NASA says - Lets build a Moon Base!

[ComradeDavo]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/6208456.stm

US plans permanent base on Moon

US space agency Nasa has said it plans to start work on a permanently-occupied base on the Moon after astronauts begin flying back there in 2020.
The base is likely to be built on one of the Moon's poles and will serve as a science centre and possible stepping stone for manned missions to Mars.

The US has already said it plans to build a new lunar spacecraft to succeed the last Apollo mission in 1972.

Funds will be moved from space shuttle flights, due to be scrapped in 2010.

The structure of the base and the exact duties of the astronauts stationed there have not been decided.

Nor is it clear when the base will begin functioning.

Lunar outpost

"We're going for a base on the moon," Scott "Doc" Horowitz, Nasa's associate administrator for exploration, said.

The agency's deputy head, Shana Dale, is quoted by the Associated Press news agency as saying that the "fundamental lunar approach" will be very different to earlier Moon missions.

Nasa has elected to build a lunar outpost rather than operate brief trips to the satellite as it did in the 1960s.

Nasa is also expected to ask other countries - and businesses - to help it build the base.

The permanent base will be built near one of the two poles, as these are felt to have a moderate climate and more sunlight - essential if the base is to use solar energy.

"It's exciting," Shana Dale told the Reuters news agency. "We don't know as much about the polar regions."

According to Reuters, funds for building the lunar base will be diverted from the space shuttle programme, which is to be phased out by 2010.

After the Columbia space shuttle accident, US President George W Bush announced plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020.

Nasa announced in August that the Lockheed Martin Corporation will build the next US spaceship to take humans to the Moon.

Pretty cool

 

[AL_DA_GREAT]

I just heard about this on the news. I am for it. We need to explore space more it is a long term investment. The science that goes into it may seem useless but while solving the problem of building the base they may invent stuff that can help us. I wonder when it is time for Mars.

 

[Sidhe]

Excellent idea, have heard it before but not seen it in print. Will America seek to colonise the whole moon and stop others from gaining a foothold though, or are the scientists in control?

I'm just being unnecessarily cynical, I think this is great news.

 

[Masquerouge]

Nasa is also expected to ask other countries - and businesses - to help it build the base.

So, what are the chances this lunar base will be called "Pepsi Base" or "Colgate Moon Station"?

 

[Sidhe]

So, what are the chances this lunar base will be called "Pepsi Base" or "Colgate Moon Station"?

Nah it's much cheaper to just etch "the real thing" on the moon with a giant lazer, it's what future generations of beverage drinkers would want

 

[Masquerouge]

Nah it's much cheaper to just etch "the real thing" on the moon with a giant lazer, it's what future generations of beverage drinkers would want

 

[CartesianFart]

Ha!Here is another cynical rant.Once a first modular space station is established and the cheapening of space transport,a few corporations will have establish a cartel of fixed priced on who gets to go there and lodge and own rental spaces.Hope you have a good investment plan and a fat pension.

 

[Erik Mesoy]

So... when will the mooning begin?

Seriously, this is good news, and I hope it doesn't become too corrupted.

 

[Chris1111]

I'm sure funding will be cut and the whole thing dropped in 2008 when Dem's take over.

The Space program other then health/education is one of the 1st things cut when we gotta pay off the massive debts...that we are acquiring.

 

[Irish Caesar]

Sweet.

It's about time.

 

[Truronian]

Next they need a moon-golf course.

 

[Sidhe]

hehe that's cool.

 

[JonnyB]

The structure of the base and the exact duties of the astronauts stationed there have not been decided.

I'd be happier about this if they had more concrete plans, right now it looks more like a PR stunt.

 

[Taliesin]

This seems a pretty cool project.

I'm sure funding will be cut and the whole thing dropped in 2008 when Dem's take over.

The Space program other then health/education is one of the 1st things cut when we gotta pay off the massive debts...that we are acquiring.

Easily solved: NASA should simply spread the rumour that thar's gold in that thar moon.

 

[Mark1031]

I hate to be a nay sayer but I think manned space flight is just a total waste of $$. Space is very inhospitable to life and offers no benefits that I can see. You guys watch too much star trek.

 

[Volum]

I hate to be a nay sayer but I think manned space flight is just a total waste of $$. Space is very inhospitable to life and offers no benefits that I can see. You guys watch too much star trek.

Are you saying Star Trek isnt real?

 

[Sidhe]

This seems a pretty cool project.

Easily solved: NASA should simply spread the rumour that thar's gold in that thar moon.

There should be in theory like in Earth be a sizable amount of Gold in the moon, if you think that Earth has a sizeable amount; theoretically the moon is an ex part of the Earth formed by an expulsion of mater when a mars sized object collided with us, assuming this big fat rock was much like other big fat rocks in the area it's not unlikely, there's much Gold in them there craters, sounds like a plan

I hate to be a nay sayer but I think manned space flight is just a total waste of $$. Space is very inhospitable to life and offers no benefits that I can see. You guys watch too much star trek.

Pfah, I just think space is a deal more interesting than this crummy ball of dirt. Study the solar system it's a fascinating place.

Are you saying Star Trek isnt real?

Clam down he never said that Gene Rodenberry is still a prophet.

 

[Riesstiu IV]

I don’t see this happening, at least anytime in the near future. It would be insanely expensive to send in multiple lunar expeditions to construct a moon base just so it can act as a refueling and supply depot? Wouldn’t it be cheaper and theoretically easier to build a station in deep space? On top of that, if its main purpose was to refuel and re-supply outbound vessels, it would probably be cheaper if it was unmanned and automated.

Also, Bush stating that we would go back to the moon in 2020 sounds like a step backwards. Unmanned expeditions are currently the only viable means to explore our solar system. Until we can refine life support systems and prevent detrimental bone loss related to a zero gravity environment, manned expeditions beyond the moon will be a pipe dream.

On an unrelated note, I wonder what NASA could have accomplished if the money for the Iraq war was instead funded to NASA.

 

[Mark1031]

Pfah, I just think space is a deal more interesting than this crummy ball of dirt. Study the solar system it's a fascinating place.

Sorry dude but this "crummy ball of dirt" is in fact the most amazing entity in the known universe for it is the only known place with life and of life with a nervous system that dwarfs the universe in complexity.

 

[Yuri2356]

Sorry dude but this "crummy ball of dirt" is in fact the most amazing entity in the known universe for it is the only known place with life and of life with a nervous system that dwarfs the universe in complexity.

Are you aware of how much Raw metal is floating arround out there, waiting to be gently nuged into orbit over our wonderfull homeworld and then devoured to fuel the continued growth of human civilization? Are you also aware of how much easier it would be to clear out a large Nickel-Iron asteriod than to dig the equivalent of its mass out of the Earth?

Then there's all that delicious hydrogen gas to fuel fusion power systems, and the quadrillions of untapped watts pouring out of our sun...

Space is filled with incomprehensible volumes of ritches, and there's no other life in this solar system to try and steal it from us. Why shouldn't we get up there and take our fill?