1

NASA OFFICE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

303 E STREET, S.W., #P
WASHINGTON, D.C. 20546
(202) 358-1600

GLOBAL EXPLORATION STRATEGY AND LUNAR ARCHITECTURE

SPEAKERS:
SHANA DALE, Deputy Administrator
DOUG COOKE, Deputy Associate Administrator,
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
SCOTT HOROWITZ, Associate Administrator,
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate

[Moderated by Dean Acosta, NASA Press Secretary]

Monday, December 4, 2006

Johnson Space Center

[TRANSCRIPT PREPARED FROM A DIGITAL RECORDING.]

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 2

1 P R O C E D I N G S

2 MR. ACOSTA: Good afternoon, and welcome to

3 Johnson Space Center here in Houston for today's exciting

4 announcement for the Global Exploration Strategy and Lunar

5 Architecture announcement. I am Dean Acosta, NASA Press

6 Secretary.

7 It is an exciting day at NASA and exciting week,

8 and joining us for today's announcement, to my right, is

9 NASA's Deputy Administrator Shana Dale. To her right is

10 the Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems

11 Directorate, Doug Cooke, and to Doug's right is the

12 Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems

13 Directorate, Scott Horowitz.

14 We are going to go through a presentation, and

15 then we will get to your questions and have a

16 question-and-answer session later in the announcement.

17 So right now, I would like to turn it over to

18 Deputy Administrator Shana Dale.

19 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: Thank you, Dean.

20 I am so pleased to be here today with Doc

21 Horowitz and also Doug Cooke to announce another important

22 milestone in terms of the Vision for Space Exploration with

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 3

1 the creation of the Global Exploration Strategy as well as

2 the U.S. component to that, and that is the Lunar

3 Architecture.

4 You know, I want to take just a brief moment to

5 say how pleased we are at NASA that we were able to lure

6 Doc Horowitz away from industry. He has done such a

7 fantastic job leading the Exploration Systems Mission

8 Directorate. He is absolutely the right guy for the job,

9 and we are so happy that he is here.

10 Also, for Doug Cooke, he has been so important in

11 terms of what has been done with the Global Exploration

12 Strategy as well as putting the fundamental parts together

13 with the Lunar Architecture.

14 So I thank you guys. It is a real treat for me

15 to be able to work with these two, and they are such good

16 guys. Thanks, guys.

17 You know, this is a truly remarkable week for

18 NASA. As Dean noted, we are moving this week into the

19 Exploration Conference where we will talk about the Global

20 Exploration Strategy and the themes and objectives coming

21 out of that as well as the Lunar Architecture.

22 At the end of the week, NASA, with Doug Cooke,

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 4

1 will be meeting with international partners to have further

2 discussion about the elements of the Lunar Architecture and

3 where international partners are interested in playing a

4 role.

5 On Thursday, we plan to launch the Space Shuttle

6 Discovery. This will be the third launch in 2006 and the

7 first night launch in 4 years, and hopefully, by Sunday,

8 assuming that the Space Shuttle will be docked at the

9 International Space Station, Sweden's first astronaut,

10 Christer Fuglesang, and his crew mates will be docked at

11 the same time Dr. John Mather, NASA's Civil Service

12 Scientist, will be in Stockholm to receive the Nobel Prize

13 for Physics, so truly an incredible week for NASA.

14 In terms of the things that we are going to be

15 discussing today, obviously what we are doing is guided by

16 the Vision for Space Exploration which was overwhelming

17 endorsed by Congress in the NASA Authorization Act of 2005.

18 Some of the elements are obviously completing the

19 International Space Station, safely flying out the Space

20 Shuttle into 2010, creating the Crew Exploration Vehicle by

21 2014 and testing it, and also going to the Moon by 2020.

22 We are also very interested, as the Vision guides

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 5

1 us, on pursuing international collaboration as well as

2 participation with commercial entities.

3 Our approach is one in which the architecture is

4 definitely driven by the strategy that has been developed,

5 the Global Exploration Strategy. The Global Exploration

6 Strategy developed themes and objectives, and these

7 objectives have led directly into the Lunar Architecture.

8 The Global Exploration Strategy saw contributions

9 from over 1,000 people and 14 space agencies, and there are

10 two overarching issues that we are dealing with, and that

11 is why we are returning to the moon as well as what we hope

12 to accomplish when we get there.

13 As I mentioned, the Global Exploration Strategy

14 resulted in themes, and these are crystallized into six

15 themes, and that includes extending sustained presence,

16 human presence on the Moon, international collaboration,

17 the Moon's usefulness as a unique laboratory, economic

18 advancement and technological innovation that will be

19 important to space exploration as well as benefitting

20 people here on Earth, preparing for future human and

21 robotic missions to Mars and other destinations, and also

22 pursuing a vibrant exploration program that will engage and

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 6

1 inspire and educate the public, bringing hope to young and

2 old alike.

3 In terms of what we are going to do, that portion

4 of the Global Exploration Strategy, 180 objectives were

5 defined, and those were put into 23 categories, including

6 such things as astronomy, life support and habitat, power,

7 communications, and in situ resource utilization, just to

8 name a few.

9 The Lunar Architecture Study is one in which the

10 team gathered to develop a baseline architecture as well as

11 a concept of operations, and key decisions had to be made.

12 And that includes, if you go to the next chart,

13 whether we were going to engage in sorties or outpost, and

14 it goes to the fundamental lunar approach. The Lunar

15 Architecture Team concluded that the best approach would be

16 to pursue an outpost, and that has been confirmed by Mike

17 Griffin, our Administrator.

18 This weaves into two of the themes that we have

19 mentioned from the Global Exploration Strategy, extending

20 sustained human presence on the surface of the moon as well

21 as preparing for future exploration to Mars and other

22 destinations. It also enables global partnerships, allows

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 7

1 for maturation of in situ resource utilization, and results

2 in a path that is much quicker in terms of future

3 exploration. Also, many science objectives can be

4 accomplished in terms of pursuing an outpost.

