Frank DiBello's Vision for Florida at the National Space Club

“Florida is hot!” That is how Frank DiBello, Space Florida’s President and CEO, started his annual update at today’s National Space Club luncheon. And he’s not kidding. My phone app gave a temperature of 90 degrees as I left the talk this afternoon but my car thermometer read 97 degrees – and it’s not even summer yet! “And not just because of our weather,” he continued. The aerospace market in Florida is hot.

Although technology failed us when he attempt to show this promotional tourism video, he got the point across: space is important to Florida’s past, present, and future.

A lot of Frank’s talking points were familiar: Florida has a talented workforce, space infrastructure, and a great history of achievement. The Cape Canaveral Spaceport (Kennedy Space Center and the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station combined) is a jewel of the state. There’s no denying that so many in the space business (such as myself) love working in Florida.

Frank discussed some of Space Florida’s big recent successes: the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF) hand-over from NASA to Space Florida, Blue Origin’s decision to launch and manufacture at the Cape, the OneWeb and Airbus decision to open a factory here. So many big news items, so little time to discuss them all in detail!

Frank’s main focus was the future. Ever since 1989 when the state created Florida Space Authority, Space Florida’s predecessor organization, the state’s goal has been to attract and retain space business. Space Florida’s goal is to become a global leader in space, but there is and always will be competition. “The marketplace can and will speak with its feet,” Frank warned, as he has in the past. But joyfully he added, “ And many are speaking with their feet by coming here.”

Frank spoke of his vision for Florida’s spaceport in 2025 (a bit of an arbitrary date, generally meaning “the future”). His vision is to create an independent spaceport authority to handle routine launches and is tailored to handle commerce. Federal institutions such as NASA and the DoD have their charters. But with academic and private sectors, the space industry will grow. He emphasized that this agency may not be Space Florida; it may be a federal, state, or quasi-government agency.

To assist with the evolution of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport, Frank plans to create a Commercial Industry Task Force to assess whether Space Florida is truly achieving the goal they’ve set for being global leader. At this time, he didn't have a lot of details to reveal about this task force, just the general idea that there's work to be done.

Work that needs to be done, for example: space infrastructure is being modernized and continues to be upgraded. Right now, there is a capacity problem in nitrogen and helium pipelines at the Cape. ULA and SpaceX both require use of these pipelines. If one user needs it, another user must wait. Businesses shouldn’t have to wait on their competition. There's also old, outdated infrastructure. Every piece of infrastructure needs to have a function or create revenue, or it will be disposed of.

“Our job as a spaceflight authority is to think outside the fence,” Frank joked. Within the Q&A, he wrapped up by advocating that we support Space Florida’s efforts by advocating for NASA and DoD programs and budgets. It’s hard to do long range planning with short term politics that are questioned every few years.

Frank and I may disagree in regards to the need for NASA’s Space Launch System and Orion for programmatic and political stability, but I agree with his desire for sustainability and long-term planning. Florida has come a long way since the retirement of the Space Shuttle program five years ago and will continue to grow as NASA, DoD, and private industry make long-term plans and continue to do them.

This is how baby Josephine and I do NSC luncheons - in style! - June 14, 2016

Progress Happening at NASA KSC with Center Director Bob Cabana

NASA KSC Director Bob Cabana at National Space Club - March 8, 2016

Every year, the National Space Club Florida Committee is honored to hear from NASA Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana, also a former astronaut (STS-41, STS-53, STS-65, and STS-88). Today he was back at the luncheon at Cape Canaveral to give us an update on KSC!

No official NASA talk would be complete with the obligatory Journey to Mars mention and chart. Bob didn't harp on it. Instead, he dove right into the meat of his presentation: upgrades and progress at KSC. The big push here over the past few years has been including commercial industry and making infrastructure modifications to become a multi-user spaceport.

One of the exciting pieces of space hardware I got to see last year was the Orion crew capsule for Exploration Mission EM-1 in the O&C building's high bay being worked on by Lockheed Martin. Orion is officially scheduled to launch in fall 2018, but will likely slip. In addition to mentioning Orion, Bob also talked about SpaceX's Dragon crew capsule and Boeing's CST-100 Starliner crew capsule, both currently scheduled for launch in 2017.

