US plans for Moon base

BBC ^ | December 5, 2006

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

US plans for Moon base

US space agency Nasa says it is planning to start work on a base on the Moon after astronauts begin flying back there in 2020. The maps and graphics below show how and where man could live on the Moon.

Nasa scientists say the best approach is to develop a solar-powered moon base and to locate it near one of the poles of the moon - such as the Shackleton Crater near the South Pole.

The poles offer moderate temperatures, high percentage of sunlight which means greater potential for solar power and more opportunities to launch.

Nasa says they are also exciting options as they are not as well known as other areas and offer "unique, cold dark craters".

Nasa wants to have returned to the moon by 2020, with 30-day residential missions by 2024, increasing to six months by the end of that year.

Nasa says the global space community has identified six key aims for lunar exploration:

• to extend human presence to the Moon to enable eventual settlement.

• to pursue scientific activities that address fundamental questions about the history of Earth, the Solar System and the Universe.

  MOON TIMELINE 2008: Launch Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter 2010: Last Space Shuttle missions 2014: Deadline for Crew Exploration Vehicle 2020: Return to Moon

• to test technologies, systems, flight operations and exploration techniques to reduce the risks and increase the productivity of future missions to Mars and beyond.

• to provide a challenging, shared and peaceful activity that unites nations in pursuit of common objectives.

• to expand Earth's economic sphere, and conduct lunar activities with benefits to life on the home planet.

• to use a vibrant space exploration program to engage the public, encourage students and help develop the high-tech workforce that will be required to address the challenges of tomorrow.

By 2025, Nasa hopes to have developed the capabilities required to enable further steps into space - possibly expanding lunar exploration and/or manned missions to Mars.

(1) The heavy-lift Ares 5 rocket blasts off from Earth carrying a lunar lander and a "departure stage" (2) Several days later, astronauts launch on an Ares 1 rocket inside their Orion vehicle (CEV) (3) The Orion docks with the lander and departure stage in Earth orbit and then heads to the Moon (4) Having done its job of boosting the Orion and lunar lander on their way, the departure stage is jettisoned (5) At the Moon, the astronauts leave the Orion and enter the lander for the trip to the lunar surface (6) After exploring the lunar landscape for seven days, the crew blasts off in a portion of the lander (7) In Moon orbit, they re-join the waiting robot-minded Orion and begin the journey back to Earth (8) On the way, the service component of the Orion is jettisoned. This leaves just the crew capsule to enter the atmosphere (9) A heatshield protects the capsule; parachutes bring it down on dry land, probably in California

[taxed2death]

http://www.eaglesdisobey.net/wm_corner.htm

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

The United States should pull out of the Outer Space Treaty.

[N3WBI3]

Here is an idea, lets move the ISS to the moon ;) Its a far more stable platform..

[RightWhale]

Research should be into determining if lightspeed can be exceeded

No expansion into interstellar space can exceed the speed of expansion of economic space.

[taxed2death]

I like it. That's a funny one. :)

[Prophet in the wilderness]

Would they be making pit stops at the ISS ?
I guess it would make it even more costly if they were to build another space station near the moon, then again, what would be the reason for it.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Still, more research should be made into the feasibility of a hyperdrive.

[RightWhale]

"A necessary step" to quote my Senator. The question is when, which I cannot believe hasn't already happened, or for that matter why the Treaty was signed in the first place.

History note:
The Treaty stopped nobody but the USA and the citizens of the USA from expanding commerce into outer space. Approaching the 40th anniversary of this legal barrier to space development.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

That was one of the "marketing points" for the ISS, that it could serve as a waystation for Moon/Mars bound astronauts.

[RightWhale]

We should be more demanding of our science teachers. We know what the Theory of Relativity says. Anybody can see that the speed of light applies to light. Unless we are bodies of light we shouldn't be concerned with the ToR.

Maybe we are bodies of light, although there is little evidence of that.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

What do you make of the site?

[Unmarked Package]

"That "base" is a micro or meteorite accident waiting to happen.
When on a vacuum surface and planning to live there ... DIG IN."

While there is always a risk of impact events, it's an entirely acceptable risk for a fixed exploration outpost above ground. It poses less of a threat than the one faced by crews aboard the ISS. On the moon they don't have to contend with an incredible amount of man-made space debris zipping around at various altitudes and orbital planes in addition to micrometeoroids. They track the larger pieces, but still there is plenty unaccounted for in orbit.

Personally, I'd feel more secure on a fixed outpost above ground at the south pole of the moon that I would orbiting Earth in the ISS for six months in regards to impact events.

[Prophet in the wilderness]

I guess it would be a waste of time and money to build a smaller Space station behind the moon ( to protect the inhabitants from radiation from the sun ) but, that would create another problem of electricity for solar power. ).
In that way, they can stay longer, and it would be a place to go to in case of some kind of emergency or breach in the moon base.
Maybe I am not thinking feasibility, but, have a solar array in orbit on the sunny side of the moon and have some kind of mirror beacon to network it to the smaller spacestaion.

[Centurion2000]

The United States should pull out of the Outer Space Treaty.

As soon as they do, research and development into space will explode.

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

Doesn't it also apply to anything with mass? Some hypothesizers (theorists?) have come up with the idea that if mass could be eliminated then something could travel past c. Others would manipulate gravitation or expand/contract spacetime.

Notably, only travel at c is supposedly prohibited, but travel faster or slower could happen (hence tachyons).

[Jedi Master Pikachu]

An underground base could be even more protected than a fixed base on the Moon's surface, though.

[RightWhale]

There is another step to the process from the government side. A Land Office must accept claims to mineral lands and for homesteading. The registration of those claims would be all the collateral needed to go out and get severely large investment funds from the commercial lending instututions.

The homesteads would be for palliation of sensibilities of the masses of clueless mudcrawlers. The mineral claims would be the engine that drives space development.

[RightWhale]

Not in my book. Everybody is free to write his own book, of course. Until somebody does in fact get the dry cleaning back from Alpha Cent by 8:00 tomorrow morning, the final book hasn't been written.

[Shadow44]

How can you eliminate mass? I thought mass couldn't be tampered with, but maybe itz jus' me publick skool fisicks.

[RightWhale]

An underground base

When they get the nuke CAT D-9 to Lunar Prime, then they can start backfilling.