5 The next logical question, after you have made a

6 determination about an outpost, is location, and what we

7 are looking at is polar locations, both the North Pole and

8 the South Pole. Definitely, we seem to have a focus on the

9 South Pole, but determinations will be made after results

10 from the Lunar reconnaissance orbiter, which will be making

11 detailed maps of the Moon.

12 From the point of discussion in terms of polar

13 location, it is safer. It is thermally much more moderate.

14 It allows for initial use of solar power, and we can

15 definitely move later into nuclear power, but that will be

16 much easier in terms of operations in the beginning.

17 From a resources perspective, the potential for

18 hydrogen and oxygen as well as other volatiles,

19 flexibility, including the need for just one communication

20 asset and a backup, as well as the fact that it is

21 exciting, we don't know as much about the polar regions,

22 and from a scientific perspective, many scientists within

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 8

1 the Science Mission Directorate are excited about the idea,

2 particularly, of exploring the South Pole.

3 Now, Doug, I would like to turn it over to you

4 for the next several slides and just other things that you

5 would like to say about the Lunar Architecture.

6 MR. COOKE: Right. The Lunar Architecture Team

7 was a team that was made up of engineering discipline

8 experts from across NASA who took the objectives, the

9 themes, and worked to understand the implementation, what

10 does it take to satisfy these or enable these objectives,

11 and they did develop mission concepts, options on the

12 architecture, different approaches. They, through the

13 process, developed the key questions that Shana just

14 referred to and other questions that we have not yet gotten

15 into, but it was important to understand what are the key

16 drivers and how then do you develop a capability and

17 implement an architecture that leads us to a sustained

18 lunar presence, lunar base, while through commercial

19 endeavors, international participation, discovery in

20 science, while we prepare to send people to Mars and

21 explore. So this was a very important aspect of it, to

22 figure out how to implement this. So we have a point of

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 9

1 departure at this point.

2 If we go to the next chart, an example of a

3 location, Shana was mentioning polar regions. An example

4 of one that we have studied, it is not to say this is the

5 final choice or anything, but it is one that we probably

6 know most about at this point until we fly a lunar robotic

7 orbiter. There is an area on the edge of Shackleton crater

8 at the South Pole that is almost permanently sunlit a very

9 high percentage of the time, 75 to 80 percent of the time,

10 and it is adjacent to a permanently dark region in which

11 there are potentially volatiles that we can extract and

12 use.

13 So this area shown in the slide is the fact that

14 this sunlit area is about the size of the Washington Mall.

15 So it is a large area. The team has looked at how the

16 base lays out in a location such as this, so that we

17 understand where the functions are developed.

18 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: And, Doug, if you

19 want to talk about the lander basic architecture?

20 MR. COOKE: Sure. If we can go to the next

21 chart, as we get into the architecture, a key aspect of all

22 of this focuses on the lander itself.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 10

1 The end-to-end transportation infrastructure, the

2 launch vehicles that we have talked about implementing and

3 the achievements that are possible at the Moon, all come

4 together in the design of the lander, and in looking at the

5 lander, it is important to, as we discovered through this

6 process, maximize the landed mass. What you can put on the

7 surface allows you to develop a capability much more

8 quickly, the more you can land and the better it is, and in

9 the process of doing that, you minimize the other parts of

10 the lander where you can, including the ascent vehicle that

11 sends the crew back up to lunar orbit to dock with Orion.

12 So the lander is a key feature of this, and the

13 way those optimizations occur, as we understand those more

14 in the future, this is a key element in this discussion.

15 If we can go to the next chart, it shows a

16 potential layout of a base, the beginning of a base, where

17 you use a lander to provide the various components that you

18 hook together and can then have a more sustained capability

19 to achieve and enable the objectives that Shana discussed.

20 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: One other point in

21 terms of the architecture is that we are going to be

22 preserving the ability to fly human sorties as well as

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 11

1 cargo missions with the human lander.

2 The implementation philosophy that NASA has

3 followed is one in which the U.S. will build the

4 transportation infrastructure as well as initial

5 communication, navigation, and EVA capabilities. It is

6 definitely an open architecture and one in which NASA

7 welcomes the participation of other countries around the

8 world as well as commercial entities.

9 In terms of the open architecture that I just

10 mentioned and the infrastructure, I think we have a chart

11 related to that, and it shows different elements here.

12 As I mentioned, the United States is developing

13 transportation capability as well as initial

14 communications, navigation, and EVA capability, but having

15 said that, the door is wide open in terms of participation

16 by internationals, and that includes power, habitation,

17 mobility, in situ resource utilization, robotics missions,

18 logistics resupply, and other specific capabilities.

19 Just to wrap up, 2005 marked the development of

20 ESAS and the architecture for our transportation elements.

21 2006 has been important for development of the Global

22 Exploration Strategy and the first phase of the Lunar

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 12

1 Architecture, which, again, I have to commend Doug. It is

2 an outstanding job for all the things that have been put

3 together.

4 2007 will mark continued work with the Global

5 Exploration Strategy, continued work with the international

6 partners and the commercial entities, as well as working on

7 a framework for potential cooperation. Phase II of the

8 Lunar Architecture, I should emphasize that these are open

9 architectures and also evolving. These are living

10 documents for us.

11 The other thing I would mention is that we

12 haven't figured out the exact destinations yet, but Office

13 of External Relations is going to be working on which

14 countries I need to visit. Doug will be going with me on

15 many of those trips, and that is really an opportunity in

16 2007 to start to have extensive dialogue with other

17 countries about the ways in which they want to participate

18 in exploration activities.

