Archive for the ‘The Space Movement’ Category

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Five Reasons Why the Space Age Is Just Beginning. And This Time It’s for Real.

Friday, July 22nd, 2011

by Howard Bloom
National Space Society Board of Governors

Recently The Economist magazine featured a piece inspired by the end of the Shuttle Era entitled, “The end of the Space Age. Inner space is useful. Outer space is history.”

The Economist is wrong. The space age is not ending. It is just beginning. And it is taking off fast. Its next giant leaps will change the nature of resources, energy, jobs, and the economy.  The leap will make your grandkids lives so different from yours and mine that it will defy belief.

But this time, the future is not driven by NASA, it’s propelled by private enterprise.  The players are small companies. But what they lack in fame, they more than make up for in spirit…and in smarts.

Below are five companies working diligently to bring humanity closer to the dream of permanent settlement in space.

1)  Bigelow Aerospace (www.bigelowaerospace.com)

Robert Bigelow made his reputation, and his money, building Budget Suites of America.  His thirteen year old company, Bigelow Aerospace, is putting hotels in space. Bigelow’s first 1/3 scale prototype inflatable habitat — complete with thirteen cameras and systems to maintain air pressure, oxygen content, and temperature (all systems powered by solar panels) — has been in orbit since 2006. It carries “guests” — Madagascar hissing cockroaches, and Mexican jumping beans from Bigelow Aerospace’s neighborhood in the desert of Nevada. It also carries an entire Gensat microsatellite from NASA. Bigelow’s second space hotel prototype went into orbit in 2007 with improved systems, 22 monitoring cameras, and more sophisticated guests — scorpions and an entire colony of seed-harvester ants. Bigelow’s plan is to offer far more living space than the International Space Station at a fraction of the cost.

Bigelow already has a list of seven countries waiting to occupy his space hotels. The pace of demand has increased to the point where the company is constructing its third habitat, the BA 330, ahead of schedule. It plans to have the BA 330 in orbit in 2014 or 2015.

Image: Bigelow Aerospace

BA 330. (Image: Bigelow Aerospace.)

2) SpaceX (www.spacex.com)

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, was founded in 2002 by PayPal co-founder Elon Musk. Musk defied all expectations by successfully building the Falcon 1 and Falcon 9 rockets. The Falcon 9 cost $400 million, which is a mere fraction of the cost of the Space Launch System — an overpriced rocket being pushed by Congress.

Musk has also built the Dragon capsule — which in December 2010 became the first spacecraft ever placed in orbit and recovered by a private company. The Dragon Capsule is capable of carrying seven passengers or a launch payload of 13,000 lbs. But on its maiden voyage, the Dragon Capsule carried a secret payload, later discovered to be a wheel of cheese — an homage to a Monty Python Cheese Sketch.

Upcoming is a super rocket called the Falcon Heavy, built on the base of the successful Falcon 9. It will use nine Merlin engines and carry 117,000 pounds to low earth orbit or 41,000 pounds to geosynchronous orbit. It will do something even more crucial: drastically reduce the cost of space access. In the Shuttle era, it cost us between $10,000 and $14,000 a pound to get humans and cargo into space. That’s much too much. If we can drive that cost down, the riches of space will open. Drive that cost down and we can deliver more solar energy from space than all the energy mankind has used to date. We can also mine space resources like platinum, lithium, and rare earth metals — the key materials for electric cars. And we can even build resorts in space. The Falcon Heavy is expected to drive the cost per pound to orbit down from $14,000 a pound to less than $1,000. This is something the traditional space industry experts said cannot be done.

And Musk is aiming to use the Falcon Heavy to send humans and supplies to the fourth planet from the sun. “We’re going all the way to Mars,” he said at the National Press Club on April 5th, 2011. “I think… best case 10 years, worst case 15 to 20 years.” The first demo flight of what will be the world’s most powerful rocket is expected in 2013.

Falcon Heavy. (Image: SpaceX.)

Falcon Heavy. (Image: SpaceX.)

3)  XCOR (www.xcor.com)

XCOR was founded in 1999 by former members of Rotary Rocket — a company who wanted to combine a helicopter with a rocket. Jeff Greason, XCOR president, is also a visionary whose recent keynote speech at the International Space Development Conference is considered a major statement in space policy.

XCOR’s pride is the Lynx, capable of bringing people and science to the edge of space.

