CASIS

In 2005, along with then President Bush's 'Vision for Space Exploration', was a section (507) in the NASA authorization act of 2005 [Pdf] that made the ISS a National Laboratory. This makes sense, since it is the worlds highest laboratory (Sorry, High Times. They got you beat. Unless you wanna sponsor a study of the effects of Tetrahydrocannibinol on the human brain while in microgravity, they will always be higher than you. Sorry. But I'm sure that there will be lots of volunteers for that mission if you can talk CASIS into it). Included in that section was the authorization for NASA to contract with outside vendors for the management of the ISS-NL, which goes on to stipulate in 507(c)(3) that there should be a detailed plan for "the management structure for the laboratory, including the rationale for contracting or not contracting with a nongovernmental entity to operate the ISS national laboratory;"

I made this!

In 2011 NASA chose to use the nonprofit firm CASIS for the management structure, but I have yet to hear about the rationale behind that decision. I don't know why it took more than five years to decide to get an outside vendor. I would hazard that it may have something to do with the completion of the ISS, since the NASA Authorization act of 2010 [Pdf] says so in sec. 502. That wouldn't explain why they wanted a third party in the first place. Wouldn't NASA be best placed to decide how to use the laboratory it helped to design and build? Maybe there is a good reason for it, but I haven't been able to find any. Note, this isn't an accusation, more pointing out that it's hard to come by information regarding CASIS and why it was chosen.

Of course, it doesn't seem like CASIS has done much in the six months or so since it assumed responsibility. But that may well be due to an inefficient bureaucracy. Actually, that's not exactly true. I'm sure it's done a lot of stuff. But it's hard to figure out what they may have been doing. You see, as NASAWatch has been covering, there doesn't seem to be a lot of coordination between CASIS and anyone else. You almost never hear them mentioned when there is some new research on the ISS, or if there's a big conference about the ISS, or any other time really. But apparently it's a very stressful job (for not appearing to do much) since the executive director has recently resigned due to "...undue and onerous political pressures..."

I HAZ STARGATE

So what's up with CASIS? Why does it exist? What's the rationale behind it? What does it do, and what has it done? How did it get started? I know a little bit about that. CASIS was supported by Space Florida, an Independent Special District that is dedicated to the growth of the Florida space industry. Fair enough. These special districts are a little weird, but apparently commonplace. I hadn't heard of them before, but it seems a lot of states have them. They are usually created for one specific purpose, such as waste management or going into space. Anyway, CASIS is a big deal with them.

The more I dig into this the more confused I get. I can't seem to find any sort of narrative or explanatory themes to tie all of this together. There's holes all over the place, about why CASIS, why a third party at all, what has CASIS done, why aren't they more prominent in NASA press releases, why did Becker quit, why, why, why ... I don't know. I have a headache now. I'm just gonna post this with a bunch of links and have a lie down in a cool, dark room until my head stops exploding.

Links! Stuff that I read until my eyes got blurry, so now you get to read it too!
http://nasawatch.com/archives/2011/12/the-long-confus.html

http://www.space.com/12269-nasa-casis-nonprofit-space-station-research.html

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2011/sep/HQ_11-294_ISS_NPO.html

http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2392758,00.asp

http://nspires.nasaprs.com/external/viewrepositorydocument/cmdocumentid=256842/solicitationId=%7BBFE2288E-88A6-1FE1-DCFB-F94B9102C646%7D/viewSolicitationDocument=1/ISS%20National%20Lab%20Not-for-Profit%20CAN%202_14_2011%20Final.pdf

Yeah, that last one is the entire address. It comes from Nspires, the NASA Solicitation and Proposal Integrated Review and Evaluation System. I hadn't heard of this before either.

You know, I just bet that Space Law is one of the most complex and intricate legal arenas a person could dive into. Oh sure, international trading regulations are complex, probably even more so. But space law has got to be tough. So kudos to Michael Dodge and anyone else that majors in Space Law.

P.S. I almost never post pictures because, well, I don't know for sure. I just can't be all cool and stuff with graphics. Also, I never can find any that I like that are relevant. So the pictures contained in this post have, at best, a tangential relationship with the topic discussed.

Oh my god! UFO! Wait, no, it's just the Moon. Oh my god! What's that point of light to the right! It's a UFO! Oh wait, no, I had my ISO cranked up and it's just noise.