19 With that, I would like to see if Doug has any

20 other comments he would like to make about either one of

21 these.

22 MR. COOKE: All right. It is an important point

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 13

1 in time.

2 We have at this point, after the last few months

3 of effort, a very good understanding of what is achievable

4 at the Moon, why we are going to go, what we can actually

5 achieve as we go, and we have a very good understanding on

6 an approach to implementing that. That is a point of

7 departure for our discussions outside the agency with

8 internationals, with commercial entities, industry, the

9 science community, for understanding how to build on the

10 architecture and begin the discussions of what is possible

11 and who is interested in collaboration and the negotiations

12 that follow.

13 So it is an important point in time that will

14 lead us to a lot further conversations with the external

15 community.

16 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: Doc, I believe you

17 have some comments you would like to make as well.

18 DR. HOROWITZ: Thanks, Shana.

19 First, I really want to thank Doug Cooke, Tony

20 Levoy and his team who have worked really hard this year.

21 They have brought in a tremendously diverse group,

22 including 14 space groups from around the world

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 14

1 representing all the different nations' space programs.

2 They have brought in the commercial world, our contractor

3 team. They have also brought in people from the science

4 community and came up with all of these objectives and were

5 able to boil it down to basically six basic tenets that we

6 were going to follow to come up with the strategy.

7 It doesn't sound like a big deal, but that led us

8 to the conclusion that we are going to go after a lunar

9 base, and so a lunar base will be the central theme in our

10 going-forward plan for going back to the Moon and

11 preparation to go to Mars and beyond. So it is a very,

12 very big decision. It is one of the few where I have seen

13 the science community and the engineering community

14 actually agree on anything, where we finally have a place

15 that is very interesting from an operational and

16 engineering perspective because of continual sunlight,

17 because of the ability to maybe get after materials on the

18 moon, and also have such interesting scientific sites that

19 are near the poles.

20 It is also interesting to note that we know very

21 little about the poles on the Moon. In fact, we know more

22 about Mars than we know about the poles in the Moon. So it

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 15

1 is really important that we get the information from the

2 upcoming orbiters that are going to the Moon.

3 A quick status of where we are in exploration,

4 again, in 2004, we received the Vision. In 2005, we did

5 the studies based on what information we knew that led to

6 the transportation that will support these types of

7 missions. We have the large launch vehicle Aries V that

8 can launch enough mass to support sending the lander that

9 Doug described to the Moon, to be able to put enough

10 infrastructure there and then to eventually get us on to

11 Mars. We have the Aries I launch vehicle coming along in

12 development which will get the crew safely to and from

13 orbit.

14 In fact, Constellation has just completed its

15 program-level SRRs which gives us the confidence to move

16 forward in the development of these vehicles in support of

17 the architecture that we have outlined.

18 We have LRO, the Lunar Robotic Orbiter. It will

19 be flying with LCROSS, and those will fly in October '08.

20 So this is a living document, as has been pointed out. We

21 are going to learn a lot from these missions and other

22 missions which the international community is flying also

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 16

1 that will advise and be fed into decisions; for example, is

2 the North Pole or the South Pole the most interesting pole

3 and what parts are there and what surprises are we going to

4 find when we analyze the data that comes back from those

5 missions that will better inform as we move forward in

6 development.

7 We are going to flight-test the Launch Abort

8 System. We will start their tests in about 24 months, and

9 the Aries I first flight test will occur in about 29

10 months, a full-scale version of the Aries I with a

11 simulated second stage.

12 This is an evolving program. It is not about a

13 single point in space in time. We are after a generational

14 program, and in fact, I could sum it up that what you are

15 seeing here is the foundation, and the vehicles we are

16 designing are the vehicles that will be flown by the next

17 generation of space explorers.

18 So, Shana, thank you very much and Doug and your

19 team for a tremendous job to bring us to this point today.

20 MR. ACOSTA: Thank you very much. That will

21 conclude the presentation.

22 Now we will go the questions here. We will start

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 17

1 off with JSC. Then we will go around to the other field

2 centers, NASA field centers. What I ask, though, is please

3 wait for the microphone before you ask your question, and

4 then identify yourself and who your question is for.

5 All right. We will start right up here, up

6 front.

7 QUESTIONER: Leonard David with Space.com and

8 Spacenews.

9 You used "outpost" and "base" interchangeably. I

10 assume they are the same. What in your mind would a base

11 really constitute as far as people, a time frame of how

12 many years it might take to build up a substantial

13 presence?

14 MR. COOKE: We do use them somewhat

15 interchangeably. We begin, of course, with what you might

16 think of as an outpost and gradually build the capability

17 to where you get longer and longer stays.

18 The first stays, we are looking meeting the

19 President's Vision which is doing this by 2020, if not

20 before hopefully. We begin with relatively short missions

21 and build up the capability, so we can stay longer and we

22 get up to a point where we can stay 180 days and

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 18

1 potentially have a permanent presence there, and that is

2 what is necessary to begin this effort and develop and

3 understanding and learn from being there in that situation

4 and look to where that capability can lead for a more

5 sustained presence through external participation involved

6 in the entire effort.

7 QUESTIONER: Just a quick follow-up. When you

8 start approaching international partners and going

9 overseas, I think some reactions you hear from

10 internationals is, is this going to be the Space Station

11 program politics, because a lot of the countries have

12 issues that have come out of the Space Station program.

13 Are you looking for a new model of international

14 cooperation along with this strategy?

15 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: Well, that is

16 definitely something that we are going to be working on in

17 2007, what type of framework.

18 I wouldn't necessarily see it evolving in the

19 same way as the International Space Station. It could be

20 something where the basis is many bilateral arrangements,

21 but it is yet to be determined.