Bob also spoke up modifications to the mobile launcher and the crawler transporter. After modifications, this will be the crawler transporter for the next 30 years, he said. He also mentioned that modifications to the Space Launch System (SLS)'s launch pad 39B have been completed. Because SLS is only scheduled to launch at the most once per year, they are seeking additional users for that pad.

Although there are more ULA and SpaceX launches scheduled at the Cape in the next few months, the next NASA Launch Services mission isn't until the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-Rex) launches on an Atlas V, currently expected to be in September. I'm excited about this robotic probe mission which will bring back a sample from a carbonaceous asteroid!

NASA and Space Florida recently signed an agreement for Phase B of Exploration Park. For those unfamiliar, the only building currently in Exploration Park is the Space Life Sciences Laboratory (SLSL) where I've coincidentally worked in for three previous jobs or projects. In Phase B, Blue Origin will build a manufacturing plant for its reusable rockets. I was surprised to learn how big this facility will be! According to Bob, it will be seven stories tall and have a bigger footprint than the huge Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at KSC.

Bob spoke a bit about the workforce drop-off after the space shuttle program ended. KSC's NASA workforce is currently stable and predicted to remain approximately constant so long as budgets are relatively constant. He gave an anecdotal story about NASA losing employees to private industry which is ramping up right now.

National Space Club luncheons are always a fun place to catch up with colleagues. Where else can I show off baby photos (the launch photos in my previous blog entry) to the KSC Director, a U.S. Congressman, and so many other space enthusiasts in the room? Bob also graciously gave me a little bit of his time for a 30 second interview (see below): What is your favorite thing happening at KSC in the coming year? Check it out!

Faith in the Stars, Science in the Vatican

On to a controversial topic that isn't politics – religion! I very rarely mention my faith in professional circles because it's not usually relevant. Science and religion has been on my list of potential blog topics since the creation of this blog a year ago. Reflecting on the astronomy and faith talk I attended on Wednesday inspired me to finally “come out of the closet,” to use Brother Guy's phrase. I've been subject to prejudice and harassment about my faith by classmates, professors, colleagues, and even strangers since college. The amount of intolerance of honest and informed differences of opinion and differences of belief are astounding in such an enlightened age. I've grown a pretty thick skin.

Science and religion have never been at odds with each other, in my opinion. I'll never understand why we in modern times pit them against each other in a false dichotomy. They address two different areas of our universe: science the what/where/when/how, religion/theology/spirituality the who/why. Religion flows flawlessly with science/reason. Science/reason never disproves religion. It can't. They operate on different plains.

“God created the Universe. The Universe is worthy of study. Science is an act of worship.” - Bother Guy Consolmagno

The beauty and the wonder of the Universe is why I was inspired to study astrophysics. And to become an astronaut, of course. But there are many paths to being an astronaut. The stars called to me as young as elementary school. I wanted to learn all about this awe-inspiring creation.

I was raised Christian and converted to Catholicism when I was 25 and in graduate school. I treated my conversion process as the scientist I am: systematically studying the data and weighing the evidence before coming to a conclusion. Perhaps because of my adult conversion and my upbringing, I'm far more open-minded about spiritual journeys than many. Each person's path is their own, one right for them, and it's not for me to judge or claim mine is better than any other.

I was excited to drive up to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Daytona Beach on Wednesday evening for a talk with Br. Guy, a Jesuit with a PhD in planetary science from MIT who now serves as the Director of the Vatican Observatory. Joining him was the university chaplain Rev. David Keck and radio show host Marc Bernier who I had worked with previously on local spaceport issues. I knew Br. Guy from my early days at the University of Central Florida where one of my graduate school planetary science classmates was also a Jesuit brother, but it had been several years since I had heard him give a talk.

