Ron Garan

December 6, 2012

I am NASA astronaut Ron Garan, I want to do an AMA but instead I want to ask you: What do you think NASA should do next? What's should be the next destination for human space exploration?

I will post proof on my facebook https://www.facebook.com/RonGaran Twitter: https://twitter.com/Astro_Ron and G+ https://plus.google.com/+RonGaran pages. I want to discuss with you where the next destination for human space exploration should be

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Would it be a good idea to try and set up a permanent base on the moon? If only to prove it's possible before setting out further afield.

One of Jupiter's moons!

I can't wait to see man make it to Mars.

manned exploration of mars its realistic and a big achievement

Mars. Unless I'm missing something.

I'd like to see some sort of permanent structure on the moon.

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What would be your favorite planet to visit? and Why?

This is off topic, but could you describe what it was like going out on your first spacewalk?

i read a great article about what it would take for a manned mission to alpha cent. a and b. what are you're thoughts on manned missions to other solar systems?

I think we need to focus efforts on developing more practical ways of reaching orbit before we start setting sights on manned missions to mars. We don't even have the funding to return to the moon much less another planet. What do you think about privatization of NASA so that big money investors can become a part of it?

With the discoveries of water on Mercury, it would be really interesting to land rovers on it for further analysis. Do you see something like this happening in the near future?

I believe we should be sending more money into exploring our universe. It's great that we've now gone to mars, but the universe itself is SO... DAMN... BIG... we ought to know more about it than we currently do. And while I believe the voyager missions, both 1 and 2, will provide indispensable data about our near galactic neighborhood, technology has advanced so much since their departures, I can't help but think what we could accomplish and learn using current tech.

And I want to go into the space industry, so funding would help. Thanks for doing this AMA!

Do you see Asteroid mining becoming a new major industry when its more researched / developed?

We need to find Super Saiyans

I think you guys (or someone) should mine the moon. If you tunnel down you'll get ample radiation shielding for free and if you process the raw materials you can build spaceships that can go faster since they won't have to contend with the stronger gravity of Earth or any atmosphere at launch.

If it was designed so that the cities on the moon formed a smiley face or an ejaculating penis when seen from Earth it would be even better.

Some more international co-operation. We have so many agencies around the world. I think as soon as we start thinking as ourselves as citizens of Earth and not nations then progress in space will advance much more. Also a manned mission to Mars would be cool, I'd like to see a permanent settlement set up there or the moon like the prototypes drawn up in the 70's.

Perhaps we could land on the sun next?

I'd like to see more robotic rover missions to other planets (Venus?) and moons.

I am an engineering student, and my friend and I want to become astronauts. What advice can you give us in the pursuit of this goal? Thanks!

Make a colony on the moon

what about space elevator? is it just fairy tale?

Well seems like Mercury is the place to go ... but more studies should be done first. I just want to see us reaching for the stars. We can do it, but we need the right people dreaming big.

What was your first thoughts when you experinced weightlessness, and seeing space for the first time?

I think we should investigate into HD40307g a bit more (it's a "super earth" go look it up).

Why, in your opinion, should we explore space?

Also, if you were the first man to set foot on another planet, what would your first words be?

Of course, I would say that we should go back to the moon then to Mars. But I think to do that, we have to get the public informed as to how it could benefit them and excited them about it. How to do that is another issue entirely.

If I'm buying snow tires should I change all 4 or just the front or back 2?

4 wheel

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Toss up between a moon base, lunar orbit base, and asteroid belt mining facility. Mars is very difficult for now, we can get a better return on next step technology from those other destinations.

Big fan of how NASA has been partnering with (Read: Funding) the commercial sector to solve some of the technical challenges of building a genuine commercial industry - The SpaceX and Xcor contracts being shining examples... my question is; what about research grants for startups aimed at building that industry? Even tiny ones for market validation could mean a big deal - as if there's good results, those companies can then raise private investments on the back of data :)

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Honestly? The next destination for NASA should be Elementary, Middle, and High-Schools across the country.