22 I think one of the points that have really

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 19

1 resonated when we have talked to other countries is

2 bringing them in so early in the process. When we

3 developed the April 2006 workshop and bringing them in as

4 well as commercial and academic community, they really were

5 here in terms of the ground floor in the development of the

6 themes and objectives.

7 As I mentioned, 180 objectives were defined, were

8 put into 23 categories. Of those 180 objectives, not all

9 are ones that NASA wants to pursue. It really was a

10 collection of the thought process of all of the

11 participants and the other space agencies that were

12 included. So I think the international community views

13 this in a much different light in terms of the way we have

14 gone about this process, and they know from the very

15 beginning process that we want them to be involved in

16 defining what we are going to be doing.

17 Obviously, every country is going to have their

18 own objectives, the United States as well as anybody else,

19 but there are common objectives that we are going to need

20 to pursue, and we are going to be developing the framework

21 in 2007. I think it remains to be seen exactly how it is

22 going to come together.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 20

1 MR. ACOSTA: And as you have said, it is a living

2 document. This is the starting point. So it is

3 interesting.

4 MR. COOKE: I guess I would like to add one

5 thing, and Shana mentioned it earlier. It is a process by

6 which we have brought them in early, and the points about

7 what we intend to build, which is the transportation

8 infrastructure, early navcom, early EVA, leaves wide open a

9 lot of infrastructure on the surface, and it certainly

10 doesn't preclude the parallel developments. It is not one

11 integral vehicle like the Space Station. So there are a

12 lot more options to work with, we feel.

13 We have all learned through our past experiences,

14 and I think we are finding opportunities where this can be

15 very positive.

16 MR. ACOSTA: Let's go to the next question.

17 QUESTIONER: Gina Sunceri, ABC News, for Shana

18 Dale.

19 Financially, how critical is international

20 partnership to making this succeed?

21 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: I think it is very

22 important. This is something that in terms of the

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 21

1 international collaboration and the commercial involvement

2 that flows directly from the Vision for Space Exploration,

3 and it is a program that is intended to be sustained and

4 generational in nature. It is the next step, the next

5 logical step, in what we do in space in terms of moving

6 beyond low earth orbit with the ability to go back to the

7 Moon, hopefully on to Mars, and other destinations, and it

8 is critical that we have international participation and

9 commercial participation along the way.

10 One of the great benefits -- and I would just say

11 one of the benefits of International Space Station -- has

12 been the great international collaboration that has come

13 out of that, and it is something that I think is key to the

14 future.

15 MR. ACOSTA: Mark?

16 QUESTIONER: Thanks. I am Mark Carreau from the

17 Houston Chronicle.

18 I wonder if you could sort of parse out the North

19 and South Poles as potential basing sites, what makes them

20 so attractive, and what, as best you know now, might

21 differentiate the two.

22 MR. COOKE: I will take that.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 22

1 The North and South Poles, our interest is they

2 have relatively easy access. Shana mentioned some of the

3 other features earlier. The temperatures are more

4 moderate. There is potentially permanent sunlight in

5 places. We don't really understand that entirely yet

6 because we don't have a full year of coverage from orbital

7 assets, which we intend to get with the Lunar Robotic

8 Orbiter.

9 So we will want to pin down more closely what we

10 think the right location would be as we get more

11 information, but they both have features that I mentioned.

12 They both also have the permanently dark craters where

13 there could be volatiles.

14 So they are of high interest. There are

15 differences, but I think we will want to wait and see what

16 we learn. When we do these missions, we always learn

17 something we didn't expect. So we will go forward from

18 there.

19 MR. ACOSTA: Mark, I think you have got a quick

20 follow-up?

21 QUESTIONER: Yes.

22 If your plan is to return to the Moon by 2020,

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 23

1 could you discuss when you sort of have to make a decision,

2 one way or another, or do you have the freedom really of

3 going kind of down to the wire?

4 I guess it might be good to talk a little bit

5 about when you would have to start developing the lander

6 that you envision.

7 MR. COOKE: We don't have to decide right away in

8 terms of a landing site. What we will do, though, is take

9 form Lunar Robotic Orbiter our best understanding from that

10 information, and we do intend to build a robotic lander

11 that we will want to send to the most likely place, and

12 that will be after 2010. So we will have time to take that

13 step, and we will go from there. That is not to say that

14 we have to absolutely land it at the specific spot, but we

15 will probably send it wherever it is most likely.

16 The development of the lander is planned. We are

17 not right on the edge of that, although what we are

18 studying right now is the features that it needs and the

19 top level requirements.

20 DR. HOROWITZ: I would like to add a couple

21 comments, Mark, to that.

22 One of the things we have to remember here is we

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 24

1 are developing a system that has flexibility. A basic

2 high-level requirement for the lander system is to be able

3 to go anywhere on the Moon. Just because we are going to

4 go to a base doesn't mean that every single sortie will go

5 to the base. We may find something very interesting to go

6 to an equatorial site in the future, maybe on the back side

7 of the Moon. I don't know.

8 So it is very important that people understand we

9 are looking at all the possibilities. Of course, we are

10 going to focus our resources on handling the places of most

11 interest, and so the base is where we are going to really

12 focus on, everything we need to assemble the base, but we

13 do have a system that has the basic capability to launch

14 fairly large masses, to be able to send a lander to just

15 about anywhere on the surface of the Moon whenever we like.

16 So we are making sure that we have the flexibility, and as

17 we get more knowledge, we are going to be able to go do

18 different things.

19 The designs of the lander are only in pre-phase A

20 right now. This is very early studies, which is a great

21 place to be because we can play all of these "what ifs" and

22 look at all the different features and bring in the data

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 25

1 that will eventually give us the data to support the

2 preliminary design review, which won't be until the '11 to

3 '13 time frame. So we have a lot of time to absorb all of

4 this information and make sure, just like we are doing with

5 Orion, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, make sure we have a

6 system that is extensible to do a lot of things because we

7 don't get to build these capabilities very often. So we

8 want to make sure they are extensible.

