The Constellation program originated from Bush’s “Vision for Space Exploration” instigated in 2004. Send men to the Moon in 2020, build up some sort of permanent base up there and then head for Mars! That sounded cool alright.

Yesterday, the Obama administration announced a big and difficult decision within the budget proposal for fiscal year 2011. That is, the cancellation of the entire Constellation program. The sadest part is the billions of dollars that have been virtually flushed down the drain. In fact, 2.5 billion more dollars will have to be spent to close the program.

Norman R. Augustine, chairman of the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee, stated that the Constellation program was “highly unlikely to get humans to the International Space Station before its planned de-orbit.” Canceling the Constellation program will make more funds available to maintain the International Space Station in orbit.

Then what’s the plan for actually sending American astronauts in space? The Space Shuttle is retiring by the end of 2010. Make way for the commercial space race! NASA’s COTS (Commercial Orbital Transportation Serivices) program will seek to help the private sector develop sustainable space technologies, and will probably be expanded to cover manned space transportation systems.

As Will Whitehorn – President of Virgin Galactic – said in a commercial for SpaceShipTwo, “access to space really does matter for the future of mankind, and currently we only have fifty year-old space systems to get there, which are very expensive, and very environmentally damaging.” The Constellation Program wasn’t, in terms of propulsion systems and energetic efficiency, very innovative.

According a factsheet published yesterday on the White House’s official website, “the [Constellation] program was over budget, behind schedule, and lacking in innovation due to a failure to invest in critical new technologies.”

Obama is not planning on sinking the American aspiration to return to the moon altogether. The problem with the Constellation program was that it was meant to repeat the achievements of the Apollo program half a century later, without significantly developing sustainable systems that would actually end up benefiting the nation in a near or distant future. Obama’s plan is to shift the funds to develop new technologies, and re-boost areas such as robotic space exploration, science and Earth observations, lately underfunded because of the Constellation program.

“Imagine trips to Mars that take weeks instead of nearly a year; people fanning out across the inner solar system, exploring the Moon, asteroids and Mars nearly simultaneously in a steady stream of firsts… That is what the President’s plan for NASA will enable, once we develop the new capabilities to make it a reality,” stated NASA Administrator and ex-astronaut Charlie Bolden during yesterday’s press conference.

Obama is not proposing to cancel the Constellation program because of a lack of funds: NASA’s overall budget will see a six billion dollar increase over the five next years. In fact, while many today are lamenting this dramatic turn of direction NASA will take (if the bill makes its way through Congress), others rejoice the dawn of a new era. Bolden stated “today we are launching a bold and ambitious new space initiative to enable us to explore new worlds, develop more innovative technologies, foster new industries, increase our understanding of the earth, expand our presence in the solar system, and inspire the next-generation of explorers…”

I never actually thought against the Constellation program. After reading the news for the first time, I was outraged. Soon enough, I realized that I had never actually given a second thought on the matter. Perhaps I was excited to see past achievements re-enacted during my lifetime. The Apollo era has always fascinated me, but all I have been able to do is watch Ron Howard’s Apollo 13 countless times.

Here is a statement by one of space exploration’s most important pioneers:

“Today I wish to endorse strongly the President’s new direction for NASA. As an Apollo astronaut, I know the importance of always pushing new frontiers as we explore space. The truth is, that we have already been to the Moon – some 40 years ago. A near-term focus on lowering the cost of access to space and on developing key, cutting-edge technologies to take us further, faster, is just what our Nation needs to maintain its position as the leader in space exploration for the rest of this century. We need to be in this for the long haul, and this program will allow us to again be pushing the boundaries to achieve new and challenging things beyond Earth. I hope NASA will embrace this new direction as much as I do, and help us all continue to use space exploration to drive prosperity and innovation right here on Earth.

“I also believe the steps we will be taking following the President’s direction will best position NASA and other space agencies to send humans to Mars and other exciting destinations as quickly as possible. To do that, we will need to support many types of game-changing technologies NASA and its partners will be developing. Mars is the next frontier for humankind, and NASA will be leading the way there if we aggressively support the President’s plans.

“Finally, I am excited to think that the development of commercial capabilities to send humans into low earth orbit will likely result in so many more earthlings being able to experience the transformative power of spaceflight. I can personally attest to the fact that the experience results in a different perspective on life on Earth, and on our future as a species. I applaud the President for working to make this dream a reality.

