Personally while I lament the lost of a mission to the moon I am not sure what good it would of done for the space industry. While large human space flight programs are able to accomplish amazing feats of engineering, they are simply not practical for practically any application. They have become spectacles without any real practical application. Some of you might say they conduct space science, but the problem with that is that the science work that gets done does not come anywhere close to justifying the cost in projects like the ISS.
Instead of doing these expensive HSF projects to exotic destinations I think that NASA should focus on practical human space flight applications. There are two near term applications for practical human space flight. They are space tourism and space science. Both of these concepts are well proven. In order for these industries to work highly cost effective commercial manned launch system and space stations need to be developed. Many of these things are in development already like Bigeleow's space stations and SpaceX's falcon 9/ dragon. There are also many new technologies such as fuel depots, space guns, and closed life support systems.
I believe NASA should do what it can to assist in the development of such systems. Doing so has some obvious benefits. NASA could in the future buy both products and services for launching astronaut, equipment, and consumables into space for a fraction of the cost it takes to do it on their own. It will also boost support for HSF in general because people will be able to see the applications for the technology.
Instead of doing these expensive HSF projects to exotic destinations I think that NASA should focus on practical human space flight applications. There are two near term applications for practical human space flight. They are space tourism and space science. Both of these concepts are well proven. In order for these industries to work highly cost effective commercial manned launch system and space stations need to be developed. Many of these things are in development already like Bigeleow's space stations and SpaceX's falcon 9/ dragon. There are also many new technologies such as fuel depots, space guns, and closed life support systems.
I believe NASA should do what it can to assist in the development of such systems. Doing so has some obvious benefits. NASA could in the future buy both products and services for launching astronaut, equipment, and consumables into space for a fraction of the cost it takes to do it on their own. It will also boost support for HSF in general because people will be able to see the applications for the technology.
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram