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5.2
Recommendations
The conclusions drawn in this report
lead to recommendations for advancing the goal of moving humanity
out of the cradle. These recommendations primarily address two
key findings, which are the lack of international coordination
and political will for human space exploration, and the need
to build and maintain public support for the enterprise. The
authors believe that the following recommendations should be
considered:
- Merge the functions of the existing
international lunar and Mars exploration working groups into
a new ad hoc International Human Exploration Consultative Group
(IHECG).
- Use the study of Asia in this report
as a model for evaluating the potential contributions of other
developing nations in the planning of any future human exploration
initiatives.
- Make public outreach a major priority
in every space mission.
- Offer at least one opportunity per year
for a governmental policymaker or their designee to attend the
Summer Session of the International Space University as a student.
- Student experiments on the Space Shuttle
should be resumed, and the program should be expanded to include
flight opportunities aboard the International Space Station.
- A sub-scale, commercially-developed
"Testhab" should be flown aboard the Space Shuttle
to flight demonstrate a pressurized, human-rated inflatable structure.
- Conduct a detailed survey of the possible
ice deposits at the lunar poles.
- Develop an internationally coordinated
commercialization plan to encourage and assist companies in utilizing
the International Space Station.
Finally, the authors strongly endorse
the concept of the Lunar Rover Race as an effective precursor
mission for stimulating interest in space exploration. Such a
mission would not only increase public awareness but also push
the technological state-of-the-art, just as the air races of
the early 20th Century did for the aviation industry. The Lunar
Rover Race will show the people of the world that space exploration
is not limited to engineers and scientists, but is open to everyone.
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