Br. Guy started off discussing two fallacies that some use in the science versus religion debate. The first, a false wall between reason and faith. People are whole; we don't compartmentalize well. We don't turn off our brains on Sundays. We don't ignore reason when thinking about religion. We also don't put aside our faiths when we consider science. The two work together well and don't need to be separated.

The second fallacy he mentioned was about science and faith just being about facts. Neither are. Science is a process of discovery where we constantly test ideas, are proven wrong, and learn something new. Religion is a process of understanding God, who we are, and the world we live in. For example, Genesis isn't a history book. The creation story in Genesis isn't meant to be taken as a collection of historical facts (according to Catholic teaching; others may disagree). It's a moral book. There is always more to discover about science. There is always more to discover about theology.

I always smile when people wonder if the Big Bang contradicts Catholic teaching on creation. Those people don't know their science history. Georges Lemaitre, a Catholic priest also with a PhD from MIT, developed the theory of the Big Bang. At the time, people mocked it because they thought it promoted the existence of God, not contradicted it!

What about creation or evolution? “Yes,” Br. Guy responded. “Evolution is description of how God creates.” Evidence of the acceptance of evolution can be found in the writings of Saint Augustine of Hippo, a bishop, who lived 354 – 430 AD!

Upon thinking of the science and human society lecture I attended last week by a “skeptic,” I was surprised when Br. Guy addressed other points of view. “Religions need atheists, agnostics, and skeptics. They keep us honest. We're all searching for the truth,” he said. “All humans and only human look at the stars in wonder. Something within us desires something in Heaven and the heavens.”

"Cosmology, Science, and Faith With Brother Consolmagno and Rev. David Keck" - March 2, 2016

Relativity, Engaging Scientists in Policy, and the US Commercial Space Industry

I've fallen behind in writing about the awesome space and science talks that I've attended in the past week! Now seems like a good time to catch up and let you all know about some cool happenings.

Relativity

Drs. Jeffrey Bennett and Dan Batcheldor - September 25, 2015 

On Friday evening, unrelated to but coinciding perfectly with a student career preparation conference that I helped with, I attended Florida Institute of Technology's monthly public science lecture series with Dr. Jeffrey Bennett who last year published the book What Is Relativity? I enjoyed conversing with my former professors prior to the talk and ended up unexpectedly taking a front row seat. I'm glad that I did!

Overall, I found the couch-sitting interview-style talk to be informative, entertaining, and even humorous, not what one would expect for a physics talk! I have the advantage of a doctoral-level education in physics and an interest in relativity since high school, so the concepts discussed were well known to me. I could focus instead on the presentation style and perspectives. I was surprised and even amused by the analogous scenarios presented to explain some of the mind-bending curiosities of relativity.

I did not previously know that 2015 is the International Year of Light. It has been approximately 100 years since Einstein's publications on relativity. One of Jeff Bennett's goals is to address the misconceptions about space and relativity. One misconception, a personal pet peeve of mine that my own employer is guilty of, is being too casual with wording by stating or implying that there is no gravity in space. There is always gravity in space, anywhere in space, though gravitational pulls may cancel to a net gravity of zero.

Other misconceptions stem from the fact that when it comes to relativity, we don't have any common sense. We have never traveled at relativistic speeds. Similar to quantum mechanics, it's hard to wrap our minds around something that we don't have any direct experience with. Yet relativity does affect us every day. For example, navigational satellites such as GPS use relativity in their calculations. We've been testing relativity since the Michelson–Morley experiment in 1887. I and countless other physics students have replicated this experiment in physics labs.

One interesting point was that humans don't like being told what we can and cannot do. Relativity tells us that we can't go faster than the speed of light c. We immediately try to figure a way around this. Science fiction writers usually don't even try to break c; instead they speculate about loopholes such as inter-dimensional travel.

The conversation covered gravitational lensing, black holes, determinism, multiverses, and the “theory of everything.” One funny moment came when the speaker stated, “I don't like determinism and I don't know why,” and the moderator responded, “You have no choice.” Ah, geek humor.

I was the first in line to ask a question clarifying Stephen Hawking's latest black hole theory. I was also the only female to ask a question in a long line of curious males. I did see a few female students approach the speaker after the talk, as if they were interested but didn't want to stand up to be heard. Come on ladies, let's show the world that we have brains and mouths!

