Changes in Space Exploration, Goals and the Role of SpaceX Company
On February 6, SpaceX launched their new “FalconHeavy” Rocket from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. In a spectacular and very media-effective stunt they sent a “midnight-cherry-red' Tesla Roadster as test-payload on it’s way into deep space. The rocket has the ability to put more than 140,000 pounds of cargo into the lower earth orbit, much more than anyone has commercially requested them to do. That makes it by far the most powerful operational rocket in the world. And SpaceX is already developing an even more powerful one. The BFR, which will be more than 106 meter shigh and carry up to 550,000 pounds into Lower Earth Orbit. So why are they doing all this?
The space exploration goals of the United States are set by the US-government. And they have been changing drastically withevery new president. Under President Bill Clinton, exploration of space was not a main priority, at least if you go by the budget of NASA, which decreased during his presidency. However a lot of progress was made, and the construction of the International Space Station began. Under his leadership, the cooperation between the United States and Russia in space was enormously strengthened. Clinton saw his space policy as a political signal to manifest the beginning of a time of cooperation and the end of the Cold War. Early on in President Bushs presidency, NASA took a huge hit, when the Space Shuttle Columbia broke apart during re-entry into the atmosphere. As a response to the tragedy, as well as to regain public excitement over space, Bush ordered NASA to focus on putting humans back to the moon. 'Our third goal is to return to the moon by 2020. As the launching point for missions beyond'. They started the Constellation-Program and the developement of two new rockets, specifically designed for the purpose of sending humans back to the moon by the year 2020. It also meant that for a short period of time, once the space shuttle program is retired and all focus is on the Ares rockets, America would be dependent on the Russians to get their astronauts to the international spacestation. Relations between the two countries were good at the time and NASA expected this period to last about 4 years. But developement on the constellation programme took longer than expected. And ever since 2011, experts came to the conclusion that the moon project was lacking innovation and will need funding much higher than originally expected.
President Barack Obama then shifted NASA’s focus from the moon to the manned exploration of Mars. 'I just have to say pretty blundly here. We have been there before. Buzz has been there. There’s a lot more of space to explore'. The problem was that with the end of the space shuttle missions, as well as constellation, NASA had no way to get it’s astronauts intospace on its own. Five private companys were asked for proposals on spacecrafts. 'And in order to reach the Space Station wewill work with a growing array of private companies competing to make getting to space easier and more affordable.' Two companys, Boeing and SpaceX were then commisioned to develope one that could carry astronauts to the International Space Station. We might see those ships do their first missions in the next year or so, but it has cost NASA a lot to rely on the russians for such a long period of time. With NASAs new job being to focus on Mars. They consequently started developing a rocket that could be used for those missions - the SLS - Space Launch System. When finished, It will be the most powerful rocket in the world, exceeding the capabilities of the Heavy Falcon by SpaceX. And it has strong support from key members of Congress, because it brings a lot of jobs. However unlike the Heavy Falcon, the SLS willstill take a long time until it is ready. With it’s first unmanned test flight currently scheduled for December 2019. But with a new president sworn into office ,NASA is currently again in a period of changing plans. 'The directive I am signing today will refocus americas space program on human exploration and discovery. It marks an important step in returning american astronauts to the moon for the first time since 1972 for long term exploration. This time we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprint, we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to mars and perhaps some day to many worlds beyond.
The proposed NASA Budget revealed on February 12, 2018 shows that the Trump administration is already trying to free up money to support these costly plans. For example by closing the NASA educationoffice, cutting of funding for the International Space Station by 2025, as well as cancelling the WFIRST telescope Even though there are good reasons for NASA's reorientation by each incoming US president, it becomes extremely difficult for NASA tomeet the ever-changing demands. And so in the process of constantly changinggoals, a lot of tax payers money is lost on projects that never see the light of day.
And this is where Elon Musk comes into play. The stated goal of SpaceX is to reach Marsand even colonize the planet. In order to get the technology right and have the revenue to support these plans, SpaceX is drastically reducing the cost of rocketlaunches. Most significantly by propulsively landing their rockets and then re-using them on future missions. Their Falcon 9 Rocket starts at just 62 millions Dollars, which is a fraction compared to the Atlas V by ULA that starts at 109 million Dollars. But the real revolution might be the BFR system that they are currently working on. Consisting of a booster, a spacecraft Anda Tanker, the concept is designed to be completely reusable. So the booster transports the ship into orbit, then returns to the launch pad. With the help of a tanker, the spaceship can then be refueled several times in orbit. Which will give it enough propellant to goon a journey to Mars. Development of this is costing billions of dollars, and so it may seem like a risky approach, not knowing if anyone will pay for a trip to Mars. But the concept is also designed to replaceall previous tasks. From orbital launch of satellites, Earth-Moontransport, Mars missions or even the proposed usage for fast transport between continentson Earth.
In general, having one single system for these many possible applications allows for greater mass production, which in turn reduces costs. Perhaps more importantly though, the system would provide the flexibility to be assigned to NASA missions, no matter what the focus of the US administrations might be. And if SpaceX does achieve to bring costsdown, it will be hard to justify using the more expensive SLS. By this point all of this is very hypothetical, because it is easy to create a great looking concept - yet a lot of the technology is not figured out yet and we will have to see whether words turn into action.
