Privatization of space, NASA and the future

Should prevail over the more bureaucratic, slow and privatization of space to run Government sponsored programmes? This was the topic of conversation today at the Online Think Tank and an individual very wise in our dialogues said:

If the space retains the ability to be privatized, there could be even more trouble brewing. I am not opposed to privatizing the space race.
Yes but the Governments of the world, and many of their leaders are rulers who seek the ultimate powers, so privatization of space seem very viable, considering the other issues? Free market solves the problems; Governments, well, they create them. Have you ever run a business?
If the Government waits until everything is perfect for doing something, then it will never happen, so where are we now, unacceptable, space takes risks. Risk is not bad but hesitation, procrastination, bureaucracy, blame games, legal strangle holds, well they're wrong. NASA has too many people politically correct in its operations and I side with Burt Rutan on this theme, is absolutely correct.
NASA should have funding, a lot of it, but the free enterprise is much more efficient, that is why the Government contracts with free enterprise to get things done, because not only can without the free market mechanism. NASA will suffer losses of shuttles, as these birds are now very old. These losses are acceptable and is 3 times less than they expected when they chose to build these shuttles, the real problem is the media and feeble-minded humans we are voting in Office to lead, they have no vision, no lack of persistence and intellects.
The forward progression takes risks, thereby minimizing the risk and go anyway. Let the politicians to do their job and let the "human plus" Superstar of humanity and nature explorers to make them. We need forward progression to win-is worth the risk.
NASA needs an update. The UN needs an update, The U.s. needs an update and the human race is now ready for the update! Competition is good for getting to efforts and NASA needs some. Let them compete, just like our training needs some competition now. Weakness is not a human characteristic, the weak are not our ancestors, the weak, dead before procreation, those here today have ancestry due to evolutionary truth of natural selection and survival of the fittest. NASA should be in the boat, is the strategy that will make Riverside afloat.
Only the media and the public can kill NASA, but if people are behind them, the power is behind them, then the money is behind them, if they can run. Wow sounds like the person posing the question may have beeen read some of the excellent Ben Bova "Sci Fi novels" and met him once at the Observatory in Tucson Columbia University biosphere II for an interview, should have been there, would have liked.

Space travel-science or fiction?

There are those who deny that Neil Armstrong walked on the Moon and maintain that the whole story was a government conspiracy. The idea that man might actually detach from our cradle of atmosphere and gravity was fiction like higher. Still a dreamer has made it a reality. What's not to believe about space travel? There will be a time when such a thing is doable?
If interstellar travel requires travel at light speed, the situation is not promising. The biggest barriers against such trips are g-forces and time. G-force is the force exerted on your body when subjected to high accelerations. Accelerate the speed of light would have to be done gradually and body would be ripped apart. It would take about 2 months and get only half the speed of light! This explains the necessity of inertial dampers, the cosmic shock created by writers of Star Trek. Inertial dampers cancel somehow the strength to respond to the accelerating force. While this solves the problem for writers, there is none of these tools in the real world of physics.
That brings us to the problem of time in space travel. Theoretically, two things happen when objects traveling at the speed of light. First, the weather becomes relative and "slow down" for moving objects. A journey of ten years on a craft star corresponds to Earth 25,000 years-do any communication impossible. In addition to this, get heavier objects travelling faster. When approaching the speed of light become infinitely heavy, why only massless objects, like waves, can travel at that speed.
Therefore, space travel at the speed of light or faster is probably not feasible; However, space travel could still become a reality. Imagine that being a microscopic mite on a flat piece of paper. The world seems to be flat; and indeed, all trials on your immediate environment would lead to that conclusion. If the world was flat, the fastest way to get the position of a point at the opposite end of the page would be a straight line. However, if the page was to bend, and you could drill a hole through the page, you should find a shortcut. This is the idea behind wormholes. Unfortunately, geometric equations Show wormholes to be incredibly unstable.
Before they could be used as vital bridges to new star systems or galaxies, one would have to find a way to keep them by pinching off the moment a speck of matter entered the Gorge. Wormholes are still our greatest hope for space travel. While wormholes are still only hypothetical (there is experimental evidence for them), are great fun and theoretical solutions of Einstein's equations. Not surprisingly, are a topic of interest among scientists and writers of science fiction in the same way.