9 The nickname I use for the lander is it is a

10 "Pickup Truck." You can put whatever you want in the bed.

11 You can take it to wherever you want, and so you can

12 deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans

13 on board. These are the types of things we are looking for

14 in these systems.

15 MR. COOKE: Just to follow up on what Doc said,

16 the chart that we had with the lander is very conceptual.

17 It is a very notional idea to illustrate the features that

18 we are looking at. It shouldn't be thought to be the final

19 design or anything, so just to make that clear.

20 MR. ACOSTA: I like that name, "Lunar Pickup

21 Truck." I am going to use that possibly later.

22 All right. We are going to come back to JSC for

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 26

1 some questions, but let's go over to Headquarters in

2 Washington, D.C., for a series of a couple questions.

3 QUESTIONER: This is Seth Borenstein from

4 Associated Press.

5 For Doc or Doug, in terms of when the outpost

6 will be permanently staffed, what date are you aiming for

7 to start permanent staffing, and in terms of the decade

8 that follows, what are the staffing levels you are looking

9 at? Are we looking at 5, 10, 3, 4 for the permanent staff

10 of the outpost and what kind of international mix of

11 astronauts/cosmonauts are you looking at?

12 DR. HOROWITZ: Well, Seth, our goal right now is

13 by 2020 to have our first lunar missions. The first lunar

14 mission will deliver four astronauts to the surface of the

15 Moon. So, right away, on those initial missions, we are

16 going to have four people for short periods of time, as

17 Doug had pointed out, until we build up the base.

18 It will probably take several years, probably

19 into the 2024 time frame, before you see a fully functional

20 base where you could have a continual presence with

21 rotating crews, like we have on the International Space

22 Station today. How fast that builds up and how many crew

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 27

1 members get sent to that base is going to be hugely

2 dependent on the other people that are interested and how

3 much involvement they want because we are going to get that

4 initial capability.

5 We know we can send four down at a time, but if

6 other nations want to supply modules or they want to maybe

7 develop their own transportation systems also, you could

8 see a traffic model that could support an even larger

9 number, depending on the different levels of cooperation.

10 I don't know, Doug, if you have any more

11 thoughts.

12 MR. COOKE: That is right on the mark.

13 MR. ACOSTA: All right. Let's go to the next

14 question in Washington.

15 QUESTIONER: Yes. This is Jeff Morris with

16 Aerospace Daily.

17 I wonder if, I guess, Doug and Doc could talk a

18 little bit about surface mobility once the astronauts are

19 there.

20 I believe one of the charts mentioned a

21 pressurized rover in 2027, if you could maybe talk a little

22 bit about your plans there. How much mobility do you want

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 28

1 them to be able to have? How much of a range from the base

2 and so on?

3 MR. COOKE: All right. Mobility is an important

4 discussion, and it is not independent of our EVA

5 capability. We are going to have to look at those combined

6 capabilities and come up with a very efficient approach to

7 putting people on the surface.

8 We are going to put together a big effort to get

9 them there. So it is going to be important that we make

10 them as productive as we can. So I think we are going to

11 want to look at various options in combining the mobility

12 and EVA capability, so that we provide the best capability

13 for return for being productive and achieving the

14 objectives that we have laid out.

15 The traverse distances are probably yet to be

16 determined. If you look at the range of objectives, there

17 are various activities that kind of get lumped together.

18 One is in placement of equipment. Sometimes it is

19 wide-reaching, sometimes it is a central location, but if

20 you look at a lot of the objectives, it involves in placing

21 things.

22 There are other objectives that are basic

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 29

1 operations. There are others that possibly cause you to do

2 construction or assembly, and these cause you to do

3 different things.

4 So, depending on what the mix is and what the

5 priorities are in science and in operations and exploration

6 that will tend to determine the ranges that we will

7 traverse. If it is a very far distance, we may very well

8 do a separate sortie mission, as Doc described.

9 So we really haven't nailed those down, but

10 possibly, a pressurized rover combined with easy access to

11 suits, allows you to go distances without having a person

12 in a suit 100 percent of the time, there are different

13 tradeoffs we don't understand yet that we have discussed

14 and begun to think about.

15 MR. ACOSTA: I know there was a reference to the

16 presentation. Just so everybody knows, the briefing charts

17 that were used will be posted on NASA.gov/Exploration. So

18 we will put that up again at the end of the briefing, so

19 you will have an opportunity to go back and reference those

20 charts.

21 All right. Next question is at Headquarters.

22 QUESTIONER: Thanks. It is Tracy Watson with USA

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 30

1 Today.

2 Can you talk a little bit about how much this is

3 going to cost, what it will cost to establish a lunar base

4 and operate it, both U.S. costs and then I guess the total

5 cost once you wrap in what our international partners will

6 do and where you are going to envision the money coming

7 from?

8 Thank you.

9 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: Well, I will just

10 lead off, and I am sure Doc and Doug will want to have some

11 comments as well.

12 The first thing to realize is that we are

13 operating under a sustained budget over the foreseeable

14 run-out. The Vision for Space Exploration also laid out a

15 program that is supposed to be sustainable and affordable

16 and one which we go as we can afford to pay.

17 What we have done is, obviously, with the Crew

18 Exploration Vehicle and the Crew Launch Vehicle, we are

19 developing alternate human space flight capability not only

20 for low earth orbit, but to go beyond and replace the Space

21 Shuttle capability.

22 So the funding that you see in the out-years for

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 31

1 Space Shuttle will be ramping down, obviously, by 2010, and

2 the wedge that is created there will move directly into our

3 exploration components.

4 I don't know that we can speak at this point in

5 terms of what internationals are going to bring to the

6 table. It is really too early to make that determination,

7 but those are the fundamental tenets under which we

8 operate. So it is not an increase above our baseline

9 budget.

