Author: Jeff Wasden
Colorado doesn’t always come to mind when people think of America’s space legacy. After all, no one ever said, “Denver, we have a problem.” Meanwhile, our researchers and aerospace manufacturers are quietly shaping the state’s economy, America’s space future, and astronaut safety.
Employees from eight of the country’s top aerospace manufacturers are hard at work right here in Colorado preparing NASA for 21st century spaceflight. One of those companies, Denver-based United Launch Alliance, has nearly 130 successful launches – a remarkable accomplishment in contrast to some recent flame-outs on the launch pads. Independently, Boeing is working to build the Space Launch System for NASA, to begin the journey to Mars.
Amidst this friendly competition, it is easy to forget about the safety of the astronauts who put their lives in the hands of Colorado’s engineers amongst others.
It is shocking to many to learn that SpaceX plans to fuel their rocket with the astronauts already onboard. This ‘load and go’ method needlessly risks astronaut lives in an effort to cut corners and eke out power from an undersized platform. SpaceX’s own Falcon 9 exploded on the launch pad in 2016 using this exact same fueling technique and a NASA safety panel has urged this risky proposal be reconsidered.
It’s not the first safety question mark to be raised about SpaceX’s hurry up approach to development. The company lost a Falcon 9 rocket and (thankfully unmanned) Dragon capsule in 2015 and one of its Merlin rockets exploded during testing late last year.
Elon Musk recently stated in “The Verge” that, “We certainly could load propellants and then have the astronauts board Dragon.” If SpaceX can do this, why don’t they eliminate the high-risk operation? In this case it appears the SpaceX ideology of risk taking is prioritized over safety.
NASA’s requirements demand that the odds of dying can be no greater than 1 in 270 flights. Counting the 2016 explosion and another in 2015 with the Falcon 9, SpaceX does not meet that criteria if they intend to carry our most precious cargo, America’s astronauts. Space travel will never be completely safe, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t try.
And given Colorado’s central role in America’s leadership in space, this is a discussion our state need to be leading. After all, Colorado boasts the country’s 2nd largest aerospace economy, with nearly 190,000 space related jobs which puts us number one in the nation per capita.
And our universities in Colorado are a key driver for cutting-edge space research. In fact, there are twenty former NASA astronauts affiliated with the University of Colorado and two are currently on staff. This commitment to space education explains why CU receives more NASA research funding than any other public university. And just down the road at the U.S. Air Force Academy you will find the nation’s 2nd ranked aerospace program.
Thankfully, Colorado companies, like Boeing, and ULA, our researchers, and our students understand this, and are committed to putting men and women in space and bringing them safely home. When NASA calibrated the chance of a fatal incident on the historic Shuttle flights, it came in at 1 in 12. While some cargo like Facebook’s communications satellite can be insured, human life is far too valuable to leave up to chance.