Month: September 2015

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Obama’s New Space Frontier

Image by jurvetson
From Cape Canaveral yesterday, President Obama toured the SpaceX facilities with Falcon 9 erect on the pad, and then joined Buzz Aldrin and Elon Musk to present a new vision for NASA.

Elon Musk summarizes: “Today, the President will articulate an ambitious and exciting new strategy that will alter our destiny as a species. I believe this address could be as critical as President Kennedy’s 1962 speech at Rice University. For the initial time because Apollo, our country will have a plan for space exploration that inspires and excites all who appear to the stars. Even much more essential, it will work.”

Here is the complete text of President Obama’s speech and some excerpts:

“Few folks — present organization excluded — can claim the experience of Buzz and Bill and Charlie when it comes to space exploration. I have to say that handful of men and women are as singularly unimpressed by Air Force One particular as these 3. (Laughter.) Confident, it is comfortable, but it can’t even reach low Earth orbit. And that naturally is in striking contrast to the Falcon 9 rocket we just saw on the launch pad, which will be tested for the very 1st time in the coming weeks.

The space race inspired a generation of scientists and innovators, which includes, I’m positive, numerous of you. It’s contributed to immeasurable technological advances that have improved our wellness and properly-being, from satellite navigation to water purification, from aerospace manufacturing to health-related imaging. Even though, I have to say, throughout a meeting right ahead of I came out on stage somebody mentioned, you know, it is a lot more than just Tang — and I had to point out I truly really like Tang. (Laughter.)

For me, the space plan has always captured an crucial element of what it indicates to be an American — reaching for new heights, stretching beyond what previously did not look achievable. And so, as President, I believe that space exploration is not a luxury, it’s not an afterthought in America’s quest for a brighter future — it is an essential part of that quest.

So these days, I’d like to talk about the next chapter in this story.

Let me begin by becoming really clear: I am one hundred % committed to the mission of NASA and its future. (Applause.) Since broadening our capabilities in space will continue to serve our society in ways that we can scarcely envision. Because exploration will once much more inspire wonder in a new generation — sparking passions and launching careers. And simply because, ultimately, if we fail to press forward in the pursuit of discovery, we are ceding our future and we are ceding that vital element of the American character.

NASA, from the commence, several months ago when I issued my budget, was a single of the places where we didn’t just keep a freeze but we actually increased funding by billion. By undertaking that we will ramp up robotic exploration of the solar system, including a probe of the Sun’s atmosphere new scouting missions to Mars and other destinations and an advanced telescope to stick to Hubble, enabling us to peer deeper into the universe than ever before.

We will improve Earth-primarily based observation to enhance our understanding of our climate and our world — science that will garner tangible rewards, helping us to defend our environment for future generations.

And we will extend the life of the International Space Station likely by far more than 5 years, although in fact making use of it for its intended goal: conducting sophisticated study that can support enhance the day-to-day lives of people right here on Earth, as nicely as testing and improving upon our capabilities in space. This includes technologies like a lot more effective life support systems that will aid decrease the expense of future missions. And in order to reach the space station, we will operate with a growing array of private organizations competing to make acquiring to space easier and far more affordable. (Applause.)

Now, I recognize that some have stated it is unfeasible or unwise to operate with the private sector in this way. I disagree. The truth is, NASA has always relied on private market to help design and develop the vehicles that carry astronauts to space, from the Mercury capsule that carried John Glenn into orbit nearly 50 years ago, to the space shuttle Discovery at the moment orbiting overhead. By purchasing the solutions of space transportation — rather than the automobiles themselves — we can continue to guarantee rigorous safety standards are met. But we will also accelerate the pace of innovations as organizations — from young startups to established leaders — compete to design and develop and launch new indicates of carrying men and women and supplies out of our atmosphere.

Subsequent, we will invest a lot more than billion to conduct analysis on an sophisticated “heavy lift rocket” — a vehicle to effectively send into orbit the crew capsules, propulsion systems, and huge quantities of supplies necessary to reach deep space. In establishing this new car, we will not only appear at revising or modifying older models we want to look at new designs, new supplies, new technologies that will transform not just where we can go but what we can do when we get there. And we will finalize a rocket design no later than 2015 and then start to construct it. (Applause.)