The Lynx is a two-seated, piloted space transport vehicle that will take humans and payloads on a half-hour suborbital flight to 100 km (330,000 feet) and then return safely to a landing at the takeoff runway. It takes off and lands like an aircraft, but runs like a rocket. And it will allow up to four flights per day.

Sales for the Lynx have surged. As of May, 2011, XCOR has sold approximately one hundred tickets costing $95,000 each.

But XCOR is also working with United Launch Alliance on building a new upper stage for the Atlas 5 and Delta 4 rockets. And, they are also working with the Planetary Science Institute to carry the Atsa Suborbital Observatory.

The Lynx Mark I is expected to begin test flights in 2012.

XCORs Lynx suborbital spacecraft. (Image: XCOR.)

XCOR's Lynx suborbital spacecraft. (Image: XCOR.)

4) Sierra Nevada Corporation/SpaceDev
(www.sncorp.com)

Many have claimed that the end of the shuttle means the end of Americans in space. But Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) proves them wrong. The company is one of four who received funding from NASA to carry cargo and crew to the International Space Station.

Their vehicle, the Dream Chaser, looks a lot like the shuttle because it was originally a NASA design. It will launch atop an Atlas V and return from space by gliding and landing at almost any aircraft runway in the world. It will be capable of holding a crew of seven people. Its missions will include delivering and returning crew and critical cargo to the International Space Station. Sierra Nevada’s current timetable calls for suborbital test flights starting in 2013 and orbital tests in 2014.

Dream Chaser. (Image: Sierra Nevada Corp./NASA.)

Dream Chaser. (Image: Sierra Nevada Corporation/NASA.)

5) Blue Origin (www.blueorigin.com) (more info)

Blue Origin was started by Amazon founder, Jeff Bezos. The company’s motto, Gradatim Ferociter means, “Step by Step, Ferociously,” and might hint at Bezos’ plans. After all, Amazon has become more than just the world’s largest bookseller.

Blue Origin’s New Shepard is a rocket-propelled vehicle capable of carrying multiple astronauts into suborbital space. Along with providing spaceflight opportunities to the public, it will also allow researchers to fly experiments into space and a microgravity environment. It is based on the earlier Delta Clipper (DC-X).

The vehicle consists of a pressurized crew capsule (carrying the astronauts and experiments) which sits atop the propulsion module. Flights will take place from Blue Origin’s own launch site, which is already operating in West Texas. New Shepard will take-off vertically and the crew capsule will land softly under a parachute at the launch site. A scaled-down “Goddard” test vehicle has been flown.

Blue Origin New Shepard Goddard test vehicle. (Image: Blue Origin/NASA.)

Blue Origin New Shepard Goddard test vehicle. (Image: Blue Origin/NASA.)

This article only highlights five companies. There are more, including Virgin Galactic, Armadillo and a host of others in the minds and planning stages of enterprising people around the world.

The Economist is wrong because space is the next logical step for humanity. Exploring and settling new frontiers is what we’ve been doing for the past two million years. There’s no reason why we would now suddenly come to a screeching halt.

Edgar Mitchell, lunar module pilot of Apollo 14, sums it best:

The current period is of necessity, just a temporary lull in space activity.  We must all get fully involved in due course. The eventual survival of our civilization depends upon becoming an extra-terrestrial universal civilization. In the most stark words it is “do or die.” So, let’s get the economy going again, get all the major nations involved, develop the necessary means for interplanetary and interstellar travel, and go for it.

Posted in Space Policy, The Space Movement | 4 Comments »

The End of the Space Age?

Monday, July 4th, 2011

The cover story of the July 2 edition of The Economist loudly proclaims “The End of the Space Age.”

National Space Society Director Al Globus responds below (opinions expressed are his own and not necessarily those of the National Space Society).

The last space shuttle flight is on the launch pad, so we can expect any number of gloom and doom articles like The Economist’s  “The end of the Space Age.” These articles mourn the end of the socialist model of human space flight: government developed, owned, and operated vehicles taking government employees into space.  “The end of the Space Age” is particularly odd because it starts with a long list of vigorous commercial space activities, which together have a combined budget perhaps 10 times greater than NASA’s.  In other words, “No bucks, no Buck Rogers” doesn’t mean the bucks have to come from government.  In fact, there are a lot more bucks if they don’t.