10 Doc, did you have anything?

11 DR. HOROWITZ: No, Shana. That is a good

12 summary.

13 NASA basically has a fixed budget. It is

14 approximately .6 percent of the national budget, and we

15 have several knobs we can turn whenever we take on any

16 endeavor. We have cost, we have performance, and we have

17 schedule.

18 If you are given a fixed cost to work under,

19 which is where NASA is today, then basically the amount of

20 performance which is the number of vehicles, the capability

21 of those vehicles, that is one of the things that you can

22 trade as well as when you can do it.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 32

1 Now, we do have some timelines we have to meet.

2 So we have to meet our 2014 deadline of getting our Crew

3 Exploration Vehicle operational and be back on the Moon by

4 2020.

5 The international participation I think is what

6 makes this so much richer because you can get so much more

7 capability by working together.

8 There are certain primary objectives that we have

9 determined are critical for us to accomplish what we need

10 to do to get ready to go on to Mars, but once you get to

11 putting this lunar base in place, the amount of

12 opportunities for other things -- scientific exploration,

13 commercial opportunities and all of that -- are yet to be

14 known by us.

15 So, to kind of come back to the basic question,

16 we have a fixed budget, and we basically tweak how much

17 performance and what capabilities we are going to build,

18 and, of course, that gets multiplied by the help from the

19 international partners.

20 MR. COOKE: I guess I would add one thing. As

21 the Architecture Team went through their development of

22 this implementation as a plan of departure, the concepts

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 33

1 that were looked at are defined at a pretty high level, but

2 at least from a first order standpoint, a costing analysis

3 was done that shows the first order that follows very

4 closely the budgets that Doc and Shana described.

5 MR. ACOSTA: All right. We have got a couple

6 more questions from Headquarters. Then we will come back

7 to JSC and then go to KSC, so a couple more from

8 Headquarters.

9 QUESTIONER: This is Mark Kaufman with The

10 Washington Post.

11 On the issue of international cooperation and

12 involvement, could you tell us a little bit about the

13 nations that appear to be very interested at this point?

14 Also, do you foresee, in terms of that

15 cooperation and involvement, something as intimate as that

16 initial team of four including international participants?

17 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: Well, I would just

18 lead off by mentioning some of the countries that

19 participated in development of the Global Exploration

20 Strategy. I am probably going to miss one. So you guys

21 jump in.

22 Australia, Canada, China, European Space Agency,

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 34

1 France, Germany, Italy, India, Japan, South Korea, Russia,

2 Ukraine, obviously United States, and I may have missed

3 somebody, but these are the space agencies that actually

4 participated in developing the themes of the Global

5 Exploration Strategy as well as the objectives.

6 I think it probably stands to reason that our

7 current partners on the International Space Station are

8 likely to be interested and have shown great interest in

9 terms of pursuing exploration work. So we would fully

10 expect that, but we also expect others who have not been

11 participating in the International Space Station to also

12 become a part of the exploration work, and we will be

13 working on that during the next year in 2007.

14 MR. ACOSTA: All right. Two more questions from

15 Headquarters and then we will move on and have a hard out

16 at 2 o'clock.

17 QUESTIONER: Hi, there. Geoff Brumfiel with

18 Nature Magazine.

19 I was wondering if you could talk either about

20 the scientific objectives of this Moon base or how you will

21 determine those objectives.

22 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: I will just lead off

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 35

1 by saying in terms of the science objectives, one of the

2 things that we are relying on is input from the scientific

3 community, and there are two formal routes right now for

4 that.

5 That includes the NASA Advisory Council which is

6 convening a workshop on lunar science objectives in

7 February of 2007 as well as an ongoing study that is being

8 conducted by the National Academy of Sciences that is

9 supposed to be complete by the summer of 2007. Both of

10 these activities will feed directly into determinations of

11 the science objectives that will be accomplished in terms

12 of the Moon.

13 Doug, I know you have other stuff to say about

14 solar Earth.

15 MR. COOKE: We have had wide participation so far

16 in the beginnings of these discussions, and we have briefed

17 and gotten comments back from the science subcommittees of

18 the NASA Advisory Committee, but there is a workshop coming

19 up in late February, early March, where those folks will

20 get together and take a really good luck at this.

21 We have collected a large number of objectives

22 from a range of science communities, a range of elements of

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 36

1 the science community, including, of course, geology if you

2 are at the Moon, but life sciences and earth science and

3 far space science as well.

4 Probably, the range of scientists that we

5 normally talk to have put in objectives, and, of course, as

6 we get into it, the process by which science is funded at

7 NASA, of course, goes through these processes, and

8 priorities are put in place for the full range of science

9 possibilities. So that process will take its own form and

10 will produce really what the primary priorities are.

11 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: And I would just note

12 one of the things that I find particularly interesting is

13 the idea of an array of telescopes on the far side of the

14 Moon. At this point, it is way too early to make any

15 determinations about what we will actually pursue, but I

16 find that to be particularly interesting.

17 DR. HOROWITZ: There are a lot of really exciting

18 opportunities on the Moon, and it is amazing once we go out

19 to the science community.

20 One of the things that everyone has to keep in

21 mind is exploration is enabling the science. The

22 Exploration Mission Directorate isn't going to define the

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 37

1 science. That is the science community, as Shana has

2 pointed out, and they have a process for doing this, but,

3 again, there is the exciting opportunities of having a

4 quiet zone on the back side of the Moon for the folks that

5 are looking at the radio frequencies to look out into the

6 universe, to be able to look back at our own planet, to be

7 able to look at history of the formation of our solar

8 system that has probably been preserved on the Moon. All

9 the different walks of science will have their day.

