Happy birthday NASA! What's next? - PeachParts Mercedes-Benz Forum

peragro · #1 10-09-2007, 01:11 PM

The Space Economy - NASA 50th Anniversary Lecture Series - NASA Administrator Michael Griffin
STATUS REPORT
Date Released: Monday, September 17, 2007
Source: NASA HQ

17 September 2007
Thank you for coming today.
We've gathered to kick off this lecture series commemorating NASA's upcoming 50th birthday. But we're celebrating more than what NASA has done and the benefits that have followed; we're celebrating who we are, and who we can be, as a people.
NASA opens new frontiers and creates new opportunities, and because of that is a critical driver of innovation. We don't just create new jobs, we create entirely new markets and possibilities for economic growth that didn't previously exist. This is the emerging Space Economy, an economy that is transforming our lives here on Earth in ways that are not yet fully understood or appreciated. It is not an economy in space. Not yet. But space activities create products and markets that provide benefits right here on Earth, benefits that have arisen from our efforts to explore, understand, and utilize this new medium.
In its last Space Report, in November 2006, the U.S. Space Foundation estimated the Space Economy at $180 B in 2005, with over 60% of that figure coming from commercial goods and services. This growing economy affects just about every aspect of how we live, work, and play, and other emerging new markets are just around the corner. It enables satellite communications including radio and television, telemedicine, point-to-point GPS navigation, weather and climate monitoring, and space-based national security assets. It also includes the nascent space tourism industry and the development of space logistics services that will transform space transportation into a viable commercial enterprise.
Fifty years ago, space was a far off place - the stuff of science fiction. Today it is pervasive in our lives, critical to a range of activities that create and provide value to human beings. It all grew from NASA's roots in space exploration, so I'd like to talk about that for a few moments.
People all across our country, and all across the world, find what we do exciting, they find it inspiring, and they find it so for many reasons. The courage and competence of our astronauts, and the dedication of the engineering teams that put them into space. The quest for knowledge which is realized by awe-inspiring pictures of distant galaxies or Martian craters. The challenge of the frontier, the final frontier, the frontier that begins anew on each new planet and with each new discovery. The way we take on seemingly impossible tasks, tasks that challenge human skill and ingenuity to the utmost, like building a million-pound space station as a toehold on that frontier. What we do at NASA is, quite simply, larger than life, bolder than the boldest dreams, and we all know it.
So everyone knows and appreciates NASA, but to most people what we do is "out there", literally out of this world. The daily, immediate connection between what we do and its impact on our lives is either unnoticed or taken for granted. In part, this is due to circumstance, or more properly to a change in circumstance.
NASA was born and came of age during the Cold War, in a historical context that is difficult for many who were not there at the time to appreciate. It was a time when our very way of life had been called into question. The Soviet Union declared that our democracy was too weak and inefficient to compete with communism, and after the successful launch of Sputnik, there were many people in our country who feared that they might be correct. And there were many others who were committed to proving them wrong.
The Moon race was more than exploration for its own sake, and a lot more than an exercise in national pride; it was considered a real-life test of the viability of our open society - a vindication of the very concept of freedom. The American people admired NASA's expertise, derring-do, and can-do attitude, a reflection of America itself. They marveled at our ability to meet John F. Kennedy's challenge to land a man on the Moon in just eight years and two months, a feat that seems ever more wondrous as we grow, year by year, more distant from it.
But it was more than just that. The Soviet Union had shown that success on the frontier of space could translate into power and influence in the world. In the Cold War, we were in a strategic competition for just such power and influence against a totalitarian regime whose core values were abhorrent to most Americans. So when Americans watched the Moon missions depart, our belief in freedom and in our way of life, our hopes for a better life for our children and their children, were riding along with the astronauts. For a moment, we could leave our anxieties about the larger struggle of the Cold War back on the launch pad and let our spirits ascend into the skies. But we knew, always, that we were locked into that struggle, that it was playing out most visibly on the space frontier, and that we were, finally, winning. Because of this, the connection between what we do at NASA and the daily lives of Americans at that time was immediate and intense.
Even more, this event was inspiring to the world, not just to the United States. The world was cheering us on because of the sheer magnitude of the accomplishment. American self- confidence - our belief that we can do what we set out to do - drew admiration from across the world, then as it does now. And NASA, then as now, was the embodiment of that spirit.
We're in a very different world today. The military and political competition has largely receded into the background; today we are primarily engaged in an economic competition. We increasingly live in a global economy where rising wealth and living standards also mean ever- heightened levels of competition from places we never before considered. There are now more software engineers in Bangalore, India than in Silicon Valley. Japan, Taiwan and South Korea generate more than one-quarter as many patents as the U.S. does each year - and their percentage is growing rapidly. The products of this innovation are all around us, in what has become a world marketplace. How many of you have a cellphone, television, or car from a U.S. manufacturer?
I don't think I need to spend more time on these points; they are superbly treated in Tom Friedman's The World is Flat, and in the report, "Rising Above the Gathering Storm", by the National Academy of Engineering. But I think the bottom line is that we all want our economy to continue to grow. We want better lives for our children. We want to be able to compete in the world. But economic growth and competitive success result primarily from the introduction of new products and services, or from finding more efficient ways to produce existing ones. Economic growth is driven by technological innovation. Societies that foster it lead the pack, while others lag behind.

