STEPHEN TRIMBLE / WASHINGTON DC
Other nations invited to "share challenges and opportunities" as new vision for US space exploration is outlined
A new US space vision focused on human exploration of the Moon and Mars calls for the development of a new family of manned vehicles to enter service within 11 years and relieves NASA of its ageing Space Shuttle fleet by 2010.
Work on the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) concept begins this year. NASA has directed Boeing and Lockheed Martin to shift work on the Orbital Space Plane, due to be phased out under the new policy, to the CEV design. The CEV is expected to draw from the ongoing Next Generation Launch Technology programme.
The new space vision, outlined by US president George Bush on 14 January, offloads responsibility for the International Space Station (ISS) to foreign partners by the end of the decade as NASA turns its focus to exploration missions.
Other key elements of the plan rely on foreign participation, but full authority for the project will rest in US hands. Retiring the Space Shuttle in six years means NASA must rely on Russia and perhaps China to provide manned space vehicles until the CEV begins flying in 2013/14. NASA is "open" to discussing co-operative links with China's space programme and has briefed Russian space officials, says NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe.
Bush said the USA will "invite other nations to share the challenges and opportunities" of a NASA-led exploration agenda, adding: "I call on other nations to join us on this journey, in a spirit of co-operation and friendship."
US and European industry leaders were quick to praise the Bush plan for providing a long-awaited roadmap that looks beyond the Space Shuttle and ISS capabilities.
The European Space Agency is eager to share elements of the Aurora Programme, which is developing technologies to send robotic and manned vehicles to the Moon and other planets. "This is very good news for the space sector and thus for ESA too," director general Jean-Jacques Dordain says.
But sceptics have focused on several elements of the plan that remain undefined. More detail will emerge early next month.
What lies ahead?
2008 First unmanned flight of Crew Exploration Vehicle Begin series of robotic missions to the Moon
2010 Complete assembly of International Space Station Retire Space Shuttle
2014 First manned mission by Crew Exploration Vehicle
2015 Begin extended human missions to the Moon
2020 Establish extended human presence on the Moon
20?? Launch manned mission to Mars from the Moon
Source: Flight International