The piece goes on to claim that we will henceforth be limited to Low Earth Orbit (LEO).  Apparently The Economist didn’t notice that the Russians have already sold one seat for a private mission around the Moon and, if they can sell one more, the mission is a go. Furthermore, as these articles frequently do, The Economist ignores the rover on Mars, the orbiters circling Mars, Moon and Mercury, the mission to Pluto, and the private robotic race to the Moon spawned by the Google Lunar X Prize. It’s as if Lewis and Clarke’s primary objective, creating detailed maps, is somehow irrelevant if done comprehensively and accurately by robots at relatively low cost.

What is really happening is that space development is moving beyond national prestige projects towards delivering direct value to people on the ground.  NASA, and The Economist, have not yet realized this. Most of NASA’s budget, the human space flight program and space science, has almost no direct benefit to the people who pay for it. The parts that do directly benefit taxpayers, Earth observation, solar science, protection from asteroids, and aeronautics, are woefully underfunded by comparison. Worse, space solar power receives no funding at all, even though successful development would solve major energy and environmental problems, not to mention put those who do it in the global energy driver’s seat. After all, what would make a nation stronger, a man on Mars for a few months or a terawatt of space solar power? What would protect us better, knowledge of quasars or knowing exactly which asteroids are likely to hit us and how to deflect them? The cost to government of developing space solar power and finding asteroids is a fraction of heavily funded but significantly less useful activities.

The Economist bemoans the fact that the International Space Station (ISS) is due to be deorbited in 2020.  They fail to mention that until a year or two ago it was scheduled to be deorbtied in 2014, and that by 2020 there may well be a private alternative. Bigelow Aerospace has two small space stations in orbit and is developing a full sized facility as you read this. The market: national human space flight programs for a tiny, tiny fraction of the $100 billion cost of the ISS. However, to succeed, Bigelow Aerospace needs a commercial launch vehicle for the crews. Fortunately, President Obama has proposed and funded a program to do exactly that:  develop private commercial human space launch.

I mourn the end of the shuttle. The shuttle is, by far, the most capable space vehicle ever built. However, the coming government fiscal tsunami will severely reduce all government programs, including NASA. We need to refocus NASA’s brilliant space program on developing industry and commerce. Our model should be space communications, which pays lots of taxes today, not the Apollo program, which has been dead for 40 years. Ask yourself, what will make us stronger and more space-capable: putting small numbers of government employees on big rocks far away? Or developing space solar power, space tourism, micro-g materials, and asteroid mining?

– Al Globus

Posted in Al Globus, Space Policy, The Space Movement | 3 Comments »

ISDC 2011 Keynote Speech - Jeff Greason - A Settlement Strategy for NASA

Wednesday, June 1st, 2011

Jeff Greason’s speech at the Awards Dinner at the 2011 NSS International Space Development Conference is being widely regarded as a major statement in the field of space policy. A video of the speech is now on the NSS website.

Greason is President of XCOR Aerospace and was a member of the Augustine Committee (Review of U.S. Human Space Flight Plans Committee) established by the White House in 2009. He began his talk by defining the differences between goals, strategies, objectives, and tactics.

“Between having a goal and having tactics, you have to have a strategy — and we don’t. Until we have one, we’re going to continue to flail.”

We do have a goal, says Greason. Although it’s not widely recognized, it can be found in nearly every major policy document and commission report over the last 25 years. The Augustine Report, for example, “concludes that the ultimate goal of human exploration is to chart a path for human expansion in to the solar system.” But none of them quite dare use the “S” word, even though that’s what they are really talking about — [whisper] settlement. The reason they don’t dare use the word is they are not sure we can do it.

This point is illustrated in one of Greason’s slides about the lack of a strategy for settlement:

Absense of strategy.

Absence of strategy.

Greason then laid out — nondogmatically, as one of many possible approaches — his ideas for a possible strategy. “The purpose of the initial human outpost is not to be there and look cool. It is not to unfurl flags and take pretty pictures, and it is not the holy grail of science, although we will get all of those things. It’s to make gas.” Basically, each destination has the resources to make propellant to help reach the next destination — a strategy he calls “Planet Hopping.”

Greason includes the following elements of a strategy for space settlement:

* The key is to realize that cost per human being in space MUST constantly decrease in order to succeed.