Engaging Scientists and Engineers in Policy

On Tuesday I attended an American Association for the Advancement of Science webinar on Engaging Scientists and Engineers in Policy by Dr. Rush Holt, a physicist, the CEO of AAAS, and former New Jersey Congressman. The title of this talk was mislabeled, or otherwise their wasn't much meat in the talk about the topic at hand.

The majority of the presentation was lamenting the lack of science understanding in the general public, which I can totally get behind. The speaker was preaching to the choir, in my opinion. He would often slip economics understanding into the discussion, which seemed out of place, but was obviously on his mind. One of my PhD economist husband's biggest pet peeves is when non-economists act like authorities on economics while ignoring or dismissing actual experts. It is the same in science.

Two of the speaker's biggest concerns were students and news media. Both are not taught well how to ask for evidence but instead take what is presented to them at face value, blindly believing it. I see this all the time in the general public, even among my friends. A celebrity, a trend-setter, or a seeming authority makes a statement or writes an article (or blog post!) about a scientific topic and, without doing any research of their own, people blindly believe it. It's no wonder that scientific understanding in our culture is so poor when even our own journalists don't investigate to make their own conclusions. This is the information age and the world is at our fingertips – use it!

Approximately five minutes of the 45 minute talk was actually dedicated to what scientists/engineers can do in policy. The advice: take on a fellowship to work a temporary position in Capitol Hill. I've been hearing this advice since graduate school and it's so disconnected from reality. Science-trained politicians and staffers are a fantastic asset to our government and policy-makers, but the vast majority of scientists are not able to pause their lives, disrupt their families, and move to Washington, D.C. for a year (the term period for most of these fellowships). This just isn't feasible for 99.99% of scientists, so what is the advice for the rest of us?

The biggest take-away from the talk was that we as scientists can help others learn to question. Science is within everyone's grasp and isn't just for experts. Anyone can ask Why? How? What is the evidence? If someone has a misconception about science, ask them probing questions about what evidence was used to come to that conclusion. Make them think. This advice wasn't really relevant to the talk's topic, but still very good advice.

US Commercial Space Industry

Dr. Roger Handberg - September 30, 2015

Yesterday, coinciding well with a university mentorship program that I participated in on campus later that day, I hung out with some of my former professors and colleagues at the University of Central Florida for the Florida Space Institute's lecture series. The talk was by Dr. Roger Handberg, a political science professor. The topic: US commercial space industry.

Overall, the speaker gave a good historical overview of the public-private partnerships in the US space industry. More recent happenings and analysis is where the speaker got a little stuck with lack of knowledge and mixed up a few things. His assessments were very pessimistic, which is actually a refreshing counter to the rah-rah advocacy so prevalent in the space industry. I don't agree with all of his negative outlooks, especially in the areas where his information is lacking, but my skeptical scientist side did appreciate the alternative perspective.

He began by speaking about the decline in government funding in the space program and how that decline is stressing private industry, generally speaking and not mentioning any particular government cuts. He didn't give figures, but I'm curious to know what they are. If a reader could point me in the right direction, I'd appreciate it.

He went over some recent difficulties in the industry, such as the Virgin Galactic, Orbital Sciences, and SpaceX accidents. He also discussed the current challenges with politics forcing ULA to replace its Russian RD-180 engine. With ULA phasing out Atlas V and most of Delta IV, and with the Blue Origin BE-4 engine replacement still in development, he worried that SpaceX may become a national monopoly for government launches. I think that this is highly unlikely, but time will tell.

He spoke about some of the more successful space applications, such as communication, navigation, and remote sensing satellites. Historically, I did not realize that denial of satellite imagry to adversaries during wartime was an actually strategy that the US military used. He said that it's harder to do now with so much Earth observation competition. He also touched upon some of the challenges in the satellite industry that I'm less familiar with such as the limited number of receivers and spectrum interference.