the rest at http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=25452

Dee8go · #2 10-10-2007, 08:50 AM

I guess they're working on President Bush's new space initiaive, to put a man on the sun.

peragro · #3 10-10-2007, 01:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dee8go

I guess they're working on President Bush's new space initiaive, to put a man on the sun.

Only to be defeated by the Democrats and their Universal Smoking Ban.

LUVMBDiesels · #4 10-10-2007, 02:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peragro

Only to be defeated by the Democrats and their Universal Smoking Ban.

You guys are both wrong. They are working on a universal translator so that we can all understand Chinese. After all they are the ones who will be exploring and colonizing space while we sit on our hands...

pj67coll · #5 10-11-2007, 01:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

You guys are both wrong. They are working on a universal translator so that we can all understand Chinese. After all they are the ones who will be exploring and colonizing space while we sit on our hands...

That may not be all that far off. I hope the Chinese make a concerted effort to colonise the moon. I think that's about the only thing that might get the US off it's ass and on it's way. It's truly sad that the most significant civilisational event in our lifetimes happened decades ago and owes much of it's foundation to the Nazis.

- Peter.

peragro · #6 10-11-2007, 03:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by pj67coll

That may not be all that far off. I hope the Chinese make a concerted effort to colonise the moon. I think that's about the only thing that might get the US off it's ass and on it's way. It's truly sad that the most significant civilisational event in our lifetimes happened decades ago and owes much of it's foundation to the Nazis.

- Peter.

Yep, something needs to move the US beyond what we've been doing for 30 years now.

When we do get moving I think it'll be something other than chemical rockets.

LUVMBDiesels · #7 10-11-2007, 05:01 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by peragro

Yep, something needs to move the US beyond what we've been doing for 30 years now.

When we do get moving I think it'll be something other than chemical rockets.

I know NASA has been developing ion drives for years. They are finally starting to use them on smaller probes. What they need to do is scale them up and use them for large vehicles. Unfortunately, that will require nuclear power plants which people will not go for any longer. Once we can get past the Greenies no nukes in space obsession, we can move forward rapidly.

I have also heard that NASA is working on a hyper-drive similar to what you saw on 'Star Wars' Be nice if they can do it, but I still feel that the Chinese will beat us to space. After all they need to find places for their excess population, why not Mars. Then they really will be masters of the Celestial Empire.

Benzadmiral · #8 10-11-2007, 10:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

You guys are both wrong. They are working on a universal translator so that we can all understand Chinese. After all they are the ones who will be exploring and colonizing space while we sit on our hands...

We'll be buying our air from Toyota of Luna if we don't get off our duffs.
.

peragro · #9 10-11-2007, 02:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LUVMBDiesels

I know NASA has been developing ion drives for years. They are finally starting to use them on smaller probes. What they need to do is scale them up and use them for large vehicles. Unfortunately, that will require nuclear power plants which people will not go for any longer. Once we can get past the Greenies no nukes in space obsession, we can move forward rapidly.

I have also heard that NASA is working on a hyper-drive similar to what you saw on 'Star Wars' Be nice if they can do it, but I still feel that the Chinese will beat us to space. After all they need to find places for their excess population, why not Mars. Then they really will be masters of the Celestial Empire.

I've heard of the ion drives, but not the hyperdrives. I think we'll be seeing a lot more nuclear power in general in the next few years. I have no problem envisioning a small reactor that could power a space vehicle. It could easily be sealed and require no maintenance; kind of like a giant battery in usage. That would be directly useful to small towns and remote areas for power. I think the Japanese have already invented something like that and tested it in Alaska. Going strictly on memory though, not sure. There are some real opportunities for economic gain in this country via space research. By nature of the subject you have no idea what they could be or what the extent of the effect would be without pursuing the research.

Perhaps the Chinese will beat us. I hope not. Both my little boys think it would be cool to go to Mars or the Moon. I'm a firm believer in what Heinlein had to say though; the Earth is too small a basket for all of humanities eggs.

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