When the Space Engineering and Science Institute announced last fall the Space Exploration 2005 & 1st Biennial Space Elevator Workshop I was immediately interested. However it was not until last week that I finally decided to go to the workshop being held in Albuquerque. It took some time for the Institute to post the agenda which made me wonder if the conference would be worthwhile. But then on March 23rd NASA announced the First Centennial Challenges Prizes which were for two key technologies needed for a Space Elevator. The Spaceward Foundation would be NASA's partner and would oversee the competition. Then the foundation announced its multi-year Space Elevator competition roadmap.
It was at this point that I decided to go and so here I am. I'm primarily here to discuss the Space Elevator competition with the principles involved and to see how I can help them. Aside from that there are some interesting talks on moon and Mars habitats and bases.
The view from my room from the Marriott Pyramid North hotel.
Today's morning session was highlighted by a talk from Dr. Wendell Mendell of NASA's Johnson Space Center. Dr. Mendell works in the Office for Human Exploration. His talk titled "Meditations on the New Space Vision: The Moon as a Stepping Stone to Mars". He started by offering a short history of how we got to where we are today with the human exploration program. He then went on to stress the differences between the moon and Mars and why people should not be thinking of the moon as a testbed just for a future Mars mission. Instead he stressed that ealier studies and in particular the Mars Design Refence Mission (MDRM) should be used in lunar context.
His abstract states;
In simple terms, lunar expeditions build a resume that demonstrates the ability to design, construct, and operate an entreprise such as the MDRM with an expectation of mission success. We can evolve from Apollo-like missions to ones that resemble the complexity and duration of the MDRM.
He outlined the current state of planning for lunar missions with a 2008 orbiter mission well underway and with plans still being formulated for a 2009 lander to explore lunar craters and the moon's regolith. Aside from these two missions the vision leading up to human mission to the moon is still in the very preliminary planning stage.
Looking further down the road he said he would like to see a human mission to the farside of the moon with a crew of six who live on their own for a year. This would be part of the resume that would eventually lead to a human mission to Mars. He also stressed that NASA must have an exit strategy for its lunar operations so that an organization with a long term business plan can take over.
His talk really does make you think hard about what it will take to implement the president's Vision for Space Exploration and while I agree with Dr. Mendell's assessment that the moon could be a stepping stone to the exploration of Mars and beyond it does make me wonder how long it could be before we actually make it to Mars and beyond especially within the current budget framework.