Space tourism: Fact or fiction?

Space tourist Gregory Olsen and the crew took off from the ISS twelfth Launchpad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in their Soyuz TMA-7 about the 1 October 11:55 CEST. Olsen, who paid 20 million dollars to be a "spaceflight participant" as he calls it, joins a group of tourists in space: Dennis Tito became the first passenger pays (20 million dollars) in April 2001 and Mark Shuttleworth was the second (20 million dollars) in April 2002.
Space tourism is here and not going anywhere but up. In an article published by Aviation Week in 2000, Norman Augustine, former CEO, Lockhead Martin, predicted that the space tourism would become the main business of space. In 1997 the United States survey "National Leisure Travel Monitor" include questions about space tourism for the first time. Of 1,500 Americans surveyed, 42% said that they would be interested in flying on a cruise ship of space and would be willing to spend on average $ 10,800 for travel.
For the industry succeed, however, private enterprise will need to take the reigns from Russia and transform the space tourism company in a deal, rather than a government program. Unfortunately, the laws governing space travel and use of outer space were legislated through international treaties in the 1960s and 1970s and were focused mainly on government operations. Of course, when these treaties were adopted, Government space program were the only game in town. Not to mention that the cold war was in full swing. The attitude of "space race" favoured the complete control of the Government on space operations that soaked any need to address the rights of private enterprise. This lack of vision is and will continue to complicate the future of commercial space tourism, unless changes are made.
Current laws dictate that Member States are responsible for any outdoor space activities by public bodies or private companies. For example, if a private company in Japan launches a rocket that explodes above Alaska and causes loss of life, the Japanese Government would be responsible in addition to the company. Given this configuration, a nation can prohibit commercial space and all related activities to mitigate the risk, or alternatively can enact laws that certain standards of quality and safety to help reduce their exposure to liability.
The December 23, 2004, President Bush signed into law the commercial space launch amendments Act. This Act advances the development of commercial spaceflight industry emerging and designates the Transportation Department and FAA as agencies responsible for regulating private human spaceflight.
But if every country does its part to promote the industry, agree the quilt patch resulting national regulations will result in totally different levels of quality and safety standards. We saw this maritime sector where cheap-flag-States allow ships and crews to drop well below reasonable standards of security. Not the safest regime for those travelling in space.
The most appropriate solution would be to create an international treaty that creates a standardization equal favouring greater transparency and reliability for enterprise private space tourism or any other commercial activities in outer space. The principles of such a treaty could then be adopted in national law, thus making each country responsible for monitoring private companies under his control and enforce uniform rules.
But so far, has not hindered the necessity of standardizing those seeking their first commercial flight in outer space. In fact, there is already a waiting list. Sir Richard Branson, billionaire founder of airline Virgin Atlantic, formed the Virgin Galactic LLC, which will start launching commercial passengers into space sometime in 2008 by the American soil. The going rate for a place aboard Virgin Galactic suborbital spaceship is $ 200,000. You can secure your home today with a deposit of $ 20,000.
Will Whitehorn, President of Virgin Galactic, was quoted by SPACE.com stating that, "we have a significant level of deposits now ... almost 10 million dollars worth ... I'm sure we would have sold at least the first couple of years by the time that you start to fly. "

Buying property in outer space?

Want to buy an acre on the Moon? Perhaps a beautiful Carpathian Mountains overlooking the famous Crater Copernicus? You're lucky. Dennis Hope firm Lunar Embassy, extraterrestrial real estate, is selling a one-acre parcels for only $ 19.99. And should you splurge and become the proud owner of some early Lunar real estate, then, I'd like to sell a piece of the Brooklyn Bridge.

