U.S. Congressman Bill Posey is at it again, this time indirectly taking aim at President Obama’s new commercial space initiative. With a cohort of cosponsors, Posey has introduced a new bill, (H.R. 1641,) entitled, “REasserting American Leadership in Space Act,” a.k.a., the “REAL Space Act.”
It’s aim? To send us back to the moon in a decade – this time to stay.
In addition to the traditional “preaching to the choir” statement about the necessity of returning to the Moon from a planetary science and space exploration logistics perspective, (which I endorse wholeheartedly,) the bill also makes a powerful case from a number of other standpoints:
- Legally, it outlines that the 109th, 110th, and 111th Congresses all made a return to the Moon an integral priority of NASA’s mission, which the 112th Congress has a mandate to continue.
- Domestically, it claims that a sustained human lunar presence (read: moon base) would inspire a new generation of Americans to study math and science while stimulating technical, scientific, and medical advances that are rich with applications back here on Earth.
- Internationally (and politically), the bill also states that because China and Russia understand the importance of a lunar presence and have announced their intentions to colonize the Moon, we have a pressing strategic impetus to return ourselves.
Now, we don’t yet know how this bill will fare. In all likelihood, any plan to return to the Moon would be in direct funding competition with NASA’s push to help develop a commercial space transportation system. At this point, we have to hurry up and wait to see if NewSpace vs. Lunar turns into anything other than a glancing blow.
As for me? I’d prefer we do both, really. (It’s hard for me not to notice that doing so would be a drop in the bucket compared to the annual defense budget expenditures.)
Chronicles of an Atomic Astrowright 
lets go!