that I find in my pocket, I make note of these things: The street is covered with dead tree bits. I pass a white blockhouse with a silent diesel generator installed on the side. The blockhouse can’t be larger than 15 feet by 8 feet. Next to it stands a rusty radio tower, consumed with vines. The old-school antennas atop the tower point toward the source of the sound. In big blue letters 4692 is written on the side of the building. A little further down the road, I meet another rusted gate, this one marked with a small white sign with C-12 painted on it, the paint mostly washed away by years, rain and sun. The padlock is rusted, the barbed wire atop the gate is rusted. An old metal mailbox bolted to the gate has been bent to the point that it no longer closes. I see through the open top that the bottom has been rusted out. What type of letters were delivered here, next to the sign that reads "DANGER: Explosives Keep Away." Perhaps the neighbors dropped off letters asking the workers to keep down the noise. Perhaps the wives of the engineers dropped off lunch in the little box? The gate itself has had vines growing from one side all the way to the other, only to die years ago. The dead vines now cross through the gate, past the padlock, as if to confirm the prohibition of access and the permanency of closure. The road continues past the gate in a straight line, ending in trees far away. Dead branches from the encroaching forest lay in the path, not even causing enough of a nuisance to warrant removal.

When I return to the car, a different walker passes by. He wears mesh shorts and is listening to headphones. He walks decidedly to the gate and taps the little white "C-18" sign as a token of reaching the end of his lap. And this is the end of my lap.

This is Huntsville. This is the Redstone Arsenal. This is the Marshal Spaceflight Center.

For me it is, anyway.

As I ready to leave, I hear once again the sound of rushing water, sparks, a metal plate being drug along the ground, or whatever it is.

I guess this place isn’t sleeping after all.

Now is the Fork in the Road for the President and Committee

2009-08-14T19:38:00.001-07:00

The Augustine commission is wrapping up. A great summary of one of their last public meetings can be found here.

I think that this panel has their heads on straight: commercial space needs to be putting people in LEO, not NASA,

NASA doesn't have enough money to do explore anywhere anytime soon

Mars is the ultimate goal

Prizes for companies that accomplish milestones in space are a good thing to do...

Yeah, I think that those are the general points.

Tell the committee what options you think that they should recommend to the president.

Tell the president what options you think he should choose. I have.

Awesome Day

2009-07-17T20:48:00.000-07:00

Today was pretty awesome.

At 9:15, I went to the 5th floor of my building for a presentation by the crew of the Hubble Space Telescope Space Shuttle mission. People were shy, so the seat right in from of the 7 astronauts was wide open. I sat as they thanked the Boeing company for what we do, and watched a video presentation that Greg Johnson, the pilot, had created about the mission. None of the other astronauts had seen it yet, either, except for the Greg.

The video was amazing. They did a bazillion spacewalks and swapped out the fridge sized telescope instruments that analyzed the stars in different ways. They put on new thermal insulation, the ripped of a handrail that was in the way of getting at the instruments, they swapped out the gyroscopes that let the Hubble point at stars when it is focused way in, and they did open heart surgery on some of the computers, removing dozens of screws at a time, pulling out circuit cards, and putting in new ones.

The most amazing part of the presentation was not the video, but something that all of the crew members did during the video, and I was front row to see it:

Scott Altman, the commander, was explaining how after they had completed their work on Hubble, they released it from the robotic arm. After that, he said something like: "I gave 10 short bursts on the thrusters after we released the Hubble. Even though we weren't moving and it was, it seemed to pass right over us. Because it was so large, it was an imposing sight." Now, that doesn't sound so impressive as the other things that they did, but as the crew watched that part of the video (on the monitor behind me and in front of them) as it showed the massive, amazing Hubble pass over the top of the orbiter.

As I looked at the faces of the crew, all of their eyes were wide. They remembered the awesomeness of that moment, and I had a front row seat to the first time that they had seen it on film since being there. One bit her lip. They all sat almost taught as they relived that moment, and I had a candid peak into an unplanned non-verbal communication from the crew: They were awestruck, even though we in the crowd were less affected. How could we have been? We were sitting on our duffs watching a video. They were remembering the experience that they had lived.

So, Astronauts think that their job is cool. It's not like they practice it so much that it becomes wrote. It is even more amazing to them than it is to all us fanboys because they actually know how awesome it is in a way that words, movies, press conferences, and pictures will never convey.

After the presentation, I asked Scott about the rescue mission that would have happened if their shuttle had been damaged from falling foam. He told me that they had two boxes of power bars that they could have survived on for almost a month while they waited for the rescue shuttle to arrive. They would all have to suit up and climb along a rope strung between the two orbiters and he didn't have a space suit his size on his shuttle: the rescuers would have to bring one for him.

They finished the questions and I asked Drew Fuestel about the merits of a masters vs a PhD program in Planetary Science. He said that masters degrees were the baseline, and people with PhDs were differentiated. I asked him because he is a geophysicist, which is what I want to study at CalTech come 2011 and the completion of my USC masters program in astronautical engineering.

I left that event and drove to the mission control building, where Duane Ross, head of Astronaut selection and training, was speaking to a pretty small group of mission control employed astronaut wannabes about the selection and training of the astronaut class of 2005. That was cool. This was the guy who pics and trains the astronauts. One of the people that was in that astronaut class was Jose Hernandez. The reason that I recognized him in the pictures of his field geology and survival training pictures is because yesterday, when I was in building 4 giving some presentations to my bosses bosses NASA counterpart, I was waiting for the elevator next to this man. Someone walked by and congratulated him on the successful launch of the shuttle on Wednesday, because that meant that he was going to go up soon. I figured that he must be an astronaut as we rode up the elevator together. (I told him that I was going to the 4th floor, and he was kind enough to push the button for me.) That night, I looked him up, and he has a pretty amazing story. So it was cool to come full circle so fast and hear about his selection and training a day later. I asked Duane Ross a couple of questions, as well, like: "Is it more important to develop specialty skills, like experience with hydrology, or get familiar with the more standard things that everyone has to be familiar with, like getting scuba certified?" He said that there were 14 people on the selection board and that there were 14 opinions. That very type of question was asked, he said, and there was no consensus. He said that the most overriding factor was the answer to the following question: Would I want to fly a mission with this guy?

When his presentation was over, I went up to him and discussed the education thing a little bit more, and then went back to the Boeing building. When I got back to my desk, Drew Fuestel was in the row of cubicles right next to mine. He was at my desk in a few minutes and I had the Boeing photographer, who was following him around, take a picture of us with the massive-lensed camera she was carrying around. That should be a good looking picture. (All of the astronauts were in their blue flight suits, which is cool.)

So he left and I got back to work. My job rocks.

Needless to say, after writing this post, I feel a little bit more motivated to slog through the math class that I am doing for USC tonight. 3 credits in 6 weeks. Ouch.

Wiki Design: from Toasters to Spaceships

2009-06-20T21:33:00.001-07:00

Participatory Exploration. Frednet. Lunar Boom Town. Open Luna.

These all deal with the concept that we are trying to take the brainpower of the interested public and use it to solve the technical, political, and business problems that confront our efforts to expand into space. I conceived of a tool that can facilitate this.

Look at Wikipedia. According to last year's annual report (check it out in your spare time, Nick,) there were "approximately 100,000 active editors (defined as users who made more than 5 changes in the last month)." 100,000! That's a huge number of people!

With the 11 million articles on Wikipedia, you can be sure that many of these editors are fueled to participate in a wide range of articles by the synergistic combination of articles that they can work on. In other words, editing in Wikipedia gets "sticky" (Check the definitions at the bottom)

So here is the point. Crowd Sourcing is good. Better Crowd Sourcing is better. Better Crowd Sourcing can be had by implementing a dedicated web based methodical structure that fosters and requires attention to the essential questions of systems design.

So I am hatching this idea for something that could be a Wikimedia project, specifically for designing things. It would work a bit like this:

You come to the wiki design sight and tell it that you want to start a new design. It asks you some basic questions like what your primary objective of need is, what kind of system it is (Vehicle, building, processing machine, etc.), Does it require data processing, etc.

The site shepherds your thoughts into a rudimentary top level systems architecture framework by asking you questions like: what does it do? And how might it do that?

It gives you some templates for functional and physical breakdowns, templates with high level headings for a system specification document, and you, the user get as detailed or a vague as you want at this point.

So then your site is live and anyone can come in and populate the content, like with Wikipedia, but unlike Wikipedia, some powerful organizing tools and templates are integrated with the content.

Some of the possible features:

Integrated 3D modeling web app that helps with part numbers and hierarchy of parts
Expired patent and journal search that lets you link relevant patents to functions or subfunctions
Discussion and voting tied to specific elements of the system definition.
Commenting on parts of the system definition (Saying things like: "This design is horrible. If it were 3 inches long it would have way more strength and only add a small amount of length")
Chat with other members of the project
robust and targeted permissions to set "baseline" requirements, functions, components, interfaces, etc
Automated quality check that alert users to possible functional overlaps, shortfalls, etc.
Autocheck to make sure that users don't give functions titles that are nouns or verbs as titles to items.
Freedom of Information Act Request facilitation.
Reuse of components, functions, etc from other projects. (Got an idea for something with wheels? Pick from a myriad of projects in which the wheel was defined already!)

The idea is that most people don't know beans about systems engineering, requirements, or interfaces. Design by committee, forum posting, voting, or by blind feel with no knowledge or application of systems engineering is not an effective method of harnessing the domain knowledge that many people do have.

So who is with me? Let's storm the Wikimedia foundation and get them to put this thing online so that we can go about the business of designing space vehicles in style!

A Penny for Your Thoughts, Really, Just a Penny

2009-06-19T00:11:00.001-07:00

So I am mentoring this team of interns who are at Boeing for the summer. Their task is to come up with some sweet ideas and see who has the best one.

Straightforward, right?

Well, the space business has had a way of attracting dreamers for over 50 years, and dreamers have a way of coming up with ideas, and so in 2009 it is a little hard to come up with an idea that hasn't already been thought of.

Ask yourself: What was wrong with all the space ideas that people have thought of up until now? Weren't they any good? Why don't we just go work on those, rather than keep coming up with ideas that we think we are the first ones to have thought of (Until we do a little bit of research and find out that it was someone's thesis in 1974.)

So when I asked the interns to start thinking of ideas, I told them that what they really needed to do was think of an idea that would work. An idea that Mother Boeing could plunk down some cash and go do on a reasonable time frame. That's where the real genius could come in on their part.

Hint: The way to go up and down is a gumdrop shaped capsule on top of a rocket with some rubber stuff on the bottom to take the heat when it reenters.

Once upon a time, there was a guy who thought about sending humans to Mars for the first time. I don't know what his name is. I bet that no one does. It's a thought that many people will inevitably have when they look at the sky with a knowledge that there is a place out there called Mars. Was the person who thought of it first a genius? or was he just paying attention.

So the real value doesn't come in until the idea is thunk, in a do-able way, and then it is done. That's where the lasting value is.

You want to send humans to Mars? To the stars? You can't think them there! Get a degree or job in the space business and make it happen! lobby congress, throw down some cash for stock in an aerospace company and vote for board members who will do the best.

Ladies and gentlemen, people tried to fly for a really long time. Da Vinci had the helicopter and hang glider pretty much nailed down a long time ago. A lot of people failed to implement in the interim. We are languishing in the awkward phase of our technology where we have all these great ideas for expanding permanently beyond low earth orbit but we haven't put it all together just right yet.

I suppose that the purpose of this post is to get people thinking differently about how and what it will take to get humans out doing more of the things in space that we all want humans to do (colonize, mine, explore, learn, etc). What is going to help us cross the threshold is thinking of the standard ideas in new ways. It's like you have to know the rules to break them, right? Well, the rules are the ideas that come to our heads naturally when we look up at the stars and imagine how we go there. The ways to break the rules are thinking about politics, human nature, economics, business, and how the laws of these areas can be bent, avoided, or harnessed to enable progress.

Be the change you want to see in the world. The best way to predict the future is to create it.

So for the interns that I am working with, you are coming from a fresh place, hopefully. Take what new things you bring to the table and think of something different, or think of the same thing in a different way. You are approaching the same brick wall that countless brilliant people before you have hit their heads against. Wilbur and Orville weren't necessarily much smarter than Da Vinci, they just thought about things in a different way and pulled together a few technologies that Da Vinci didn't have to succeed in implementing the standard dream of so many who wanted to fly.

Constant of Change

2009-06-15T21:38:00.000-07:00

So I'm going to try something new.

