Romney and Gingrich Discuss the Space Program at Tampa Debate (ContributorNetwork)

During the Republican presidential candidate debate that took place Monday in Tampa, Fla., Mitt Romney and Newt Gingrich were asked questions on space policy, according to Space Politics. The answers the two gave were illuminating.

Romney and Gingrich had clashed before on space, when during a previous debate Romney had ridiculed an idea the latter had championed for lunar mining colonies. Gingrich defended the idea at the debate and later during a meeting with the Orlando Sentinel editorial board. But in Tampa, both suggested a change in the current way NASA does business.

What was Romney's proposal?

Romney suggested going back to the drawing board, seeming to suggest another presidential commission, similar to the Augustine Committee, to determine a new mission for NASA that would excite young people, would have commercial potential and would employ people and technology in Florida's space coast. Romney also suggested NASA (or perhaps he meant the mission to be conducted by NASA) be partly funded by the private sector. The mission itself would be a collaborative effort between NASA, the commercial sector, the military, and academia.

What did Gingrich have to say?

In perhaps a preview of his planned space vision speech, Gingrich concentrated on a series of prize competitions, similar to the Ansari X Prize and the Google Lunar X Prize, as a means to open up space. Gingrich also took his now familiar swipe at NASA bureaucracy, but suggested such a program would be of benefit to Florida's space coast.

What are some of the open questions about the proposals?

Romney did not open his mind about what he thought NASA's mission should be. He did not give an answer about why the U.S. should have a space program, what its purpose should be or an argument for paying for it. His proposal was to, in effect, study a question that has already been studied in the late 1960s with the proposals of the Space Task Group, the 1980s with the National Commission on Space, the 1990s with the first Augustine Committee, and the current era with the second Augustine Committee.

Gingrich was effusive about building space stations and a lunar settlement and going to Mars. He did not cover some of the practical questions surrounding his space prize approach, especially its practicality, political and otherwise. Would Congress actually transform NASA from a cutting edge space exploration agency to a paymaster for prize competitions? Would Congress actually leave billions, perhaps tens of billions of dollars in escrow accounts for years until the prizes were judged to have been won? How would private groups raise the vast sums necessary to go back to the moon or voyage to Mars? Perhaps these are questions that will be answered in his speech on Wednesday.

Mark R. Whittington is the author of Children of Apollo and The Last Moonwalker . He has written on space subjects for a variety of periodicals, including The Houston Chronicle, The Washington Post, USA Today, the L.A. Times, and The Weekly Standard.

Source: http://us.rd.yahoo.com/dailynews/rss/space/*http%3A//news.yahoo.com/s/ac/20120124/sc_ac/10877071_romney_and_gingrich_discuss_the_space_program_at_tampa_debate

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