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Quietly, NASA is reconsidering the moon as a destination
Houston Chronicle ^ | April 3, 2015 | Eric Berger

Posted on 04/04/2015 12:59:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife

Despite a declaration from President Barack Obama that the moon is not a planned destination for American astronauts, senior NASA engineers have quietly begun reconsidering using it as a staging point for an eventual mission to Mars.

William Gerstenmaier, the chief of human exploration for NASA, does not see the president's plan of a direct, 900-day mission to the red planet as achievable. Instead, Gerstenmaier believes large amounts of ice at the lunar poles may provide an important reservoir of oxygen and hydrogen fuel to propel rockets and spaceships across the 40 million miles of space to Mars.

"If propellant was available from the moon, this could dramatically lower the mass needed from the Earth for a NASA Mars mission," Gerstenmaier said.

NASA officials have begun talking about an "Evolvable Mars Campaign," which recognizes the technical and financial challenges of reaching Mars, and the likelihood that the United States would not support an all-out, Apollo-like plan.

But Gerstenmaier and senior NASA officials remain in a delicate position when it comes to speaking of the moon publicly.

President Obama established his space policy for NASA during a 2010 speech at Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and it did not include stopping at the moon.

"I just have to say pretty bluntly here, we've been there before," the President said. Instead, Obama directed NASA to visit an asteroid in the 2020s and proceed directly to Mars in the 2030s. This marked a decisive split from President George W. Bush, who had NASA developing plans to live and work on the moon, testing technology and mining resources there, before shooting for Mars.

Gerstenmaier, a widely respected engineer who has overseen NASA's human spaceflight program since 2005, appears to be steering the agency back toward a program that would more fully utilize the moon....

(Excerpt) Read more at houstonchronicle.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Extended News; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: apollo; cislunar; elonmusk; lunarresources; manned; mars; marsdirect; marsone; moon; nasa; space; spaceexploration; spaceflight; spacex
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1 posted on 04/04/2015 12:59:51 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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>> “I just have to say pretty bluntly here, we’ve been there before,” the President [Obama] said..

OMG, how embarrassing it must be to land on the moon...


2 posted on 04/04/2015 1:03:10 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Gene Eric

It could be against the wishes of the Moon God. A fatwa may have been issued.


3 posted on 04/04/2015 1:06:46 AM PDT by Paladin2 (Ive given up on aphostrophys and spell chek on my current device...)
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To: Gene Eric

Everything to kill American strength - that’s what this administration has worked to achieve.

China is ahead of us on lunar return and cislunar control.

Can we catch up?


4 posted on 04/04/2015 1:06:52 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Gene Eric

Don’t Islamists believe that the world is flat and that the moon landing was a hoax?


5 posted on 04/04/2015 1:12:03 AM PDT by Politicalkiddo (Gringa for Cruz 2016!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

>> Can we catch up?

We’re not behind.


6 posted on 04/04/2015 1:18:40 AM PDT by Gene Eric (Don't be a statist!)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
Comrade dictator obama would characteristically select a Mars landing mission scenario most likely to fail.


7 posted on 04/04/2015 1:22:49 AM PDT by clearcarbon
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

What the hell? What does getting to the moon have to do with Muslim outreach? Is NASA quietly telling O to pound sand?


8 posted on 04/04/2015 1:24:49 AM PDT by Rastus
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

So, the idea is to put muslims on the moon? That’s worth $10 Trillion, no?


9 posted on 04/04/2015 1:24:59 AM PDT by Ethan Clive Osgoode (<<== Click here to learn about Evolution!)
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To: Ethan Clive Osgoode

Good thing O does not read FR or the Houston Chronicle. Keep him in the dark, I say.


10 posted on 04/04/2015 1:34:09 AM PDT by Louis Foxwell (This is a wake up call. Join the Sultan Knish ping list.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

Walking on the moon is “disrespectful to all-ha” there for Obama will be very angry about this.


11 posted on 04/04/2015 1:50:33 AM PDT by Darksheare (Those who support liberal "Republicans" summarily support every action by same.)
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To: Gene Eric
We’re not behind.

Do tell.

12 posted on 04/04/2015 2:00:35 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

With Obama a lame duck and the GOP now running Congress, NASA can now dare to face the reality that the engineering, financial, and human factor challenges of a manned mission to Mars are so daunting as to make it impractical for now. Building a Moon base first though offers useful experience and a potential source of fuel for a Mars mission a decade or two later.


13 posted on 04/04/2015 2:07:22 AM PDT by Rockingham
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

China landed that rover which lasted one lunar day. The mission was very well done, but it’s “impressive” only if you were a skeptic. Apollo stands alone on a high peak of achievement, and it’s conceivable it will remain there, sad to say.


14 posted on 04/04/2015 2:08:00 AM PDT by dr_lew
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To: dr_lew

http://www.airspacemag.com/daily-planet/china-now-positioned-dominate-moon-180953267/


15 posted on 04/04/2015 2:14:49 AM PDT by Cincinatus' Wife
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To: Rockingham

The Mars mission was intended as a one way (doomed) trip but Barry O’Bama didn’t want to leave a deserter behind.


16 posted on 04/04/2015 2:18:36 AM PDT by a fool in paradise (Shickl-Gruber's Big Lie gave us Hussein's Un-Affordable Care act (HUAC).)
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To: Rastus

“What does getting to the moon have to do with Muslim outreach?”

Gotta get the ISIS flag there somehow.


17 posted on 04/04/2015 2:23:06 AM PDT by moovova
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

“NASA officials have begun talking about an “Evolvable Mars Campaign,” which recognizes the technical and financial challenges of reaching Mars, and the likelihood that the United States would not support an all-out, Apollo-like plan.”

Which means, “we’ll talk about it every few years.”


18 posted on 04/04/2015 2:44:14 AM PDT by ScottinVA (GOP = Geldings Obama Possesses)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife
"If propellant was were available from the moon, this could dramatically lower the mass needed from the Earth for a NASA Mars mission," Gerstenmaier said.

There, fixed it!

Regards,

19 posted on 04/04/2015 2:54:58 AM PDT by alexander_busek (Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.)
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To: Cincinatus' Wife

But wouldn’t this mean that NASA would have to shift its scientific mission from the current Global Warmi ... ummm .. Climate Chan ... uhhhmm ... One World Socialist Tyranny to a new mission of actually returning to its original purpose?


20 posted on 04/04/2015 2:59:39 AM PDT by Mr_Moonlight
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