I just finished reading Project Orion, by George Dyson, and it has me feeling all political-e. If you havent seen it, I recommend the TED talk by George Dyson to get you started

Project Orion was an amazing and controversial plan to propel spaceships by nuclear bombs. I know, I know, you are thinking of a bunch of ways that that wouldn't work. Well, you are wrong. It would work, and it was studied to death by a bunch of people a whole lot smarter than you and I for a decade in the 50s and 60s and the conclusion is that yep, it would work. And it wouldn't be that expensive.

Because of politics, the effort was killed. That kind of makes sense too, right? Image the political ramifications of blasting spaceships around with nuclear bombs.

Anyway, I felt all sad but motivated when I was done to change the world in a positive way my making the political climate more conducive to space exploration. I'll spare you the details of my whole thought process, but the end result is the following:

I'm going to try to integrate my life, ambitions, and ideas into a more holistic effort. For those of you who don't know me, which is pretty much everyone reading this blog, I like thinking up move script ideas, and although you might doubt it, I actually think that I have some talent with it.

Did you know that Elon Musk produced a movie?

Arther C Clark, after thinking up geosynchronous orbits and some cool GPS applications in the 40s and 50s, made stories and movies

So there go two heroes of mine who have been great visionaries in multiple areas dealing with the advancement of spaceflight in our culture. If they can use their passions to bring compelling stories to the public, why shouldn't I? I think I'll write some scripts over the next few decades for some cool movies that convey compelling messaged wrapped up in a universe where America and Humans are explorers in space.

Business: So I got this minor in Management from BYU. Call me overconfident, but I think that I have a good head for business and fantasize, like a lot of you, about running some company some day that builds spaceships. We will see where my contacts and duties at Boeing take me over time. Way down the road, maybe I can do like Franklin Chang-Diaz and start a cool company based off of an idea, or maybe I can make like Brewster Shaw and run the space exploration division of a huge aerospace firm. Or Maybe I can make like Robert Curbeam and manage a division of a space contractor company.

Space: I'm going to lay it on the line. I'm an astronaut wanna-be. I just finished a Masters Certificate in Space Systems Engineering from Stevens Institute of Technology, and I'm enrolled in an online masters Degree from University of Southern California in Astronautical Engineering. I'm planning on doing another Masters degree or PhD in Planetary Science from either UCLA or Caltech in January 2011 in Los Angeles, and after that I'm coming home to Houston to sink my freshly sharpened teeth into whatever manned spaceflight programs are happening here. Maybe I'll top off my educational pursuits with a degree in space architecture from University of Houston or an Texas MBA at Houston.

Sometime in there, I'm going to start applying for the astronaut program.

Up till then, I need to run in the mornings, do marathons and triathlons, get scuba certified, probably fix up a Volkswagen minibus, and other things that amazing astronauts seem to always be doing.

My daughter Lucy is 2, and my son is 7 months. I am going to spend tons of time with them and have more kids with my awesome wife.

Church, God, and spirituality is a big part of my life and it is going take up a lot of my time.

And I'm going to start double posting at opennasa.com and mamieandjohn.com
I can have my cake and eat it to, when it comes to which blog should I put my post at. Not all of my posts, of course, but why should I limit myself?

So the point of all this is just to say that I'm going to try and use www.actionforspace.com as a place to integrate a lot of the digital fragments of my life journey. Maybe just living my life passionately and openly can motivate people to be more proactive and positive about the space exploration. Look for sidebars and links to change to be a little more personal.

Just Before Sleep Inspration

2009-04-16T22:13:00.000-07:00

So I'm laying in bed about to fall asleep, when this bizarre thought pops into me head: Scanning passes at low resolution and high sensitivity for space remote sensing or ground based observatories should provide necessary data to generate high resolution imagery.

Yeah, I know. Who thinks up these things right before they fall asleep. Let me share the details with you all. Because I'm sure that's why you come to OpenNASA.com anyway...

Ponder on this image of MOLA instrument altitude profiles of MARS as you read.

Overlay linear paths of intensity that criss cross the target. Match up the "altitudes" of the topographic profiles of flux intensity. To make an analogy, If you were fixed at a certain spot above the ground and you scanned many straight lines across the ground, you should be able to dump all those altitude profiles into a computer which can match up altitudes of the different lines to reconstruct the 3d topography. So If there is a non-uniform peak that you cross with 50 lines at different angles, as long as you have some cross cutting lines that can tie everything together, you should be able to reconstruct the peak by giving all of the lines a common point in two dimensions (the peak) and use the cross cutting line(s) to determine the only possible set of altitude profile orientations (through the peak) that would not violate the altitudes in the cross cutting line.

After you determine that this principal works, you realize that you don't have to have all the lines going through the same point, but any number of straight lines that criss cross each other will contain the data necessary to reconstruct the topography at an average resolution as fine as the average distance between the lines in the region of interest.

The number of cross cutting lines you need before you can determine the orientation of lines and points of intersections of the lines is finite.

So, If you have a very high sensitivity instrument with high signal to noise, you should be able to sweep it across a bright celestial target and combine the sweeps, just like you do with the laser passes on the peak, to generate the high angular resolution image.

Bottom line: Itty bitty telescope scanning bright celestial object yields nice picture.

OpenNASA As My Sounding Board

2008-12-09T20:19:00.000-08:00

I join other contributing authors at OpenNASA to put my opinions online about our space agency and national space exploration program. There I find a community of people with actions and words to improve our nation's space agency. I post there things that are off-agenda for actionforspace.com yet near and dear to my heart about the whys, hows, and whats of NASA.

Join me in the dialog at OpenNASA.com to bolster ourselves and the online space community in a safe and supportive online envirnoment.

I continue to issue calls to action at www.actionforspace.com, and continue to look for other authors to post here when opportunities for activism strike. However, when I feel like waxing philosophical, find me at OpenNASA.

CNN Dumps Science Coverage, O'Brien

2008-12-04T18:29:00.000-08:00

CNN is firing Miles O'Brien, along with the rest of the producers for their Science and Environment stories. Miles has been an award winning champion of Space in many formats, doing much to promote awareness of current events in Space.

CNN is doing this because you, the scientifically oriented person who is reading this very post right now, have not made your impact and readership known to them.

When the cost/profits analysis came in, they figured that you weren't worth Miles' salary. Correct them by sending them your feedback.

Tell them what a mistake it is to fire Miles and the other staff.

Taking a step back, think of the bigger reason that they have canned Miles. There are less people like you around, period. Engineering enrollment in universities are down, public interest in Space and Technology wanes, and government funding of the sciences is flat or dwindling, overall. We can help there too. If you have a technical job, tell your friends, family, and neighbors about why you love what you do and why it is important. If you don't have a technical job, get one (I'm only half-serious,) or take an opportunity to share your feelings with them.

America is run by the people. Media companies are run by the advertisements. Show the media that you want Science and Space coverage, so that their been counters put the beans back in Miles' paycheck.

2008-11-03T18:45:00.000-08:00

The SEDS Organization is stretching it's democratic wings and having an election as well! Read their post detailing the positions of leadership open, what it takes to get involved, and what their organization is all about.

From Wikipedia:

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space was founded in 1980 at MIT, Princeton University, and Yale University, and consists of an international group of high school, undergraduate, and graduate students from a diverse range of educational backgrounds who are working to promote space. SEDS is a chapter-based organization with chapters in Canada, India, Israel, Mexico, Nepal, Nigeria, Philippines, Spain, United Kingdom, and United States. The permanent National Headquarters for SEDS-USA resides at MIT. Each chapter is fairly independent and coordinates activities and projects in its own area.

Sound like something that you are interested? Get involved!

Barack Pleadges 2 Billion for NASA

2008-08-18T21:37:00.000-07:00

The Washington Post reports that Barack Obama has pledged serious cash to support NASA in closing the gap.

In a recent visit in Florida, Barack stated:

"As president, I'll make our space program a priority again by devoting the attention and resources needed to not only inspire the world with feats of exploration but also improve life here on Earth," Obama said."

This is in contradiction to earlier statements that he made on his website about delaying the constellation plan 5 years. The edited document is this one. The final section, regarding funding of his education initiative, conspicuously omits verbiage regarding NASA, whereas before it did.

My Conversation with Pete Olson

2008-08-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

Pete Olson came down our street a few minutes ago. He is canvasing to get elected in Nick Lampson's district. I took the opportunity to stand out in the sun with him and talk about space in the Congress.

I told him how important the space program is to me, and how the Congress and the President really set the pace for the America's space program.

He agreed, and said that it was the president mostly who set the pace. He said that McCain want looking to promising on space, but that he looked better than Obama. I told him that I felt that space was primarily important for the inspirational value that it provides to Americans, and that's why I had chosen to work in the space industry myself. I told him that if we put a man on Mars and he didn't do any science there, it would still be worth it.

He shared some experiences with me about what set him on his path to become a Navy aviator, and that it was in part to open up the opportunity to be an astronaut. I'm not sure if he shares this with to many potential constituents.

I asked him that in the case that he was elected, he should promote and fund space exploration initiatives that would promote inspiration for Americans, and not just science.

As we were parting, he asked me if I thought that we could or should keep the shuttle flying past 2010. I was glad that he asked, and thought that he really wanted to know what I thought. I told him that I didn't think that it was a good idea and that I thought it was more important to move the CEV closer than to push the shuttle out. I shared with him an experience I'm having on the Space Station program where we are having to buy more parts than we originally intended and we are having to pay through the nose to get the contractor spun up again to build these parts.

I said that just like Cortez burned his ships when he landed in America, we should burn our ships that would keep us in LEO so that we could reach for the Moon and Mars.

He said that with enough funding the shuttle could be kept going, and I shared my dissatisfaction with the level of funding the George Bush has asked Congress to give to NASA. Bush's funding is less that what he laid out for NASA when he pitched the VSE to the nation.

My personal exposure to Pete Olson was positive, although brief.

Now that Congressional campaign season is up, take this opportunity to find out who is running in your area and talk to them about how and why you think that they should fund space. Talk to them while they are in a listening mode and trying to get your vote.

Post 2015 Russian ISS Modules

2008-07-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

Rob Coppinger, at the Flight Global blog, raises our attention to significant words from the head of the Russian space agency:

Chief Anatoly Perminov stated when at a heads of agency meeting on July 17 that "if a decision is made to continue working with the station after 2015 then the Russian segment will be completed with further modules - energy modules, research modules etc."

Currently the station is slated to finish its lifespan in 2015. Just as the shuttle contracts are terminally closing down now, the station contracts are structured with contractors to end in 2015.

Do you think the station should be preserved beyond 2015? Or do you think it should be canned to free up funding for the Moon and Mars program. Comment here and to your elected officials.

Your legislators probably don't even know that the Station is scheduled to be decomissioned.

To Predict The Future

2008-07-09T19:20:00.000-07:00

I often reflect on the oft quoted and powerful saying that:

"the best way to predict the future is to create it."

This means that one can declare a future and through determination it is possible for them to create that future.

John F Kennedy predicted the future. Bill Gates predicted the future. Neither of their futures was created single-handedly by either of them, but they they rallied others around them in order to realize their dreams. They shared their passion with others, and made it their passion as well.

Millions of us predict the future each day, in our own lives and at work. Often the futures that we predict and create are less grand than that of Kennedy and Gates, but we create our futures nevertheless.

With this in mind, I predict the future for www.actionforspace.com:

This site will become a major clearinghouse of action items for the online space supporter. It will provide current events in space policy, as well as encouragement and resources for online space supporters to take concrete action that encourages more public, corporate, and governmental support and funding for spaceflight in America.

Actionforspace.com will be written by a team of 10 independent authors who regularly update the content so that the online space supporter can be alerted to current congressional votes, outreach opportunities, elections, and other events relevant to the future of space exploration. Among the 10 will be someone in touch with the space community at the following locations:

Houston-John Benac
Florida-Tim Bailey
Huntsville
Southern California
New Mexico
Bay Area
Washington, DC
Colorado

We proved to ourselves, the media, and the politicians with the Politico debates that when oriented and mandated, the online space community has muscle and drive. Actionforspace.com will set the beat for flexing that muscle with regularity and cohesion.

Will you be one of the 10 authors? Let me know. Otherwise, I'll find you. In the mean time. I'll be posting again at least every two weeks. We are like embers in a fire. bring us together and we grow hotter and brighter. Draw us apart and we can die out.

House Members Urge House Leaders to Grant $2B to NASA

2008-04-29T11:46:00.000-07:00

NASAWatch reports that a few dozen house members have sent a letter to the house leadership requesting 2 Billion additional funding for NASA to offset costs associated with bringing the Orion online, cleaning up after Katrina, and bringing the shuttle back to flight after the loss of Columbia. Read the text of the legislation and hit up these leaders with your agreement of the letter.

From the letter:

"Making much-needed investments in space and aeronautics research and development will also have a long-term and beneficial economic impact, contributing new jobs, industrial development and stimulus to struggling communities."