The bottom line is that the cost to orbit is still the number one problem in the space industry. Spacecraft reusibility may lower cost significantly but is very difficult to achieve. High cost holds back tourism, as well as safety concerns and the lack of reliable transportation. State spaceports have popped up all over due to increased popularity and enthusiasm after the 2004 SpaceShipOne X-Prize win, but lack of progress and high cost hinders the industry. Space manufacturing and space mining isn't economically feasible due to high launch costs. The economics doesn't work unless the industry is government subsidized, he said. It wasn't a positive outlook on the industry, but probably more realistic than many would admit.

Buried Ancient Worlds Uncovered from Space - Space Archaeology!

Getting to downtown Orlando from the coast is not an easy drive for me, but I wasn't going to pass up the chance to miss this talk, sponsored by my doctoral university. I don't mention it much, but since childhood, I've been an Egyptology geek. I named my childhood cat Cleopatra and my grad school cat (still living) Nefertiti. I even considered ancient Egyptian names for my child. Around my house, you'll a spot Bastet statuette, an ankh mirror, and I just splurged on an Isis wall plaque (the goddess, not the terrorist group). Since childhood, it has been my desire to learn some basic hieroglyphics and visit the ancient sites of Egypt, though the turmoil in that part of the world makes that goal so difficult.

I saw a lecture by Dr. Sarah Parcak at the National Space Science & Technology Center when I lived in Huntsville 7 or 8 years ago. Most lectures go in one ear and out the other, but I remember this one. Her team uses satellite imagery and remote sensing techniques to discover previously unknown archaeological sites. From that talk years ago (unless I'm getting it confused with another), she even described how she can mark how the Nile River has changed position over time.

A Digital Revolution: Archaeology from Space by Sarah Parcak - September 23, 2015

Sarah Parcak began her talk last night by giving us good news: increased number of remote sensing satellites and improvements in the technology to lower costs have removed barriers to entry for her work. Imagery resolution has increased and image processing techniques have been improved, but there are more improvements to be made. Her advice to students: fail continuously to finally learn what works. I can relate to that advice.

Using a combination of image analysis, spectroscopy (I assume that's what's meant by chemical signatures), and lidar via satellites and aircraft, she is able to locate and identify previously unknown buried structures. She displayed a picture of rectangles and called them tombs, easily identifiable by their shape. She described the differences in moisture signatures and topography in Egyptian sites compared to the surrounding environment. Lidar can model the ground terrain through trees. Stunted roots in vegetation are another indicator of a buried structure. Satellite and aircraft work complement ground work.

She pointed to another image and explained that she can identify palaces and other residential areas. From understanding that higher class individuals would live closer to the palace, she can infer ancient class systems and how those people lived and worked.

Pointing out the details from the satellite imagery - September 23, 2015

It's impossible to know how many unknown sites in Egypt are left to discover, but if I heard her right, she estimates that only 0.001% are known! Her map of possible newly discovered sites in Egypt is extensive, far more than she can possible explore. Although her focus is primarily Egypt, she also works in other areas of the world such as Romania, Italy, Jordan, Viking territory, and even Alabama where she's based.

Looting and urban growth are a big problem. Looters use the same technology as she does to identify sites and profit from black market sales. As cities expand, unprotected ancient sites can become damaged in the growth. She advised that anyone who wants to see these sites should go now. I wish that I could!

Her work is inspirational to me. I spent my astronomy research years remotely sensing outward and my latter time at CASIS focusing on Earth observation remote sensing from the International Space Station for terrestrial benefit primarily for business/commerce. Space archeology is an application of space technology to inform of us our own human past. I can totally get behind that.

Losing the Forest for the Trees in NASA Exploration Systems Development

NASA's Bill Hill discusses previous space exploration achievements - July 14, 2015

Sandwiched between Pluto celebrations today, I attended the monthly National Space Club luncheon. Today's guest speaker was Bill Hill, NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems Development.

We all know that engineers aren't always the best public speakers. Sometimes the people with the best technical knowledge have difficulty translating that information to an effective presentation. The experts in the room probably didn't learn anything new from today's talk, and in fact a few of us caught some errors. (This Jupiter/Mars mix-up caught by my friend Ryan was my favorite.) But we made the best of it.

