[FPSPACE] Re: More on myopic Vision

[DSFPortree at aol.com]

Javier:

Lists like FPSpace are, in my opinion, for discussing issues. So, I discuss 
issues!

> JC: Yes, I agree. And I assumed that when I read it. And it is 
> understandable (although I don't like it). But the problem is that no better reasons have 
> been given, as far as I know, at least not convincing reasons.

Reasons? We don't need no stinking reasons! ;-)

It makes sense if you figure that the moon is not the goal - building the CEV 
is. The moon & Mars are merely mentioned to justify building the CEV and 
cutting other programs. They're so far off that they really don't matter to the 
current discussion. Of course, the CEV, if done properly, leaves open the option 
to return to the moon and do other things. The Shuttle is incapable of 
serving as the basis for a Mars ascent vehicle capsule, for example - the CEV could 
do that. I think the real goal is to get the CEV so far along by 2009 that it 
will be hard for the next President to cancel it.

After that, anything goes. Most likely we'll only use it and its cargo 
derivative the way we use Soyuz and Progress, but so long as we have it, the option 
will exist to do more. 

The other goals I mentioned assume that we are doing this to show the Chinese 
(and everyone else) that we're the top dogs. There's an element of that in 
the VSE, I'm certain, but how we demonstrate our space supremacy vis-a-vis China 
(and everyone else) is for the next President plus one or two to decide, 
really. So anything we want to propose right now is potentially the post-CEV space 
goal. Maybe we should start proposing!

The real question here is, assuming that we want to build the CEV, how best 
to get it built? Its not possible to build CEV, plus fly Shuttles, plus keep up 
a healthy space sciece program. If I had my druthers, I'd cut back on Shuttle 
flights before space science missions. I suspect that a lot of folks would 
agree with that opinion. I'd cut back on the CEV before space science, too. Not 
as many would agree with me there. I think space science is more important 
because ultimately space science missions mean more. Look what HST, for example, 
has done for our understanding of the universe! 

BTW, I generally think of a piloted flyby mission as a space station mission 
that orbits the Sun, not the Earth. We're told space station missions are 
productive. Therefore, a piloted flyby mission should be productive, too. I 
suspect that it would be more productive in terms of preparation for piloted 
planetary landings than a space station mission because it would provide an 
incremental engineering step toward a landing mission, would operate in interplanetary 
space (not near Earth, where the environment is different from interplanetary 
space), and would provide a fresh vantage point for astronomy, solar studies, 
and planetary studies. Throw in a cargo of automated probes - for example, 
landers that gather engineering data on effects of martian dust, new aerobraking 
heatshields, whatever, and you get even more bang for the buck. The piloted 
flyby crew would have plenty to do. They'd also be the first people to travel 
beyond the Earth-moon system - the first interplanetary voyagers. At end of 
voyage they'd pile into a beefed-up CEV, abandon the piloted flyby spacecraft, and 
reenter Earth's atmosphere at interplanetary speed. 

David

David S. F. Portree
author & educator
dsfportree at aol.com
Flagstaff Arizona USA

DSFP homepage
http://members.aol.com/dsfportree/dsfp.htm

"A little patience, and we shall see the reign of witches pass over, their 
spells dissolve, and the people, recovering their true sight, restore their 
government to its true principles. It is true that in the meantime we are 
suffering deeply in spirit, and incurring the horrors of a war and long oppressions of 
enormous public debt. If the game runs sometimes against us at home we must 
have patience till luck turns, and then we shall have an opportunity of winning 
back the principles we have lost, for this is a game where principles are at 
stake."

- Thomas Jefferson, 1798, after passage of the Alien and Sedition Acts