* Each capability we add MUST be designed from the outset to transition to a private sector supported activity. Only in that way can we add new capabilities with constant budget.

* Each step forward must make maximum use of in-situ resources, both to lower cost of operations and to provide low cost resources to support next steps. This allows for exponential growth over time rather than linear.

Greason also pointed out that we have to realize that NASA’s budget is not going to go up. However, he added “It’s my belief that if we pursued this the right way, we actually could afford to do this, all the way out to the first landings on Mars, for the kind of budget NASA’s getting now.”

But Greason warned that if we continue on the current path, without a strategy, “we’re going to build a big rocket, and then we’re going to hope a space program shows up to fly on it. And in my opinion, that strategy — the strategy of default — is going to result in the end of the NASA human spaceflight program.”

Posted in ISDC, National Space Society, Space Policy, Space Settlement, The Space Movement | 2 Comments »

Robert Bigelow of Bigelow Aerospace to Be Keynote Speaker at NSS International Space Development Conference

Monday, May 2nd, 2011

Robert Bigelow, Founder and President of Bigelow Aerospace, will be the Honored Keynote Speaker at the 2011 International Space Development Conference (ISDC) Governors’ Dinner and Gala to be held in the Davidson Center at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama on May 20. Mr. Bigelow founded Bigelow Aerospace, which is noted for developing and launching the first inflatable space habitats. At the Gala, Mr. Bigelow will also receive the National Space Society’s Space Pioneer Award for Space Development for his efforts to advance the technology of space habitats and for the significance they may play in the development of space tourism, industry and exploration.

Bigelow Aerospace took over the Transhab space habitat development program after NASA scrapped it, and effectively reinvented it — developing and successfully launching its prototypes, Genesis I and II, in 2006 and 2007. Limitations on payload volume during launch are one of the major constraints of the NewSpace industry, and the Company’s inflatable concept solves that problem for most in-space habitat applications. The lower launch volume and mass per volume of the inflatables, combined with now imminent launch cost reductions, should soon allow delivery of paying passengers to safe and functional orbiting destinations, such as the Bigelow station planned for operation by 2015.

The intended expansion of the space station market to private and international customers by Bigelow Aerospace has already had a transformative effect on how the future of space development is likely to unfold. In addition, inflatable modules will also serve their originally-intended purpose, as crew habitats for human operations beyond Low Earth Orbit.

ISDC Conference Chairman and Vice President of HAL5 Bart Leahy said, “Mr. Bigelow’s selection as Keynote Speaker for the Gala ties in perfectly with this year’s ISDC theme, ‘From the Ground Up.’ Efficient, low-cost space habitation is crucial to almost all future human space travel and Bigelow Aerospace is currently the industry leader for that technology.”

Prior to founding Bigelow Aerospace, Robert T. Bigelow was well-known for being a general contractor and developer in the Southwestern U.S. and for owning the Best Suites of America hotel chain. He has made a significant personal investment in the founding and on-going funding of the Company and is dedicated to “revolutionizing space commerce via the development of affordable, reliable, and robust expandable space habitats.”

The International Space Development Conference is the annual conference of the National Space Society. ISDC 2011, hosted by the Huntsville, Alabama L5 Society (HAL5), will take place at the Von Braun Center in Huntsville, Alabama, May 18-23, 2011. HAL5, a local chapter of the National Space Society (NSS), has made significant contributions toward developing cheap access to space technology, space education, and public outreach since it was formed in 1983. NSS and HAL5 believe that by educating and working with the public, the government, and private industry, we can speed up the date when routine, safe, and affordable space travel is available to anyone who wants to go.

Posted in Event, ISDC, National Space Society, The Space Movement | No Comments »

Keeping Tabs on the International Space Development Conference May 18-22

Monday, April 4th, 2011

The NSS International Space Development Conference (ISDC) will be this May 18-22 at the Von Braun Center and Embassy Suites Hotel and Spa in Huntsville, Alabama. You can keep tabs on announcements regarding the ISDC via the following social media outlets:

Twitter (short messages and updates)
http://twitter.com/ISDC

Facebook (longer messages and pictures)
http://www.facebook.com/NSSISDC

LinkedIn (broadcasting to a professional audience)
http://www.linkedin.com/groups/2011-International-Space-Development-Conference-3844843?mostPopular=&gid=3844843