The letter was sent to the following leaders:

Nancy Pelosi (California)
Steny Hoyer (Maryland)
David Obey (Wisconsin)
John Boehner (Ohio)
Roy Blunt (Missouri)
Jerry Lewis (California)

SEDS Job/Internship Opportunity

2008-04-28T21:37:00.000-07:00

A friend of mine, Jim Volp, made me aware of the following opportunities for the most die hard space activists out there. Read his note:

Original text is btw online at:
http://www.space-careers.com/jobsearch/view_4160.html

----------------
Summary:

The organization Students for the Exploration and Development of Space (SEDS) is seeking interns to work on a variety of interesting topics. You will be based close to Madrid, Spain. If you are interested to help out from your home via the Internet, that is possible and appreciated too! Contact: jim.volp@seds.org.

---------------
Job Description
---------------
Concepts such as commercial space liners, space hotels, space launch systems and lunar missions were thought to be empty promises....

But now in the post-X PRIZE world we are looking at:
- The first commercial space liner starting service in 2010
- The first successful test of commercial space hotel modules
- A space vehicle developed in a fraction of time or cost as before
- And more than 6 teams competing to land a private rover on the Moon.

We truly live in the interesting times of space exploration! And this is why SEDS and it's members are full of energy!

SEDS wants to interconnect students, all over the globe, in order to share and advocate their passion for space.

SEDS is looking for a small number of motivated people that want to work on the challenge to expand the existing network of SEDS chapters and move towards an active global student network as with the collective volunteer time of a (large) group of students global problems/projects can be worked on.

During the internship you will be working on a variety of disciplines: research, strategic business/organization development, marketing & PR.

Apart from the SEDS development work you have the choice to work on / support:
- International Astronautical Federation's Administrative Committee on Workforce Development / Young Professionals Programme
- IAF Administrative Committee on Space and Society
- World Space Week Educational Relations
- Space in Africa
- Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications

International Astronautical Federation's Administrative Committee on Workforce Development / Young Professionals Program
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The committee's mandate is well described at: http://www.iafastro.org/index.php?id=842

IAF Administrative Committee on Space and Society
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
The committee has as aim to increase the visibility and direct benefit of space activities to society as a whole, through the active involvement of the IAF member societies and increase the visibility and number of IAF member societies through its involvement in our activities. Specific emphasis should be placed on those parts of society and the world where space and its benefits are less well-known.

World Space Week Global Education Program
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
"To celebrate each year at the international level the contributions of space science and technology to the betterment of the human condition" -- as declared by the United Nations General Assembly

The aim is to establish contact with more schools throughout the world each year and motivate them to celebrate space during World Space Week.

Africa and Space
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Information about space activities in Africa is hard to find. The aim is to create a useful and comprehensive overview.

Space Generation Advisory Council in support of the United Nations Program on Space Applications
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
SGAC and SEDS are closely related organisations so the work to develop SEDS is also of relevance to SGAC. SGAC has observer status to the UN Committee on Peaceful Uses of Outer Space.

----------
Conditions
----------
Salary: The internship is not paid for. Accommodation is provided.
Deadline: Continuous opportunity, so no deadline
Duration: Flexible, minimal 1 month

The successful candidate shall
- be between 18 and 35 years old;
- possess good communications skills in English;
- have awsome understanding of (volunteer) organizations;
- have no VISA issues to enter Spain;

Other skills desirable
1. Ability to work under your own initiative
2. Interest in marketing & PR, networking
3. Working as part of an international team

If you are interested, you should send a brief email stating your interest and include a CV or other proof of skills.

-------------------------
Basic Information on SEDS
-------------------------
SEDS is an independent, student-based organization which promotes the exploration and development of space. SEDS pursues this mission by educating people about the benefits of space, by supporting a network of interested students, by providing an opportunity for members to develop their leadership skills, and inspiring people through our involvement in space-related projects. SEDS believes in a space-faring civilization and that focusing the enthusiasm of young people is the key to our future in space.

Links

http://www.seds.org
http://www.iafastro.org/index.php?id=842
http://www.iafastro.org/index.php?id=617
http://www.worldspaceweek.org/education.html
http://www.spacegeneration.org

Feeney's Florida House Seat Contest

2008-04-28T08:39:00.000-07:00

Space Politics updates us on the race for Florida's 24^th District seat in the house of Representatives. Up for bat is Democrat Suzanne Kosmas and Republican incumbent Tom Feeney.

Democrats point to Feeney's links to corrupt lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

"Feeney was among seven people who joined Abramoff on the $160,000 junket. Feeney reimbursed the government $5,643 for the trip, but the Justice Department last year asked Feeney for more information on his travel. Feeney calls the trip an embarrassing mistake." writes Brendan Farrington of the Associated Press.

Kosmas, a realtor, does not mention her stances on the issues at her website, and is notably silent about space exploration, notwithstanding an image of the shuttle at the main page.

Tom Feeney, on the other hand, states "My top priorities are to promote America's Vision for Space Exploration and to sustain the vitality of all NASA centers including the Kennedy Space Center." He visits China for the Global Space Development Summit this month.

CNN Headlines Candidates Weak Space Stance

2008-04-26T20:47:00.000-07:00

CNN headlines the story: "Raw Politics: Candidates and the space race" about how Obama, Clinton, and McCain all have a soft stance on manned exploration. Tom Foreman, the writer for the story, emphasizes China's growing space prowess and writes "if space does not become a higher priority, the Chinese program will be on par with America's by the end of the next president's second term. Then, it will be a real race to Mars even if we want to join in."

Its good to see the issue getting some attention in the election, even if it isn't from the candidates. NASAWatch links to a video on the story.

Could CNN be trying to put it on the agenda after neglecting it in a series of debates earlier?

Tell the candidates about the story. Tell them it makes them look bad. Invite them to differentiate themselves.

NASA Spinoff Magazine

2008-04-26T15:51:00.000-07:00

I got my free copy of Spinoff Magazine in the mail today in a big orange envelope with the NASA logo on it. I told my wife it was my astronaut recruitment letter. She didn't believe me, but was interested as I pulled out the shiny thick glossy book/magazine that detailed the highlights of the spinoff related activities, products, and services that NASA has engaged in for 2007. About two weeks ago I requested it from NASA's Website.

Some of the more interesting items in my view include:

acne killing machine (with a "herpetic lesions" killing variation in the wings)
advanced thermal imaging to catch terrorists and see through smoke better
non-invasive heart disease monitor (easier to use... more used... more detections... more lives saved)
Steel and concrete sealant
device that makes electric motor startups gradually build up and not make as much wear and tear on the machine. (this kind of thing really adds up to billions of dollars of benefit when you think of all the machines that use electric motors lasting longer.)
Paper thin flexible heaters that come in any size and shape
super hard steel (I could think of a few uses for that...)
Insulating house paint (think heating bills and carbon emissions across the globe)
Environmentally friendly lubricants for everything from car hydraulic fluid to fishing reel lubricant

This list is my highlights list of NASA's highlights list for 2007. It shouldn't be too long before you see some of this in your sky mall catalog.

In any case, Tang, satellites, Velcro, and cordless tools don't impress people anymore. Get your copy of Spinoff today and really have something to say the next time someone says "Why would we spend all that money in space when we have problems here on earth?" You tell them why.

Clinton Introduces Bill to Fund Aricebo Telescope

2008-04-25T07:44:00.000-07:00

In a move some call driven to gain votes in the Puerto Rican democratic primaries, Hillary Clinton introduced a bill to provide funding to the Arecibo Observatory, similar to a stalled bill released in the house last year.

The Arecibo budget is 12.5 million a year. The NSF, the other major federal science agency, is squeezed for cash as well as NASA. They have announced that they are planning on cutting funding for the telescope in 2010.

Read Hillary's Press release and the text of the bill.

Then Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Representative and Senator and tell them to vote in support of Senate Resolution 2862 or House Resolution 3737.

Popular Mechanics Analyzes the Candidates

2008-04-24T13:53:00.000-07:00

Popular Mechanics systematically exposes that all 3 presidential candidates are soft on space. McCain will freeze the budget, Hillary focuses on a ensuring expensive government capability to do what COTS is trying to do, and Obama is stately against expensive and dangerous human spaceflight.

It makes me sick to my stomach to see these politicians cover their bases with vague statements and ignoring the science debate. Give them your 2 cents. Tell them it makes you sick as well.

Promote Science Debate 2008 and
Email, Fax, and call Obama at (866) 675-2008,
Email, Fax, and call Clinton at (703) 469-2008, and
Email, Fax, and call McCain at (703) 418-2800.

Carnival Of Space 51

2008-04-24T11:18:00.000-07:00

Ian O’Neill, a contributing writer to Universe Today, hosts the most recent Carnival of Space at his blog: "Astroengine." Check it out!

Congressional Hearing on ISS Status and Issues

2008-04-24T08:55:00.000-07:00

The following is a rough transcript for the question segment of the House Committee hearing on Science and Technology for the ISS: Status and Issues:

Udall Q: How much will the taxpayers have paid for the station total?
Gerstenmaier: Be more specific. There are many costs that are indirectly related. Lets get back to that when you have the specifics

Udall: The station lives off consumables brought up by the shuttle. How important are these?
Gerstenmaier: we have 2 contingency flights that are ready to bring up spares in the manifest. This gives us breathing room if the commercial launch supply can’t deliver as soon as we would like. "Wwe just activated a lot of our systems on the outside of the space station" and they consume supplies.

Udall: You speak to the risk that we would incur if we didn’t fly those two contingency shuttle flights.
Gerstenmaier: We have seen some components perform much better than we had expected, and others that have not performed as well. The solar array rotator units and the CMG (control momnet gyros) have not performed as well, and that’s why we have the contingency flights.

Udall: Are those part of the manifest?
Gerstenmaier: They are part of the manifest, but they haven’t been approved or funded yet

Udall: Any backup plan if those flights cant be flown?
Gerstenmaier: If they don't fly, we will asses the risk of not having those spares.

Chaplin: If the spares to get pushed off until the COTS vehicles become available, the COTS vehicles might not be able to bring up the large spares. Or they might not be able to fit the spares planned for the contingency with the other parts that they need to bring.

Hall: You mentioned the risks if they cant fly. What if we do fly? With NASA's reliance on Soyuz, could you provide us with details about the reentry problem? What actions are being taken by the Russians to ensure safety?

Gerstenmaier: Both flights had a ballistic reentry. It spun like a bullet rather than flying with a controlled trajectory. Both vehicles had a failure of the service module to separate from the service module. The lower section did not properly release. The Russians saw that for the first vehicle and showed us conclusively that that is what happened because there was telemetry coming across a cable that should have been severed. It has not yet been proven conclusively what happened with this most recent vehicle. The fact that this problem has happened with two vehicles means that there is probably a design problem or a manufacturing change and we are going to look at that.

Hall: You may have to answer this in writing. In order for NASA to continue buying Soyuz, congress has to approve an exception to the Iran non-proliferation act. What would be the consequences if Congress did not pass that exception this year but it didn’t happen until next year.

Gerstenmaier: We really need that now. It takes 3 years to get the vehicle built. We need to get that approval this summer. We need a US presence to operate the US segment and we need the Soyuz to get us there. The only way to get them there initially is with the Soyuz. It is mandatory that congress approve the exception the Iran non-proliferation act.

Hall: Or we might have to abandon the ISS if congress doesn’t approve it and we don’t want that. It has a bad effect on the international partners.

Lampson: I may sound like a broken record about the Alpha Magnetic Spectometer. There is a lot of hope that that can be sent up. I hope that the contingency flights do get funded. Is there a possibility that the AMS can go up the shuttle before the shuttle program ends. What other hardware has been developed that isn’t scheduled for flight? is NASA going to launch it?

Gerstenmaier: In terms of the AMS we don’t see a spot in the current shuttle management. If I took those spares off of the spares for AMS, then I wouldn’t have the spares that would be needed. The contingency flights could not be used for the AMS because the space is needed to run the AMS itself.

Other hardware was cancelled before it was ready to be flown, including the CAM. However, the Cuppola will still go up. Combustion research will still go up. Our goal is to outfit station with the best racks that we can and we are still on track.

Gerstenmaier: I'll look and see if there is any other hardware that is ready to fly but isn’t on the manifest and get back to you.

Lampson: Is it worth congresses money to complete this other hardware (CAM) to fly it and launch?

Gerstenmaier: I'm an engineer who builds the stuff, I don’t have the best answer for that.

Lampson: If we hadn’t shut down the X-33 we might not have needed to rely on the Soyuz. We canceled it at the end of the X-33 and it cost more to shut down the project than it would have taken to complete it.