I can't imagine that you and your colleagues don't LOVE what you do for a living. If you took some of that passion to the classrooms of soon-to-be voters and got them excited about the possibilities of the space-program you would do more to ensure the future of NASA than anything else I can think of.

P.S. Thank you for what you do - if I could do any one thing in my life it would be travel to Low Earth Orbit.

P.P.S. Please check out www.reddit.com/r/KerbalSpaceProgram ... we will love you to death over there. Mention my name if you want to be a king maker.

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To be honest, I think NASA is doing fine on the exploration front. If I were to change something, it would be to make the American public aware of all the amazing things that have come out of NASA. I know far too many people who think NASA is a waste of money because they don't produce anything useful (and then they get surprised when I reply that NASA really does make stuff that they use every day).

Any chance of having some kind of PR campaign to get the word out? You guys have the facts behind you; just tell people about them more! I suspect your budget would be slashed less often if people understood that investments in NASA have paid for themselves many times over in the commercial success of stuff they invented.

I want to see NASA play a larger role in solving global warming. If you can't go to space on your own for a while, why not give it a crack?

Back to the moon, get our shit together, go to Mars.

Facilitate market research grants for the commercial space industry :)

(The premise being, if we REALLY want to get private investors interested in space ad a viable option, we need numbers to prove there's a real market there.)

Faster and more efficient ways of travel, so we CAN have the ability for human space exploration.

Also, Cryogenic Freezing.

Has there been any discussion about a manned mission to an asteroid? I think that would be awesome.

I'd love to see something start here on Earth. How about more funding for you guys and NASA!

I think ultimately regular people should be able to go to space if they don't have 20 million dollars

Alpha Centauri. Lets get a look at that earth like planet.

I heard something about a real-life Star Trek ship being blue-printed, to be built soon. If true, how would it be possible to lift such a behemoth into space?

Space communities! Free of pollution, weather, and the whole anti aging thing is something my wife would go for

I would say nuke the ice caps on Mars and start terraforming that sucker right now. Then I would make a giant reflector space umbrella and do the same to Venus.

Are you in favor of space nukes for terraforming planets?

How's space?

Meth lab in space

I'd like to see NASA start to very seriously collaborate with the space agencies of other nations, particularly wrt to Building New Things.

I think international collaboration is the best way to get budgetary, resourcing and ideological constraints which are hampering humanity's getting off this damn rock.

Which means we should get there faster, and I can stop quoting Dr Farnsworth regularly :) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=35TbGjt-weA

Let's explore Titan.

We need a ship that will support long term habitation in space. I don't think we'll see faster than light travel before our planet becomes too crowded or messed up to sustain us all. We're already searching for other worlds that support life, but I have a feeling we're going to need a ship that can sustain a decent sized population for several generations if humanity is ever going to get there.

What's it like way up in space? What are the best memories you have had?

Pick a near-Earth asteroid like Nereus or Cruithne. Have an astronaut (carefully) walk around the entire object, publicize "first astronauts to circumnavigate another world on foot"

I think that the next step NASA should take is to send people to the moon again, and see if it could possibly be suitable for humans to live under certain conditions, then as time goes on we'll go from there.

Send robots to other parts of the solar system. The USSR sent craft to Venus, let's get better images and data with modern technology. It would be interesting to see many of the planets and moons up close.

I think NASA should build a real life Death Star, basically an artificial moon/space station but with weapons that could blast any asteroids that get a little too close to Earth.

Also it needs to have all exhaust ports covered, you know... just in case.

Did you ever meet a Santa Claus in your journeys?

In Harry Turtledove's WorldWar series, Americans built mining/construction bases near the asteroid belt. There, they mined and processed the water, metals, etc. in order to build spacecraft right there in space. I think this would be a huge step in reducing the cost of space exploration.

I think NASA should unveil all of the UFO documents that they have. It will keep us humans busy for years.

Also, do you believe in aliens/extraterrestrials?

