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The Flexible Path To Space
Feb. 8th, 2010 04:45 pmI've rather mercilessly criticized Rand Simberg's politics before, and probably will again. However, his views on space exploration and the appropriateness of the Obama vision are right on. Rand has a piece up on Popular Mechanics where he explains and supports the "Flexible Path" program that Obama is proposing.
Basically, "flexible path" is developing a series of technologies that will allow us to go from exploring space to exploiting space. These are:
1) Reliable Earth-to-orbit transport. Here, Obama encourages private enterprise, which will hopefully lead to multiple types of rockets. Thus, if (as will probably happen) one type of rocket is grounded for safety reasons, we have other options.
2) Orbital refueling. This is critical, as launching a ship empty means a lighter ship. That's not just in terms of fuel - the tanks and associated hardware can also be lighter.
3) Lower costs. Lower costs means we fly more, and more types of missions become feasible.
The important fact that all of these prongs recognize is that from Earth orbit, you are halfway to anywhere else in the solar system. That's actually a literal statement - over half the total energy expended to get a pound of material to, say, Mars, is the energy expended to get it to Earth orbit.
It's disappointing not to have a specific date and destination, but if the date and destination aren't feasible, then a flexible plan is needed.
Basically, "flexible path" is developing a series of technologies that will allow us to go from exploring space to exploiting space. These are:
1) Reliable Earth-to-orbit transport. Here, Obama encourages private enterprise, which will hopefully lead to multiple types of rockets. Thus, if (as will probably happen) one type of rocket is grounded for safety reasons, we have other options.
2) Orbital refueling. This is critical, as launching a ship empty means a lighter ship. That's not just in terms of fuel - the tanks and associated hardware can also be lighter.
3) Lower costs. Lower costs means we fly more, and more types of missions become feasible.
The important fact that all of these prongs recognize is that from Earth orbit, you are halfway to anywhere else in the solar system. That's actually a literal statement - over half the total energy expended to get a pound of material to, say, Mars, is the energy expended to get it to Earth orbit.
It's disappointing not to have a specific date and destination, but if the date and destination aren't feasible, then a flexible plan is needed.
