Essay: Lets Get to Mars Faster as the US Preps for Space War

Kent Johnson – Warrior Contributor – retired USAF F-15 Strike Eagle and A-10 Warthog pilot,

From Nostalgia to Action – focusing on Moon, Mars and Low Cost Launch

Space is that special place where great American nostalgia resides, global imaginations run freely, almost no one has been, and yet we depend on it more than most will ever appreciate. In this strange place – big things are happening. More each day. It is time, again, to pay closer attention to space.

In the Cold War days of Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, even the detente days of Apollo-Soyuz, and eventually with the Space Shuttle and International Space Station’s debut, many Americans focused regularly on space. It had glamor, glitz, risk and accomplishment about it. Then, when the Space Shuttle got shuttered, many turned away and other national priorities with a greater sense of urgency claimed the country’s attention. But new developments are turning the lights back on and once again demanding focus on space and what it represents from several standpoints.

In the near future, plans will emerge on three space realities. First, we are seeing real moves toward returning to the moon – among Americans, and as the Chinese photographically-gifted robot suggests, among foreign governments.

Second, we will see – in fact, already are – rising operational tempo or cadence tied to must-solve problems that get Mankind to Mars, and help us stay there. These problems are presently being trouble-shot by the United States – commercially and within the government – as well as by China and others. Mars will become – in the lives of some today – a real venture.

Third, closest in time and hitting nearest to home, there has been an upsurge in investment, focus and technical drive to get smaller satellites rapidly, efficiently, safely and cost-effectively to low earth orbit – for all sorts of positive and pressing reasons. Key here is the cost factor – as the revolution in small satellite technology (and innovative, lower cost means of getting them to orbit), promises to greatly reduce costs across the board, from design and development to launch to replacement.

Of course, the role of satellites in supporting modern life is manifold, even if not continuously recognized and appreciated. Americans and others track global environmental and security shifts, sudden weather and human emergencies, evolving science and population trends, as well as solar and planetary activity. Perhaps above all, we depend on satellites – most of which are positioned in low orbit – to provide us with security and uninterrupted communications. It is for all of these reasons why a sudden drop in the cost of getting to orbit is revolutionary.