10 The important thing for us as we develop the

11 capabilities is to listen to the science community, to get

12 those objectives which Doug and Tony and the guys have done

13 a really great job, so that we make sure that as we develop

14 the capabilities and the designation of going to a base is

15 a direct output of listening to all the stakeholders, and

16 science, of course, is a huge stakeholder in this. So we

17 want to make sure we don't preclude any good science. That

18 is really one of our major goals.

19 MR. ACOSTA: Interesting.

20 All right. One more question at Headquarters.

21 Then we will come back to JSC for one question and then to

22 KSC. Headquarters?

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 38

1 QUESTIONER: Warren Leary, New York Times.

2 I guess for Ms. Dale or perhaps some others, on

3 your trips this next year to international partners to talk

4 about this architecture, will that include China, and how

5 seriously will those discussions be?

6 Secondly, once we have a lunar base there, will

7 it be required that people who use it or someone who goes

8 there be a partner in the project, or someone that has an

9 independent capability to get to the Moon, will they have

10 access to that base and its facilities?

11 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: On the first question

12 in regards to China, as you know, Administrator Griffin did

13 go to China at the behest of the President earlier this

14 year, and that was really just to initiate dialogue with

15 the Chinese and understand more about their capabilities

16 and share more information about our capabilities.

17 At this point, we are in the initial process of

18 perhaps pursuing discussion about sharing earth science

19 data and also talking about orbital debris, collision

20 avoidance, those types of things, and it remains to be seen

21 in terms of human space flight cooperation. That is not

22 one of our charges thus far. So we await further

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 39

1 direction, but at this point, it is the very initial

2 process of pursuing cooperation in the areas of things, as

3 I mentioned, potentially data exchange from earth science

4 satellites.

5 The other question you mentioned was independent

6 capability. That is something that we welcome. For

7 instance, if the Russians and perhaps the Europeans combine

8 together to create their own space transportation

9 capabilities, one of the lessons that we have learned from

10 the International Space Station is that it is important to

11 have redundancy and critical path capabilities. So that is

12 definitely something that would be welcome.

13 I am not sure I got the gist of the other part of

14 your question. It was something about requiring partners.

15 Did you understand that one?

16 MR. ACOSTA: I think the way I understood the

17 question -- and certainly, jump in, Warren, if I got it

18 wrong, but the question was to go to the outpost or to the

19 base, would it be a requirement to be a partner to get

20 there, or, for instance, if it was a commercial entity that

21 had the capability to get there, but they weren't a

22 partner, would they be allowed, is that going to be one of

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 40

1 the requirements, and maybe it is too early to tell,

2 something like that.

3 DR. HOROWITZ: So the basic question is what are

4 you going to charge them for a night's stay in the outpost.

5 [Laughter.]

6 DR. HOROWITZ: I think it is really too early to

7 say. Obviously, it is going to depend on what the

8 different cooperations we set up are, whether it is in-kind

9 cooperation or whether it is a commercial utilization of

10 the facilities that we develop. That is pretty far out in

11 the future right now.

12 MR. COOKE: I do think, though, to characterize

13 the activity that we have had underway to this point is

14 that we are trying to be inclusive and try to be open, have

15 an open architecture and allow for possibilities maybe that

16 we don't even foresee at this point. So that is an

17 important aspect of what we are trying to do.

18 MR. ACOSTA: All right. Let's come back to JSC

19 for a question, and then we will go out to KSC.

20 Guy?

21 QUESTIONER: Guy Gugliotta from National

22 Geographic.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 41

1 Probably for Doug. Could you talk a little bit

2 more about the volatiles you expect to find at the poles,

3 and if water rights doesn't turn out to be one of them,

4 would that alter your thinking on a polar base, or are the

5 advantages of climate and sunlight enough so that you would

6 pick the polar base regardless?

7 MR. COOKE: That is an excellent discussion we

8 have had over and over in that where we always come down is

9 the polar side is interesting for a number of reasons, and

10 it is a very important point that it is almost permanently

11 sunlit, these locations that we are looking at, because

12 that allows you to go and develop these capabilities early

13 with solar power.

14 We know there are high concentrations of

15 hydrogen. We know there is oxygen almost universally on

16 the Moon on the order of 40 to 50 percent content. The

17 craters can, do, and probably have over 4 billion years

18 collected volatiles from cometary ice. Once there, it says

19 basically, unless impacted somehow.

20 We know there are high concentrations of

21 hydrogen. We don't know what form it is in, and if it is

22 water ice, that is one thing, but in the discussions that

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 42

1 we have had, if we learn one way or the other, I don't

2 think that would affect that decision.

3 MR. ACOSTA: All right. Let's go to Kennedy

4 Space Center in Florida for a question.

5 QUESTIONER: This is Dan Billow from WESH TV for

6 Dr. Horowitz.

7 What is the year of the first launch, the first

8 test launch, other than the one you talked about in 2009?

9 Is that 2014? Is there still any talk of trying for 2012,

10 and do you have the budget right now, the numbers that you

11 know of, to support what you are talking about, as early as

12 2014?

13 DR. HOROWITZ: The test flight program is a

14 series of test flights because in test flight you use what

15 we call the build-up approach. So that kicks off with the

16 launch abort system tests that are going to occur in '08

17 and start in there, and then in '09, we will pick up, as we

18 talked about, with the first full-scale version of the

19 Aries I rocket which will have the simulated second stage.

20 As we are getting ready for 2014, there will have

21 to be test flights leading up to that, and we foresee that

22 the first of those full up with a fully active second

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 43

1 stage. It would occur in about the 2012 time frame, and,

2 yes, our budget does support a flight test program, and we

3 are working on the details of exactly what that flight test

4 program is going to look like as we get more definition as

5 we are going through the design and the system requirements

6 review for each of the projects.

