Space

The Final Frontier – These are the Voyages of the Starship….

Space Exploration

Space Advocacy Revisited A Renewed Call to Arms

On September 12, 1962 at Rice University, President John F. Kennedy gave a stirring address that inspired a nation to reach for the stars with outstretched arms and touch the hand of God. In 1969, American Neil Armstrong became the first human being to step on another planet. "One small step for man, one giant leap for mankind," he said as he stepped off his spacecraft and onto truly foreign soil.

In recent decades, scientific research aimed at human exploration of space has mushroomed. In addition to a multi-billion dollar private aerospace industry (U.S. Department of Commerce) and numerous government-sponsored space programs around the world (Euroconsult), there are hundreds of private space advocacy groups involved in pursuing the further exploration, commercialization, and colonization of space (Space Hobby). The combined ranks of such groups total more than 700,000 people (Space Exploration Alliance), among whom I count myself, but according to some polls this is only a small fraction of the population that supports an active approach to space exploration (Coalition for Space Exploration).

However, the large-scale development and commercialization of space we space-advocates long for will remain an illusive dream so long as launch costs remain prohibitively high (Elhefnawy). How could a multi-billion dollar industry with both government and popular support fail to deliver on such a fundamental promise as routine access to space? Very simply, it's a failure of cooperation. These three divisions (private industry, government, and public advocacy groups) fail to share information and resources.

While the lack of cooperation between individual nations and industry leaders can perhaps be forgiven in the context of the political, cultural, business and economic climates of the day, the same cannot be said of the groups of the private space advocacy community. There is little cooperation among these groups, likely because there are scores of them, each with its own agenda and idiosyncratic goals that are different enough from the others' as to not encourage coordinated action among the members. This lack of cooperation has often limited the effectiveness of the space advocacy community as a whole.

It is important to appreciate that space advocacy involves more than just grass-roots organizations. In addition to private groups, space advocacy includes appropriate industries and elements of government (Hobby Space). However, it is essential for private space advocacy groups to take the lead—to shape the vision and assure that the importance of private space development is recognized by all concerned. When private space advocacy groups become effectively interconnected, they will be able to generate the necessary motive force to engage in and coordinate projects among industries and government departments.

One of the greatest difficulties space advocacy groups face is garnering broad-based, public support for space operations (President's Commission). This illusive support could swell the ranks of its membership, increase its volunteer and financial resources, and, most importantly, add credibility with industry movers and policy makers. Additional support makes for a stronger collective voice, one that cannot be as easily ignored in our democracy. Large-scale space industry will require both the cooperation of those who understand the cultural, political, and economic benefits and the conversion of those who do not.

Another problem with many groups is the lack of focus on the short-term goals necessary for long-term success. Many space advocacy groups skip over the development of necessary near-term (but relatively undramatic) work in gazing impracticably at wonderful, distant visions. Working together the space advocacy community can set priorities based on fundamental, near-term goals.

One such goal will be to ensure that laws and policies encourage the private development of space (Obama). Space is a new frontier and will require a new set of governing paradigms. As commercial activities in space continue to increase, a new body of laws and policies must be developed and codified (Ibid.).

Another goal of a focused space advocacy community will be to develop methods of financing space activities. Space advocates often point to the high cost of developing and using aerospace technologies as the primary cause for the lack of progress in space (Elhefnawy). While financing large-scale space operations is daunting, other industries share similar difficulties but have considerably more success. Biotechnology companies, for example, are routinely capitalized with billions of dollars every year (Business Wire), despite the fact that it may take decades to develop a marketable product that still may never be profitable. Although funding the commercial development of space poses unusual and difficult problems, it is not outside the capacity of the private capital market.

The most important goal, however, will be to encourage the development of an appropriate physical infrastructure critical to the commercialization and industrialization of near-Earth space and beyond (Snead). We should set the goal of reducing launch costs by a factor of ten within ten years, with further reductions thereafter (Foust). A commercial space station should also be established to give private industry a test bed for commercial research and development (Shiga).

We also need to identify the products and markets that benefit from space activities (ESA). The single most important breakthrough for advancing the development of space will be the invention or discovery of any product whose cost-effective production is exclusive to the space environment. The initial commercial value of low-Earth orbit will be derived primarily from the lack of gravity and access to extreme vacuums that in part characterize the space environment (Bigelow Aerospace). Later, space tourism (Morring), the availability of resources like the precious metals found in many asteroids, comets and planets (Lewis), and Space Solar Power Satellites that tap the sun's energy twenty-four hours a day, as well as the rare isotope, Helium-3, found in abundance in lunar soil and useful as a possible fusion energy source (Laskar), will nurture a growing space economy. Exploiting the commercial value of space offers unique solutions to the problems facing future generations of Americans, opens up new possibilities for existing industries and promises exciting new products and scientific advances that will revolutionize the global economy.