No matter that Mr. hope he never set foot on the lunar surface. The Lunar Embassy site, existing space law serve only to prohibit Nations to take over the Moon, Mars and other bodies and agencies, leaving individuals free to claim legal ownership on a first come, first-served basis. But no load wagons-up quite yet.

The 1967 Outer Space Treaty (OST), described by some as the "Magna Carta" of space law, is the main document governing the activities of outer space. He is best known for "the Commons" concept that turns into a giant space of Commons for the benefit of all mankind. Much like the common areas of homeowners and condominium associations, outer space can be "used" by all mankind. But for property rights, article II of the OST prohibits national appropriation of outer space, including the Moon and other celestial bodies, of use, employment, or otherwise.

In a society of common law, if a country cannot claim sovereignty over outer space or a celestial body, then it is impossible for that country itself to confer rights owned by outer space to a private person or enterprise. As a matter of principle, a private individual or undertaking cannot do what it cannot do that belongs to the country.

A conflict arises, however, when "use" begins to look and feel like ownership-the purchase of property, with the intent of the property. Take President Bush's initiative to build a Moon base to serve as a platform for future missions to Mars. The United States will obviously choose the best location on the moon base to build and occupy this position on the basis of first come, first-served basis. No other country or private enterprise will have access to land under the operational base for as long as it is. Although the United States cannot claim legal ownership to the land below the base, some will question if their "use" is really a de facto territorial claim. When a nation operates a facility in a particular location for an extended period of time, the end result is indistinguishable from territorial sovereignty.

If a private company to build a permanent housing project on the Moon, the same challenge could be made that their "use" is also a de facto territorial claim to the land below. But if the houses were designed to move the position by position, such as a mobile home, so the challenge would have less credibility. The mobile homes would be treated as personal property, such as a car or boat, instead of real estate, that typically means ownership.

Office building or condominium unit in free space and allowing these devices orbit Earth would also lessen the likelihood of a de facto territorial claim. The private company responsible for their construction would still retain ownership over the units, but as all objects launched into outer space, the nation would maintain the registry legal jurisdiction under article VIII of the OST. For example, if the country of registration for each unit was in the United States, the laws of the United States would preside over each unit and its occupants.

The private enterprise could fund the project in advance by selling spaces for companies and individuals. The inhabitants would keep title to their living space and labour (much like holding the title of a mobile home) and pay a monthly fee for maintenance and support of life. It goes without saying that the negotiability of such units would depend on a reliable means to tug the occupants from the ground and on a regular basis.

Once established, however, the list of potential buyers may include pharmaceutical companies, producers, technology, Casino and timeshare magnates even lenders seeking to various Nations registry that have favourable tax laws. Imagine a tax haven in outer space. Many banks "offshore" and asset protection companies would be clamoring for Office space.

The opportunity to make money in outer space are certainly real and should begin to evolve in the not too distant future. But until the real estate, popular adage "location, location, location," incorporates jargon space as lure orbit track, picturesque craters and oceans without water, keep your $ 19.99 firmly in hand.

Converge on a space program for the 21st century

The 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey, that depicted a future in which the 1960s peace of advance into space continued, has, so far, remained only a fantasy. Commercial spaceplane flights to orbital rotating space hotels, settlements on the moon, and human missions to the outer planets, as well as utilization of solar power collected in space and mining the moon or asteroids for materials to be used on Earth, are still distant visions many decades away. Or are they? Could we be nearing a time of rapid advances into space?

It has now been four decades since Neil Armstrong's "one small step for a man" onto the moon during the Apollo 11 mission and many feel our advance into space has stalled. But consider other historical achievements of great magnitude. One comparison is settlement of the American West. Thomas Jefferson predicted that it would take a thousand generations to settle the West, and four decades after the Lewis & Clark Corps of Discovery expedition that was initiated by Jefferson, that still seemed a reasonable prediction. Even in the 1840s the West was considered by many to be distant and dangerous, and was largely the domain of the native peoples. Yes, there were settlements and farms along the Mississippi River and the lower reaches of the Missouri River, but only a few forts and trading posts were further up the Missouri, and the number of "mountain men" and exploratory expeditions into the deep interior was low. Within another 20 years, however, that situation changed dramatically, and by 1890 the U.S. Census Bureau declared the West settled, only five generations after Jefferson. The rapid changes were enabled by the convergence of three factors: vision, motivation, and means.