Although NASA's New Horizon's mission to Pluto got a brief mention in the beginning, the talk stuck to NASA's current exploration talking points, especially the “journey to Mars.” Science enables exploration and exploration enables science, he said. But we are limited by the top line, that is, funding and budgets. Along those lines, international partnerships are the key to sustainability.

The speaker briefly mentioned the major lesson of the International Space Station (really, all space missions): what works on Earth doesn't work so well in space. We are building capability and experience. He focused on the Orion exploration vehicle and NASA's work to build a better booster. In an audience question about how well Congress responds to NASA, he stated that we need to prove our worth every day.

One thing that struck me about this talk is that we can get lost in the details about what we're working on and forget the bigger picture and purpose. Today should be a day when every NASA employee should be celebrating the success of a NASA mission to explore the solar system, especially someone with the word exploration in his title, and yet he sounded like even mentioning it was an obligation. He wasn't excited about Mars either, it seemed like he was forced to mention it because “journey to Mars” is the current NASA buzzphrase. The only thing that seemed to excite the engineer was talk about the Orion test launch last December and the rocket booster testing.

But why do we care about a new spacecraft or a new rocket? What good is a new exploration system without the spirit of exploration? In pure engineering thought, his concern is: how do we get this system to work the way we want it. I come at it from scientist thought: what do we want this system to do, and why? His colleagues may only care about the how, but the rest of the world wants to know the what and the why. And so do I.

A Vision for Florida's Space Future with Frank DiBello of Space Florida

 

Space Florida President & CEO Frank DiBello, National Space Club, June 9, 2015

On Tuesday I had the pleasure of hanging out with my space peeps at the National Space Club luncheon. It’s always a pleasure to see familiar faces, meet new ones, and hear a great talk.

This month’s lunch speaker was Frank DiBello giving his annual update on Space Florida. I keep up on the news well enough to know pretty much everything he was going to say, but it’s still interesting to note how he says it. Style, tone, and emphases matter just as much as facts and figures.

Space Florida is a state entity that focused on aerospace economic development. I’ve been working with them in various ways for a couple of years now, most strongly with the Shiloh commercial spaceport initiative, the NASA transfer of the Shuttle Landing Facility (SLF), and the annual Florida Space Day. I find it all exciting and a lot of fun!

Frank began with the usual warnings that Florida needs to evolve. This has been an issue for several years now. For so many years, Florida had the space shuttle program to keep us happy and complacent, but when that program ended, the world shifted under many people’s feet.

We need additional and diverse businesses to keep our high-tech sector here, and we need to make ourselves business-friendly to do so. We’ve seen companies choose to set up shop elsewhere because Florida isn’t evolving fast enough, but we’ve also seen companies such as mine choose to locate in Florida. Slowly, Florida is becoming a hub of aerospace industry outside of direct NASA influence. I would like to see it happen faster, but nothing in the space industry happens quickly.

Frank said that the marketplace votes with its investment dollars and its feet. We have aggressive domestic and international competition. To effectively compete, we need to be efficient, low cost, and responsive to the next generation. Florida can't rely on its space heritage. The goal is to become a business location.

Frank described his vision for the future of the Cape Canaveral Spaceport.  He spoke about the numerous infrastructure projects that Space Florida has financed, 20 if I heard correctly.

There is some state political/financial uncertainty at the moment that is holding up the final approval for the SLF handover, but he will ask his board to approve it next week. He spoke about turning the area into a private and commercial spaceport.

Frank touched on the concept of community. We need a community of businesses and capabilities to maintain business here. It is a community challenge that we all have a part in. We are expanding the pool of businesses here who might want to use the future spaceport. He spoke of future private commercial spaceport operations under FAA and OSHA regulations rather than Air Force, and that the Air Force supports moving in this direction (I wish I could be a fly on the wall for those talks!).