It is critical for our reputation to the world that if we want to work with with other countries on science related projects we need to do what we say that we are going to do. "I hope and pray that we don’t loose our position to other nations in this space race"

Rorabacher: Can you tell us about the willingness of the Russians and their likylyhood to expand our cooperation to make up for the loss of the shuttle?

Gerstenmaier: We have really come to work together through this project. When the Columbia was lost the Russians rose to that challenge and provided the Soyuz. If it weren’t for the Russians and their support, we would not have a space station. They need us as much as we need them. We give them power. They recognize that they can not run the station without us, but they will want compensation to provide the flights.

Rohrabacher: are they capable for delivering spares to keep the us segment operating?

Gerstenmaier: they can not provide our spares. We will have commercial re-supply give our supplies. The European ATV can also bring up US supplies. The Japanese have a test propulsion article and it might be able to provide spares for us.

Rohrabacher: But what do we have that is online or that hasn’t only flown once?

Gerstenmaier: The thing thats online is the European ATV.

Rohrabacher: so the ATV will provide us the capability that can provide the spares ability that we need.

Gerstenmaier: we will need a combination of vehicles.

Rohrabacher: We have been short sighted. It was hard to project that we could have lost the shuttles. Congress and this committee have been unwilling to prioritize. Its not that there has not been enough money to spend, but we haven’t been able to say "no" to things that have taken money away from completing the international space station. We heard about today that microscopic imaging and storage would help us utilize this great asses in a way that would let us achieve more. Is there any thought as to what it would cost to provide that to the station?

Gerstenmaier we have a -80 degrees freezer that can provide cold storage and some small centrifuges. We need to talk with the scientific community and make sure that we have what is available to the scientific community.

Rohrabacher: There is great value to be achieved with what we have constructed. If we can achieve billions of dollars of return for only a couple of million dollars of equipment. Maybe the private sector would be willing to pay the millions to get the billions of return. We should be thinking creatively and out of the box about how we can work with the Russians about how to think that way. Udall and I will be traveling to Russia to talk about this. Any advice that NASA has about this for how we can talk to the Russians would be appreciated.

Udall: we are running out of time for this hearing. NASA’s agreement is that the station operate until 2016. What would it take to get that extended?

Gerstenmaier: COTS or Orion could keep us going. We need some small studies that are done with the Russians for the life of the station and we have contracts and agreements with the Russians to continue the sustaining engineering work

Udall: But the Russians won’t provide escape ability once the Orion is operational or when a crewed COTS return comes online. When do you see the Orion becoming totally operational

Gerstenmaier: 2016 is when it will be totally online. I know that’s at the end of the station life. Regarding COTS, it would be best to ask the commercial sector when they think that they will be ready.

Udall: what do the COTS companies need to do to be ready?
Gerstenmaier: the recent Soyuz incidents show what a hard thing it is to dock for 6 months and come down and land. COTS will have many engineering milestones to achieve.

Udall: How important is it that NASA can purchase any tools that they need from Russia? Will the ISS be endangered if we don’t allow NASA to buy these things from Russia?

Gerstenmaier: the pump in the quest airlock is Russian provided and it must be provided by Russia. There are many other components that are small and must be provided for the life of the station

Udall: lots of suppliers work with Russians
Gerstenmaier: some of the cots bidders use Russian components and engines so they will need congressional authorization if the COTS participant that uses Russian components is selected

Udall: You talk about the Soyuz landing 400K away from their landing zone. If that happened in Colorado, they would land in mountain peaks. In Russians area they don’t have that. Could you elaborate?

Gerstenmaier "There’s is a lot of land that is open... Its not nearly as pretty as Colorado. They landed near some farmers who had started a brush fire before they had landed.

Udall: the astronauts opened the hatch say the fire, and closed the hatch. The parachute caught fire and was consumed in the brush fire. The Kazak farmers got there by the the that they opened that hatch.

Hall: I wanted to thank this group. I want to recognize that Gerstenmaier is the best program manager that NASA has ever had. Thank you.

Udall: This is very important testimony. The record will remain open for further questions from the panel. This hearing is now adjourned.

Smithsonian Space Day

2008-04-23T11:36:00.000-07:00

The Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is hosting a "Space Day" event on May 3rd. Residents around Virgina, head over to enjoy the many special events happening including:

Expedition 17 Flight Engineer Garrett Reisman
Acappella group "The Chromatics"
NASA and National Air and Space Museum scientists
live contact via amateur radio with the International Space Station

Booths include:

NASA
the Northern Virginia Association of Rocketry
Team America Rocketry
AMSAT-Radio Amateur Satellite Corporation
Washington Metro Area Users Group.

This is a great opportunity to bring you family and friends to get them more excited about our space program. Doors are open from 10 AM to 5:30 PM. Map

Sierra County Approves Spaceport Tax

2008-04-22T21:15:00.000-07:00

3,000 of Sierra County's 14,000 residents turned out today to vote for a sales tax increase of .25% to help pay for Spaceport America. The supporters of the spaceport won by a 2:1 margin.

While this tax will only generate a few million dollars, it enables the government to spend well over a hundred million dollars in the newly created "tax district" on developing Spaceport America.

Celebrate this positive event as the first major commercial spaceport in America (with baker Virgin Galactic) picks up steam (and payloads).

SpaceX Wins NASA Launch Contract

2008-04-22T14:23:00.000-07:00

SpaceX of California has won a contract that could be valued up to $1 Billion to support Science, Space Operations and Exploration Systems mission launches; so it pretty much covers anything. It's open season on some of the more expensive launchers now that SpaceX can compete on launching spacecraft "weighing 551 pounds or heavier into a circular orbit of 124 miles at an orbital inclination of 28.5 degrees."

The cost of access to space is the most critical enabler of a flourishing space industry. Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, began a rocket company because he initially wanted to send an experiment to Mars but realized the cost of launching there would be extremely expensive. He started SpaceX to solve that problem.

SPACEHAB and Florida Government Announce Biotech Partnership

2008-04-21T15:47:00.000-07:00

SPACEHAB has announced a partnership with the government of Florida to ramp up efforts to perform biomedical research on the space station and using a space biomedical designated lab on the ground to perform new research. "Florida has provided SPACEHAB with both financial backing and valuable research facilities," said Thomas Pickens, SPACEHAB's CEO.

Florida, Virginia, New Mexico, California, and Texas are all states making efforts to gain traction by attracting and fostering space industry companies to their borders. Talk to your state leaders about the positive impact that space companies have on a state's economy and tell them why they should bring space companies to your state.

House Subcommittee Evaluates ISS Status and Issues

2008-04-21T08:24:00.000-07:00

Space Politics reminds us that the House Committee on Science and Technology is holding a hearing on the Status and Issues of the International Space Station. Watch it NASA TV. Members of industry, academia, and government will testify to congress regarding current issues of the Space Station.

New Mexico Space Voters, Start Your Engines

2008-04-19T18:48:00.000-07:00

Spaceports blog reminds us that Tuesday is polling day for New Mexican Voters. Up for vote is a .25% increase in sales tax to pay for the New Mexico's Spaceport America, whose prime customer Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic.

Call your uncle, grandmother, or friend in Sierra County, New Mexico and remind them to get out and vote in favor of the tax. Or just pull up the directory and start cold calling. (I'm joking... but if you did do that, it would be kind of cool.) Tell them that the return on that investment will by far justify the expense.

Read Jack Kennedy's coverage on the story here, here, and here.

Congressman in China to Discuss Manned Space Flight

2008-04-18T10:06:00.000-07:00

U.S. Rep. Tom Feeney from Florida is heading to China to talk with officials about their manned spaceflight initiatives. China has launched people to space twice already and has ambitions of space stations and moon missions. Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen to tell them about Tom Feeney's trip, China's threat to American Manned Spaceflight preeminence, and why they need to bolster American space exploration with their votes and their voices.

He is going to participate in the "Global Space Development Summit." If your in Beijing next week, head on over.

NASA Turns to Private Cargo

2008-04-17T11:50:00.000-07:00

Aviation week reports that Michael Griffin, administrator of NASA, has expressly excluded cargo transport in a request to congress requesting that they authorize purchasing crew transport on Soyuz capsules. He plans on stocking up the space station with supplies (water, spare parts, etc) during the shuttle flights, and consuming those during any gap between the shuttle's retirement and when a COTS supplier comes online.

His letter names both the Soyuz and the unmanned progress as excluded from future purchased cargo transport. Griffin states that the white house is on board with this strategy. This development is interesting to consider in light of the earlier confusion about Griffins COTS vision, when he manifested his lack of confidence is a crewed COTS option.

This news comes on the heels of a novel new contract that NASA has signed with Hamilton Sundstrand this week for the purchase of water on the space station. Hamilton Sundstrand will produce a machine that combines Carbon Dioxide form the astronauts breathe with Hydrogen generated by the electrolysis of water when making the station's oxygen. The machine will produce water, which will be cycled back into the water recovery system, and methane that will be vented overboard. The agreement is that NASA will only pay for water produced on the station by this machine, but not for its development. If the machine does not work, NASA does not pay. Such an approach encourages Hamilton Sundstrand to produce at the lowest cost and highest quality while protecting NASA from paying for a defective product.

These are good signs that our nation's space agency is shifting toward a more friendly way of working with industry to create sustainable partnerships that are a high value to tax payer dollar.

The Latest Carnival of Space

2008-04-17T10:44:00.000-07:00

The Carnival of Space is hosted this week by the KySat Online blog, a "joint enterprise involving public organizations, colleges, universities and the private sector in a student-led initiative to design, build, launch and conduct on-orbit operations of small satellites."

Head on over and get connected with the space blogosphere. You will find relevant blogs that you didnt know existed.

McCain Plans to Freeze NASA Budget

2008-04-17T09:03:00.000-07:00

John McCain has announced a plan to freeze NASA's budget, along with all other discretionary spending, at 2009 levels for 2010. According to the Vision for Space Exploration laid out by Bush and approved by Congress, including a vocally supportive McCain, NASA's budget had been slated to be 18.5 Billion in 2010. President Bush himself has asked for 17.6 Billion in 2009 (which is .5 billion less than less than the VSE called for at 2009 levels). If this happens, it will have a cumulative 1.5 billion dollar hit to what NASA has planned for over only 2 years.

To put this in perspective, NASA only allocates 3.2 billion to constellation in 2010, with the rest of their budget spread over Earth science, planetary science, the Space Station and Shuttle programs, astrophysics, aeronautics, and other programs. Where will they get the money from to pick up the shortfall? Robotic Exploration? Will they delay the manned program? Will they neglect to put up necessary replacement weather satellites? Will they cut short missions for spacecraft already performing in space (Mars Rovers, Cassini, or Mars Odessey?)

This is not a question of priorities at NASA. This is a question of negligence in Washington. Over 1 Billion is spent in Iraq each week and we are starving the very agency that has given us the ability to fight wars, perform modern operations, communicate globally, etc.

Even if you don't think that NASA gets high marks for efficiency, commissioning them to build new ships to go to the Moon and Mars and then systematically giving them less than what was proposed is a recipe for problems regardless of NASA's execution of the plan.

John McCain, don't freeze NASA's budget. Increase it to at least what you authorized it to be in 2005. Be true to your stated position and voting record. Furthermore, participate in the Science debate in Oregon and demonstrate a sincere desire to act in the long term interest of this nation.

Readers, Email, Fax, and call McCain at (703) 418-2800 and tell him to prioritize space exploration.

Nick Lampson and Pete Olson Battle for Texas House Seat

2008-04-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Nick Lampson, Texas democrat for Congress is running hard for his seat in congress and is making promises about promoting human spaceflight in the meantime. The seat is Texas’ 22nd District, vacated by space supporter Tom DeLay, and includes the Johnson Space Center.

The Orlando Sentinel reports "he has become NASA's biggest booster among House Democrats and might be able to use his campaign as leverage to persuade party leaders to support manned spaceflight... Eventually, Lampson wants to boost NASA funding to $30 billion."

Action for Space posted earlier that Lampson led a congressional delegation to a shuttle launch on March 11th.

Lampson is running against Pete Olson, a former political aid and navy pilot. Olson pledges to support the JSC and criticizes Olson for voting for HR 20, which decreased NASA funding.

Contact Lampson and Olson and tell them that they need to demonstrate a sincere earnestness to promote the space program.