Regardless of what particular products are developed in space, many industries, institutes, organizations, educational programs, government offices, and space advocacy groups are likely to play a role in this development—not only in research, but also in selection of products, manufacturing, delivery, and market placement. This mutual interdependence within the space advocacy community should be nurtured. Relationships among leaders, industry insiders, and policy makers should be strengthened. In today's parlance this is called "coalition building."

Increasing cooperation among the private groups of the space advocacy community is the first step in building this coalition. It will improve our ability to coordinate research and other efforts. Groups from an expanded, multi-group membership base can form more powerful committees to address relevant issues facing the exploration and development of space. This increased force and focus will encourage appropriate industries and elements of governments to get more involved.

Every organization involved in aerospace can benefit from sharing their resources and their efforts. It may seem difficult for us to come together and agree on a common statement of goals. After all, individual missions differ on matters of ecology, technology, economics, politics, and other crucial issues. Nevertheless, we all share the common general goal of getting humanity into space. It should be possible to frame a suitable statement of goals that is acceptable to all and encourages us to work to broaden public support for our shared vision.

----------------------

Works Cited

Bigelow Aerospace, Patton Boggs LLP. "Beyond the Satellites: Stimulating a New Wave of Commercial Space Development." December 15, 2000. Retrieved on October 20, 2008 from http://www.nidsci.org/pdf/space_commercialization.pdf.

Business Wire. "Biotech Industry Market Capitalization Rose 25 Percent in 12-Month Period Ending June 1997." September 19, 1997. Retrieved on October 2, 2008 from http://www.allbusiness.com/company-activities-management/financial/7049660-1.html.

Coalition for Space Exploration. "New Gallup Poll Reveals Americans Strongly Support Space Exploration, Believe it Inspires Younger Generation." Press Release. June 17, 2008. Retrieved October 20, 2008 from http://www.spacecoalition.com/files/galluppolls/ Gallup_Poll_release_FINAL.pdf.

--------. "2008 Gallup Poll." 2008. Retrieved October 20, 2008 from http://www.spacecoalition.com/files/galluppolls/final report-june 08.pdf.

Elhefnawy, Nader (2007). "The limits to growth and the turn to the heavens." The Space Review. Retrieved on October 8, 2008 from http://www.thespacereview.com/ article/775/1.

Euroconsult. World Prospects for Government Space Markets. November 2006. Retrieved October 16, 2008 from http://www.euroconsult-ec.com/brochures/world-prospects-for-gov-space-markets-2007.pdf.

European Space Agency (ESA). "Space Environment – A Tool for Industrial Research." 2006. Retrieved on October 19, 2008 from http://web.rosa.ro/SURE_workshop/ Benefits of Research in Space.pdf.

Foust, Jeff (2004). "Reducing launch costs: a lower limit?" The Space Review. Retrieved on October 20, 2008 from http://www.thespacereview.com/article/233/1.

Hobby Space. Space Activism. 1999-2007. Retrieved October 19, 2008 from http://www.hobbyspace.com/Active/index.html.

Laskar, John (2006). "Race to the Moon for Nuclear Fuel." Wired. Retrieved on October 15, 2008 from http://www.wired.com/science/space/news/2006/12/72276.

Lewis, John S. Mining the Sky: Untold Riches From the Asteroids, Comets and Planets. New York: Helix Book, 1997.

Morring, Frank, Jr. (2008). "Space Tourism to Soar, Official Says." Aviation Week. Retrieved on October 15, 2008 from http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story.jsp?id=news/ Tour101608.xml&headline=Space Tourism To Soar, Official Says&channel=space.

Obama, Barack. "Advancing the Frontiers of Space Exploration." Obama '08. 2008. Retreived on October 20, 2008 from http://www.fladems.com/page/-/Obama_Space.pdf.

President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy. Public Meeting Minutes. May 3-4, 2004. Retrieved on October 20, 2008 from http://govinfo.library.unt.edu/moontomars/docs/MinutesNewYork-5-4.pdf.

Shiga, David (2007). "Commercial space station to launch before 2010." New Scientist. Retrieved on October 19, 2008 from http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn12485-commercial-space-station-to-launch-before-2010.html.

Snead, James Michael (2008). "Spacefaring Logistics Infrastructure: The Foundation of a Spacefaring America." Astropolitics, 6:1, 71 – 94.

Space Exploration Alliance. Tim Bailey. Retrieved October 16, 2008 from http://www.spaceexplorationalliance.org.

The U.S. Department of Commerce. Office of Space Commercialization. Space Economic Data. December 2002. Retrieved October 20, 2008 from http://www.space.commerce.gov/ library/reports/2002-12-economic-data.pdf.

About the Author

What People would you need to be on a space exploration mission?

I'm trying to get a list of people that you would need to go on a fictional space exploration project.

A good Pilot

Space Exploration:Past, Present, and Future.

Tags: astronomy, maps, nasa, science, space, space exploration, space exploration game, space exploration merit badge, space exploration technologies, space exploration timeline

This entry was posted on Sunday, August 1st, 2010 at 1:47 pm and is filed under space. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.