I wish Nasa could grant me the ability to not be horrible at math so I could graduate with a degree worthy of working at Nasa. >_<

I think humans have gone as far as they should. Robotic exploration is the most cost effective and safest. Maybe when we have better propulsion and a star trek like replicater.

how long do you think it will be until space travel becomes affordable to most everyone?

What's the big secret that will be revealed soon? I'm impatient.

I desperately want the warp drive research to be fruitful. What's the general feeling around NASA - pipe dream, or within our lifetime?

Shouldn't you focus on getting funding from the government?

I mean... as it stands now, you have no way of even getting into orbit on your own (which sucks).

1: If you guys are taking names, I will HAPPILY be the first man to die on Mars. If I understand this correctly, the radiation should kill me within a couple of months (if several years on board a ship doesn't already destroy human bone density and make me a straw-man).

2: OCEANS! We have mapped out something like 3% of Earth's oceans! Who knows what sort of cool biological breakthroughs will result from discovery of life that HAS NOT BEEN AFFECTED BY THE SUN FOR HUNDREDS OF MILLIONS OF YEARS!

3: Lightsabers.

I think the question should be where shouldn't we go...

I would like NASA to build the hover board from Back to the Future even if it is pink.

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I'd like to see more exciting moon exploration.

I think NASA should also focus on a new PR campaign to revitalize and encourage the public to support funding for space exploration. Some people need to realize how important NASA has been to furthering technology in our world. It's so much more than pure exploration. Just because we have been to the moon [example] doesn't mean we have nothing to gain from establishing infrastructure there. The technological, medical, and even economical benefits to the future of humans is immeasurable. Everyone should be stoked on this!!!

Ramp up marketing of astronaut ice cream.

I'd like for NASA to send a robot to Europa - melt through the frozen surface and send in a mini sub. Talk about a challenge! Also, potential for life there. Practice in Vostok lake in Antarctica.

Its inevitable that humans go to Mars. Too big of a PR boost not to.

I wonder if NASA/private industry could determine if mining the asteroid belt is feasible.

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NASA's outward vision for more exploration is something everyone wants - but one thing that I really appreciate, and that I hope NASA keeps doing, is pushing science education. As a high school senior in the US, I've seen countless incompetent or uninterested science teachers in multiple states and school districts. We need to provide a path for students who want to learn, especially with more emphasis on theoretical physics, astronomy, and cosmology.

snoop lion started a new trend. Now people doing AMA's are asking redditors questions.

Well, we Mars now, so a semi-permanent moon base could be a good stepping stone for long-term off world colonies to be established.

Loved you at OYW. Just wanted to say thanks for your time!

How far into space can NASA currently, reasonably, go? How long till astronaut's will be able to go to Mars?

would it not be feasible to put a large object in such an orbit that it would move a certain distance away every year... then dangle some kind of rope to the surface of earth and offset that movement with weight from cargo/building materials/ people climbing up the rope thing?

this space elevator thing keeps me up at night

Human colonization of a planet in another solar system. I know it's a long term goal but hey, no stupid answers and all that right?

Next time you have a space-rated vessel, name THAT one Enterprise. NASA kinda had a false start and we really lost out on the PR value.

Do you think there is any chance that we will ever move earth's entire population to another planet?

I think the biggest thing that would help the world unify and become one nation would be a joint venture to colonize the moon. By doing so, we have the ability create and cheaply launch space crafts on the moon. The next step would be Mars but without a base on the moon, I think this is much more difficult.

Appreciate what you do.

This may be unrelalistic but since finding a planet with oxygen close by is unlikely, i think terraforming should be researched more rapidley. Some way thats practical in time.

I think firing a nuke at the moon would be a good idea. Oh and the warp drive that's also a good idea.

analysis of any and all materials within our grasp in space, in search of manipulable energy

I think NASA should do more search for intelligent life. I think it was Stephen Hawkings who said it's very plausible for there to be alien bodies floating around :)

Ron, I was just having a discussion about this with some of the computer science faculty. As we burn through Moore's Law's usefulness, we seem to be hitting walls to improvements. We may not be able to get our processors much smaller than they already are, and power consumption rates are quickly getting to be bottlenecks as well. Right now we're in a phase of being able to expand our computing capabilities by exploiting parallelism...But we may well get to a point where that possibility is exhausted too. Eventually, we're going to need a major shift in our computing technology if we want to continue to make things faster.