Pete Olson for Congress
13515 Southwest Freeway Suite #207
Sugar Land, TX 77478
Campaign Phone: 281.342.PETE (7383)
Fax # 281.34237384
Email Pete: Pete@Olsonforcongress.com

Nick Lampson
in Washington DC:
436 Cannon HOB
Washington DC 20515
Phone: 202.225.5951
Fax: 202.225.5241

in Houston:
1020 Bay Area Blvd, Ste. 224
Houston TX 77058
Phone: 281.461.6300
Fax: 281.461.6303
Email Nick

The First Space Political Action Comittee

2008-04-14T10:45:00.000-07:00

Jeff Brooks has created The Committee for the Advocacy of Space Exploration, a "Political Action Committee" recently created to step outside the lines of a the traditional 501(c)(3) non-profit organization. Basically, a PAC can endorse candidates and sink it's teeth into elections and issues with more freedom than a non-profit. Investigate this organization. Size Jeff Brooks up. Read his stance on the issues. Donate. I have asked that they provide a Paypall web widget to make it easier to donate and available to put a donate button on your one blogs, websites, facebook profiles, etc.

I appreciate the stance of promoting multiple enabling space initiatives and technologies, rather than focusing on one over another.

Of himself, Jeff says:

"In my time, I have worked on political campaigns as a policy analyst and staffer, learning the ropes in the cutthroat world of Texas politics (if you think politics in Washington is rough, try spending some time in Austin). I have walked the halls of the Texas Legislature and the United States Congress as a professional lobbyist. The issues on which I have worked run the gamut from children’s health insurance and identify theft protection to reducing interest rates on student loans and reforming the electoral process."

Contact the Space PAC at:
PO Box 200243
Austin, TX 78720-0243

and call them at 904-382-8348

Read the blog. Send Jeff an email. Put your money where your mouth is.

Yuri's Night Kicks Off

2008-04-12T14:34:00.000-07:00

From the twitter feeds: Yuri's Night kicks off during the day as parties across the globe swing into action.

Yuri Malenchenko, Expedition 16 Flight Engineer on the ISS, Radioed down to wish all a happy Yuri's night.

In Houston, astronaut Dave Leetsma speaks to a "standing room only" croud. Live music also plays.

In Boulder, CO, ice cream and space pens are flooding out to the public

In San Fransisco, a mini air show accompanies the festivities.

Get to the one closest to you and celebrate!

Florida Passes Bills Promoting Space Industry

2008-04-11T21:52:00.000-07:00

Space Politics reports on four bills passed through the Florida Legislature:

"SB 2526 supports the development of an initiative to diversify the state’s space industry. SB 2458 would create a “Space and Aerospace Development Infrastructure Enhancement Fund”. SB 2666 would include “space flight contractors” into an existing tax refund program for defense contractors. The fourth bill, SB 2426, is described in the Florida Today article above as providing $15 million to 'refurbish a launch complex at Kennedy Space Center'."

Has your state passed bills like these? Find out and communicate to your state legislators about your support for the space industry.

Universe Today Picks our Brains

2008-04-11T15:29:00.000-07:00

For a smorgasbord of wisdom from space advocacy thought leaders on the net, read Frasier Cain's "The Value of Space Exploration" post at his "Universe Today" blog.

Frasier asked prominent space bloggers for a short summary statement of why exploring space is worth spending money on. Read their responses, make a response of your own, and get familiar with the other sites that speak out for and about space exploration.

Government Agencies Examine Satellite Component Trade Restrictions

2008-04-11T08:29:00.000-07:00

The Defense Technology Security Administration and the National Security Space Office are examining the US munitions list to determine if some satellite components can be removed. Their reason for doing so now is because these items are now readily available on worldwide markets. When the US made it difficult for American satellite manufacturers to sell to customers oversees, foreign nations developed the technology themselves, often at a lower cost.

In hindsight, and in many people's foresight, this has not been a wise course of action. Not only are American manufacturers disadvantaged, but now other nations are developing technologies that they previously had to buy from the united states.

It is admirable that these agencies are reexamining the list, but it does not go far enough. Contact your congressman and tell them that the ITAR regulations need to be overhauled. Our risk averse strategy is bad for our space industry and doesn't protect us.

Learn more about ITAR.

Email, fax, call, and visit your Congressmen to share your thoughts on ITAR

Jim Albaugh's Full Remarks

2008-04-10T13:19:00.000-07:00

The full text of Jim Albaugh's remarks to the National Space Symposium are available at Boeing's web site. Jim is President of Boeing's* Integrated Defense Services, and is a heavy hitter as far as influence. Some of his comments include:

"We can be a leader. And we should...But to do so will require fundamental changes in the way we position ourselves as an industry, and as partners with government."

"where are the innovators of our time? I fear they are not working in our industry. I fear they are working in businesses that reward them for their innovations and ideas... not just for their years of service."

"Ours is an industry where the big companies have become more and more risk-averse... scrutinized by shareholders and market watchers who can be harsh judges... and where long-term visions succumb to short-term profits."

"In my view, propulsion is the great enabler"

"We are simply not producing enough of the scientists and engineers of the future. Where are the Robert Goddard's of tomorrow? My guess is they may be studying in Bangalore or Shanghai."

"Going back to space exploration, we must stay the course with our current Space Policy. That support needs to be continued through long-term commitment by elected officials, industry and the public...We have a good architecture to replace Shuttle and return to the moon. We must all remain solidly behind it. And we must be committed to it long-term. Changing it incrementally or as a whole is the worst thing we could do."

As the leader of the largest space 1.0 company, Jim's words offer unique insight. Get familiar with it so that you can have more intelligent conversations with your peers and leaders about space.

*The Author of this post works for Boeing

New NASA Science Mission Directorate Website

2008-04-10T09:58:00.000-07:00

Get in touch with the Science that NASA does at the new Science Mission Directorate website. The website links to some less visible features within the NASA pages, and perusing it for a while will educate you more about the real concrete discoveries that NASA makes every day.

Pick your favorite discovery and contact you senator to tell him why it is good that NASA has discovered it.

2007 Worldwide Space Revenue: $251 billion

2008-04-09T20:43:00.000-07:00

An annual assessment of global space industry has tallied up the total size of the space industry in 2007 to be $251 Billion, an 11% increase from 2006. This increase is amidst tight budgets and declining economies world wide. It is clear that the space industry is growing larger, even while the US space program barely keeps up with inflation.

Boeing Executive Warns More Space Funding is Needed

2008-04-08T14:30:00.000-07:00

Jim Albaugh, Head of Boeing's* defense business, warned that the United States will loose it's edge in Space to India and China unless the government gives more funding and leadership to the space program. Boeing is located in almost every state, so find out where they are located near you and visit your congressional representative to personally deliver Jim Albaugh's message along with your personal feelings and why space exploration funding matters to you and your state.

Boeing has developed and built that Space station, the Space Shuttle, and is developing the upper stage of the Ares 1 rocket. It has also won a study contract for the lunar lander and will compete for the full contract for the lunar lander as well as Ares V components. It is currently considering perusing further COTS work for the 2010 time frame.

*The Author of this post works for Boeing

Perspective

2008-04-08T09:20:00.001-07:00

With the 2009 budget under consideration, we, the public, need to review what competes for space exploration tax dollars. I now include a breakdown of the federal budget and the running tally of the cost of the Iraq war as a constant reminder of how little funding science and space has compared to other expenses, such as the military and social security. As a matter of fact, the amount of money shown in the pie chart is less than half of the total federal budget, with over 50% being spent on non-discretionary finding such as social security and Medicare.

While the military, Medicare, Social Security, and other programs are essential, it is imperative that activists and legislators appreciate the comparative differences in budget when deciding what programs need more support and what can be scaled back.

Read the 2009 Budget. Talk to your legislators about it.

Science Debate 2008

2008-04-08T06:33:00.000-07:00

The Science Debate is realigning its efforts toward a Oregon debate rather than the planned April 18th debate in Philadelphia.

In their words "Obama has declined, Clinton has been non-committal, and McCain has been non-responsive."

The next debate is planned to be at Portland State University in May, and is to be moderated by PBS personality David Brancaccio.

"We will broadcast even if only one candidate confirms, and we will publicize who confirmed first, so this could be a major win for your candidate with these communities both nationally and in Oregon"

Encourage your candidate of choice to accept this important invitation.

Mikulski Pushes for $1Billion More for NASA in 2009

2008-04-03T15:58:00.000-07:00

Spaceports reports that Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Appropriations Subcommittee Chairwoman Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) has issues a press release in conjunction with her effort to grant an extra $1 billion for NASA's 2009 budget.

“Science at NASA saves lives, saves the planet, and creates jobs for the future, so I am puzzled why the President’s budget flat-funds NASA science this year and for the next five years. With almost no real growth in NASA’s budget, NASA needs more resources to accomplish all of its missions”

We heartily agree, Senator.

Mikulski proposes an amendment to the budget for $1 billion for the purpose of paying for the shuttle accident and return to flight activities. CJS Ranking Member Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) and Ranking Member of the Science and Space Subcommittee on the Senate Commerce Committee Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) join Mikulski in sponsoring the amendment.

Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen to demand that they support this amendment and join the respectable congress members Mikulski, Shelby, and Hutchison.

GAO Counsels: Space needs Strategy

2008-04-02T13:41:00.000-07:00

The GAO recently assessed that our defense space efforts need to have a unified strategy to effectively use their resources and not duplicate efforts and costs. The principal of the importance of an overarching strategy is emphasized in the GOAs assessment of the military space; that same principal applied to all government space programs.

Communicate with the next president and tell him why he needs to provide that strategy for the space program and not let it drift aimlessly. If you agree, tell him that the strategy currently in place should be maintained and funded.

Congressional Delegation View Shuttle Launch

2008-03-12T13:50:00.000-07:00

Two Senators have done what other space activists dream of doing: They have brought a dozen other senators to watch a night launch of the shuttle to promote the space program to them. Beyond that, they have given them a tour of the facilities and urged them to increase Government spending on space by billions of dollars and close the gap.

Read about the event here, here, and here.

Odds are, one of these senators represents you. Contact them now and follow up with your voice of support for America's space program! Tell them about the SPACE Act (H.R.4837) and the budget. Tell them specifically how they should vote and why.

Russ Carnahan (D-Mo.)
Brad Miller (D-NC)
Laura Richardson (D-Calif.)
Adrian Smith (D-Wash.)
Phil Gingrey (R–Ga.)
Patrick Kennedy (D-RI)
Mazie Hirono (D-Hi.)
Kay Granger (R–Tex.)
John Shimkus (R-Ill.)
Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.)
Ed Perlmutter (D-Colo.)
John Carter (R-Tex.)
Vic Snyder (D-Ark.)
Dave Reichert (D-Wash.)

While you are at it, tell your other congressman how you feel. Strike while the iron is hot!

India Slated to Beat the US to the Punch with Manned Spaceflight

2008-03-11T14:45:00.000-07:00

ISRO, India's space agency, has been allocated funds to push forward with a 2014 manned space flight. Astronauts will be selected from a pool of Indian combat pilots.

The United States, at current budget levels and planning, will regain capability to launch manned flights no sooner than 2015, if all goes according to plan and schedule.

This announcement comes on the heels of the formation of an earlier partnership between NASA and ISRO that includes work manned space flight.

Tell your representatives that this is a shameful cessation of American space technology and national pride and urge them to solve the problem of the manned spaceflight capability gap. Tell them specifically about the current legislation and 2009 budget and what they should do about it.

Commitee Reccomends $1 Billion Increase to NASA's 09 Budget

2008-03-08T21:12:00.000-08:00

The Senate Budget Committee recommended a $1 billion increase in NASA's budget, and issues the following document explaining their rationale. The budgetary process is far from over, and it is up to you to lean on every legislator that represents you to give NASA more than the anemic request that president Bush has asked for. The budget has votes, discussions, and more committee meetings on both sides of the house before it becomes finalized.

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer Launch Cancellation

2008-03-04T22:24:00.000-08:00

The New York Times has brought attention to the bleak future of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. This device was build at a cost of billions of dollars by scientists all over the world to detect evidence of antimatter and dark matter in the universe. Is was to be installed on the international space station.

With the squeeze on the remaining shuttle flights, launching this equipment has been struck from the manifest, causing an outcry from scientists the world over.

The SPACE Act (H.R.4837) has been put on the table by representative Weldon of Florida to provide for this launch, among other things.

Contact your senators and tell them specifically about the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Tell them that either by voting and passing HR 4837 or by some other way, this hardware needs to be launched.Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer

Campaign Space Policy Clarifications from the Houston Chronicle

2008-03-03T14:00:00.000-08:00

Recent clarifications of Obama, Clinton, and McCain's space policies were examined in an article by the Houston Chronicle leading up to Tomorrow's primaries there.

All of the candidates have somewhat drifted toward the middle on the issue, saying that they all want to shorten the gap. None of them have specifically stated support of a moon or mars mission.

While the attention to the issue is a good thing, and concurrence in shortening the gap is also positive, tell each candidate that if they want to differentiate themselves in a positive way, they will need to make bolder statements of support for specific NASA programs.

NASA Administrator on KSC Job Cuts, COTS Expansion

2008-02-28T08:29:00.000-08:00

Michael Griffin has told the the space subcommittee of the Senate Commerce Committee that KSC will endure substantial job loss as the shuttle is retired at 2010.