Buzz Aldrin

Feb. 1, 2010

You have to admit, that is pretty convincing. I think this new plan has been very well thought out. Or maybe Bush’s plan wasn’t thought out at all in the first place.

There are millions of comments around the web criticizing the administration’s decision. Some of which arguing we should return to the moon as planned because the Apollo program generated 14 times more wealth than it cost by having pioneered the development of kitchen electronics and teflon frying pans. If you’re one of those who don’t agree with Buzz, I strongly recommend you read all the different statements by the various professionals out there and NASA’s official budget overview. I wasn’t convinced a few hours ago, since I am one of those crazy dudes who believe space exploration is essential to our survival on the long run. The new plans might not seem as inspiring as Bush’s “vision”, but they surely are more sustainable.

I guess I will have a long beard when man will at last set foot on the moon again. Unless he speaks Chinese.

Contact the author via email

___

Photo by Clara Molden

Anyway, enough rambling on about how bad recent sci-fi movies are. Today, I would like to write about an excellent movie that came out recently, “Moon”, directed by David Bowie’s son, Duncan Jones, and starring Sam Rockwell and Kevin Spacey. The movie is a British production and was released in July 2009.

The basic plot is as follows: In a near future (let’s say 2040-2050), the global energy crisis is solved by Lunar Industries, a company mining the moon and harvesting Helium3. Sam Bell is an employee of Lunar Industries on a 3 year contract on the hidden side of the moon. Due to a supposedly damaged satellite, any direct radio communication with earth is impossible, and Sam has to use a downlink via a satellite orbiting Jupiter, creating a very long delay. Sam is alone and isolated, and his only company is a robot called GERTY (voice by Kevin Spacey). With such little human contact and all of it indirect, he feels that three years is far too long to be so isolated; he knows he is beginning to hallucinate as the end of his contract nears. With two weeks to go, he gets into an accident at one of the mechanical harvesters and is rendered unconscious. Injured, he awakens back at the station in the infirmary, he assumes assisted by GERTY. GERTY tells him that a rescue team named Eliza will come to the station to clean up the aftermath of the accident. After his recuperation, he takes an unauthorized trip back to the broken harvester, where he makes an unexpected discovery. Because of his find, he begins to doubt his sanity, then his true identity, then the company and GERTY’s willingness to do what is best for him. Because of his resulting beliefs, his sole mission becomes to find a way to get back to Earth on his own.

I’m going to try to avoid spoilers in the following lines, but it would be best if you watched the movie before reading on, as writing about it with out revealing any details about the outcome of the plot is difficult. First of all I would like to remind everyone that this movie has been created with a ridiculously low budget of about 5 million $. A regular feature film in Hollywood gets about 10 times as much. Despite a low budget, the visuals are breathtaking: The interior, the CGI of the moon’s surface and base, the views of  the satellite orbiting the moon are all beautiful. The movie isn’t unworthy of comparison to 2001: Kubrick fans will immediately appreciate Duncan Jone’s use of classical music, and recognize the reference to HAL. GERTY is a beautifully rendered character in the movie and really helps creating suspense and tension in the film. However, you will see that his role is quite different at the end, and I guarantee that he will make you have an “awww” moment as the plot develops.

As interesting as GERTY is, the true centerpiece of the movie is Sam Rockwell himself. His performance is a tour de force, one of the best I’ve seen so far. He truly is in Sean Penn’s league (Dead Man Walking), just to name an example. His ability to have a dialogue with an actor that is not there (Sam1 is talking to Sam2, who is also played by Rockwell as well and therefore not present at the first take of a scene) is simply amazing. The fact that there actually is only one actor on the screen is almost unbelievable, and I’d be ready to accept any twin theory. His despair, disbelief as he discovers who he truly is, his degrading physical condition is beautifuly portrayed and brought onto the screen.

