Aviation Week's Space Blog

Lord of the Ring

This week we're reporting that NASA's plan for servicing the Hubble Space Telescope next year opens an option to keep on upgrading the observatory even after the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010. Astronauts will leave behind a next-generation docking ring at the end of the final scheduled servicing mission, in the hopes that NASA's Orion capsule -- or possibly a commercial vehicle -- can use it before Hubble falls out of the sky. If not, a robot will use the ring to hook on a deorbit motor to bring the telescope down safely in the Pacific. Hubble might stay in orbit another 20 years.

How hard do you think NASA should push itself and its commercial partners to figure out how to use the ring to keep Hubble going? How could astronomers use a revived Hubble in 2025 or so? What's your opinion?

--Frank Morring, Jr.

Outer Space Treaty

It was 40 years ago today, April 25, 1967, that the U.S. Senate ratified the Outer Space Treaty by a vote of 88-0. Known formally as the "Treaty on Principles Governing Activities of States in the Exploration and Use of Outer Space, Including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies," the treaty bans nuclear -- but not conventional -- weapons in space, and forbids "national appropriation by claim of sovereignty" of any territory found beyond Earth's atmosphere. Subsequent events have placed some strains on the old document, which remains in effect today.

The new Bush Administration space policy and the Jan. 11 Chinese test of an anti-satellite test has reopened -- again -- the long-running debate about conventional weapons in space. And some entrepreneurial "new space" interests have questioned the treaty theory that space "shall be the province of all mankind," arguing that there’s less motivation to pursue commercial space ventures if you can’t claim territory.

Is it time to redraft what has been called "the Magna Carta of outer space" to reflect new realities, or to reaffirm the views of the original generation of spacefarers. What do you think?

-- Frank Morring, Jr.

Where Do We Go From Here?

On April 12 revelers in at least 28 nations on six continents – plus cyberspace – will celebrate Yuri Gagarin’s historic flight with more than 100 "Yuri’s Night" parties. Now in its sixth year – or its 45th if you count its Cosmonautics Day precursor in the old Soviet Union – Yuri’s Night brings together thousands of space-exploration enthusiasts to commemorate humankind’s first step off the home planet.

Unfortunately, so far that “single step” hasn’t led to the “journey of a thousand miles” that Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu heralded more than 2,500 years ago. Humans still orbit Earth not far above the cloud tops, enjoying the same view Gagarin did in 1961. We’ve visited the Moon, but thanks to the faulty decisions NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has outlined so well on this site we’ve retreated back to low-Earth orbit. We’re likely to stay there another decade at least.

But now at least there is growing momentum worldwide for another step into space, possibly to begin the open-ended journey that motivates all those who look to the stars for inspiration and wonder. Griffin and his NASA colleagues have mapped a route back to the Moon, and invited the other spacefaring nations of the world to join them in building a permanent outpost in a sunny spot at one of the lunar poles. The money is there, as Griffin explains in the look-ahead he drafted on the occasion of Sputnik 1’s 50th anniversary. But there also are pitfalls, outlined by Vincent Sabathier, Scott Hubbard, Francois Auque and others in their 50th-anniversary contributions here.

Clearly the human endeavor in space is at a cusp – a point of transition from one historical period to the next. But what will that next period be? At a Sputnik-anniversary event in Paris sponsored by the International Astronautical Federation the former head of the Indian Space Research Organization – Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan – outlined a very different view from Griffin’s vision of bringing the Moon and the rest of the Solar System into Earth’s economic sphere.

Kasturirangan, now a member of India’s Parliament, drew on his nation’s space heritage to outline an age in which space assets would be used to improve the life of Earth’s inhabitants directly. Communications satellites would draw the planet’s villages together with distance education and telemedicine, just as they do in India today. Earth-observation spacecraft would help boost food production and ensure clean water for the millions who must live without it. And a combination of the two types of space assets could help mitigate the effects of the major disasters that inevitably befall us as we struggle to maintain galloping population growth on a planetary surface that is constantly changing under natural and man-made influences.

There are other possible futures as well. In his contribution to this site, space-tourism pioneer Peter Diamandis outlines a world of profits and adventure beyond the atmosphere, while Theresa Hitchens describes different ways in which the "high ground" of space can be used to military ends.

In the belief that vigorous debate is the best way to highlight the opportunities and dangers that lie ahead as humans move off the planet for good, Aviation Week wants to start a conversation on how mankind should make the next steps on a journey that could well grow to a thousand parsecs, and more, some day. What do you think? Should we focus on exploring deep space with humans and robots, or look inward at Earth? What should be the role of government? Industry? Adventurers and entrepreneurs? Is now the time to leave our warlike ways behind, and concentrate on expanding the peaceful uses of outer space? What about the space-based military monitoring and treaty verification that helps keep the peace on Earth? We’re also looking for suggestions on features we can add to the site to help advance the discussion.

You can start posting your answers today. Think of it as another way to celebrate Yuri’s Night.

--Frank Morring, Jr.