A proposal to send astronauts to visit asteroids and orbit Mars has scored highly in ratings by the White House panel reviewing the future of NASA鈥檚 human space flight programme.
Since 2005, NASA has been working towards returning astronauts to the moon by 2020. But in May, the Obama administration ordered a review of the agency鈥檚 human space flight plan, leaving a question mark over the lunar return.
The review , headed by former Lockheed Martin CEO Norman Augustine, released a summary report in September that presented five main options, including continuing with the current moon plan.
Advertisement
One of the other options, called the 鈥榙eep space鈥� or flexible path, would send astronauts to visit an asteroid and eventually to orbit Mars.
The panel is expected to submit a final report later in October, which will score the various options on a set of 12 criteria, such as cost, safety, benefits to science, and fostering international cooperation.
Four criteria
Augustine noted that the committee would not give an overall ranking for the options, since it would require making judgements about the relative importance of the various criteria. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 beyond the committee鈥檚 capability,鈥� he said. 鈥淔or example, we鈥檙e not in the position to judge the possibility of adding funds to the various programmes.鈥�
On Thursday, a panel teleconference and a (pdf) provided a glimpse of how the various options will fare. The flexible path option scored best on the criteria the panel discussed, boosting its chances of a favourable reception by the White House.
The criteria discussed were schedule, cost, benefits to science, and preserving the space workforce. The flexible path scored as well or better than any other option on all four criteria.
On science, it received the maximum score of 2, which means it 鈥渟ignificantly addresses many critical priorities鈥�, according to the (pdf) released by the panel.
Commercial rockets
Panel member Edward Crawley of MIT explained that options that would see astronauts visit several solar system bodies were given higher scores than those that visited just one or none. The flexible path would have astronauts visit an asteroid relatively early on, but would eventually also include moon landings.
The flexible path also scored well on cost, with the most cost-effective versions saving money by using commercial rockets for missions to both the International Space Station and for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit.
However, the document and teleconference only spelled out scores on four of the 12 criteria. The other eight criteria, including mission safety, could also play an important role in the White House decision.
The panel has not said exactly when the report will be released, but
Augustine suggested it would be soon. 鈥淥ur complete report is now in the final preparation stage,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 think we鈥檙e near the goal line.鈥�
