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EDITORIAL: Glenn Aims at Mars: NASA Recognizes the Valuable Contribution of Northeast Ohio

Posted on: Wednesday, 7 June 2006, 09:00 CDT

By The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Jun. 7--When President Bush announced a shift in the nation's space exploration program, a shiver ran through the work force at the NASA Glenn Research Center. Long recognized for its pivotal role in aeronautical research, Glenn's role could have been devalued in this shift toward deep-space exploration, Bush's ultimate goal to put humans back on the moon and eventually, take them to Mars.

Happily, Glenn retains a starring role in the new space initiative. The Brook Park center will lead the research and development of the crew exploration vehicle, CEV, which eventually will replace the space shuttle. Glenn will also lead development of part of the launch vehicle that will take the CEV into orbit.

The project will bring at least $2 billion to the research center, laying to rest fears that Glenn would be relegated to the space agency's past, having lost out earlier on important NASA administrative work. Budget cuts across the space agency have cost Glenn about half its funding and a third of its work force.

Despite the recent reductions, the Glenn center retained the intellectual heft to carry out the space exploration work, its capabilities confirmed in two internal NASA studies. With the CEV work assured, area leaders are rightly looking to attract related businesses to Northeast Ohio, confirming again that the future of any strong regional economy has knowledge as its base and that this area has essential foundations on which to build.

There is little argument about Glenn's strength in basic research and the role its scientists will continue to play in the economy. Among continuing projects is a joint venture with Cleveland State University students to find a way to beam power into space. Research from the early '80s at Glenn is now recognized as the gold standard for turbines that produce wind-powered energy.

Clearly, the NASA Glenn Research Center and Northeast Ohio have a significant role in the nation's space program. It remains the role for the state and area leaders to ensure the educational infrastructure that will continue to fuel that research engine.

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Copyright (c) 2006, The Akron Beacon Journal, Ohio

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

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Source: Akron Beacon Journal (Akron, Ohio)

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