CASIS

Been Looking Forward To This

So, there's this company called SpaceX. I may have mentioned them once or twice before. Any way, They have been hoping to combine two of their demo flights into one demo. Which would mean that if this demo, now announced as Feb. 7, goes according to plan, SpaceX is ready to start commercial supply missions to the ISS. This would make them the first company capable of anything even close to that in the history of the world. Neat!

Image via Wikipedia

Been Looking Forward To This

5, 12, 15. April is an important month

I've never watched a space launch live, in person. It doesn't seem likely that I ever will. I can, however, console myself with the fact that I have now seen a shuttle launch, live, on television. And it was a good one, too! All early dawn darkness lit up as if by the fires of creation, air torn asunder by the rage of the Gods, and a graceful arc, a brilliant light receding into the darkness. And after, as the sun rises, we see the remnants of it's departure. Noctilucent beauty, pastel light strewn across the face of the sky.

A: Which makes me wonder, what exactly is that gigantic rocket spewing out of it's tail pipe, and how much of it is expelled? Not that I'm saying stop launching stuff into space or anything, I mean, I can't imagine a single shuttle launch is much worse than half of Chicago for about an hour. But this issue does require some attention. I'm not even speaking of emissions laws or anything. First, we don't really know enough to set feasible goals for standards. We must first research alternative fuels in an effort to see which ones are viable, and we must research the technologies that make engines more efficient. Second, being that space exploration is of vital importance, and that there are other, more urgent emissions issue's that need to be addressed (Coal fired power plants!), and that the emissions of Shuttle launches is sparse compared to the emissions of other industries, we should not limit our launches into space based on emissions. We should work to limit those emissions, but not by limiting the number or type of launches undertaken. Before we create any specific emissions goals we first understand what goals might be feasible.

B: Ok, so I don’t really know if the sky sounded as though it were being torn asunder by holy wrath or anything. I was watching this on TV. I just can't imagine anything looking like that not sounding like that.

On the upside, President Obama is due to speak at the Kennedy Space Center on the fifteenth. As he hasn't made too many announcements or spoke too much of his plans for NASA, this should be an interesting speech. Of course, he did make one comment that caused quite a stir. And by comment, I mean the NASA F.Y. 2011 budget. But I still am uncertain on his personal ideas regarding space, apart from all the political, social, and economic factors. How does our president feel about space exploration? I have my own ideas on what should be done, but as I ain't a rocket scientist, I take my own opinion with a grain of salt. I have my predictions for what will be said, and my hopes for what might be said. Regardless of the outcome, it will be a very interesting speech by our president.

Speaking of 2011, April 12th, 2011 will be the official "Fifty Years of Human Space Exploration". You see, Yuri Gagarin made his famous flight into space on April 12th, 1961, ushering in the age of Humanity as a space faring race. I find it to be no surprise that there are celebrations around the world in honor of this historic event. I should like to celebrate Yuri's Night next year, in honor of the first Human in space and the global feeling of peace, wonder, awe and co-operation that began with his flight. I should also like to propose a celebration on July 20th, 2011, the 42nd anniversary of Apollo 11. Those two events, more than any others, encapsulate Humanities birth into the cosmos. First we proved that we could go to space. Then we proved that we could go to other worlds. Now, the only question is which worlds would we like to visit first?

To decide that, though, we must know what technologies are at our disposable. And so we must research the technology a little before we say which destination should be our next goal. We must also consider the cost and benefits of our current space programs. To research the technologies to go, and eventually actually to go to places like Mars is expensive. Maintaining a transport to low Earth orbit is also expensive. We have plenty of data regarding long term stays in space. We know how to fly in deep space. We are nearing completion of the ISS. We no longer need our government space program to maintain a low Earth transport system. The commercial sector can handle that, while NASA focuses on other, more important things. We do not need both expenses. The commercial sector will employ those who will soon be unemployed, because lets face it, if you've worked for NASA and have an excellent school career, then that is your entire resume. And soon, in the fullness of time, NASA will again engage the public in a plan to send Human Beings to a place that no one has gone before. This speech will not tell us exactly when or where we will be going. But it will layout the path that we need to take to one day go there.

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5, 12, 15. April is an important month