After demonstrating its fitness for unmanned space journeys with the success of the Mars Pathfinder mission, NASA learned on Tuesday how it must whip itself into shape to transport humans to the arid planet and elsewhere in the galaxy in the next century.
The lesson was delivered by the many hands of the National Research Council, which released the Advanced Technology for Human Support in Space report prescribing a course of action for meeting budgetary constraints and development goals. The NRC formed a commission of researchers from universities, private industry, and nonacademic research organizations more than a year ago at the behest of NASA to study the agency's advanced technology plans to see how best to proceed in an era of reduced government funding for research and development.
"Our job wasn't to tell how much money to spend, but how to prioritize what they do spend," said Dr. Joe Kerwin, president of Krug Life Sciences and one of the NRC panelists.
The success of Pathfinder, coupled with last summer's discovery of some form of life in a Martian rock, has whet the appetites of many to dig for more clues about life elsewhere in the universe. What may eventually follow after a decade of unmanned Mars exploration is the controversial prospect of landing humans there, says Kerwin. NASA already has plans on the drawing board for such advanced missions as the International Space Station as well as other exploratory missions, each with different paths for attaining the goal.
The NRC report is intended to map out a straighter, long-term course for the agency, which allots less than US$20 million each year for advanced research projects. Given these budgetary constraints, the panel recommended that NASA narrow its focus on key areas including the development of more efficient on-board life support systems to safely manage wastes, control the atmosphere, and provide food and water for long-term missions. For example, a round-trip mission to Mars is estimated to take nearly two years. The craft for this mission will need to dispose of solid waste, produce oxygen, clean out carbon dioxide, and perform other functions with little or no need for service from an auxiliary craft.
In addition, the council suggests that NASA become more aggressive in keeping up with technologies developing within private industry - in much the way it has done with its Discovery missions. Founded with the credo of "faster, cheaper, better," Discovery missions are collaborations of private industry and universities with the support of NASA - all with an eye toward keeping the space program running, but preventing the agency from spinning its research and development wheels on technologies that are better developed by private industry.
"Clearly, there are technologies that NASA shouldn't develop. How many people are interested in developing lightweight batteries? Many, and private industry will take care of this," said Kerwin.
Some of what NASA should be doing includes shopping around for technologies that will make the next spacesuit which will protect humans from the dusty atmosphere of Mars and withstand long periods in space without refurbishing. The current space-shuttle suit, which weighs 300 to 400 pounds, must be broken down for transport and brought back to Earth with each mission. The same suit would need a lot of maintenance to be used aboard the Space Station, where astronauts will spend many months in space only to hand over their suits to those sent up to replace them. "You have to keep down the costs of sending shuttles just to replace the suits," said Kerwin.
The work to loft humans into space - while controversial - is worth it, say space experts who believe that there are sophisticated experiments that cannot be controlled remotely in the way NASA is sending signals to Sojourner. But more than anything else, space missions have become the new diplomacy. Bereft of wars and opposing alliances - at least among the players of the Cold War - space exploration is a peaceful way to bring everyone together, says Steven Aftergood, senior research analyst with the Federation for American Scientists.
Aftergood - who once applied to be an astronaut just to receive a letter from NASA thanking him for his interest in the space program - believes the risks involved are simply part of any advanced mission. "The cosmonauts and astronauts know they may die when they go up in space," he said.
"But," he continued, "you could also say it's one of the noblest aspects of humankind to channel our energies and advanced technologies in this direction."
Kerwin, a veteran of a one-month stint aboard SkyLab in 1973, believes in manned flight; it puts people in touch with things currently intangible. Noting the "hundreds of thousands" of hits on NASA's Web site in the wake of the pictures from Sojourner's travels on the Mars surface, Kerwin sees a Kiplingesque purpose for sending humans. "Man's eyes are never filled," he said.
Science is preparing us for landing people on Mars, Kerwin says. "And what if we do find life, won't you want to know if it's DNA-based, carbon-based, or something else. And if it's something else, won't you want to know what its religion is?"
