NASA conducted a workshop on the Global Exploration Roadmap, the plan for the human exploration of the moon, near Earth asteroids, and eventually Mars in San Diego, California on Nov. 14-16.
Kathy Laureni of NASA Headquarters and Roland Martinez of NASA's Johnson Spaceflight Center gave an audio presentation of the results of the workshop. There is an accompanying power point presentation.
What is the state of the roadmap as of the end of 2011?
As we've reported previously, the Future in Space Operations study group is still looking at two paths, Asteroids Next or Moon Next. However there seems to be a growing consensus that some kind of way-station at the L2 point where the Earth's and moon's gravity cancel one another out would be useful for sustained operations, either on the moon, toward asteroids, or both. This seems similar to the Nautilus-X concept that we have discussed previously.
What was revealed about the Asteroids Next path?
The participants are keenly aware of the fact that opportunities to visit near Earth asteroids are few and far between. If more of these asteroids were to be discovered, then the mission opportunities would increase. The idea of a prize competition for amateur astronomers to discover such asteroids was floated.
One of the other questions that have been raised, but not answered, is how astronauts will interact with asteroids? Will they directly explore them? Will they use tele-operated robots? Will they use a combination of the two? The notion that there should be robotic precursor missions to the target asteroids was also pretty much decided, in order to maximize the amount of science that could be done. Voyages to asteroids are good practice runs for deep space missions to Mars.
What about Moon next?
There is a growing realization that there are more opportunities for commercial participation on a lunar exploration program than on voyages to asteroids. In situ resource utilization is easier on the moon as well. The moon is accessible from Earth at will. The moon is a great test bed for sustained surface operations, basically learning how to live and work in space for the long term.
However trips to the lunar surface are still thought to be expensive. There was some discussion about how that cost could be mitigated, including the use of reusable landers and local resources, i.e. to create rocket fuel. There was also some discussion of using tele-operated robots from Earth or from the proposed L2 station.
What about the costs of all this?
Planners for deep space exploration are going to be keenly aware of cost issues. If something costs more than the participating governments are willing to pay it will not happen. Commercial and international participation will help to mitigate cost issues, however.
Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker. He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post , USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.
