News: Nasa Plans Permanent Moon Base

[sdy284]

c|net Article

DailyTech Aricle

OCC News Post

 

 

NASA announced plans on Monday for a permanent base on the moon, to be started soon after astronauts return there around 2020.

 

The agency's deputy administrator, Shana Dale, said the United States would develop rockets and spacecraft to get people to the moon and establish a rudimentary base. There, other countries and commercial enterprises could expand the outpost to develop scientific and other interests, Dale said.

 

Dale and other officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration said the agency envisioned a base at one of the lunar poles, to take advantage of the near-constant sunlight for solar power generation. It would have an "open architecture" design to which others could add the capabilities they want.

 

Scott Horowitz, NASA's associate administrator for exploration, said crews of four astronauts would make weeklong missions to the moon starting around 2020.

 

As more equipment was set up, human stays would eventually grow to 180 days, and become permanent by 2024. By 2027, officials said, a pressurized roving vehicle on the surface would take people on expeditions far from the base.

[LoArmistead]

Wow.... Doom, here we come

 

[Verran]

Wow.... Doom, here we come

We should put The Rock in cryo-freeze right now, just so he's ready when the time comes....

[i_lag]

Once we are able to establish the moon, then we'll have most of the technology ready to be able to inhabit Mars as well.

[Verran]

Once we are able to establish the moon, then we'll have most of the technology ready to be able to inhabit Mars as well.

Actually, one of the concerns is that the exact opposite is true. From the article:

"The fear is that the moon, which is now viewed as a means to get beyond the moon, will become its own destination, for hundreds of years," he said. "The easy way to go to the moon is the hard way to go to Mars."