Cafepress.com (for merchandise sales)
http://www.cafepress.com/dd/53083292

And, of course, the main ISDC website:
http://isdc.nss.org/2011/

Posted in Event, ISDC, National Space Society, The Space Movement | No Comments »

Coming to Huntsville in May: NSS 2011 International Space Development Conference

Saturday, April 2nd, 2011

The 30th International Space Development Conference (ISDC), the annual gathering of the National Space Society (NSS), is coming to the Von Braun Center in Huntsville May 18-22, 2011. NSS and its local chapter, the Huntsville Alabama L5 Society (HAL5), are looking forward to hosting entrepreneurs, engineers, scientists, politicians, and private citizens who are interested in creating a spacefaring civilization “From the Ground Up,” which is the theme of the conference.

ISDC 2011 on The Space Show: ISDC 2011 Chair, Bart Leahy, and Business Track Chair, Cliff McMurray, were on The Space Show with David Livingston on March 22. They talked about ISDC 2011, space advocacy, space policy, and space networking. Click here to listen.

With all the changes and uncertainties in the space business, it would be nice to get some perspective, as well as some idea of what the future might hold. ISDC does just that. ISDC will cover the broad spectrum of space topics, including the current and future states of space policy, the proposed Space Launch System, the future of the International Space Station, military space activities, Earth and planetary sciences, and the Google Lunar X Prize. Other sessions will discuss space-based solar power, biotechnology, breakthrough science and technology, space settlement and colonization, living in space, education, advocacy, and outreach, economy and business, and space history…but that’s not all.

To address these challenging topics, our programming will feature panels and talks by professionals from across the industry, from NASA to commercial space to military space to the halls of Congress to the science community. Among these speakers will be international, national, and local experts, including:

  • Lori Garver, NASA Deputy Administrator
  • David Neyland, Director, Defense Advanced Research Projects Office (DARPA) Tactical Technology Office
  • George Nield, Associate Administrator of the Federal Aviation Administration’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation
  • Dennis Stone, Manager, Program Integration, Commercial Crew and Cargo Program, NASA
  • John Logsdon, Professor Emeritus of Political Science and International Affairs, George Washington University
  • Phil McAlister, Acting Director, Commercial Human Spaceflight, NASA HQ
  • Buzz Aldrin, Former Apollo 11 Astronaut, Author, and Founder, ShareSpace Foundation
  • Michael Griffin, UA Huntsville Eminent Scholar and former NASA Administrator
  • George Whitesides, CEO of Virgin Galactic
  • Michael Simpson, President, International Space University
  • Ken Money, President, National Space Society and former Canadian astronaut
  • Klaus Dannenberg, Deputy Executive Director, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics
  • Simon ‘Pete’ Worden, Director, NASA Ames Research Center
  • Robert Zubrin, Founder and President, Mars Society
  • Les Johnson, Deputy Manager, Advanced Concepts Office, NASA MSFC, and Author
  • Tim Pickens, Chief Propulsion Engineer and Commercial Space Advisor, Dynetics, and Team lead, Rocket City Space Pioneers
  • Deborah Barnhart, CEO, U.S. Space & Rocket Center

In addition to these luminaries, NSS will be presenting the Wernher Von Braun Award (http://www.nss.org/awards/vonbraun_award.html) to Japanese Hayabusa team for their work in developing a spacecraft to bring samples of asteroid material back to Earth. The award is given every other year and recognizes excellence in management of, and leadership for, a space-related project. Previous winners of the award include Burt Rutan, Steven W. Squyres, Donna Shirley, Robert C. Seamans, Jr., George Mueller, Max Hunter, and Dr. Ernst Stuhlinger. This year, we are privileged to have Curt Von Braun, an executive at Raytheon and nephew of Wernher von Braun, presenting the award on behalf of NSS.

This year’s ambitious agenda also will feature a trade show for civil, military, academic, and non-profit groups interested in space activities; a job fair hosted by Huntsville Space Professionals and Next Step in Space; and a book fair showcasing the latest in space-themed authors. All of these activities will be hosted in the VBC East Hall, while technical programming will occupy most of the North Hall.

Prior to ISDC proper, which begins on May 19, on May 18 the National Space Society will host the Space Investment Summit, an invitation-only event that educates space-minded entrepreneurs on the ins and outs of securing investors and doing business. Huntsville entrepreneur, “rocket man,” and Google Lunar X Prize team leader Tim Pickens will be the keynote speaker for this event.

