"The whole mission could be accomplished in a decade, rather than 20 years, as NASA is proposing," says Zubrin (insert top right in image compiled by ExplorersWeb).

Elon describing his vision in 2006, before all hell broke loose. Back then Elon said that money is key for space travel but he was not a great fan on mining, "At this point, even if there were packages of purified crack cocaine orbiting up there - it wouldn't be economically viable to to retrieve them," he said, "cost of transport is too huge."
Image by Tina Sjogren courtesy Explorersweb, SOURCE
No it's not Prince Charles - but NASA Chief Administrator Mike Griffin briefing ExWeb and other Mars Society conference attendees on the future of human space travel. Image ExplorersWeb.
As surprising as it may seem, Yuka's summit was not a question of luck or marketing. It was her will power and endurance that got her not just to the top, but a spot on the summit team in the first place. In the image, the three members of the summit team leaving BC. Image courtesy of Tokai University Alpine Club (click to enlarge).
Mars Society conference report: Griffin and Elon not ready for K2 summit push

Posted: Aug 04, 2006 12:53 am EDT
(Pythom.com) One had just crashed a rocket while the other successfully launched and returned another: Today, Elon Musk and Mike Griffin met in Washington DC to brief a room packed with grassroots on the state of space faring in general; and Mars travel in particular.

Griffin, the NASA administrator, resembled vaguely a shorter version of British royalty Prince Charles. Elon Musk, the young internet millionaire and private investor in SpaceX, showed a bit bigger than pictures will have him. Brought together by Mars travel advocate and genious engineer Dr. Robert Zubrin, both men currently seemed a bit entangled in immediate tasks at hand - at least no epic visions were delivered this sweltering Capitol morning. The biggest news came instead from ExWeb's home staff - that two Japanese kids (one of them a girl) had come out of nowhere and summited the mountaineer's mountain.

With that, the question arose: Tourism in low orbit and a return to the moon is all good. But what's up with the K2 of space; putting humans on Mars? <cutoff>

<b>The King of rocket booster engines </b>

It took four years for Elon to turn his first start-up, Zip2, into a $22 million cash sale, and it took another four years for Musk to make PayPal the largest online payment provider in the world, only for eBay to make it the sites primary payment engine and pay him $150 million for it. Its been four years since Musks Space Exploration Technologies Corporation, or SpaceX, came into being in El Segundo, California. After a series of wrecked deadlines, $100 million invested and a recent crash, Elon is undeterred:

"The crash was partially successful due to the data obtained," he told us. The customer for the failed March mission was DARPA and the Air Force. "DARPA is a customer again for the planned Falcon 1.1 November launch," Elon said, adding "besides, SpaceX is soon cash flow positive, and several more big contracts are underway." In fact, according to Elon, by next year SpaceX will be the main manufacturer in US of rocket booster engines (30 are planned in 2007, and 40-50 in 2008).

<b>Mining? Think packages of purified crack cocaine in orbit </b>

But becoming a rocket engine magnate might not be Elon's ultimate dream after all. Elon first met with the Mars Society in 2001, donating funds for one of their Devon Island missions. While Falcon 1 is to provide the lowest cost per flight to orbit of any launch vehicle in the world, Falcon 9 is designed as a human carrying rocket. It has 40-50% above safety level = NASA level of manflight. The Falcon 9/Dragon is basically a satellite with human payload. The crewed version has a life-support system and an escape tower - holding up to 7 members.

Elon earlier said that his ultimate goal is to make life multi-planetary. He wants human life spread out to the moon and Mars, using the next generation Falcon handling 100 tons of load. But this morning, Elon only said that he'd be happy to contribute a couple of stones in that direction.

Becoming the greatest rocket builder in US seems more alluring than a Mars trip to Elon at this point. Cash is key, and the only way to get Wall Street interested in private space ventures is simply for them to make money, Elon concluded. But how?

Elon is not a great fan on mining: "At this point, even if there were packages of purified crack cocaine orbiting up there - it wouldn't be economically viable to retrieve them. Cost of transport is too huge," he said. But he reckons that real estate claims could work, "well, you're there and they are not."

Lesser problems would be cosmic radiation, "well, if you want to go, I guess you'll just have to eat it," Elon shrugged. Zubrin agreed. A Mars journey only adds a 1 percent increase to our 20% general risk of contracting cancer in our lifetime. If we smoke, the risk increases to 40%. "If we were to send smokers, without their cigarettes, their risk of cancer would actually decrease," Zubrin educated us.

In the end, with all the good and the bad, this morning Elon could think of only one way to currently make money out of Mars: "Sell one way tickets there," he said.

<b>NASA and Courage </b>

This wasn't Griffin's first visit with the Mars Society. The NASA administrator visited with the society already in 1998, and in 2001. This morning, Zubrin introduced Mike Griffin with a mention of courage.

Zubrin said that once he'd asked a great American inventor what the most essential quality is for a NASA engineer.
"Courage," he had replied. Zubrin continued, "That's what we need, courage. Not the physical kind, but moral courage; say it as you see it."

Before he handed over to Griffin, Zubrin reminded, "there will be risk, but at a certain point - you'll have to do what it takes."