So one of the things that we were discussing is using superconducting materials, which have zero electrical resistance, and could be used to make extremely fast computers. The problem, of course, is that the highest temperature superconductors we've been able to make so far need to be at about 100 K, and it's very energy-expensive to keep things at that temperature when it's 300 K on the outside of the computer.

So, we were thinking that one of the things we may end up having to do is to put our computers into space, where cryogenic temperatures are more or less absolutely FREE. Heck, the JWST is going to be at about 40 K, and just cool radiatively. So we can build a computer with superconducting materials, put it at the L5 point, and handle data transfer with a laser.

What do you think? I didn't think I'd have a chance to ask an astronaut about this anytime soon...although I'm hoping to be a coworker of yours when I graduate. :)

Moon/Mars base + life searching probe to Titan

I think terraforming Mars would be amazing. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terraforming_of_Mars

Build a mass accelerator to establish some real infrastructure in orbit first, then moon base and asteroids!

I'd like to see NASA turn into a more international organisation.
And to be more open on their projects so that they can use crowd sourcing as a means of research, testing and contribution.
Humans need to work together if we are going to get of this rock to explorer outside of our solar system.
Time to forget about country lines and work as earthlings.
NASA is too closed and elitist. If you don't do this someone else will.
Now that we have the internet and technology at our disposal there are many many garage inventors and innovators, it is waste for NASA to do their research behind closed doors only to come up with the same result and product some garage inventor had already done years before.

I'm sure I don't speak for myself here, WE want to be part of the system to help us explore this universe.

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For human exploration I'd say Mars, but some kind of permanent station on the Moon is also necessary. I think a Moon colony should be more of a refueling/supply station to support the people on Earth, in addition to acting as a "pit stop" to Mars.

The Moon is very important to space exploration, but Mars seems to be more viable for supporting an actual colony. I'll admit I'm practically clueless on the topic of space colonization, but to me the fact that Mars has some kind of atmosphere makes it somewhat more viable to colonization than the moon.

Looking beyond places with the thought of colonization in mind, I'd say that asteroids are among the next places we should start exploring. As I'm sure you know, asteroids are thought to be loaded with precious metals. This wealth of materials will be a huge help later in the future with more and more things requiring precious metals such as platinum, gold, nickel, and cobalt. This, I hope, may also help take some pressure off of strip mining on Earth. And just as is the case with Moon mining, asteroid mining has the potential to bolster commercial enterprises and provide raw materials for future stations.

P.S. Thanks for including the article about why we should return to the Moon.

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I would like to see a portable manufacturing rig put up in orbit, maybe a piece at a time like a space station, and then capture one of those asteroids we hear about in the news that come dangerously close. Use a small group of robotic ships to land on the asteroid, then nudge it's speed and trajectory so that we catch it in orbit, then use the rig in space to extract, refine ore to build ships that can go back and forth between the earth, moon, mars, and the asteroid belt. Basically lay the foundation for an interplanetary infrastructure for transportation and commerce so we can expand, then we can really crank things up.

What about terra-forming a planet like mars?

intergalactic travel to new planets colonization terraforming

I want another Voyager-esque program!

Find some way to encourage space travel. The fact that we haven't returned to the moon since Apollo makes me feel pretty sad. There's a whole goddamn universe out there and we have barely even tasted it. Spreading out is beneficial for humanity as a species.

Mars/Moon colonies for when we inevitably fuck up our planet.

The Moon, yes, but L5 also.

A large space port, to accomidate future civilian space turists.

Everywhere?

Larger permanent structures in LEO with steady shuttle-esque services. This will likely be taken over by private companies.