The scenario is well constructed, and at no time have I felt bored whatsoever. I do have a few remarks though. One of the things I didn’t like were the interfaces on the various screens. Seriously, if technology is sufficiently advanced to allow a permanent base on the moon, why use computers that beep at every letter they display? And why do they make spelling mistakes (you can see satTelite on one of the screens)? Also, the repetitive scenes with Sam’s hypothetical wife are  unnecessary: Too scarce to please any female members in the audience, too frequent to not disturb a geek’s enjoyment of the movie.
At last but not least, I do not like the fact that the moon’s 17% gravity (relative to Earth) isn’t replicated inside the base. Sure, they may have a technology allowing a 1G gravity to be artificially produced, but please mention it! On the other hand, the effects of the low gravity outside of the base are beautifully rendered, particularly in the particles flying out of the harvesters.

To conclude I would recommend this movie to almost anyone. The concepts tackled by Moon are wide ranging: Cloning, corporation policies, sustainable life on another celestial body, space travel, human interaction with artificial intelligence, just to name a few. The movie is poetic, scary, spectacular, suspenseful and smart all at the same time. And I can guarantee that you will hit the rewind button once you’ve reached the end, just to check on some details that you apparently missed.

Be sure to catch it in a cinema (although this might be too late and quite difficult, as it was only screened in independent theaters) or watch it in HD. The bluray is already out, and worth every cent.

Contact the author via email

Spaceflight was a the very heart of the news these last few months: During the summer, Apollo 11′s 50th birthday had been thoroughly celebrated, in October the last space tourist (before a long time) blasted off toward the ISS, the first prototype of the new American spaceship Ares had its first flight,  and meanwhile, the White House reviews NASA’s goals and budget for the years to come, as the Space Shuttles will be retiring next year. The LCROSS mission further increased spaceflight’s hype, due to its quite spectacular nature. People gathered around giants screens, camped out at night and amateur astronomers from around the world tried to catch a glimpse of the impact, which occurred on the moon’s southern hemisphere, in the Cabeus crater.  As crowds were disappointed – they cold not see anything through their telescopes, and only a very small white spot on the mission controller’s screens – geeks celebrated: The impact was spot-on, the data was intact, and sensors “worked better than expected”, according to NASA.

Yesterday, the first results of the data analysis were published. Good news: There is water on our satellite. “We’re unlocking the mysteries of our nearest neighbor and by extension the solar system. It turns out the moon harbors many secrets, and LCROSS has added a new layer to our understanding,” said Michael Wargo, chief lunar scientist at NASA Headquarters in Washington.
“We are ecstatic,” said Anthony Colaprete, LCROSS project scientist and principal investigator at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, Calif. “Multiple lines of evidence show water was present in both the high angle vapor plume and the ejecta curtain created by the LCROSS Centaur impact. The concentration and distribution of water and other substances requires further analysis, but it is safe to say Cabeus holds water.”

The team took the known near infrared spectral signatures of water and other materials and compared them to the spectra collected by the LCROSS near infrared spectrometer of the impact. “We were only able to match the spectra from LCROSS data when we inserted the spectra for water,” said Colaprete. “No other reasonable combination of other compounds that we tried matched the observations. The possibility of contamination from the Centaur also was ruled out.”
Additional confirmation came from an emission in the ultraviolet spectrum that was attributed to hydroxyl, one product from the break-up of water by sunlight. When atoms and molecules are excited, they release energy at specific wavelengths that are detected by the spectrometers. A similar process is used in neon signs. When electrified, a specific gas will produce a distinct color. The ultraviolet visible spectrometer detected hydroxyl signatures just after impact that are consistent with a water vapor cloud in sunlight.
Data from the other LCROSS instruments are being analyzed for additional clues about the state and distribution of the material at the impact site. The LCROSS science team along with colleagues are poring over the data to understand the entire impact event, from flash to crater, with the final goal being the understanding of the distribution of materials, and in particular volatiles, within the soil at the impact site. “The full understanding of the LCROSS data may take some time. The data is that rich,” said Colaprete. “Along with the water in Cabeus, there are hints of other intriguing substances. The permanently shadowed regions of the moon are truly cold traps, collecting and preserving material over billions of years.”

Water on the moon would greatly facilitate a hypothetical construction of a moon base, which was the plan laid out by the Bush administration in 2004. We’ll see about that, but meanwhile let’s enjoy the idea that maybe, one day, we’ll sip a glass of moon water while watching an earthrise. Also, good luck to Atlantis, which is scheduled to lift off tomorrow for the STS-129 mission, which will deliver spare parts to the ISS.

Visit NASA‘s website for more information

Contact the author via email