"Well," Griffin opened, "Decisions are tough. I'm not sure I even agree with all my decisions...but, they have to be made."

The British Interplanetary Society has a slogan: Imagination to Reality. Before he became administrator at NASA, Griffin changed the slogan to "Imagination to bureaucracy".

Now, he battles to change not only the slogan but also the reality. It has much to do with acceptance of risk, he told us. "We can't just put 200 Italians on a ship, lose 10 here and twenty there, finally have 3 left crawling up on a beach and claim victory - we just don't have that kind of risk assimilation today."

<b>Cutting our losses</b>

Griffin said he shared our frustration with the slow pace in space, but we must look at NASA's overall mission" he added. "There are many desperate goals to be pursued by NASA. Last time we put a man on the moon was in 1972 - we have been in lower orbit since then - there have been crucial strategic mistakes."

"All of the previous investments (such as the Apollo program) are gone - we have to realize that and move on." Griffin said he's a big fan of nuclear rockets but, "we don't have the money to recreate old research - the capability we once had is lost. I would love to have the support - the multi billions of dollars - needed for nuclear rockets."

<b>ISS - a scientific (and international) test bed</b>

Griffin said that NASA has a broad portfolio of missions. Strategic goals include human presence on the moon and robotic exploration of space. The completion of ISS in 2010 is an important part - if only to try and test international partnerships with countries such as Canada, Russia and Europe. "But what scientific, factual results have we had from ISS?" someone asked. "Well, we are just halfway building it. The station is supposed to hold 6 crew - 2 only to maintain it. Up to now, we've only had 2 people there - just enough to keep up the station, we haven't been able do any actual science yet," Griffin replied.

When it's completed, the ISS will be a scientific test bed, Griffin said. For broader missions, we will rely on international partners.

"How will NASA protect the intellectual property sprung from its work?" another man asked. "Intellectual property generated on government dime is the property of the people in this nation, not the companies," Griffin replied.

"How do we motivate students to study astrobiology if this science is not favored in the budget?" asked a teacher. "If they want to work for government money, they must look at what the government wants - not what they think it should want. If they want to work with something the government doesn't want, they'll have to find other money to fund it," Griffin stated.

<b>Mars? It's doable, but unwanted</b>

Mike Griffin guessed we'll put humans back on the moon by 2020. He also said that there's no fundamental technical aspect preventing us to go to Mars - but it will require an assumption of risk we are not used to. "Once the decision is made, it should take no more than 7-8 years," he said, "the biggest aspect of Mars travel involves the decision to do it."

He insisted that NASA is working on it though: "The 2 vehicles built for the moon are unequal in sizes - why is that? Because one is meant for Mars. We will need to learn from the moon how to go to Mars and so forth. The ultimate vision is to become a space faring civilization. We'll do that by learning."

Although there seemed no immediate plans for it in the budget, Griffin ended, Spaceflight defines a country as a superpower. We are turning Sci-Fi into dreams and I'm proud to be a part of it."

Yet with the lack of plans, money or a fixed date even for Americans on Mars - who knows - two Japanese kids might just show up from nowhere and do it going an entirely different route.

<i>National Space Society is co-sponsoring the 9th International Mars Society Conference, August 3-6 2006 in Washington DC. Highlights feature bigwig speakers such as Michael Griffin, NASA Administrator, Scott Horowitz, NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, and Elon Musk, Founder and CEO of SpaceX. Additionally, conference attendees participate in the 2006 Mars Blitz, learn more about the upcoming 2007 4-month mission at the Flashline Mars Arctic Research Station, attend the 2nd Annual Advanced Spacesuit Symposium and a special track session on Risk and Exploration, and view a special screening of the documentary The Mars Underground.

The Mars Society is a private international grassroots organization dedicated to furthering the case for human exploration of Mars. Since its founding in 1998, The Mars Societys strong commitment to both outreach and research has put it at the forefront of Mars exploration proponents, with 7000 members in 40 countries. The organization currently operates multiple world class research facilities which investigate many technical and human factors associated with human space exploration. Significant political and public outreach has led to several hundred meetings with U.S. congressional offices, and has otherwise reached hundreds of millions of people through various media outlets.

The International Mars Society Conference takes place at the LEnfant Plaza Hotel in Washington, D.C. Featured speakers include Dr. Michael Griffin (NASA Administrator), Dr. Scott Horowitz (NASA Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems), Elon Musk (CEO and Founder of Space X), Eric Anderson (Space Adventures), Scott Hubbard (Former Director of NASA Ames Research Center; Carl Sagan Chair at the SETI Institute), Andy Thomas (4-time Shuttle Astronaut), Brian Chase (NASA, Associate Administrator for Legislative Affairs), Chris McKay (NASA Ames Research Center), Penelope J. Boston (Complex Systems), Linda Robeck Fuhrman (Draper Laboratory), Robert D. Braun (Georgia Institute of Technology), George Whitesides (National Space Society), Colin H. Bryant (Paladin Capital Group), Matt Mountain (Director of the Space Telescope Science institute), Francis Slakey (Mountain Climber) and Robert Zubrin (Pioneer Astronautics, The Mars Society).

Draper Labs of Cambridge, Massachusetts and the National Space Society sponsor the conference. </i>





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