Other opportunities for registered conference attendees include tours of Marshall Space Flight Center, the United Launch Alliance plant in Decatur, and the HudsonAlpha Institute for Biotechnology, and discounts at the U.S. Space & Rocket Center and Space Camp.

For more information on exhibiting or sponsoring, attending, or volunteering for ISDC 2011, visit the web site is www.isdc2011.org. Come learn how to make a spacefaring civilization grow “from the ground up!”

Posted in Event, ISDC, National Space Society, The Space Movement | No Comments »

Letter from the NSS Legislative Blitz

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

by Brian Cleaver

“I am definitely in.”

It was these four words that I had said to Rick Zucker, Executive Vice President of the National Space Society, on February 24, 2011, that gave me a very unique opportunity to directly impact the future of our country’s human space exploration program by bringing my thoughts and ideas on human space exploration directly to the heart of our country in Washington DC. The National Space Society, in the grassroots event known as the Legislative Blitz, visited Capitol Hill for a series of congressional meetings on Monday, February 28, 2011 and Tuesday, March 1, 2011. I was fortunate enough to be able to participate in a series of congressional meetings on that Monday.

With the National Space Society having the support of a group of organizations known as the Space Exploration Alliance, which includes Explore Mars, the Mars Society, Students for the Exploration and Development of Space, Federation of Galaxy Explorers, Space Generation Foundation, and numerous other notable organizations, the National Space Society had a very powerful message to deliver to our members of Congress which I was able to participate in sending. As a student studying International Relations at American University in Washington DC and as someone who has experience interning in the government, I can appreciate the uniqueness of this opportunity. I highly recommend that any student or other person get involved in participating in doing something they are passionate about – ensuring the success of our country’s space exploration program.

As a member and vice president of another space-related organization, Save NASA, I have a great deal of experience working on promoting the importance of human space exploration to our members of Congress by various means. Our organization was created shortly after President Obama announced changes to our country’s human space exploration program in February of 2010.

As a former student at Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach, Florida, I and other students who were a part of Save NASA at Embry-Riddle worked on promoting the importance of human space exploration to our members of Congress by organizing students at a Campus-Wide Presentation and by organizing what we named a Roadside Awareness Rally. We also created a petition that received 823 signatures from people across the United States and the world. Eventually, another student and I visited Capitol Hill on two occasions. We had a series of meetings with staffers from a variety of congressional offices to discuss how we feel that human space exploration can change our world like nothing else can and to discuss why we feel that human space exploration should be among the United States’ top priorities.

Nine months later, in February of 2011, as I was surfing the Internet, I coincidentally found out about the upcoming Legislative Blitz only five days before the first scheduled congressional meeting. While surprised at the convenient timing, at that point, I was really excited to hear that I would be able to get back to working on promoting the importance of space exploration to our members of Congress. I attended a meeting with my fellow “Blitzers” on Sunday, February 27, 2011. While there, I realized that I was in a room with very dedicated space enthusiasts who had flown across the United States to come to Washington DC to ensure the success of our country’s space exploration program.

The following day, we began the Legislative Blitz. The series of meetings I attended included meetings with the offices of well-known and very influential members of the House and Senate. In these meetings, I and other participants discussed the primary talking points outlined in the Space Exploration Alliance talking points document. These talking points emphasized the importance of launch capacity, utilizing the private sector, setting timelines and destinations, ensuring the continuation of researching and developing new technology, and ensuring that NASA’s long term mission of space exploration is sustained.

Coming from a group of students at Embry-Riddle who believe that going to the Moon and then onward to Mars is more beneficial than going to an asteroid and then Mars, I was given the opportunity to voice these personal views in these congressional meetings to people who have direct influence over our country’s space exploration program. I discussed my opinions by stating, among other things, how I believe that there are greater opportunities on the Moon due to it being closer to the Earth. I mentioned that going to the Moon opens up the opportunity for the establishment of a near Earth permanent lunar colony for scientific, economic and national security purposes. Furthermore, I was able to discuss how the Moon could lead the United States to utilizing an experimental energy source on the Moon known as Helium-3 that could potentially replace oil. I also was able to discuss our organization’s work and how students at Embry-Riddle, including myself, have played a role in ensuring the success of our country’s space exploration by influencing members of Congress.

