Access
This article is part of Nature's premium content.
Published online 6 August 2009 | Nature | doi:10.1038/news.2009.805
News
Presidential panel narrows NASA's options
Augustine commission outlines seven key scenarios for space exploration.
The presidential commission deliberating on NASA's future is closing in on seven possible scenarios that could shape US space operations for the coming decade. The options include running the International Space Station (ISS) for an extra five years, or even eschewing activities in low-Earth orbit and on the Moon in favour of a concerted push to send astronauts to Mars.
To read this story in full you will need to login or make a payment (see right).
Comments
Reader comments are usually moderated after posting. If you find something offensive or inappropriate, you can speed this process by clicking 'Report this comment' (or, if that doesn't work for you, email webadmin@nature.com). For more controversial topics, we reserve the right to moderate before comments are published.
Whew. I actually felt a tad frightened at this article at first. Then I read the bit at the end about Steven Squyres. Seems like a man with good taste for adventure, and science. I agree. A 10 billion dollar/yr investment in the future of humanity seems like a damn good one to me as well.
Attach a couple or three huge boosters to International Space Station Freedom FUBAR Space Hole One Alpha. Stuff it with NASA managers. Brake it into the sun. Space is not shielded by a yard thickness of lead equivalent of atmosphere. ~95% Skylab, Mir, and ISS FUBAR residents got radiation cataracts, the last during a historic solar minimum. Venture outside the magnetosphere? Deep space asstronaughts will fry.
We, the Mankind need, like our forefathers, to explore the new frontiers and educate ourself. We have done it before, when we migrated from Africa, and under 75 000 years populated the Earth. Like our forefathers, we need to believe in hope, we have to belive in the future. A positive future for humanity requires human expansion to space. Check out the inspiring documentary, The Mars Underground by Robert Zubrin; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3REZZWeWcU Explore the planet Mars; http://www.exploremarsnow.org/