NASA Just Lost Buzz Aldrin on SLS and The #JourneyToMars
Buzz Aldrin says NASA is going about Mars exploration the wrong way, Ars Technica
“In his remarks, Aldrin said NASA should change the approach it has had in place since the 1960s, that of designing and managing development of its own rockets. He took direct aim at the SLS vehicle, which he reminded listeners was based on 1970s technology and the space shuttle rather than more modern concepts. “It competes with the private sector,” Aldrin said. “I thought most of us were in the process of learning that the government shouldn’t do that.”
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Buzz’s statement is accurate but from how he described his interests, he may not understand where NASA has gone wrong. Its unfortunate that astronauts, who frequently have so little depth of understanding of how the space program works, are often the only people anyone listens to these days. it was only in the earliest days of the program, mainly in the early 1960s, that NASA built its own spacecraft and rockets. it happened at both MSFC and the Space Task Group, which became MSC, now JSC. The NASA engineers would build the first vehicle in their own shops as a way of having a better understanding of what was required to do the job. then they would select a contractor to build a series of the vehicles.
Since that time, NASA’s role has been restricted to establishing the design requirements, and even that was done usually with contractors completing a series of design studies. Constellation, owing to some really poor NASA management, tried to bypass this process and got into trouble with too large and too heavy a capsule, which really did not have bona fide requirements, and too weak a rocket that could not carry the designed capsule.
The real reason that Buzz’s statement is accurate is because an Apollo style flags and footprints mission is not the right approach. and Orion, and the illustrations they are showing of the trans-Mars vehicle, is a flags and footprints approach to Mars travel. It is unlikely that NASA will ever get the support or funding to build this approach, but even if they did, what would NASA do after the first mission? there was only one Apollo 8.
I think Buzz’s concern, like Bolden’s, really does not address the situation. I think the Apollo management, at the end of the 1960s, understood the issues and what a workable, sustainable approach would require, which was why they went first with a Shuttle, and then with a Station. They knew they could not afford another Apollo, and they knew another Apollo would lead to nothing once the immediate goal was achieved. If NASA does not build a long-term, sustainable infrastructure, then they are simply wasting time, money and their breath. which is why no one believes we are on a path to Mars.
While for immediate political considerations, they might continue to receive some funding, but if NASA and its supporters cannot transcend their plans beyond flags and footprints mission ideas, then Congress and the President might just as well pull the plug on NASA, because it will never achieve any future goals.
Old news, though the Ars piece was a little surprising. Eric Berger is on a roll, I must say.
No kidding. I hope he has a long run at Ars.
*Berger
Thanks.
Perhaps losing Buzz will be a Walter Cronkite moment for many, with more people seeing NASA is bogged down in SLS / Orion, heading no where slowly.
Perhaps. But I don’t think that it will budge the programs’ political supporters one inch.
A lot of times Buzz just loves media attention. But in this case, he’s focusing on the policy and technical details, and getting them exactly right. Way to go Buzz!
He sees the success of the way SpaceX is going and understands the implications. NASA doesn’t, or refuses to for fear that the pork politicians will abandon it.
NASA or the Porkonauts in the Senate and House?
Has NASA posted a notional Mars mission showing the required hardware with estimated cost, weight, power, duration, and so on, so people can sanity check the feasibility of this??
Go on, guess.
NASA’s answer: #JourneyToMars plus pretty pictures!
Unfortunately, not what you’re asking for.