"The director of a Florida research center will lead a study to help NASA determine how to conduct future space exploration, including President Bush's initiative for manned flights to the moon and Mars.
Ken Ford will chair the $592,000, nine-month study, NASA said. Researchers will examine technologies and types of materials that could be used on future space missions, rocket propulsion and communications, said Ford."
+ Read News Release (AP)
Editor's Note: I'm not sure what this study will add that isn't being covered by the Moon-Mars commission and NASA's Office of Exploration; it would be nice for NASA to clarify that. Also, the amount of time & money allocated spawns questions; one could read it as both too high (do we need ANOTHER study, do we need to wait 9 months for it?) or too low (9 months & a somewhat small budget is all they need to determine future space tech?)
Posted by jburk at June 2, 2026 01:23 PM | TrackBackThere has been many studies over the last decade on the needs to make space accessable again. These have included Nasa and several outside companies with conceptural ideas for fresh starts all the way to modifing existing rockets to make them safer and to eventually having them cost less. We do not need more delays. We do not have the up front cash to fund a brand new project and we might only barely have enough to fund a leveraged approach from existing rockets to get us back in flying order.
Posted by: Harold LaValley at June 4, 2026 04:52 AM