Subcommittee Chairman Bill Nelson suggested that the COTS program, which currently is contracting SpaceX and Orbital Sciences to develop commercial crew and cargo transportation to the space station, be accelerated to somehow help with the workforce situation at KSC. It is unclear how this could work, but Griffin promised to return and report back on the prospect.

COTS expansion would be a very good thing, and senators getting interested in COTS expansion would be an important step in promoting a sustainable space exploration program.

Florida Considers Suborbital Indemnification Bill

2008-02-28T08:09:00.000-08:00

The Florida legislature is considering a bill that would remove liability for death to participants with companies operating sub-orbital space flights from Florida. This is to compete with Virginia after they passed a similar bill last year.

Read Florida's bill and encourage your state legislators to pass similar legislation.

If you live in Florida, contact your local representative and let them know how important it is that they vote for this legislation.

Florida's KSC Slated to be Energy Research Hub

2008-02-27T13:34:00.000-08:00

As another NASA related spinoff application, a local bill in Florida would make the KSC a research center for an "Advanced Combustion Energy Center." This program would partner the center with local industry and academia to perform the research.

COTS on the Moon

2008-02-27T09:49:00.000-08:00

The Hyperbola blog reports from the NASA/AIAA 3rd space exploration conference that NASA is considering extending the COTS program to the surface of the moon. This has not been incorporated yet into NASA's budgetary plan. Contact your congressman and tell them why COTS is a valuable program and why they need to grant NASA a larger budget with an expanded COTS program to ensure our nations success in returning to the moon.

NASA Posts New Spinoff Web Feature

2008-02-26T14:38:00.000-08:00

NASA's website now includes an interactive feature that identifies many spin-offs in our cities and in our homes. Check it out and keep these things in mind next time you send a letter or speak with your congressman. Aside from household items, NASA highlights spin-offs in air travel, automotive, sports and recreation, public safety, medical, manufacturing, grocery, and coastal applications.

Go to the site, pick what you are most passionate about, and then let your congressman know why investment in space technology has a return on investment worth the cost.

If you want even more detail, then search for a specific spin-off application.

Canada's Nova Scotia Space Industry Decision

2008-02-25T14:37:00.000-08:00

Liberal Leader Stephen McNeil of Nova Scotia has charged the government there to throw their weight behind securing the presence of failed COTS bidder PlanetSpace to launch from their shores.

Canadian residents of the region should throw their weight in with Stephen McNeil to the leaders of the government there.

PlanetSpace seeks to develop point to point space travel as well as parcel delivery as it prepares to bid for services in COTS phase 2 when it comes up in 2010

Public Meeting Today about Commercial Launch Complex

2008-02-25T14:29:00.000-08:00

At 6 p.m. today NASA will hold a public meeting regarding constructing commercial launch facilities at Cape Canaveral in the Titusville City Council chambers, and again at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at New Smyrna Beach Public Library.

Clinton Pledges Support for Orion, Obama still Wishy-Washy

2008-02-25T10:11:00.000-08:00

In Houston on Saturday night, Hillary again pledged to fund the "next generation of spacecraft." Whether or not this includes Ares 5 is unknown. Barack has also said "I want to support the next generation of spacecraft for a robust human spaceflight program." and accompanied it with the caveat of saying that he does "not just assume that human space exploration, actually sending bodies into space, is always the best investment."

While these two statements, along with the others stated on their websites and in previous messages, give the basic message of their feelings on space exploration, they leave much to be desired by way of details.

Get them both out the the "science debate 2008" so that they are put under the gun with direct questions regarding their stance on space exploration

Ulysses Ends Fantastic Mission

2008-02-22T12:55:00.000-08:00

The Ulysses polar solar orbiter is finally succumbing after 17 years of service. Richard Marsden, the mission manager, said "We will squeeze the very last drops of science out of it that we can, Ulysses is a terrific old workhorse. It has produced great science and lasted much longer than we ever thought it would."

A joint collaboration of ESA and NASA, the mission has made incredible discoveries including "taking the first direct measurements of interstellar dust particles and interstellar helium atoms in the solar system and the discovery that the magnetic field leaving the sun is balanced across latitudes."

The spacecraft, launched from the Space Shuttle in 1990, has lasted 4 times longer than it was originally designed for.

Similar to the Mars Rover and other missions, this investment in space exploration is paying much higher dividends than initially expected. Contact your congressmen, tell them what a great success this mission was, and ask them why there are not more exploration missions on the table fort the future.

Bush Blasted for Weak Science Budget

2008-02-21T14:40:00.000-08:00

President Bush was blasted by both sides of the isle for his lack luster 2009 science federal budget spending request. His budget was compared with the COMPETES act that he passed for the 110th Congress

Roscoe Bartlett, Republican from Maryland in the house, said "nothing you have mentioned in energy research is cutting-edge."

Bart Gordon, Democratic chair of the House Committee on Science and Technology said "What you've heard today from both sides of the aisle is that more of the same is not getting the job done."

Earlier responses from members on the Subcommittee on Space was similar.

Join your voice with those on the committee by emailing, faxing, calling, and visiting your Congressmen to demand they give president bush a 2009 budget to sign with a much higher budget for space exploration.

Talk To Your Senator

2008-02-20T14:29:00.000-08:00

I wrote senator here in Washington, Patty Murry, about why I thought that she should ensure the radio telescope Arecibo's funding. Arecibo just discovered a rare asteroid with orbiting moons. Continued funding for the observatory is threatened. She wrote back to me:

"Dear Mr. Benac:

Thank you for contacting my office. Your thoughtful comments regarding the Arecibo Observatory were very informative. I will certainly keep your thoughts in mind as they are greatly appreciated.

Representing the state of Washington in the United States Senate is a solemn responsibility, and matters which come before this body must be decided not in haste, but through thoughtful deliberation. I believe that one of the most cherished aspects of this process is the regular exchange of hopes, thoughts, ideas and dreams between elected officials and their constituents. These relationships of participatory democracy make up the best parts and are often the fondest memories of a public servant's career. Please be assured that I will keep your views in mind.

Again, thank you for your comments. I hope you will stay in touch.

I hope all is well in Renton."

This is but a small example of how an exchange between a constituent and a representative brings space policy to the mind of your legislator. Be sure that you do your part to impact American policy for good.

Dont just read the news. Do something about it.

Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen about the 2009 NASA Budget, the COTS program, The Space Prize act, or any number of other vital programs with uncertain futures.

Ron Paul's Congressional Seat Position Weakens

2008-02-20T06:29:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul currently represents a large area of South Texas in Congress, including many NASA and aerospace employees. With Chris Peden opposing him on a Pro-NASA platform, the congressional race has relevance for space advocacy. Paul is in a conundrum: Stay in the presidential race and cut off access to his presidential campaign contributions for the congressional race, or drop out of the race (and lose the ability to give a speech at the national convention) and work towards securing his congressional seat for a tenth year.

The major 3rd party website supporting Ron Paul, is shifting gears from presidential campaign fund raising to congressional campaign fund raising.

Become informed and put your weight behind the candidate that you believe in.

COTS Award to Orbital Sciences

2008-02-19T13:17:00.000-08:00

NASA has selected Orbital Sciences as a winner of a $170 Million contract to provide commercial cargo and crew transportation to the space station. The announcement was made this afternoon.

Some significant details regarding this win include:

Launch would likely not be from Florida, but Virginia, which has many perturbed
NASA will invest $170 million
Orbital will build a maneuvering spacecraft called Cygnus
Orbital will build a Taurus II rocket to launch the Cygnus and modular pressurized and unpressurized cargo

Contact your congressman to call their attention to this historically significant event and urge them to provide more funding to the COTS program.

Barack in Houston

2008-02-19T06:38:00.001-08:00

"Barack Obama is in Texas, where he holds a roundtable discussion and a town hall meeting in San Antonio, and attends a campaign rally in Houston."

Stand for Change Town Hall with Barack Obama

La Plaza De Guadalupe
1327 Guadalupe Street
San Antonio, TX 78207

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Doors Open: 12:00 p.m.

Stand for Change Rally with Barack Obama

Toyota Center
1510 Polk Street
Houston, TX

Tuesday, February 19, 2008
Doors Open: 6:00 p.m.

Barack's space policy would have a material negative impact on the city of Houston. Get out to the town hall in San Antonio and tell him why he is wrong. Go to the ralley and make you voice heard.

Public meetings on Commercial Launch Complex at KSC

2008-02-18T20:10:00.000-08:00

NASA is holding 4 public hearing as preparation on a decision to build a private launch complex at the Kennedy Space Center.

In it's hay day, Cape Canaveral had multiple launches per year. Recently they are hard pressed to have one a year.

They are considering building these facilities in conjunction with their efforts with COTS and the retirement of the space shuttle. SpaceX is already planning on launches from the cape. Mario Busacca, at KSC, said "Here's the bottom line: In order for NASA to make a good decision, we need the public input, we need to understand what their issues are and how any decision we make is going to affect the public."

Building the complex would cost half a billion dollars. "NASA would provide the real estate, but the state or commercial companies would have to pay to build and operate the complex."

Go to the meetings. Tell them what you think.

"Public hearings are scheduled at 1 p.m. and 6 p.m. Feb. 25 in Titusville City Council chambers, and at 10 a.m. and 5 p.m. Feb. 28 at New Smyrna Beach Public Library."

For direct questions, contact Mario Busacca at 321-867-8456. You can send him an email, too

Barack Disses Human Spaceflight

2008-02-16T11:22:00.000-08:00

In a phone interview with the Houston Chronicle, Obama "said, the next president needs to have 'a practical sense of what investments deliver the most scientific and technological spin-offs — and not just assume that human space exploration, actually sending bodies into space, is always the best investment.'"

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, said "I intend to pursue an ambitious agenda in both space exploration and earth sciences. . . I want to support the next generation of spacecraft for a robust human spaceflight program."

Barack does not support a balanced program of human and robotice exploration. Email, Fax, and call Obama at (866) 675-2008 to tell him why "sending bodies into space" is a good investment.

Zero-G Flights From Ames

2008-02-15T10:06:00.000-08:00

NASA has announced that the commercial "Vomit Comet" company Zero-G will use NASA runways and provide commercial services to the Ames Research Center. "'We're delighted to have signed this historic agreement with ZERO-G,' said Ames Director S. Pete Worden. 'This will further NASA's goal of pursuing mutually beneficial partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector.'... The agreement also calls for NASA and ZERO-G to develop research collaborations starting this fall."
This is a prime example of how a symbiotic relationship can exist between the public and private spaceflight industries, and that the legislation of our nation should promote both.

Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen and tell them what is happening in California with Zero-G, and why they should pass some of the upcoming pro-space legislation.

Stanford Space Panel: Send Astronauts to Mars and Beyond

2008-02-14T08:11:00.000-08:00

A conference that has drawn flack from Michael Griffin has come to some conclusions that the NASA administrator would probably agree with:

It is time to go beyond LEO with people as explorers. The purpose of sustained human exploration is to go to Mars and beyond. The significance of the Moon and other intermediate destinations is to serve as steppingstones on the path to that goal.
Bringing together scientists, astronauts, engineers, policy analysts, and industry executives in a single conversation created an environment where insights across traditional boundaries occurred.
Human space exploration is undertaken to serve national and international interests. It provides important opportunities to advance science, but science is not the primary motivation.
Sustained human exploration requires enhanced international collaboration and offers the United States an opportunity for global leadership.
NASA has not received the budget increases to support the mandated human exploration program as well as other vital parts of the NASA portfolio, including space science, aeronautics, technology requirements, and especially Earth observations, given the urgency of global climate change.

Use the links to the left to contact the President, Congress and presidential candidates to call their attention to the budget shortfall and the opportunity that the USA has to explore space if our nation chooses to. Tell them that you believe that we should.

House Subcommittee Evaluates NASA Budget: Not Enough Money

2008-02-13T22:06:00.000-08:00

The House Science and Technology reviewed NASA's 2009 budget today and listened to Administrator Michael Griffin's comments. The following quotes are some excerpts from his testimony. On purchasing Soyuz flights from the Russians after shuttle retirement:

"NASA needs this legislative authorization in 2008, because the Russians require 36 months lead-time to fabricate and build new Soyuz vehicles, and thus we will need to finalize contractual agreements late this year."

"The past several appropriations cycles have resulted in funding reductions for Exploration in favor of other priorities."

"American taxpayers are today paying Russian aerospace engineers to do work that should be done by Americans."

"NASA satellites supply more global climate change data than those of any other organization in the world"

"I believe the greatest challenge we face is to maintain a unified sense of purpose throughout the difficult transition from Shuttle to Constellation systems."