So the point is what we’re searching for is not just to continue on the same path — we want to leap into the future we want major breakthroughs a transformative agenda for NASA. (Applause.)

The bottom line is no one is a lot more committed to manned space flight, to human exploration of space than I am. (Applause.) But we’ve got to do it in a smart way, and we can not just preserve on doing the identical old things that we’ve been carrying out and pondering that somehow is going to get us to exactly where we want to go.

Some have said, for instance, that this plan offers up our leadership in space by failing to produce plans inside NASA to attain low Earth orbit, instead of relying on businesses and other nations. But we will truly reach space more quickly and a lot more often beneath this new plan, in ways that will help us increase our technological capacity and reduce our expenses, which are each essential for the lengthy-term sustainability of space flight. In truth, by means of our strategy, we’ll be sending numerous far more astronauts to space more than the subsequent decade. (Applause.)

There are also these who criticized our decision to end parts of Constellation as one particular that will hinder space exploration beyond low Earth orbit. But it is precisely by investing in groundbreaking study and revolutionary firms that we will have the possible to quickly transform our capabilities — even as we create on the crucial perform already completed, by means of projects like Orion, for future missions. And as opposed to the prior program, we are setting a course with specific and achievable milestones.

Early in the next decade, a set of crewed flights will test and prove the systems required for exploration beyond low Earth orbit. (Applause.) And by 2025, we count on new spacecraft developed for extended journeys to allow us to commence the initial-ever crewed missions beyond the Moon into deep space. (Applause.) So we’ll begin — we’ll start by sending astronauts to an asteroid for the very first time in history. (Applause.) By the mid-2030s, I believe we can send humans to orbit Mars and return them safely to Earth. And a landing on Mars will comply with. And I count on to be about to see it. (Applause.)

But I want to repeat — I want to repeat this: Critical to deep space exploration will be the development of breakthrough propulsion systems and other sophisticated technologies. So I’m challenging NASA to break via these barriers. And we’ll give you the sources to break by way of these barriers. And I know you will, with ingenuity and intensity, because that’s what you have always carried out. (Applause.)

So this is the subsequent chapter that we can create together here at NASA. We will companion with market. We will invest in cutting-edge analysis and technology. We will set far-reaching milestones and provide the sources to reach those milestones. And step by step, we will push the boundaries not only of exactly where we can go but what we can do.

Fifty years right after the creation of NASA, our objective is no longer just a location to attain. Our goal is the capacity for men and women to work and understand and operate and reside safely beyond the Earth for extended periods of time, ultimately in techniques that are much more sustainable and even indefinite. And in fulfilling this task, we will not only extend humanity’s attain in space — we will strengthen America’s leadership right here on Earth.

Now, I’ll close by saying this. I know that some Americans have asked a question that’s particularly apt on Tax Day: Why commit income on NASA at all? Why commit cash solving troubles in space when we don’t lack for issues to solve here on the ground? And certainly our nation is still reeling from the worst financial turmoil we’ve known in generations. We have huge structural deficits that have to be closed in the coming years.

But you and I know this is a false choice. We have to repair our economy. We need to close our deficits. But for pennies on the dollar, the space program has fueled jobs and entire industries. For pennies on the dollar, the space program has enhanced our lives, advanced our society, strengthened our economy, and inspired generations of Americans. And I have no doubt that NASA can continue to fulfill this role. (Applause.) But that is why — but I want to say clearly to those of you who operate for NASA, but to the whole community that has been so supportive of the space system in this area: That is precisely why it’s so vital that we pursue a new course and that we revitalize NASA and its mission — not just with dollars, but with clear aims and a larger goal.

Now, little much more than 40 years ago, astronauts descended the nine-rung ladder of the lunar module referred to as Eagle, and allowed their feet to touch the dusty surface of the Earth’s only Moon. This was the culmination of a daring and perilous gambit — of an endeavor that pushed the boundaries of our understanding, of our technological prowess, of our really capacity as human beings to solve issues. It wasn’t just the greatest achievement in NASA’s history — it was one particular of the greatest achievements in human history.

And the query for us now is whether that was the starting of something or the finish of some thing. I select to think it was only the beginning.”