Democratic Social Agendas or NASA?

About six months ago, I predicted in this blog that the nation's healthcare debate, focused on government funding of healthcare, would have other unforseen effects -- meaning, a validation of the "law of unintended consequences." We are seeing some of these happen right in front of our eyes.

My concern centered around the fact that once the Federal Government made healthcare an entitlement, it would take top priority versus most other discretionary budget items. Defense, of course, would probably be exempted. But NASA would not.

The President's budget reflected exactly this concern. NASA's budget was slated to increase slightly but missing was continued funding for the Constellation program for manned spaceflight including future Moon and Marsn missions. It needed only several billion per year, but what with $800 billion for Congressional pork (otherwise known as "the stimulus") and $1 trillion over 10 years slated for healthcare, the squeeze would have to come from somewhere. And the social welfare budgeteers in the White House lined out Constellation.

Well, the Congress and the NASA constituencies are fighting back. Recent press releases announce that the President's "NASA Plan Falls Flat in Congress" (Aviation Week); one commentator expressed astonishment at the Administration's "faith-based belief" that the commerical marketplace would solve the problem of manned space flight. [I commented recently on this possibility, but only wistfully; not once have I believed that space would ever be economical as a marketplace.]

Bravo to the Congress and to the industry for standing up to the Administration. Nothing makes America stand taller in the eyes of the world than when we achieve another tremendous milestone in space.

Consider the past extraordinary accomplishments of our nation: first man on the Moon, the Space Shuttle, GPS satellites, the Hubble Space Telescope, and more. Then consider the space accomplishments of defense and intelligence, courtesy of the DOD, the NRO and other agencies -- you might not know of them except in the tell-all books published in the past, but they are extraordinary, and they contributed mightily to our nation's defense and our technology.

Do we really want to give up this leadership, or relinquish it to the Chinese?

I thought not.

"The Price of Peace"

Some observations that are chilling to the careful reader come from the Department of Homeland Security.

DHS has a new program, called FutureTECH, which is meant to propel technology and product innovations along the development cycle, from concept and the laboratory to the marketplace.

But the technology list includes almost exclusively technologies meant to defeat IEDs (improvised explosive devices, the bombs that were so murderous to our troops in Iraq and Afghanistan) and provide defense against suicide bombers. Does this mean that DHS is concerned about terrorism within the homeland, of the type currently happening in Baghdad?

Rest assured that there are solutions already available for many of these challenges. The DOD has invested many billions in counter-IED technologies since 9-11, through programs from organizations like the JIEDDO (Joint IED Defeat Organization) and the TWSG (Technical Support Working Group). Some of these solutions involved concepts such as:

- Persistent surveillance, the continuous monitoring of risky areas from the air using UAVs (unmanned air vehicles);
- Remote detection and defusing of IEDs using small, smart robots, most prominently those manufactured by iRobot and Foster-Wheeler;
- Communications solutions allowing interconnectivity between the military, local law enforcement, first responders, and state officials;
- Standoff detection of explosives or their trigger mechanisms from the air or a vehicle

Also, and perhaps not surprisingly, the Israelis have the leading technology regarding bomb detection. After the bloody and infuriating rash of suicide bomber incidents earlier this decade, a focus on technology and process have basically brought these incidents to a halt. No doubt that the nation can liberally borrow from these solutions, or procure them directly from Israeli companies.

But the big concern is that our nation's officials are concerned enough about this violence being inflicted on the homeland. On our highways, in our cities, in our shopping malls.

Yes, this means business opportunities for entrepreneurs with novel solutions, hardware and software. But it is also a sobering recognition of the reality of 21st century America.

As General George Marshall, America's distinguished military leader throughout World War II said, "the price of peace is eternal vigilance."

Innovation in Space

I continue to be astonished at the continuing transformation of the space industry by those who do not come from the established companies.

First, some background. The USA's space shuttle program is now over 30 years old and is getting somewhat long in the tooth. Americans continue to be mesmerized by Shuttle launches and landings yet we should know that the Shuttle technology dates back to the 1970s and the cost per payload -- whether the the cargo is human or technical -- is $450 million per launch. In addition, the shuttle fleet is aging and this poses risk to shuttle personnel and, were another disaster to occur, to NASA's manned spaceflight program.

But a bold and aggressive space entrepreneur, SpaceX's Elon Musk, is challenging the status quo. SpaceX claims to be able to provide a human shuttle service -- basically a space taxi -- from earth to the space station for $20 million per seat. SpaceX might well be the first company to take a major step toward a longtime dream of the aerospace community, the commercialization of space.

Will it work? Time will tell. But what is admirable about SpaceX is the founder's boldness, brashness, and willingness to risk. It is this trait which makes for America's greatness in aerospace and provides for its worldwide leadership.