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Space industry calls for a rocket boost

Posted on: Saturday, 17 April 2004, 06:00 CDT

SAN FRANCISCO -- Before astronauts return to the moon, the United States' sputtering efforts in rocket propulsion must be boosted with clear plans, more funding and a commitment to sustain programs over the long haul, aerospace industry executives told a presidential commission on space exploration Friday.

Over the past 20 years, the U.S. government has proposed and canceled a dozen propulsion initiatives, said Byron Wood, vice president and general manager of Boeing Rocketdyne. As a result, jobs aren't being created to lure promising students or keep existing engineers.

And U.S. dominance will be at risk, he added.

"Any country that aspires to exploration can't start unless we get out of the Earth-bound driveway," he said. "It requires four to seven years to develop (new engines), and that's with a skilled and experienced work force."

The commission, which held its fourth public hearing at a San Francisco high school, will make recommendations later this year to President Bush on how to implement his plan to send humans to the moon by 2020 and, later, to Mars and more distant places. Bush unveiled his space vision in January.

Wood said rocketry is not only critical for the initiative, but also for national security. "Our estimates today indicate more than 10,000 scientists and engineers are working in China and India to develop world-dominating propulsion systems and launch vehicles," he said. "The United States seems to be turning away from this critical capability."

He said as other countries are expanding their programs, the United States is trying to formulate its strategy -- and is losing experts in the field. He urged the commission to recommend that a clear rocketry road map be formulated.

"If that U.S. capability is lost, can we afford the 10 to 12 years historically required to rebuild that ability?" he said.

Existing technology, however, should be sufficient -- with modifications -- to support the space initiative's first phase, which involves continued robotic exploration, said Michael Martin, president of Aerojet, a GenCorp Inc. company that supplies propulsion systems.

But the long-term ambition to fly to Mars and beyond may drive the need for alternatives, like politically sensitive nuclear- powered engines that could be used to propel craft through space. That technology originally was developed in the 1960s.

"Aerojet believes, from a propulsion perspective, the vision is achievable, (but) there needs to be a significant investment," Martin said, adding the commitments need to be sustained regardless of who lives in the White House or what political party is in control of Congress.

Commission chairman Pete Aldridge noted the importance of propulsion and asked if changes could be made given the exisitng structure of government.

Wood said all major players -- industry, government and academia - - need to work together, and suggested a new structure that would oversee all the efforts.

"Rocket science is easy. Putting it into practice is another story," Wood said. "It's going to take all these elements."

But space exploration should not be limited only to large aerospace companies, said James Benson, founder and chief executive of SpaceDev, a publicly traded company that aspires to be a private- sector space program.

Benson, who founded the company after retiring from a career in the high-tech industry, said NASA and its contractors are bogged down much like the mainframe computer industry. SpaceDev is following the path of the personal computer industry, which has thrived by "doing things smaller, quicker, with more modern technology," he said.

The Poway-based company took less than a year and spent less than $1 million to develop a rocket engine -- burning rubber and laughing gas -- that has been tested twice, though it has not yet reached space.

He called on Congress to stop treating NASA and its research centers as "pork barrel, job maintenance programs." He also said big projects should not be viewed as entitlements by big companies.

"A lot of what you're hearing is business as usual," he told the commission. "There are companies doing things in small innovative ways."

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On the Net:

Moon-Mars Commission: www.moontomars.org

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