Ranking member Bart Gordon said:

"I believe that the Administration has to date failed to provide resources to NASA that are adequate for what it has asked NASA to do and what it agreed to in the Authorization Act."

and member Mark Udall said:

"The Administration has chosen not to request any additional funding for the Constellation program in this latest budget request, despite congressional encouragement from both sides of the aisle to do so. . . I intend to work hard this year to develop legislation to reauthorize NASA"

Florida Today's Eun Kim reports "Griffin also dismissed the idea of extending the life of the aging Shuttle, citing findings by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board that advised against it. . .'It is in the nation's interest to replace the shuttle as soon as possible,' Griffin said."

The presidents 09 Budget is to small for NASA. Congress can increase NASAs budget above what the president has requested.

The Senate committee on Science will review NASA's 2009 budget on February 27th.

Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen and tell them exactly how much and for what they should increase NASA's 2009 budget. Then tell the president that he had better not resist Congresses efforts to increase NASA's budget when they return the budget for him to sign.

SpaceX Passes Design Review

2008-02-12T11:51:00.000-08:00

SpaceX has completed a preliminary design review for using its' Dragon space capsule for use on the international space station. If SpaceX can close the Shuttle/Orion gap, it will have a profound and game changing impact on space exploration in America. Dragon will accomplish what Orion is suppose to do, but it will have done it faster and cheaper than Orion. It will mean that we do not have to purchase services from the Russians or the Europeans, it will enable Bigelow Aerospace to populate their space stations, and it could enable as yet unimagined orbital endeavors.

SpaceX is participating in NASAs COTS program, which initially awarded half a billion dollars to private companies to develop these capabilities. Contact your congressmen and tell them that COTS is a fantastic program and it should be expanded.

Email, Fax, Call, and Visit your Congressmen to tell them that this is a good program. Tell them to give NASA more money to fund this program or programs like it.

Space Legislative Blitz Update

2008-02-12T07:05:00.001-08:00

This update from the Space Exploration Alliance 2008 Legislative Blitz came from a member of SpaceGeneration:

"We met with many staffers (probably on the order of 50 or 60 meetings). Including Boxer, Pelosi, Hutchison, Nelson, etc. We also dropped off materials with Obama and McCains offices. Focus is on funding the presidents request, communicating the importance of human spaceflight, COTS, balanced program etc."

and from the National Space Society:

"126 meetings total, we can send you a copy of the blitz points later.
Meetings with Pelosi, Gordon, Wasserman-Schultz, and many more.
Focused on supporting space exploration, closing gap in human spaceflight, overall NASA funding, entrepreneurial activity, key science missions, and relevance of NASA to climate change / climate science."

And Finally some pictures of training at NSS headquarters

Find out how you can contribute by calling 202.429.1600

Science Debate Invites Sent out

2008-02-11T12:21:00.001-08:00

"Dear Candidates for President of the United States: We invite you to participate in Science Debate 2008, a presidential candidates debate about issues in science and technology policy that are vital to the future of America. . ."

This invitation was sent out to Hillary Clinton, Mike Huckabee, John McCain, and Barack Obama. It was accompanied with a petition with many thousands of signers of individuals and institutions who supported the debates.

Now it is time to ask the candidates to accept this call.

Email, Fax, and call Obama at (866) 675-2008 and tell him to participate

Email, Fax, and call Huckabee at (800) 871-6320 and tell him to participate

Email, Fax, and call McCain at (703) 418-2800 and tell him to participate

Email, Fax, and call Clinton at (703) 469-2008 and tell her to participate

DC Space Legsilative Blitz Underway

2008-02-11T10:38:00.000-08:00

I received this message from Tim Bailey regarding the 2008 SEA Legislative Blitz.

"We have people here participating from groups including NSS, Mars Society, Space Generation, Planetary Society, SEDS, NSBE, NASA Academy Alumni Association. We did several hours of training yesterday at the NSS offices before going to dinner. This morning teams have already visited dozens of offices for 10-20 min meetings with staffers. We also have more than 10 face-to-face meetings with Congresspersons during the 2-day event."

If you are remotely close, be sure to call 202.429.1600 and get in on the action! The Blitz goes on most of this week. Personal visits is much more effective than other methods of activism.

Weldon Successor Comes Into Focus

2008-02-11T10:11:00.000-08:00

At 11 AM, Jim Greer, the Florida Republican Chairman, endorsed Bill Posey's bid for Weldon's spot in the House of Representatives. He also "authorized national fundraising groups to support Posey -- even in a primary. The decision effectively ends any chance of GOP infighting in the Space Coast district."

The Democratic contenders are Nancy Higgs, and Steve Blythe.

Steve Blyth on NASA:

"We need to look at NASA's priorities to strengthen NASA for the future. NASA needs to get back to its' core mission; life science research utilizing the International Space Station and deep space research such as that carried out by the Hubble Telescope and Chandra radio telescope. The goals of a manned station on the moon and manned flights to Mars are distractions and far too expensive given our crumbling bridges and the huge budget deficits the Bush administration is leaving us."

Nancy Higgs has no defined space policy.

Politico Gives Us The Bait Again

2008-02-09T20:30:00.000-08:00

Spaceports picked up on Politico soliciting questions again for two interviews with Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton. The questions are to be asked in personal interviews to be aired before the Maryland and Virginia primaries.

While I was deeply disappointed with the previous politico question debacle, I still submitted questions for Politico to ask each of the candidates. I did this because it barely took any time at all, and while it might not have the impact that we hope, It surely can't hurt. Especially if space gets a little more attention during the Houston debate.

I encourage everyone to submit questions about space to ask the candidates during these interviews.

Ron Paul Retreats, is Challenged on Space

2008-02-09T19:48:00.000-08:00

Ron Paul is toning down his presidential bid, and bolstering his efforts for securing his seat in the congress once again. His opponent in that contest, Chris Peden, highlights some of their differences, stating he supports the VSE whereas Ron Paul Does not.

"I support fully funding NASA's budget and the Vision for Space Exploration; the incumbent does not."

The Hill quotes "Ron Paul consistently opposes taxpayer funding for NASA and wants to eliminate the agency"

New Bill Could Provides Tax Incentives for People Investing in Space Companies

2008-02-09T09:28:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, Representative Dana Rohrabacher of California (Co-Sponsored by Representative Weldon) introduced H.R. 5310: To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide tax incentives for investing in companies involved in space-related activities.

He has introduced similar legislation under the name "Zero Gravity, Zero Tax Act" for the past 3 congresses, but they all have failed. With a broader name and the support and feedback from space advocates across the internet, lets get the bill passed this time!

It has been referred to the house committee on Ways and Means

Contact the member on the committee from your area and demand that they pass this bill along for debate and eventual vote in the house.

Charles B. Rangel, NY Chairman
Fortney Pete Stark, CA Sander M. Levin, MI Jim McDermott, WA John Lewis, GA Richard E. Neal, MA Michael R. McNulty, NY John S. Tanner, TN Xavier Becerra, CA Lloyd Doggett, TX Earl Pomeroy, ND Stephanie Tubbs Jones, OH Mike Thompson, CA John B. Larson, CT Rahm Emanuel, IL Earl Blumenauer, OR Ron Kind, WI Bill Pascrell Jr. , NJ Shelley Berkley, NV Joseph Crowley, NY Chris Van Hollen, MD Kendrick B. Meek, FL Allyson Y. Schwartz, PA Artur Davis, AL		Jim McCrery, LA Wally Herger, CA Dave Camp, MI Jim Ramstad, MN Sam Johnson, TX Phil English, PA Jerry Weller, IL Kenny C. Hulshof, MO Ron Lewis, KY Kevin Brady, TX Thomas M. Reynolds, NY Paul Ryan, WI Eric Cantor, VA John Linder, GA Devin Nunes, CA Pat Tiberi, OH Jon Porter, NV

Make a statement of your support!

Obama, Clinton face off in Houston

2008-02-08T14:13:00.000-08:00

The Houston Chronicle reports that Obama has accepted the invitation to debate in Houston with Clinton.

Tim Russert and Brian Williams "have promised to moderate the debate the Greater Houston Partnership has been trying to organize in Houston. NBC's cable network MSNBC has committed to airing the Houston forum. 'We're committing to the concept of doing a debate in Texas before the primary,' said Josh Earnest, a spokesman for the Obama campaign."

As Houston is the home of the Johnson Space Center, the debate might contain questions concerning their human space policy.

Email Tim Russert and Brian Williams at MSNBC and tell them not to drop the ball like politico and CNN did in their Los Angeles debates. Tell them to ask Barack and Hillary about their contradicting space policies, rather than simply ask them to restate the positions that they already have in common.

I Told Hillary to "Send Astronauts to Mars"

2008-02-08T09:38:00.000-08:00

Let me preface this post by saying that actionforspace.com does not endorse or deride any candidate for president. Actionforspace.com simply wants to get space on the mind of the candidates.

I was close. Check out the security guard right in front of me.

This is how close we were when I shouted at the top of my voice using a Hillary sign as a megaphone. This is not zoomed in, folks!

Last night, Michael Laine and I went to see Hillary campaign along the Seattle waterfront in a cruise line terminal. I squeezed underneath some bleachers to get to the VIP area and wiggled my way right up next to the disabled people and seniors. Then, when she was in the middle of her speech, I shouted: "Send Astronauts to Mars!" using a Hillary sign as a megaphone. She faltered, and then continued talking about technology and innovation. I expected someone to come and drag me off, but no one did. Ten minutes later, I did it again. At this point I figured I was pushing my luck, so I receded into the crowd to meet up with Michael. All in all, it was a great experience. Michael got her autograph on a notepad that had "Fund Space Exploration" written on it. I went up and got her autograph on the Hillary sign that I had used to shout my message through. I recommend that all actionforspace.com readers do the same at campaign events in their locations.

Some might be offended that I pushed a human mars mission. I figured that shouting- "Send astronauts to Mars!" was more intelligible than- "Give more funding to COTS!" and had broader appeal than- "Make NASA more efficient!" or "Give NASA more money!"

Go Hillary! Ra, Ra, Ra!
(*please don't throw me out, security*)

And then she signed the very instrument that I used to shout with.

Congressional Commitees to Review 2009 NASA Budget

2008-02-07T06:02:00.000-08:00

Space Politics reports that both the House and Senate committees have scheduled hearings on February 13th and 27th, respectively, to review NASA's 2009 budget. Beyond contacting the House committee on the current legislation up for debate, contact members of both committees from your area and tell them your opinions on the 2009 budget.

For the House:

BART GORDON (Tennessee), Chairman
Jerry F. Costello, Illinois Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Lynn C. Woolsey, California Mark Udall, Colorado David Wu, Oregon Brian Baird, Washington Brad Miller, North Carolina Vice Chairman Daniel Lipinski, Illinois Nick Lampson, Texas Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Jerry McNerney, California	Laura Richardson, California Paul E. Kanjorski, Pennsylvania Darlene Hooley, Oregon Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey Jim Matheson, Utah Mike Ross, Arkansas Ben Chandler, Kentucky Russ Carnahan, Missouri Charlie Melancon, Louisiana Baron P. Hill, Indiana Harry E. Mitchell, Arizona Charles A. Wilson, Ohio
RALPH M. HALL (Texas), Ranking Republican Member
F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Lamar Smith, Texas Dana Rohrabacher, California Roscoe G. Bartlett, Maryland Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan Frank D. Lucas, Oklahoma Judy Biggert, Illinois W. Todd Akin, Missouri Jo Bonner, Alabama	Tom Feeney, Florida Randy Neugebauer, Texas Bob Inglis, South Carolina David Reichert, Washington Michael T. McCaul, Texas Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Phil Gingrey, Georgia Brian P. Bilbray, California Adrian Smith, Nebraska Paul Broun, Georgia

and the Senate:

Democrats

Republicans

Chairman Daniel K. Inouye (HI)

John D. Rockefeller, IV (WV)

John F. Kerry (MA)

Byron L. Dorgan (ND)

Barbara Boxer (CA)

Bill Nelson (FL)

Maria Cantwell (WA)

Frank R. Lautenberg (NJ)

Mark Pryor (AR)

Thomas Carper (DE)

Claire McCaskill (MO)

Amy Klobuchar (MN)

Vice Chairman Ted Stevens (AK)

John McCain (AZ)

Kay Bailey Hutchison (TX)

Olympia J. Snowe (ME)

Gordon H. Smith (OR)

John Ensign (NV)

John E. Sununu (NH)

Jim DeMint (SC)

David Vitter (LA)

John Thune (SD)

Roger Wicker (MS)

Let them know that it matters to you!