Doubtlessly, by participating in the Blitz, I took part in an event that had an impact on our country’s space exploration program. A few weeks after the Legislative Blitz, I attended a NASA-related hearing and saw congressional staffers working at the hearing that I recognized from our meetings on the Hill during the Blitz. It is obvious that I had been a part of a series of very important meetings. Attending these meetings knowing that we can influence the direction of our country and our world was very unique and, overall, it was a lot of fun. The opportunity to attend congressional meetings is a great opportunity, and the opportunity to attend congressional meetings regarding something that a person is passionate about is an even greater opportunity. Without a doubt, joining the National Space Society for the 2011 Legislative Blitz was a tremendous opportunity which I recommend anyone who is passionate about space exploration take part in, and as the National Space Society has done in previous trips, I look forward to seeing our talking points play a tremendous influence in the direction of our country and our world.

Posted in National Space Society, Rick Zucker, Space Policy, The Space Movement | No Comments »

Popular Science Magazine: The Case for Populating the Universe

Saturday, March 12th, 2011

The March issue of Popular Science magazine provides a feature cover story titled “After Earth: The Case for Populating the Universe — and How We’ll Get There.”  The 11-page nicely-illustrated article covers a wide range of space exploration and development topics and includes mention of the National Space Society and several other space advocacy organizations. NSS CEO Mark Hopkins is quoted, as is the chairman of the NSS Space Settlement Advocacy Committee, Al Globus. The article is also available online.

The article concludes with two piquant quotes:

Gregory Benford, physics professor, NASA consultant, and science fiction author, points out that “We Americans think we are basically the Columbus of space, making big discoveries. But I’m afraid we might be the Leif Eriksson. We go, we try a few things, and then it largely gets forgotten.”

Marc Millis, a NASA propulsion physicist who also runs the Tau Zero Foundation, concludes that colonizing space “isn’t just about survival, it’s about thriving…. What [better] can we do that makes for an exciting future to live in? Something where when you wake up in the morning you’re glad to be alive and a human?”

Posted in Al Globus, Mark Hopkins, National Space Society, Space Settlement, The Space Movement | No Comments »

Legislative Blitz in Washington Feb. 27 - Mar. 1

Thursday, January 6th, 2011

From February 27–March 1, 2011, the National Space Society (NSS) and the Space Exploration Alliance (SEA) will be holding the annual Legislative Blitz in Washington, D.C. The 2011 Blitz comes at a crucial moment. In September 2010, Congress passed the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. It is now time for Congress to enact legislation that appropriates the required funding in compliance with the Authorization Act.

In the current economic climate, however, it is uncertain which path our nation’s leaders will now take. More than ever before, it is absolutely critical that the voices of the space advocacy community be heard in the debate over the future of our nation’s space program.

Come join space advocates from around the country to let Congress know that there is strong constituent support for an ambitious space program. Please REGISTER here for the Legislative Blitz. For more information, please contact Rick Zucker at rick.zucker@nss.org or 508-651-9936.

Posted in Event, National Space Society, Space Policy, The Space Movement | No Comments »

NSS Calls on Its Members and All Friends of Space to Phone Their Representatives Today!

Wednesday, September 15th, 2010

NSS has emphatically requested that the House of Representatives adopt the Senate version of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010.

The vote on this issue is now imminent!  

Please read the full NSS Press Release http://www.nss.org/Press-Release-Sept-10-2010-NASA-Authorization.pdf

You need to call your Congressman today if possible and let them know how you stand on this issue and what you would like them to do.

The exact schedule for the vote is not yet known.  We will post updates to the blog and the website as soon as further information is available.

Remember that telephone calls are usually taken by a staff member, not the member of Congress.  Ask to speak with the aide who handles the issue about which you wish to comment.  After identifying yourself, tell the aide you would like to leave a brief message, such as: “Please tell Representative (Name) that I support adopting the Senate version of the NASA Authorization Act of 2010 and request that he/she do so as well.”  You will also want to state reasons for your support of the bill. 

You can email them a copy of the NSS Press Release http://www.nss.org/Press-Release-Sept-10-2010-NASA-Authorization.pdf.    You may also request a written response to your telephone call.  You can follow up on any pending legislation at http://www.thomas.gov

Posted in Gary Barnhard, NASA, Space Policy, The Space Movement | No Comments »

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »