Space Forum / Space Policy / January 2004

First of all I should say how pleased I am to hear about this new Luna
and Mars goal, but I just cannot say that anything here has come as
much of a surprise.
In fact I would also nearly go as far to say that the President was

Even though I've not heard Prof 'Sideburns' say so I think we've lost
it.  Bugger.  :,-<  
I've heard a nu-labour minister say government money will be available
for a Beagle 3, but given nu-labours record, in general and the

Speaking of space policies, we know that the White House (with some input
from Congress, NASA, and others) is working on one. They've already leaked
that a return to the Moon is a component of it.
Based on what I've gleaned from certain media and private sources (the

I guess the odds have changed slightly now.
My new odds would be
Nationality of first person on Mars :-
USA      25%

I'm doing some fiction writing about the moon, and was curious about a
couple of things. Was wondering if anyone could shed light on these
questions!
1) Is the moon iluminated only by light reflected from the Earth? I

The cost of one manned mission to Mars ($400.00 B ) is equivalent to a
thousand robotic missions.( $0.40 B) We could put dozens of scientific
satellites in ordit around not only all our solar system's planets but also
all their major moons. In addition we could send dozens of  ...

Is the James Webb Space Telescope a (more or less) secure program at
this point?  Has the design been finalized?  Has construction begun?
I'm guessing that it was intended from the start to go up on an
expendable launch vehicle, since I've heard no mention of any impact

My comments in [brackets]
Found at:
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/science/AP-Moon-Mars-Whats-Needed.html?pagewante
d=print&position=
January 9, 2004

Since a major point of the shuttle was to construct a
space station why didn't construction start with like the
third or fourth shuttle launch in the 1980s?  Why didn't
more people question the absence of any serious station

I may be kind of skeptical, but I think it will take the extra $1
billion President Bush has pledged for NASA just to keep it going at
current levels.  Here's why:
Everything is classified now.  Even technical journal articles have to

There has been some talk of the U.S. doing a Mars flyby similar to the
Apollo 8 mission. This could be done relatively quickly and prevent other
nations (such as China) from stealing the show by doing it first. A dozen or
so Delta V-H launches would be required plus some assembly ...

For your outrage:
http://www.tompaine.com/images/dynamic/427.pdf
--
Mark R. Whittington

..... IMO, sounds like a smokescreen to revive Reagan's space-based
SDI "Star Wars" initiative, considering how unilateral Shrub's
proposal appears to be, and that it could involve the Pentagon (as
well as providing a long-term $100+ Billion gravy train for the usual

Assuming something like Zubrin's 'Mars Direct' is contemplated for a manned
Mars mission (a variation on the theme is very likely IMHO because it makes
perfect sense, unless a 'fast track' mission is attempted), I see one big
technical problem: trying to land all the spacecraft ...

Subject: More than 6,000 Kg of thrust by pnn
It is given an update of actual Asps PNN (Non Newtonian Propulsion), i.e. in
what manner might be increased the PNN propulsion to more 6,000 kg of thrust
with an electric power of 25 Kw .