Virgina State Senator Pushing Awesome Legislation

2008-02-06T21:29:00.000-08:00

Jake Kennedy at spaceports reports:

"State Senator William C. Wampler, Jr. (R-Bristol) and State Seantor Phillip Puckett (D-Russell County) advanced the so-called Virginia 'Zero-G, Zero-Tax bill [SB 286] from the Senate Finance Committee on a 16-to-0 vote. The measure is now poised for a Senate floor vote this week or next.

"Senator Wampler and Senator Puckett were the point-of-the-spear" in advancing the ZeroG, ZeroTax measure forward and out of the all important Senate Finance Committee," noted space advocate Jack Kennedy. "I am quite grateful to the Senate Finance Committee's faith and wisdom."

Meanwhile, the five House 'Zero-G, Zero-Tax' bills have been merged into House Bill 238 carried by State Delegate John Cosgrove (R-Chesapeake) after being held-up in a House Finance subcommittee with the possibility of being held over until next year. . . "

If you live in Virginia, pressure your legislators on this bill. It should be coming up for vote really soon! If you do not live in Virginia, complain to your legislators that nothing like this is happening in your state.

With Super Tuesday Split, Opportunities for Speaking With the Candidates Continue

2008-02-06T20:32:00.000-08:00

Gear up, space advocates. The primaries aren't over, and the candidates are all over the map the next few days. With the Super Tuesday primaries so close on the democratic side, and Huckabee not giving up, the campaigns roll on. Check the following list to see where you can get to a candidate and tell them what you think about space exploration and the national need to engage in it!

February 7th:
Clinton in Arlington, VA and Seattle, WA

McCain in Baltimore, MD
Obama in New Orleans, LA and Omaha, NB

February 8th:
Clinton and Obama in Washington (Seattle, Spokane, and Tacoma)

Weldon Endorses a Human Spaceflight Supporter to Take his Place

2008-02-05T15:16:00.001-08:00

Representative Weldon of Florida has endorsed state Sen. Bill Posey to take his place. "In a letter to supporters, Weldon cited Posey's 'tremendous faith in God,' conservative business sense and commitment to the manned space flight program."

Learn More about Bill Posey and take action on weather or not you support him.

Houston Debate: Clinton on Board, Barack not.

2008-02-05T14:59:00.000-08:00

Hillary Clinton has agreed to participate in a debate in Houston on February 28th before the Texas democratic primaries. Barack Obama has not agreed. This is another fantastic chance to get them talking about their space policies, as the differ on their plans and Houston would be particularly impacted.

Email, fax, visit, and call Obama at (866) 675-2008 and tell him how important it is to you, and your vote, that he participate.

Action on Space Legislation Before the Congress

2008-02-05T11:47:00.000-08:00

The Aeronautics and Space Prize Act (H.R.4916), NASA Innovation Fund and Sponsorship Act (H.R.4308), NEO Preparedness Act (H.R.4917), and SPACE Act (H.R.4837) have all been referred from the House Committee on Science and Technology to the Subcommittee on Space and Aeronautics. Read the bills and contact the members on the committee and tell them your thoughts on the bills. Use the list below to contact those who represent your area, or just contact them all to tell them why they should or should not support the bills. Showing them your interest in the destiny of the space efforts of this nation will make a positive impact!

BART GORDON (Tennessee), Chairman
COMMITTEE MEMBERS in the 110th Congress
Jerry F. Costello, Illinois Eddie Bernice Johnson, Texas Lynn C. Woolsey, California Mark Udall, Colorado David Wu, Oregon Brian Baird, Washington Brad Miller, North Carolina Vice Chairman Daniel Lipinski, Illinois Nick Lampson, Texas Gabrielle Giffords, Arizona Jerry McNerney, California	Laura Richardson, California Paul E. Kanjorski, Pennsylvania Darlene Hooley, Oregon Steven R. Rothman, New Jersey Jim Matheson, Utah Mike Ross, Arkansas Ben Chandler, Kentucky Russ Carnahan, Missouri Charlie Melancon, Louisiana Baron P. Hill, Indiana Harry E. Mitchell, Arizona Charles A. Wilson, Ohio
RALPH M. HALL (Texas), Ranking Republican Member
F. James Sensenbrenner Jr., Wisconsin Lamar Smith, Texas Dana Rohrabacher, California Roscoe G. Bartlett, Maryland Vernon J. Ehlers, Michigan Frank D. Lucas, Oklahoma Judy Biggert, Illinois W. Todd Akin, Missouri Jo Bonner, Alabama	Tom Feeney, Florida Randy Neugebauer, Texas Bob Inglis, South Carolina David Reichert, Washington Michael T. McCaul, Texas Mario Diaz-Balart, Florida Phil Gingrey, Georgia Brian P. Bilbray, California Adrian Smith, Nebraska Paul Broun, Georgia

Crunchtime for ScienceDebate2008

2008-02-04T21:13:00.000-08:00

The following is the text of an email that I received tonight about Science Debate 2008. If you do nothing else, sign the petition stating your support for the presidential candidates to participate in a debate centered on science in America. If your support is thicker than that, bring the resolution to your local caucus and present it. The email is as follows:

Dear John,

On Friday PBS NewsHour ran this story on us.

Then today, the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of Medicine joined AAAS and the Council on Competitiveness as official cosponsors of Science Debate 2008. Together we now comprise a large portion of the American science and technology community. 64 leading universities and big-name organizations have also officially signed on.

We now have an exceptionally attractive location and date and we hope to be inviting the candidates late this week.

We need your help to make that invitation as compelling as possible:

Please recruit every prominent leader you know to join this important initiative in the next two days.
Please recruit every institution, corporation or organization you can get to join this important initiative in the next two days. Have them mention it is an organizational endorsement.
Keep track of our growing list of signers here and here.

This is it, folks. We need you. Thanks for being a part of this historic and important initiative. Finally, please consider making an online donation here.

The team at ScienceDebate2008.com

PS: if you live in a state that caucuses this Tuesday, please consider presenting this nonpartisan resolution calling for the debate.

Update: First Look at Proposed 2009 NASA Budget

2008-02-04T08:18:00.000-08:00

President Bush has sent to Congress an initial version of the 2009 Budget including NASA funding. Read it and contact your legislators to tell them that they need to at least grant as much funding as is asked for here and possibly more. The budget includes money for robotic lunar landers, constellation components, COTS, and other items.

Update: NASA deputy administrator Shana Dale's remarks and charts on the budget

California Prepares Point Paper for Presidential Candidates

2008-02-04T07:08:00.000-08:00

The California Space Authority has written a short paper to advise presidential candidates on the issues relevant to the space industry in California. Read it and then tell the candidates what you think and why they should pay attention to this paper. Urge them to act on issues such as export controls, homeland security issues, and the space enterprise workforce.

Iran Launches Rocket, Space Center

2008-02-04T05:57:00.000-08:00

President Ahmadinejad of Iran announced today that "The first Iranian rocket Explorer-1 was fired into space," and "With the launch, Iran has joined the world's top 11 countries possessing space technology to build satellites, and launch rockets into space." Iran's new space center includes a launch pad and underground control station.

This is an important and relevant event in the argument for the importance of American space dominance. Contact your legislators and the presidential candidates and tell them that they need to respond with more support (funding, laws, etc.) to ensure that Iran does not gain offensive capabilities greater than our ability to defend them.

Update: More analysis can be found here.

Space Exploration Alliance 2008 Legislative Blitz

2008-02-02T23:12:00.000-08:00

If you don't want to wait for March Storm to march on congressmen with fellow space advocates, then head on down to Washington DC February 10th through 12th for the Space Exploration Alliance 2008 Legislative Blitz. The Space Exploration Alliance is a joint effort of over a dozen different space advocacy groups, so no one should feel like their cause wouldn't be represented. With a history of results, the legislative blitz is an effective way to make a hard impact on congressmen.

More Money for Earth Sciences

2008-02-02T12:34:00.000-08:00

Good news for Earth Scientists: President Bush announced significant funding for restoring capabilities to the US for Easth monotoring sattelite missions.

"The climate sensor package will be supported in FY2009 with $74 million requested for the Department of Commerce's (DOC) National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The new series of research missions will be supported by $103 million in FY2009, and a total of $910 million for FY2009-2013, requested for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)."

While this is great news, it is a small step toward having a truly robust and sustained earth science mission that is not at the expense of other initiatives. Tell your congressmen that this is an important move and that they need to do more to bolster earth sciences and other space missions.

Hucakbee in Huntsville

2008-02-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

"Republican presidential hopeful Mike Huckabee will speak shortly after 8 a.m. Saturday, a change from original plans.

The former Arkansas governor was expected to speak at Trinity Methodist Church on Airport Road at 9 a.m."

NASA and India's ISRO to Collaborate on Human Spaceflight

2008-02-01T12:07:00.000-08:00

NASA has announced that it has signed an agreement with India's space agency "establishing the terms for future cooperation between the two agencies in the exploration and use of outer space for peaceful purposes." Later they state that the "two agencies will identify areas of mutual interest and seek to develop cooperative programs or projects in . . . human space flight," among other things.

This is a great way to make NASAs dollar go further. Collaboration with India's maturing space agency will open new possibilities with what NASA can accomplish with their budget. Contact the presidential candidates and your legislators and tell them that NASA can have ambitious goals and international collaboration will allow for those goals to be reached affordably while promoting world peace.

Candidates Dispersing to Super Tuesday States: More Opportunities to Contact Them

2008-02-01T08:32:00.000-08:00

From the Ticker

Hillary Clinton is in California. She attends "Solutions for America" town halls in San Diego and San Francisco, followed by a “Low-Dollar Fundraiser,” also in San Francisco.

Mike Huckabee starts the day in Oklahoma, where he attends a rally and media availability in Oklahoma City and a media availability in Tulsa. He also attends rallies in northwest Arkansas and Springfield, Missouri, followed by a media availability in Springfield.

John McCain attends campaign rallies in Chesterfield, Missouri and Villa Park, followed by a media availability in Villa Park.

Barack Obama holds an economic roundtable in Albuquerque, New Mexico and a rally in Santa Fe.

Ron Paul holds a meet and greet and media availability in Colorado Springs, Colorado, and a press availability and rally in Denver.

Mitt Romney holds a "Change Begins With Us" tour stop and media availability in Thornton, Colorado.

What's the Point?

2008-01-31T21:00:00.000-08:00

The CNN debates are over for now, and despite fantastic effort by thousands of people across the country, the moderators of the debate have neglected to bring up the important issue of space exploration in our country.

What happens now with all of the energy that we have built up? Have we failed? Have we proven to ourselves and everybody else that space exploration really is destined for the history books, and not for the near term national agenda?

Of course not. In the words on one Clinton staffer, “I’m impressed with the grassroots effort. . . They’ve done more than all the sophisticated lobbyists.” You can bet that Hillary has had discussions and planning sessions behind closed doors about what her space policy is and how she would have responded if a related question had been asked at the debate.

An Obama staffer said “It’s a small but vocal group, and they’ve reached out from the beginning.” He doesn't know how large we are yet.

Whether or not any of the candidates come into the White House with a desire to foster space exploration, whether of not any of the bills listed on the right of the page are ever signed into law, the simple exercise of people getting active in the political process about space exploration in this nation will have a profound effect on the future of the industry. For each person who had the faith to write a letter, to make a phone call, to approach a legislator or candidate in person; the effort to engage will mold them into more potent and willing tools to chip away at the societal walls that keep us from exploring space. The wall is large, and while participants in our effort have different places that they would like to chip, these past two weeks there have been more people chipping than ever.

If the email boxes are full, the fax machines print straight into the trash, the voice mails are deleted without being heard, and the Politico moderators ignore the overwhelming votes for space related questions; the people who sent those messages and votes still have learned that they can, of themselves, take a concrete step in promoting space exploration, and in so doing affirm to themselves that they are not passive observers of this movement, but active players in pushing humanity's knowledge and grasp outward into space.

I started this website because I wanted to go to a website that had the resources that actionforspace.com has. I didn't find it exactly, although I found cues at spacepolitics, nasawatch, the Mars Society, and other sites. I knew that because I wanted a website like actionforspace.com, there must be others who wanted a website like that as well. This has been confirmed by the massive number of new and repeat visitors to actionforspace.com.

We have had an impact. That's what happens when a group of people with a common inclination all point their energy in a specific direction. Reading the varied space related questions on politico.com, it's obvious that we aren't all marching to the same drum, but it is undeniable that a whole lot of people are marching, and the sound of that march is being heard in campaign offices and throughout Washington.

I'm proud of what has happened, and I feel encouraged that sustaining our efforts throughout this election and beyond will bear greater fruits. I pledge to you all that I will continue my efforts running actionforspace.com to make it easier for you to have an impact on the future of the space exploration. I look forward to the continued help and participation with you all. Thanks for your incredible response to the debates in Los Angeles.