May 9, 2009
About Paul D. Spudis
Paul D. Spudis is a Senior Staff Scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston, Texas. He was Deputy Leader of the Science Team for the Department of Defense Clementine mission to the Moon in 1994 and is the Principal Investigator of an imaging radar experiment on the Indian Chandrayaan-1 mission, launched to the Moon in October, 2008. In 2004, he was a member of the President’s Commission on the Implementation of U. S. Space Exploration Policy and was presented with the NASA Distinguished Public Service Medal for that work. He is the recipient of the 2006 Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics, awarded by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He is the author or co-author of over 100 scientific papers and four books, including The Once and Future Moon, and (with Ben Bussey) The Clementine Atlas of the Moon. His web site can be found at www.spudislunarresources.com. The opinions expressed here are his own, and do not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or his employer.
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Paul,
“Augustine Commission and Space Exploration: Objectives Before Architectures – Strategies Before Tactics”
was the single best written, most cogent, most insightful article I’ve read on U.S. Space Exploration, ever.
Ever.
Comment by Jim Woods — September 19, 2009 @ 7:57 pm
Many thanks, Jim!
You can download a PDF copy here:
http://www.spudislunarresources.com/Opinion_Editorial/Objectives%20before%20architectures.pdf
Comment by Paul D. Spudis — September 20, 2009 @ 7:51 am
[...] Paul D. Spudis, writing in the Smithsonian Air & Space blog, explains why “commercial space” firms like SpaceX and Orbital Sciences aren’t “commercial” in the strictly defined capitalist sense – at least not with their current business model. He’s not unduly harsh, although it’s evident he doesn’t like the situation. However, his feelings come from a lack of a national space policy, not from the actions of the companies themselves. (I think SpaceX would prefer to be less beholden to the Government, but in many respects, right now, it’s the only game in town. I confess that I may believe that as much because of my own hopes as because of those of Elon Musk.) Paul Allen’s Stratolaunch carrier and SpaceX-built rocket [...]
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