http://www.popularmechanics.com/science/air_space/4334800.html#

It appears we have no direction, no funding, no man-rated vehicle, and no solutions.  In this era of huge budget deficits, solving these problems will be no easy feat.

bogenj:

It appears we have no direction, no funding, no man-rated vehicle, and no solutions.  In this era of huge budget deficits, solving these problems will be no easy feat.

I agree with you bogenj. They have done fairly well up till now with the Shuttle Program, but with that ending due to age, there seems to be no clear goal and certainly no support to accomplish one. I do believe there has to be a way to include the private sector a lot more and break down the many barriers that NASA has put into place.

Throwing a lot more money may not be the solution. The need to have the proper structure in place to use those dollars wisely. I have read where there have been many ideas on how to replace the shuttle program that weren't even considered. Makes a person wonder if NASA has built up a kingdom where they feel they are the only smart ones in space-flight.

It doesn't matter. Humans are going into space, they will go from other countries and maybe for other reasons but for good or ill they will go.

America has blown it leadership in the quest of manned spaceflight.  Instead we have squandered our fortunes in idiotic ways that are not subject to discussion here. 

Perhaps we are closer, in a historical sense, to the Vikings than the Spanish after all.

L

With 13 digit deficits facing us for the foreseeable future, I don't see much hope for the future of space exploration in this country.  The public is more interested in the next tweet from their favorite celebrity, and the government is hamstrung by bureaucracy and special interests.  It will public opinion, though, that eventually destroys the program.  Too few people care.

zachsdad:

I don't see much hope for the future of space exploration in this country

Terry,

There is some hope for space exploration, just not the kind you are currently thinking about.

At some point in the near future we will be exploring a segment of space that is empty and void of "celestial" bodies, where "dark matter" abounds and intermingles with tendrils of opaqueness thought to be the possible "beginning of the end". A vastness never before seen or measured, where the formula's of time, gravity and energy have no meaning.

Right smack between our politicians ears. 

If I were king, with 20/20 hindsight...

Ten years ago I would have developed a "cheap dumb disposable rocket" for getting astronauts or large payloads to and from Earth orbit.  This should have been done along with the Space Shuttle Program.  Yes, it would have cost more money then.  But we will pay the price of inaction in a few years - other countries will have to transport our astronauts to and from space.

But I'm not king and this is now.  What do we do?

I would finish the ISS, and focus on operations and doing good space research.  It cost a fortune to build.  Let's milk it for all it's worth, and not deorbit it until it has reached it's operational lifetime.

I personally do not support the use of resources to get man back to the Moon or go to Mars AT THIS TIME.  I have been a live-long supporter of astronomy, space science, and humans in space.  I would save these journeys for the next generation.  Those heavenly bodies will be there for us when we're ready.

I would fund R&D into next-generation rocket propulsion technology (e.g. magnetoplasma rocket - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_specific_impulse_magnetoplasma_rocket).  Until cost per pound of payload is reduced by several orders of magnitude, viable long-duration missions outside of low Earth orbit are very expensive.

Continue efforts to privatize the space industry.  The govt will always be needed to fund basic science missions, but can get out of commercial applications.  Spend big bucks on robotic missions to the Moon, asteroids, and planets.  Also, find the NEO's, and fund R&D into asteroid/comet impact mitigation strategies.

Man-rate ASAP the Delta IV Heavy or SpaceX's Falcon 9 or Orbital Sciences Corporations' Taurus or Minotaur rockets, or combination thereof.  Does Atlas V have a role?  What ever happened to the Shuttle-C (same tank and SRB's, orbiter replaced with a big cargo pod and disposable main engines) discussed years ago?  Richard Branson (yeah, that's a stretch)?  Europe (they've talked about manned vehicles since before Ariane was built - e.g. Hermes)? As for Ares, well, we can't fund everything else I mention if we fund Ares I and Ares V.  Again, manned missions should focus on the ISS for at least the next ten years.

Can we invite the Chinese to participate in ISS missions?  Contracts with member partners limit things, but maybe the U.S. could sell one of it's slots.  Besides being a political cooperation gesture, why not let them learn from the best?

The above are just a few of my ideas.  I'm no industry expert, just a citizen.  As per forum rules, I've tried to keep politics out of the discussion.  I support allocation of public money for space, but to also make the environment favorable for private companies.  This forum is not the place to discuss allocation of funds to non-astronomical Earth-bound activities.  I think it is appropriate to discuss how to allocate a set amount of funds.

Our program will only fail if we let it. We may be a minority, but so were the African Americans in the 60s. That didn't stop them from being loud as all hell and getting what they deserved, in that case, their freedom and respect. Remember Andy Dufrain (sp?) in the Shawshank Redemption? He wanted that library, so we wrote the state week after week until they caved. That what we need to be doing. Sending letters to every elected representative from the lowest of the low to the president himself...every.week, until we get some action. Do it by email, do it by snailmail, do it by telephone, do it by twitter, facebook, myspace, forums, blogs, news reports, newspapers, yell it in the streets! But, if we fail to show our support and let it die, it lies on us. No one else. So, who's ready to make themselves heard on this issue?

Nice launch of Ares I-X today.  Eerie since it was the first time we've seen a single SRB of that size flying since Challenger,  It would seem that the directional and torsional (deactivated one second out of every ten for data purposes) control systems worked! 

 

Yes I think that rocket has great potential.