7 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: And I would just add

8 to that, that hitting all of the milestones that Doc just

9 mentioned requires stability in our budget profile and

10 making sure that we get the funding that is actually being

11 sought in terms of the request and the budget run-out.

12 MR. ACOSTA: All right. Let's bring it back to

13 JSC for a couple of questions. We have about 5 minutes

14 left.

15 QUESTIONER: Robert Pearlman with

16 collectSPACE.com.

17 Comparing this approach to the Apollo approach

18 where sorties were viewed as a geologic mission to go

19 gather different samples and given that the early designs

20 of the lander seem to minimize return, what role does

21 sample return play in this approach, and what has the

22 science community said about that so far?

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 44

1 MR. COOKE: As Doc mentioned earlier, we have

2 preserved the ability to do sortie missions, and in fact,

3 we have talked about the possibility of sending robotic

4 missions to other locations for placement capabilities or

5 scouting out a location before we send a sortie even,

6 whether we send a robotic mission from Earth or from the

7 Moon once we have an outpost. So we have not precluded

8 that. In fact, we want to make sure that we retain that

9 capability to go in a sortie mode for a specific

10 high-priority interest, if and when the case arises. So we

11 want to preserve that capability.

12 In looking back toward Apollo, the Apollo

13 missions, of course, were tremendous, and most of us are

14 here because we were watching those at the time as we grew

15 up. They were limited by the capability that they took in

16 any one location, and the stays were limited. The hardware

17 was limited to basically what they did.

18 In the approach that we are taking, we are

19 looking at this more permanent capability that will allow

20 longer stays and a lot more in the way of achievements from

21 the realm of objectives that we have looked at.

22 MR. ACOSTA: All right. A couple more questions.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 45

1 We will go to Mark.

2 QUESTIONER: Mark Carreau, Houston Chronicle.

3 Could you just give us a sense of some of the

4 things that partner nations might do at a lunar base that

5 would help everybody in the sort of sense you are talking

6 about?

7 DR. HOROWITZ: Sure, Mark. That is really

8 interesting because we have identified in our architecture

9 the primary things we have to get done. You have to have a

10 ride to get there. You have to get down on the surface.

11 You have to provide for basic habitation.

12 One of the points we brought up was, for example,

13 we are going to take advantage of the solar insulation

14 because the poles have a lot of that. If we are able to

15 build up more robust power conversion techniques, that

16 allows more capability that we might not need for initial

17 objectives, but other people might want to provide it. We

18 might be able to get more habitation volume from other

19 contributors, whether they be inflatable technologies or

20 just other modules, similar to what we are doing on

21 Station.

22 Mobility. Doug talked about mobility. I see

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 46

1 mobility as a huge range, everything from walking around in

2 a space suit to driving around in a full-up pressurized

3 rover with a backhoe on the back to go dig up dirt and move

4 things around. So there is all kinds of capability, from

5 heavy lifting to in placement to maybe even buying things

6 commercially. ISRU may start off as a Government activity

7 to determine if we can do it, but it may become a

8 commercial activity to actually buy resources.

9 If I could buy oxygen to supply the people in my

10 base or use that as an oxidizer for fuel and somebody can

11 provide that in a commercial sense, that might even be

12 commercially provided, or it could be provided by another

13 country. So there is a tremendous number of opportunities,

14 and I see them everywhere from transportation to

15 infrastructure to capabilities as well as all the science

16 activities that are going on.

17 MR. ACOSTA: Shana, do you have anything to add?

18 DEPUTY ADMINISTRATOR DALE: No.

19 MR. ACOSTA: We will leave it, the last question

20 here, with Leonard.

21 QUESTIONER: Leonard David with Space.com,

22 Spacenews.

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 47

1 You have got an experiment going underway now

2 with COTS, and this gets to your commercial activity. To

3 what extent do you see COTS as a template for potential

4 commercial applications for lunar exploration, and if it

5 doesn't work, do you have other strategies in mind or other

6 types of mechanisms that might involve the commercial

7 entities?

8 DR. HOROWITZ: Basically, I think the COTS model

9 is an excellent model. This is where, as you know, we are

10 providing some seed money and support through our funded

11 Space Act agreements, and the idea is if we can buy the

12 capability from the commercial sector, one, more cost

13 effectively, just save money, but also free us up to go do

14 the exploration, get on to Mars, and go do the other things

15 that we need to do, I think that is a great model.

16 Is there some risk? Of course, there is some

17 risk in doing this, and we are going to learn as we go

18 through this, but the commercial world and the

19 entrepreneurial world will evolve with us. So I don't have

20 plans on how I am going to change the way business does

21 business. I am just going to encourage them and make sure

22 that we provide the environment, and so far the feedback I

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 48

1 have gotten is that we are doing a good job of providing

2 the correct environment, and I see that having direct

3 application going on to the Moon because we do want to

4 extend the sphere of human influence, if you will, which

5 includes commercial opportunities.

6 So I think the model we are using is good. If we

7 have troubles, we are going to learn from that. Just like

8 businesses evolved over years, I think the space business

9 and the Government versus commercial partnership is going

10 to evolve over time. Just like we are doing with this, we

11 are going to continue to learn, and we will modify as

12 required to make sure that we are enabling the commercial

13 world to work with us.

14 MR. ACOSTA: Great. Well, that will be the final

15 word for today's briefing. I want to thank our panelists

16 for an exciting and informative hour of information. Thank

17 you, Doc. Thank you, Doug. Thank you, Shana. That will

18 close it out, as I mentioned.

19 For more information on today's briefing and the

20 presentation charts that were used, please go to our

21 website at www.NASA.gov/Exploration.

22 That will do it for today's briefing. Have a

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622
 49

1 great afternoon, and we will see you later in the week.

2 [End of press briefing of December 4, 2006.]

3 - - -

MALLOY TRANSCRIPTION SERVICE

(202) 362-6622