Without a broadly-shared vision, efforts are unfocused and may be conflicting. Without widely-felt motivation, efforts are tepid and ineffective. Without the appropriate means, efforts are stunted and stillborn. So, if any one of these factors is missing, an achievement will not occur. The means can be further divided into critical technologies, supporting infrastructure, and appropriate agreements, which may involve legislation and regulation (to establish boundaries and provide suitable stability) and treaties (where international considerations are important).

Though it happened much more quickly than Jefferson had expected, as settlement of the West shows, there can be a considerable lag from an initial event indicating the potential for a major achievement until the key factors converge to enable the achievement to occur. For settlement of the West, this was about 60 years after Lewis & Clark. A more recent example is the rise of aviation, where dramatic increases in commercial aviation occurred in the late 1950s, about 55 years after the Wright brothers ' first flight. The lag is a critical time when a vision gains support, the motivation to reach for the vision becomes broadly felt, and the means required to achieve the vision are developed. When these factors are sufficiently mature at the same time (i.e., when they converge), the rate of change becomes exponential. For settlement of the West, convergence occurred in the 1860s, when a vision of the United States spanning the continent became common, the motivation to migrate (related to increasing immigration from Europe and the ending of the Civil War) and the need for new sources of raw materials (to support increasing industrialization) reached critical levels, and the expansion of the railroads and the development of new technologies-from the steel plow and other agricultural equipment to the telegraph and canning of food-provided the means. Establishing the boundaries of the U.S. with Canada and Mexico and passage of the Homestead Act were also important. Once these factors converged, westward migration increased from tens of thousands to millions of people. For aviation in the 1950s, the vision of increased interconnection between nations became widely shared, motivated by the need for improved diplomacy between nations (following World War II) and a desire to see the world (for individuals). The means included the infrastructure of airport facilities and air traffic control systems, the technology of jet engines and advanced aeronautics, and legislation such as the Federal Aviation Act and international agreements. The resulting increases in comfort, safety, convenience and speed, along with declining costs, enabled increasing millions of people to fly to distant destinations.

What does this indicate regarding space? We are currently at that pre-transcontinental railroad, pre-jet engine, pre-convergence stage of development, so major advancement and change seems to be a long way off. But recent developments-from the X-Prize competitions and the formation of Virgin Galactic (which will soon begin taking tourists to the edge of space) to broad-based exploration of the solar system by numerous countries (during the current Year of the Solar System and beyond) and technological innovations that will aid space travel-show that advances are occurring. The next ten years are a critical period and by using this understanding of convergence to focus our efforts, we can shorten the transition period to the exponential phase of space development, and hasten reaping the benefits of advancing into space.

The vision of 2001: A Space Odyssey could be realized, but establishing such a vision is not really a goal. And, as others have pointed out, "a destination is not a goal" either. The goal, for publicly-funded efforts, should be to address public concerns of today (as Apollo addressed concerns of the 1960s), and we need a vision for space development that clearly does that. At a time of budget deficits, it is important for the vision to also be fiscally prudent and to have interim steps that also address public concerns. For these reasons, rather than develop a "grand vision" and then try to convince the public that it is important, first considering what the public is concerned about and then identifying which concerns space activities might help address would be a better approach. Devising a program of space activities after doing these steps would likely lead to a space program that is somewhat different from what we currently have (though not necessarily drastically so), but it would also be much more relevant and would therefore have a greater chance of being successfully completed.

We are on the verge of a great transition regarding space activities, as convergence of vision, motivation, and means leads to exponential advances. Our choices will determine our success in negotiating the transitions not just in space, but also with all of the challenges of the 21st century. But we are still in need of a vision for space that addresses those challenges. How we may develop such a vision is the subject of the next article in this series.

