Origins of the Integrated Space Plan

In the 1980s, aerospace engineer Ron Jones created the first version of the Integrated Space Plan while working at Rockwell International, one of the major NASA contractors during the Space Shuttle era. Jones had a long-standing passion for envisioning the long-term future of human space exploration. He believed that to achieve the ultimate goal of large-scale human settlement on Mars, numerous incremental steps and technological developments would be required in a complex, interdependent sequence.

Jones started sketching out this step-by-step progression as a flow chart, mapping out the key milestones, technologies, and missions he believed were needed over the next 100 years. The result was the Integrated Space Plan, a dense, highly detailed single-sheet poster laying out his vision for the future of human spaceflight from the 1980s to the 2100s.

Elements of the Plan

The original Integrated Space Plan was incredibly complex, resembling a circuit diagram filled with boxes and arrows. The main flow of the chart runs down the center, representing the “critical path” of developments that Jones considered essential to the end goal of Mars settlement.

Offshoots from this central path branch out to the left and right, depicting supporting missions, technologies, and milestones in areas like Earth orbit operations, lunar exploration and settlement, asteroid mining, and robotic exploration of Mars and the outer solar system. The chart is meticulous in mapping out the dependencies between elements.

Some of the key phases and milestones in Jones’ 100-year timeline included:

• Continued operation of the Space Shuttle and development of new space stations in the 1990s
• Establishment of permanent lunar bases and initial Mars expeditions in the 2010s
• Extensive lunar settlement, Mars base construction, and asteroid mining in the 2020s-2040s
• Permanent Mars settlements and the beginnings of terraforming in the latter half of the 21st century
• Spread of human presence throughout the solar system by 2100

While highly speculative, the plan provided a cohesive and inspiring long-term vision for space exploration at a time when the future of the US space program was uncertain in the wake of the Challenger disaster. It also highlighted the importance of a sustained, step-by-step effort rather than focusing only on a few high-profile missions.

Iterations and Updates

Jones continued to refine the Integrated Space Plan over the years as an employee at Rockwell and later Boeing following corporate mergers. However, the plan remained largely an obscure aerospace industry curiosity.

In 2014, a group of space enthusiasts led by Jones and entrepreneur Ari Wittner rediscovered the Integrated Space Plan and launched a Kickstarter campaign to create an updated version. The campaign raised over $30,000, allowing them to hire a professional design firm, 212Box, to reimagine the plan for a modern audience.

The redesigned ISP, released in 2015, keeps the central timeline and structure of Jones’ original vision. However, the visual style is cleaner and easier to follow, with color-coding to distinguish Earth, Moon, and Mars-focused elements. Many of the original’s dense text boxes have been replaced with intuitive pictograms. An interactive website was also created to allow exploration of the various parts of the plan.

While still highly ambitious and speculative, the updated Integrated Space Plan provides a fascinating window into how a long-term, systemic approach to space exploration could unfold. It continues to spark discussion and debate within the space community.

Assessing the Plan’s Legacy

As with any long-term forecast, many of the specific milestones envisioned in the Integrated Space Plan have not come to pass on the timeline originally predicted in the 1980s. The Space Shuttle program ended in 2011 without a direct replacement, the US is still far from a permanent lunar presence, and human missions to Mars remain a distant prospect rather than an imminent reality.

However, the plan’s broader vision of an incremental, step-by-step buildup of capabilities over decades has been influential. In the 21st century, NASA has refocused on a “Journey to Mars” through a sequence of missions in Earth orbit, cislunar space, and robotic Mars exploration as precursors to an eventual human landing.

Commercial spaceflight companies like SpaceX and Blue Origin have also laid out long-term visions involving reusable rockets, lunar bases, and Mars colonies that echo elements of the ISP. While their timelines are also highly ambitious, they show how the idea of a sustained, multi-decade effort has taken hold.

The Integrated Space Plan has also endured as an inspiring piece of space art and advocacy, sparking the imaginations of new generations of space enthusiasts. It serves as a reminder of the need for bold long-term visions and systemic thinking to guide the human spaceflight endeavor.

At the same time, the plan underscores the immense challenges involved in forecasting technological and societal developments across a 100-year timespan. Some of the capabilities it takes for granted, like space solar power satellites or nuclear rockets, have failed to materialize. The ISP largely ignores the political and funding hurdles that have historically constrained space exploration.

It is perhaps best seen not as a literal roadmap, but as an aspirational vision reflecting the optimism and sense of possibility in the early Space Age. As space exploration evolves in the coming decades, driven by new national and commercial efforts, the Integrated Space Plan will likely continue to inspire and inform long-term thinking, even as its specific predictions are updated or superseded.

Summary

The Rockwell Integrated Space Plan represents a fascinating artifact of long-term space exploration planning that originated in the 1980s but continues to resonate today. By mapping out an ambitious 100-year vision for incremental, step-by-step development of capabilities from Earth orbit to the Moon, Mars, and beyond, it provides a cohesive framework for thinking about the future of human spaceflight.

While many of its specific milestones remain unmet, the plan has been influential in promoting a systemic, multi-decade approach to space exploration. As space agencies and companies continue to refine their own long-term plans for crewed missions to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere, the Integrated Space Plan serves as an enduring source of inspiration and a reminder of the need for bold, far-reaching visions to guide the journey.

As space exploration moves forward, the plan will undoubtedly continue to evolve and be reinterpreted by new generations of engineers, entrepreneurs, and enthusiasts. But its core message of the importance of sustained, incremental progress towards an expansive human future in space is likely to endure.