The Moon to restablish dominance and possibly establish a small base there nothing to fancy for now.

Manned mission to mars as soon as possible. Yes curiosity is cool and landing an SUV is amazing but to create excitement for the space program we need to have humans exploring. This should last for a few months at least. By this time there should be an ISS type base on the moon

Send a mission to an asteroid if possible for mainly shits and giggles.

Several probes that land to Venus, Europa and Titian. to find out what is going on there if anything. Mars is cool but we have explored the shit out of it by the time a manned mission and another curiosity esque rover lands there.

another objective is find a way to go faster and get ready for really long term missions (like several years) to the other part of the system or another system entirely.

I have some general time frames: in a decade be back on the moon and in two be ready to send a man to mars or have the mission in transit.

I see China making it to Mars. Maybe Elan Musk will back up his talk and make it out there in the next 20-30 years through a commercial operation. Or, maybe Robert Zubrin/Mars Society and other groups form a coalition to hire out Space-X to realize the Mars dream.

One thing I don't see is NASA going anywhere. I interned at Kennedy Space Center in 2006, and I remember thinking how incredibly depressing it was to see the great vision the people in the 50s had when they planned the facility. Then fast forward to 2006, and KSC was sorely under-utilized. Today, even more so with the loss of a civilian manned space program.

So, here's where I THINK NASA should be going: Space Exploration. Anywhere. Any form. Drop all the climate science and take a laser focus on space exploration. Let some other government agency or university consortium pick up all the bloated non-space exploration related science that NASA is currently mired down in.

As for where I think NASA will actually go? Into the history books of irrelevance at the rate it is currently going.

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i know we are currently working on better engines, once me achieve that, (which could be very very soon based on predictions) I'd love to see one of those earth-like planets they've been finding!

More research for finding life/fossils on other planets.

It seems the major problem, access to space, is being addressed by companies like ULA, Orbital and SpaceX. The next problem, in my opinion is, how do we conduct business once in space?

I'd like to see a network of "Space Tugs" that can transport people, equipment and raw materials throughout the solar system. I believe this would be the infrastructure required to support future exploration missions such as moon bases, moon-based space elevators, asteroid mining, manned mars missions, mars terraforming via additional mass and water from asteroids, transport of manufactured goods between colonies, and returning samples to earth. This could also be a great way to use technology that would be taboo in constant earth orbit, such as space-based reactors.

Such capabilites are expensive if done with chemical rockets. Inflatable habitats from Bigelow, a high density power source and Vasimir engines could make this an efficient mover that never leaves space and is more reusable than the shuttle. It could be used to service satellites without costing a billion dollars a mission.

I think this is vital infrastructure that NASA should consider building, so that entrepeneurs can focus on what nobody has even considered of yet. In this way, NASA would fill the same role that the Advanced Research Projects Agency did when they funded the internet.

I think it could truly change how we interact with our solar system.

First, I'd like to say I admire what you do and have done so since I was a kid, it's just down right awesome. I'm one of those people that looks lost when they step outside of their house since they're staring up to see how the stars and all that jazz looks today. I'd like to see the implementation and continuing effort to remove space trash/junk.

Titan and Europa. Unmanned sub-ice mission.

NASA needs to do some Prometheus type stuff.

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I don't have a destination, and I don't know much about exploration or telescopes, but I would think if the technology is better I would like an upgrade to the Hubble scope.

The oceans. For god sake we haven't still explored all of this huge bodies of water. Explore the goddamned oceans.

Build a Death Star, or build a warp capable engine, so we can join the United Federation of Planets.

With the overall nasa budget I think more money should be put into science, but for the next destination for human exploration I think it is unnecessarily dangerous to send a person to Mars right now so I guess the moon would be the only place to go to. I think there should be no rush to get back to the moon though. So pretty much I do not think that human space exploration should be a priority right now.

If we don't get off this planet, our species will go the way of the dinosaurs.