Frank spoke about simplifying: creating one regulation authority, one proving structure, and consistency in launch indemnification and insurance. He envisions evolving to a future where business processes are defined less by fences and more by marketplace need. Surprisingly, he noted that change needs to happen not only with federal partners, but also within Space Florida. As much as I love and support them, the common criticisms are valid: they are slow and not always responsive. Frank noted this and remarked that changes are underway.

Space Florida video

I and a couple others had a chance to ask questions after. Of course Shiloh came up. The environmental study on the land is progressing, but of course nothing ever happens as quickly as we’d like. Space Florida gifted us all with Florida state quarters that have the space shuttle on them. “Space Florida, because it’s who we are as Floridians,” says Mike Rowe on the talk's concluding video for the We Are Go campaign.

Some of the conversations that I had after the talk inspired me, and I’m looking forward to taking this inspiration forward. As awesome as my career is, somethings it can seem mundane until someone or something reminds me what we’re all working for.

Tokens from Space Florida - Florida state quarters with the space shuttle!

State of the Center Update with Kennedy Space Center Director Bob Cabana

May 12, 2015 National Space Club Florida Committee luncheon

Today I had the pleasure of returning to the National Space Club monthly luncheon. It's always a fun time to catch up with my space peeps over lunch and hear a good talk. Today's presentation was the annual update from NASA Kennedy Space Center Director and former astronaut Bob Cabana.

Maybe because I've heard Bob speak so much recently, or maybe because all the upper management at NASA are saying the same things, but I didn't hear anything new or noteworthy in today's talk. It was a very standard NASA/KSC presentation including the intro video that I've seen at least twice before. Surprise remarks or new announcements make for a more interesting presentation, but there's something to be said for listening closely to the company message to hear the unspoken and note what's being deemphasized. For example, maybe I missed it, but I don't think the Space Launch System was mentioned once.

Bob's presentation contained lots of NASA PR catchphrases, the first one being: Time to be bold again! I don't think anyone on the planet outside of NASA management would use the word bold to describe NASA in its current state, but in its defense, the agency's hands are tied. I'm sure NASA would love to be bold again, if only it was left alone by its political masters.

Bob's presentation was a general overview of what NASA is up to these days. We explored the Moon with Apollo then left, but now is the time for pioneering, another current catchphrase. Through the International Space Station, humanity established a presence in low-Earth orbit, but now is the time to move on to establish a presence further in the solar system. And by that, NASA means Mars. With robots we've established a presence on Mars, but now we want to do so with humans. Bob spoke about the “pay as you go” method, building on robotic precursors. No additional details were given.

As an astronaut himself, Bob delighted in telling us about the Mark and Scott Kelly twin study. One twin (Scott) will fly on the International Space Station for a year while the other (Mark) remains on Earth, and after a year, their medical results will be compared. This project was controversial in my previous ISS job because of the questionable scientific merit, but it is good PR for NASA.

Bob spoke about the Orion program and recounted the EFT-1 launch in December. He noted that the general feeling at KSC was, “We're back,” and that he didn't expect the launch to feel as good as it did. I have to agree with him. Even though EFT-1 was way over-hyped compared to its actual importance, KSC did seem to come alive for that launch. I very much hope that EFT-1 doesn't mirror Ares I-X's fate.

A mandatory talking point over the past few years, Bob wrapped up by describing the ways in which KSC is becoming a multiuser spaceport and is transforming launch operations. I noted that Bob admitted that it's not happening as quickly as he'd like, “but it is happening.” He briefly mentioned the Shuttle Landing Facility hand-over to Space Florida, a very long time coming, and joked that he'd done all that he could and it was up to Space Florida now. Space Florida, of course, has the reverse opinion. Maybe we'll hear more from Space Florida CEO Frank DiBello when he gives his annual NSC luncheon update next month.

Bob's presentation allowed no time for questions, which was a shame because the most interesting and noteworthy information could have come from his answers to audience questions. He did make an off-the-cuff remark about how astronauts are so soft now, not like the explorers who roughed it in the olden days like Shackleton's expedition to the Antarctic. I ran into (nearly literally) astronaut Chris Ferguson after the talk and I wonder if he feels the same way about current astronauts versus the explorers of old.

