Mission for Planet Earth: defining a vision for the space program

The Columbia tragedy has brought the U.S. space program under significant scrutiny. This has revealed a distinct lack of a coherent vision of a space goal. A primary issue is whether the products of the program are worth risking astronaut lives. It appears to the public that benefits lack sufficient focus to justify cost and risk. A well-defined goal for the space program would assist this process. Needed is the vision of a program that provides a clear combination of social, political and economic factors and is based on strong science. Its products must be well defined in terms that the public can understand and support. This work proposes an integrated goal in a "Mission for Planet Earth". It will be related to a past description of the Earth observation program as "Mission to Planet Earth" and the space exploration element as a "Mission from Planet Earth". The principal thrust of Mission for Planet Earth is space-based systems interacting with the Earth's environment. The concepts may reach the geoengineering level for dealing with human induced environmental problems. The best representation of this level of system is the solar power satellite. A clean, renewable source of energy enables a reduction in the buildup of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. As a commercial venture, SPS would provide a revenue base for the space program infrastructure. With this base, there would be a capability to explore the Moon and Mars. Cost and risk have inhibited the initiation of a commercial space solar power system. There is an alternative approach that emphasizes saving lives and reducing property damage. The thunderstorm solar power satellite (TSPS) is a concept for interacting with thunderstorms to prevent formation of tornadoes. The TSPS can develop and demonstrate the technology and operations critical to understanding the cost of space solar power. Computer simulations are the initial step to evaluate the TSPS. A key trade study is the comparison of a network of ground-based antennas with the space-based TSPS. Concepts using mobile ground-based equipment are expected to be significant in validating the intervention process. Significant considerations are complex storm interactions and concern for safety. There is no clear answer to what space history might have been without the human spaceflight risk to stimulate interest and support. The tragedy of the loss of the crew of the Columbia has resulted in a reevaluation of the role of humans in the space program. This reevaluation has shown how difficult it is to define productive missions that use and need human performance to achieve success. The "Mission for Planet Earth" concept provides a vision that supports the space program's relevance including a role for astronauts.