Rear Admiral Craig E. Steidle (USN Ret.), Associate Administrator, Office of Exploration Systems, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC

Admiral Steidle joined NASA early this year as the first Associate Administrator of the new Office of Exploration Systems, which was created as a result of President Bush's "Vision for Space Exploration." (See preceding article.)

Since retiring from the Navy in 2000, Admiral Steidle has served as an independent aerospace consultant, and prior to 2000, was Chief Aerospace Engineer and Vice Commander of the Naval Air Systems Command, which develops, acquires, and supports naval aeronautical systems. He is a decorated fighter pilot and test pilot, and flew carrier night combat missions in North Vietnam. He commanded the Navy's F/A-18 program and A-3 weapon systems program, and was Director of the Department of Defense Joint Strike Fighter Program.

NASA Tech Briefs: The new "Vision for Space Exploration" sets lofty goals for NASA. What types of new technologies will need to be developed to achieve those goals?

Admiral Craig E. Steidle: I'm not sure this vision will require new technologies. I think it may be the application of current technologies to do things differently. There are almost 140 technology maturation programs that have been integrated into this Enterprise. We've found that from a human spaceflight perspective, about 30% of them fit, from a robotics standpoint about another 30% fit, and about another 30% needed to be refocused. Some had to be canceled.

We're going to refocus the technologies we have to what we're doing in exploration. We're going to do a complete scrub of the requirements for exploration as they came down in the President's vision. We'll see what's missing - perhaps in space assemblies, autonomous rendezvous work, materials work, and integrated subsystems prognostics. Maybe there are some areas where we need some focus, but we're not necessarily depending upon any inventions to continue on with the President's vision. However, we'd certainly accept some if they lower the cost, and make it affordable, safer, and achievable. Right now, there are no breakthroughs we need. Further on down the road, there may be some more work we need done as we move into nuclear electric propulsion systems and thermal systems.

NTB: Is Project Prometheus an example of a re-application of existing nuclear technology, or will there be new research and development in that area? (Editor's Note: Project Prometheus is a program focused on developing the means to efficiently increase power for a spacecraft using radioisotope-based systems and nuclear fission-based systems.)

Admiral Steidle: There is research and development going on in that area. We have Navy reactors under the Department of Energy onboard - that will be our design and acquisition agency for the nuclear reactor. That's on the front end. On the back end of that are engines - this produces heat, and has to distribute that heat through some sort of distribution mechanisms. We don't have that. Glenn Research Center and Marshall Space Flight Center are working on that. There are other interconnections between these ion engines and that work's being done at some of our centers such as Jet Propulsion Lab and in industry.

It's the application of those technologies to this particular spacecraft. Can a nuclear electric propulsion system provide power in a habitat? Can it provide power on the lunar surface? What does it also do beyond going to one of the icy moons of Jupiter?

NTB: What role will industry play in advancing these technologies?

Admiral Steidle: We've come out with a broad agency announcement to initiate competition for work in these areas. These are all the exploration vehicle pieces. That will be followed by a broad agency announcement in October for technology maturation programs, followed by a third one in April of 2005. The way we get innovation in is that people respond to those broad agency announcements. We've also asked for new acquisition methodologies - how we can do acquisition better, and how we can streamline those collaborations.

We also have the Innovative Technology Transfer Partnerships (ITTP) program, which has been moved to this Enterprise. They're doing a super job. We have SBIRs (Small Business Innovation Research) and STTRs (Small Business Technology Transfer) from universities. Also, at the next tier, we have the Centennial Challenges. With that spectrum, we think we can open up the scope from the primes to small business and get everyone engaged in participating and collaborating on technology maturation.

NTB: What might the benefits be to life on Earth as a result of this new vision?

Admiral Steidle: That is the most misunderstood as you get away from this agency. I've had the opportunity to talk to people, and you start with, 'Do you realize that MRIs, CAT scans, cancer detection, smoke alarms, cordless tools, battery technology, chip technology, and Global Positioning System (GPS) technology came from NASA?' All those things are the return on investment, which is significant, and we don't talk enough about that. I think you have the same thing here as we leap forward in this technology - in manufacturing techniques, in prognostics, and in communications and navigation systems. That's all going to flow back.