KSC Director Bob Cabana - May 12, 2015

Lunch with Astronaut Winston Scott

Time to return to blogging! Life has been crazy on my end and I thank you all for your patience as I return to my normal routine.

Today I had the pleasure of eating lunch with astronaut Winston Scott (STS-72 and STS-87), now Senior Vice President for External Relations and Economic Development at my undergraduate alma mater university, Florida Institute of Technology. The event was hosted by the Cocoa Beach Chamber of Commerce and the Citizens for Space Exploration.

It had been a bit over a year since I last chatted with Winston. He and I did business together in early 2014 when we organized a partnership and workshop between my previous employer CASIS and Florida Tech. It was great to catch up with him over lunch. He excitedly told me of the latest happenings with his office and astronaut Buzz Aldrin's ShareSpace Foundation.

Winston Scott - May 5, 2015

Winston's speech to the small luncheon audience was engaging. He was not at all afraid to share his opinions, though he wanted to be clear that they were his opinions and he encouraged open discussion of different opinions. His goal was to give his philosophical perspective and listen to our perspective.

His first point is that space exploration is not an option. The United States is a top country because our technology is among the best in the world, largely because of the space program. The U.S. must maintain leadership in space exploration or the rest of our country will fall behind – our technology, our infrastructure, our communications, our military, everything. Space is an imperative, not a luxury.

He expressed concern that the U.S. has lost its ability to put astronauts into space and we're now “playing junior varsity.” We must regain our capability of putting humans in space and lead, he stressed. He stressed that we indeed are in a space race with Russia and China. We must regain our ability to put humans into space to keep our technological prowess.

Winston points to the lack of passionate government leadership as the biggest hurdle. Our leaders understand space intellectually but they aren't passionate. Corporate training tells our leaders to be logical, not passionate or emotional. But he thinks the opposite is needed: we need to be passionate. “Our country isn't passionate about space or about anything except special media, the latest tweet,” he poked as I tweeted his words.

The audience question and answer session was diverse. The first asked whether robots can replace astronauts and whether human settlement of space should be a goal. Winston responded that we need to send people to space because that's who we are. We were born to explore. He agreed that colonization is a good end result.

When asked about whether Mars should be the goal of human space exploration, Winston took a different approach. The goal is constant expansion, he said. Mars is the current goal but shouldn't be the ultimate goal. We need to explore beyond Mars. His opinion is that we need to return to the Moon to set up a colony, then explore Mars, then set a new boundary beyond.

The next question asked him to explore the role between the government space programs and private industry. Winston insisted that both are needed. Business people make space travel affordable and available to more people and companies. But we also need a strong government to do the ground-breaking, expensive stuff. But Winston expressed concerns that NASA is currently not strong nor focused. The commercial side of the space industry is is passionate, he said, but he doesn't see the same passion in government leadership.

The topic turned to NASA's current human space exploration efforts with the Orion crew capsule. In some ways, Orion is a step backwards in philosophy, Winston argued. NASA is designing something without knowing what to do with it. Citizens for Space Exploration organizer and Lockheed Martin employee Joe Mayer disagreed, giving a passionate defense of Orion. If we had waited for a clear direction, we'd be years behind, Joe insisted. Better to do it this way than not to do anything. Winston seemed pleased with the discussion and agreed that leadership is space is severely lacking.

A college student asked his opinion on a one-way trip to Mars. “I'm not a fan of one way trip to anywhere,” Winston responded. He argued that we're not kamikazes and that suicide missions are against our values.

I asked Winston what he thought about Florida's role in the new and evolving space industry. “We can't rest on our laurels,” he responded. Commercial industry will launch to space wherever is economically advantageous to do so. We in Florida must look for new ways to do space business and adapt as it changes.

Winston wrapped up by giving advice to students: don't limit yourselves to one activity and don't pidgin hole yourself. If you want to be two different things, be both. Follow your passion! Thank you, Winston, for a great luncheon talk.

Winston Scott & Me - May 5, 2015