Radical Changes from The US National Space Council

[Cunjo Carl]

 

The KSP forums discourage discussion of contentious non-spacey things, and this presentation is unfortunately dripping with nationalism, politics and religion. However, it also contains mountains of extremely notable changes to US' space programs which will be good things to talk about! I did my best to sort the germ from the chaff here, so let's enjoy the fruits of that effort by not griping about the things we could all obviously gripe about. Thanks in advance.

Also, thanks to @Ultimate Steve for bringing up this conference in the NASA Payloads thread!

 

 

Big conversational items, and the timestamps they can be found at:

NTRs and other nuclear space technologies will be developed, including for use in commercial space programs.
0:23:15, and primarily at 0:44:15

NASA is still committed to SLS, Gateway
1:17:30

500M$ Executive request to US congress to put crew on Gateway (seems very small?)
0:08:00

There were many conversations about risk involved in the 5yr plan, both for people and dollars. Notably, speaking about risk in commercial space programs:
1:39:30

They're heavily reducing bureaucratic hurdles for commercial launch
0:47:45, 0:57:15

There was one call to retain LEO presence for scientific research
2:01:30

Prospects of lunar ISRU at south pole are still unknown, though thankfully they realize it's very cold down where the water is.
2:21:30

One contentious issue that I have no idea how to handle discussing is the Space Race v.2 they're trying to start. This unfortunately explains why Roscosmos' proposed contributions to Gateway aren't being accepted. Mods, if you could let us know your thoughts on discussing this topic? For the sake of my blood pressure, let's not discuss it in this thread at least!
0:16:15, 0:38:00, 0:39:45. Also, ameliorating, 1:38:20

The US Space Force is being created provisionally (probably also its own topic)
0:05:30, 0:53:30

And, here's the full rundown of the conference:

Spoiler

 

The topics discussed are absolutely all over the place. Here's a digest sorted by timestamp!

0:00:00 Fanfare
0:01:00 Politics, back patting, etc.
0:04:15 We're going to the Moon, Mars and 'Beyond'
0:05:30 Space Force being created
0:06:30 Commercial space programs, international partners
0:08:10 500M$ request to congress to put crew on Gateway (only 500M?)
0:10:00 President signed into law NASA budget (??? sic.)
        Political rhetoric continues.
        Use Moon as a stepping stone to Mars
0:12:30 Putting coals under the feet of NASA. "Urgency"
0:13:30 SLS woes
0:16:15 Starting a new space race with China and Russia, Pence calls "adversaries"
0:19:15 Planning to send a female astronaut for the Moon mission
0:19:30 Call to either accelerate the SLS or use commercial launchers
0:22:00 Pat on the backs to Huntsville, also: "Urgency" to make results
0:23:15 Planning to develop/use NTRs!
0:23:30 More political rhetoric
0:26:15 Going to work with congress to get NASA funding
0:26:30 National Space Council will provide 'major course correction' recommendations for NASA
        Heading to lunar south pole
        "Urgency" Govt. willing to make radical changes to NASA to achieve goals
        ISRU of Oxygen from the moon (a good idea)
0:29:00 Giving NASA ability to take or drop programs at will
0:29:30 "Step up" to Huntsville
0:31:30 Christian religious rhetoric
0:34:30 Fanfare
0:35:30 National Space Council opens
0:38:00 Opinions of Users' Advisory Group (UAG)
        Transitioning away from ISS, creating Gateway
        I guess we're space racing. China and Russia 'rivals'
        Wanting more quick testing and iteration of tech
0:39:45 Shift of space security concerns to China and Russia "near-peer competitors"
        ... Really?
        Space as a theater of conflict      
0:40:10 Revisiting an earlier statement even 2028 insufficient as a target date for return to the moon
0:41:00 Stated goals of the UAG
0:43:00 Droegemeir of OSTP (newly appointed)
0:44:15 NTRs and other nuclear systems planned to be developed (including for commercial space)
        To be developed at Marshall, Alabama
0:47:45 Space hardware export controls, and licensing (for commercial space)
        Lowering barriers to selling flights, raising barriers to selling tech.
0:53:30 Space Force
        Still not accepted by congress, but moving forward assuming approval
        Present (or very soon) staff 200
        Will transfer space stuff and authority from other agencies to the Space Force
0:57:15 Dept. of transportation (FAA)
        Streamlining launch requirements (for commercial space)
1:01:15 Dept of commerce
        Connecting financial orgs with tech startups
        Goal of 1T$ revenue for US space industry (oh my)
        Upgrading space debris catalogs and collision prediction
1:11:15 NASA's Bridenstine
        Patter, and recent news
1:17:30 Want SLS for 2024 moon
        Put Habitation module on EM3
        Pushing hard for first SLS launch in 2020
1:18:45 Gateway (still committed)
1:21:15 CLPS ongoing        
1:23:00 Comments from intelligence community, Dept. of state, Homeland security
1:26:30 Stuff that went beyond me, and introducing panelists
1:31:30 Questions panel, opening patter
        Hoping to increase 'inspirational' space tourism to ISS        
        Use of space program as inspiration for youth
        What are acceptable risk levels? Especially for commercial.
1:38:15 Thanks to Russia for being a good partner (finally)
        Don't push operational status of rockets too soon, for safety (esp. commercial)
        Safety culture in commercial launch companies
1:44:00 Revisiting a 2004 report, Moon Mars and beyond
1:51:00 Leadership back patting
1:53:00 Rebuilding personnel and culture for development after 8 year lull
1:55:15 More about improving culture for safety (leadership)
1:58:30 What are the scientific goals of moon? (non-descript answers)
2:01:30 Let's keep something LEO for science (pharma)
2:02:30 Streamlining Authorities
2:04:00 Panel 2
2:06:45 Request for more resources for NASA (thank you)
        Pushing for cohesion in our goals on the moon (thank you)
        Request for robotic mission to lunar south pole before boots (thank you)
        Noting the low temp of the south pole (thank you)
        Request for long term stability in goals and funding (thank you)
2:11:00 Risk handling requests (bureaucratic, funding, transparency, etc.)
2:14:30 Patter
2:18:30 Execution milestones for the 2024 landing (don't have them yet)
        Calling to re-use old technology
2:21:30 Question on ISRU (polar water)
2:23:30 Logistics
2:25:30 Bridenstine's request for better budget handling
2:28:30 Don't want to cannibalize the NASA science program for exploration
2:31:00 'Anything not mandatory is a distraction'
2:32:00 Closing patter and fanfare

 

 

Edited March 31, 2019 by Cunjo Carl

[Nightside]

1 hour ago, Cunjo Carl said:

NTRs and other nuclear space technologies will be developed, including for use in commercial space programs.

Now that is the kind of thing I want to see NASA working on. Expensive, cutting edge projects that could radically transform the state of space exploration.

[StrandedonEarth]

1 hour ago, Nightside said:

Now that is the kind of thing I want to see NASA working on. Expensive, cutting edge projects that could radically transform the state of space exploration.

Which is what NASA should be doing: developing and proving expensive techniques and technologies to hand off to the commercial sector. Like they did when they were NACA

[kerbiloid]

Spoiler

7 hours ago, Cunjo Carl said:

Planning to send a female astronaut for the Moon mission

.