Barring the existence of some magical afterlife, if something shitty happens to this planet before we figure out how to get off of it, everything that anyone has ever done will be pointless. Life is meaningful because it has a context. We know this planet will become uninhabitable, so, for our context to continue, we have to get the hell off this rock before something bad happens to it.

We should be looking at this problem like the US was looking at Japan when they bombed Pearl Harbor - like we're being attacked. It's humans versus nature. We need to proliferate before we're wiped out.

Anyway, I wish everyone thought like that. We need so much more funding and so many more resources devoted to NASA and agencies like it.

EDIT: IDK where we should go next, but whatever we do, it should be with the end-goal of permanently colonizing other planets and finding inhabitable planets for us to move to.

I think we should finally land on the Sun.. stop procrastinating NASA, just do it already

Long-term moon outpost to test for feasibility of a self-sustaining human presence.

Perhaps in or near an area with ice deposits.

Solar collector in the sun, habitation infrastructure beneath the surface, areas in permanent shadow (where the ice is) would also be excellent for all manner of astronomical science, shaded from the sun's light and the Earth's radio emissions.

Nice shallow gravity well, too.

Yeah, let's take a shot at seeing if we can maintain an indefinite, self-sustaining presence on the moon.

If we can do it there, then we can do it elsewhere, I'd recon.

Why not beef up the radiation shielding on the ISS and turn it into an interplanetary spacecraft?

Do you believe that Nasa would be able to provide a new method of education? It seems like it is a bit too forgiving and outdated. Creating a much more standardized approach in teaching children math and science. Seems to me that current methods are highly ineffective.

[No question]

Talking about destinations assumes a mission orientation, and I think this is the wrong approach. Instead, I think NASA should think in terms of high leverage technologies and capabilities. Forgive my language, but designing new missions with the same crappy technology will not get you far in a limited budget environment. These two areas are the ones I think are most important:

Propulsion

Chemical rockets reached their technical limits 50 years ago when the first Centaur LOX/LH2 engine was developed. Later cryogenic engines have not improved significantly because there is no more energy in the fuel to use. At best you can get marginal improvements. The only way to get radical improvements is to stop using chemical rockets as the main method to travel in space. I will mention a few candidates, but the main point is move away from a technology that has reached a dead end.

One candidate is to use air-breathing engines up to around Mach 5. There are various engine cycles that could be used, but the important thing is by using oxygen from outside the vehicle, you can get about three times the fuel energy/kilogram as with LOX/LH2. Above Mach 5 the increased drag and heating makes it better to use rockets, so air-breathing propulsion is mainly useful for a first stage.

Another candidate is electric propulsion. Ion and plasma thrusters already have demonstrated 6-10 times the exhaust velocity of cryogenic engines, and solar panels to power them have doubled in efficiency in the last decade. They should receive a lot more attention than they are.

The Supply Chain

Bringing everything from Earth is ultimately too expensive and unsustainable. We should put a lot more emphasis on extracting resources wherever we are, establishing a production base, and making products like structural elements, fuel, food, and other things you need for long term operations. Modern computers and networking makes it possible to do a lot of the work by remote control. So we can put the robots to work preparing for when the humans arrive, and to assist us once we get there.

Some of this technology is getting worked on, but far too little effort is going into it, and I have not seen a real integrated systems approach to the supply problem. For example, if you extract fuel for a plasma thruster from asteroid materials, and use part of that fuel to bring back the next load of raw rock, it becomes self-sustaining. But you don't discover that synergy if you look at materials processing and propulsion in isolation. You need to look at them as an integrated process where each supports the other.

-- Sincerely,

Dani Eder

Formerly with Boeing's Space Systems Division, now writing a book on space systems engineering and doing conceptual design of future projects

[EDIT] For those who asked Mr. Garan to reply, he did, here, but it's kinda lost in the thousands of other comments:

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comments/14f7gt/i_am_nasa_astronaut_ron_garan_i_want_to_do_an_ama/c7ddnrk

This interview was transcribed from an "ask me anything" question and answer session with Ron Garan conducted on Reddit on 2012-12-06. The Reddit AMA can be found here.