Experience the Apollo mission to the Meteor Crater in Arizona

Did you know that the Apollo mission astronauts took their first Moon walk right here in Northern Arizona? Buzz Aldrin, Neil Armstrong and other astronauts trained for the landing at Meteor Crater in Arizona, located between Flagstaff and Winslow-40.

At Meteor Crater, you can not only see the massive crater itself, but to learn all about the space program interactive visitor centre of the Park. Boasts the largest collection of relics and artifacts related to the solar system. There is much to learn and much to see in this attraction of world class space exploration.

Training for the Apollo space mission

A group of astronauts have been born in January 1963, Flagstaff, Arizona. From there, they visited a number of sites in the area where it was believed that the land resembled that of the moon. These sites are Sunset Crater, parts of the Grand Canyon and the Barringer Meteorite crater, also known as Meteor Crater.

The Barringer crater was chosen for the wider training due to its resemblance to the surface of the moon with its many craters of various dimensions. Under the hot sun of the desert, the astronauts practiced soil and rock samples collected from the rim of the canyon, using specialized tools on the moon. The astronauts continued to train here until mid-1970.

Outer space at the visitor centre experience

The Meteor Crater Visitor Center, you'll find the Interactive Discovery Center, which includes 24 shows only comprising two interactive computer screens that show the outer limits of the known universe using high-tech graphics. Display cover asteroids, planets, solar system, meteorites, the Canyon Diablo meteorite that has influenced the Meteor crater and the Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 hit Jupiter.

The Center also has information about "near earth objects." These are things sail through space at an incredible speed that scientists believe that Earth might cause concern. Scientists are studying these objects and their trajectories in order to prepare for future collisions.

There is an actual Apollo test capsule in the courtyard of the Center, so you can see how astronauts were cramped quarters. It's hard to believe that they could have traveled to the moon into something that small. There's also the astronaut Wall of Fame, which walks you through the history of the space program.

And don't forget the meteorite. Ever touched something from space? At Meteor Crater, is possible. An original piece of the meteorite is exposed in the Park's visitor centre. You can touch it, but don't try to raise it-mainly consists of iron and weighs approximately 1,400 pounds.

The shop also has ice-astronaut, patch, toys, games and science kits. It is an excellent one-stop shop for kids who like, science and outer space. In addition to meteor and space related goods, also have a wide variety of things related to the American Southwest, Route 66, Native American cultures and history in Arizona.

The biggest hole in the ground that you never

While you're there, be sure to see the crater! Is a gigantic hole in the ground 550 meters deep and 3.9 miles around. You can hike the rim, which is about 150 feet above the desert floor and look down into the crater in one of its faces. There is also a viewing area inside the air-conditioned visitor center if it becomes too hot for you. Glasses allow you to see the land where the astronauts walked and there's also an astronaut cardboard cut-out to give you an idea of how massive the scale.

Meteor Crater has the best space exploration information National Center. Is an excellent experience for Science lovers of any age.

External walls made of space colony of bacteria to produce oxygen

You can create a space colony in which the outer walls of buildings are covered with special bacteria between two external sheets of carbon nanotubes? Let me explain to you the idea. We are genetically modify and create bacteria that grows on buildings in Cologne, then another layer of carbon tubes is placed above the bacteria alive. Exterior walls of the space colony would have contained bacteria to produce your oxygen equipment necessary.

This bacteria will eat or moon dust, or carbon dioxide on the surface of Mars. The bacteria produce oxygen after eating CO2 emissions. The oxygen will be collected and forced to provide oxygen for humans living in space form or Colony. Bacteria can also be placed in the giant bacteria colonies enclosed in something like giant solar cell panels and this could provide all the necessary oxygen for space colony.

Too bad for budget cuts to the NASA Astrobiology, as this would be a perfect project for their effects. How big a lot of dust to the moon would need to be put between the walls to bacteria? Well that depends on how much oxygen to produce genetically modified bacteria, as well as if you decide to use multiple layers of moon dust to protect the colony against solar flares of solar radiation. All this into consideration in 2006.