Traveling through Space
By Pulsar | Thu 22nd May 2008
Following on from my last post about getting into space I wanted to discuss the other great problem for space exploration - traveling through space. The velocity at which we travel through space is possibly the biggest cause of the slow development of space exploration since Apollo. Sure we can get into space and travel to the moon in a couple of days but to get a manned flight anywhere else is almost impossible. Even Mars is a 6 month trip each way at best (a long time to be in a small metal tube without gravity or anything more than basic amenities) and due to orbits the mission would have to be extended to over 2 years waiting for a decent launch window on Mars for the return mission. For a mission to Saturn we are up to 7 years travel time each way!
There are incredible dangers involved in space travel and such long travel times mean a prolonged exposure to radiation that could be fatal once out of the protection of the Earth's magnetic field. Even on the Apollo missions the astronauts would be at grave risk if a strong solar flare occurred during a mission. The short duration of each trip was a key to creating favorable odds. There is also the problem of equipment failure, a risk which is greatly increased with extended travel times, and there is no where to go for repairs half way to Mars.
Given all this how much of NASA's budget is being put into finding a solution to this problem? Zero. This is an area of research that NASA simply must address and yet they continue to display worryingly short-sightedness. This is typified by the the fate of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) Project. The BPP Project was sponsored by NASA until from 1996 to 2002 during which time 8 research approaches were addressed and an important body of work was produced including all the journals listed here.
Following the implementation of the 2003 Federal Budget, however, all advanced propulsion research was canceled. Obviously no one wants NASA pouring their entire budget into advanced theories but the total spend over the 6 years on this project was $1.6 million. For comparison NASA's 2008 budget is $17.318 billion. Clearly the amount the BPP Project was costing was virtually insignificant compared to the vast sum of money NASA waste on fruitless exercises. Yet still there was - and continues to be - no room for a valuable project aimed solely at trying to solve the greatest problem in manned space exploration and who's annual budget amounts to less than 0.002% of NASA's total budget.
Now some of these ideas are not likely to produce results but if only one area of research they were looking at did it would make it all worthwhile and we all know that research breeds new ideas for more research. In my opinion the treatment of the BPP Project puts out a very bad message both internally and externally on the ambitions of the world's leading space exploration body. NASA need to start addressing more of what is important for the future and perhaps just as importantly start putting out the right messages to the public about what they stand for.
To sum up my feelings on this I'll quote a member's catchphrase on this website: "NASA Sucks".
Image Credit: NASA CD-98-76634 by Les Bossinas