The View from the West

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

NASA finally dreaming the right dream

By: James Cameron

Posted: 02/8/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

What do rockets burn for fuel? Money. Money that is contributed by working families who have mortgages and children who need braces. And why do the American people support our efforts in space? Because they still believe, to some extent or another, in that shining dream of exploring other worlds. So it could be said that rockets really run on dreams.

The exploration of space is the grandest adventure challenging the human race. As a filmmaker, I have celebrated this greatest of dreams in my movies and documentaries, and I remain as passionate about the discoveries ahead as I was when I was a kid. So it was with some trepidation I waited for the NASA budget to be unveiled this week. I was concerned that amid the nation's fiscal crises, space exploration would fall off the priority list. But the NASA budget reveals a pathway to a bright future of exploration. It simply reflects the deep changes and hard decisions necessary to accomplish that goal.

Last year, U.S. President Barack Obama instructed the Augustine commission to report on the likely prognosis for NASA's exploration activities. After months of study, the conclusions the panel released in October were gloomy. The Constellation program, designed to put humans back on the moon by 2020, could not possibly succeed within that time frame or budgeted amount, it reported. In response, the president and NASA have crafted a bold plan that truly makes possible this nation's dreams for space. Their plan calls for the full embrace of commercial solutions for transporting astronauts to low Earth orbit after the space shuttle is retired this year. This frees NASA to do what it does best: deep space exploration, both robotic and human. By selecting commercial solutions for transportation to the International Space Station, NASA is empowering American free enterprise to do what it does best: develop technology quickly and efficiently in a competitive environment.

As Peter Diamandis, chairman of the nonprofit X Prize Foundation, wrote this week: "The U.S. government doesn't build your computers, nor do you fly aboard a U.S. government-owned and operated airline. Private industry routinely takes technologies pioneered by the government and turns them into cheap, reliable and robust industries." When the shuttle is finally retired after about three decades of service, the United States will be dependent on the Russian Soyuz to get our astronauts to the International Space Station, at a cost of $50 million per person. But under the new NASA plan, private industry will take over this capability within a few years, much more quickly than Constellation would have, and at a competitive price.

The money saved will be plowed into research and development of robotic explorers that will act as precursors and technology demonstrators, paving the way for human exploration of the moon, asteroids and Mars. Additional funding has been committed to the development of advanced propulsion technology, which can bring down the cost of space flight. And the space station's lifespan will be extended several years, which in turn will increase the science yield and satisfy our international partners. This co-operative international effort is important as a model for how future large-scale missions will be organized and funded. In addition, money is being made available to both Earth and planetary science, which can help us understand climate change on our own world and the processes at work on some of the other worlds in our solar system. I applaud President Obama's bold decision for NASA to focus on building a space exploration program that can drive innovation and provide inspiration for the world. This is the path that can make our dreams in space a reality.

James Cameron, the writer and director of Avatar and Titanic, served on the NASA Advisory Council from 2003 to 2005.

-- Special to The Washington Post

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition February 8, 2010 A12

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