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The Planetary Society Blog
By Emily Lakdawalla
To the Moon, But Not to Stay
Sep. 1, 2006 | 13:12 PDT | 20:12 UTC
by Louis Friedman
Monday, in my first blog, I said that this was an experiment for me, and I would judge by the reaction to it. Well, I've received lots of reaction: pretty much falling neatly into two categories -- very positive and very negative. The only ones that annoyed me were the ones that completely missed the point and simplistically labeled me as "science" vs. "exploration," or "manned" vs. "unmanned." (I use the old sexist terms in quotes when wanting to graphically refer to the old debate.)
We (and particularly me) support human space exploration and particularly support the Vision for Space Exploration as first proposed by the Bush Administration.
My major concern is where the Vision for Space Exploration will be on January 20, 2009. What sustains it beyond a Presidential term? Griffin, to his credit, recognizes this problem in at least one way; and is rushing to get the CEV built as quickly as possible -- sadly, not as quickly as he really would like.
By the way: congratulations to Lockheed Martin for their big win with the CEV contract.
But, getting the rocket built -- as important as that is in allowing us to free ourselves from the shuttle -- is not enough to sustain the program. There has to be a compelling political reason to go to the Moon and Mars. White House Science Advisor John Marburger asserts that nationalistic economic and security interests of the United States could provide it -- maybe for some things in space, but certainly not for human space flight. No economic or security advantage has ever been found for human space flight. (Just ask the Department of Defense and Council for Economic Advisors if you don't believe that).
Remember Space Station Freedom? -- even it could not be sustained until it became an International Space Station.
The Moon will, starting next year, be an international destination. Actually -- starting tomorrow night!
SMART-1, the European low thrust technology lunar orbiter, is scheduled to impact the Moon tomorrow night (Saturday), U.S. west coast time (approximately 5:42 am Greenwich Mean Time, Sunday). There is some chance it could hit the Moon one orbit (5 hours) earlier at 00:37 GMT if its orbit is low enough and just happens to pass over a high lunar mountain. SMART-1 has been a very successful mission, and congratulations are due to the European Space Agency which is having an incredible run of successful (knock on wood) planetary missions: SMART-1, Mars Express, Venus Express, and Rosetta.
SMART-1 at the MoonWhen a spacecraft orbits around the Moon, it is doomed by the law of gravity. Tugs from the Sun, the Earth, and irregularities in the Moon itself, all disturb its orbit. Sooner or later, any lunar orbiter will impact the Moon surface unless it has enough fuel left to escape the lunar gravity. By the time SMART-1 had settled into its operational orbit around the Moon in March 2005, its exeprimental ion engine had only 7 kilograms of propellant left (bottled xenon gas) out of the 84 kilograms available at launch. This fuel allowed orbital boosts, but was not sufficient for a Moon escape. Credit: ESA -- AOES Medialab |
Some are hoping to see the impact or some evidence of a plume from SMART-1's plunge. Amateurs will try, but most likely it will be visible only with large telescopes. Nonetheless, celebrating spacecraft encounters is a tradition, and I think I will bring a bottle of wine down to The Planetary Society where we will maintain a connection to the European Space Operations Center and to project scientist Bernard Foing who has led much of this mission. We'll keep the blog updated with news of about the impact.
The Moon is a stepping stone into the solar system. China, Japan, and India will go there in the next couple of years as they prepare to follow Russia, the U.S., and Europe with robotic missions into the solar system. The U.S., and now it appears Russia, will go there first with robots and then with humans -- as they prepare to send humans to Mars. Will we become bogged down on the Moon for decades as we did in Earth orbit -- or will we (as the Vision for Space Exploration, as well as the European Space Agency's Aurora roadmap clearly states) go there as a stepping stone to Mars? I clearly hope so -- I want to know if humankind is or will be a multi-planet species.
We congratulate the SMART-1 team on a successful mission. And, looking further out, we congratulate the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter team for concluding its aerobraking into Martian orbit this week and the Mars Exploration Rover team who just passed their second winter solstice on the surface of the planet.
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