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 ...
Only if we can put every last one of them there.
“What the hell? What does getting to the moon have to do with Muslim outreach? “
Maybe the idea is to moon a few Muslims?
I’m waiting for the first jihadi attack in space.
Lunar propellent: Water ice = oxygen and hydrogen; the most powerful rocket fuel available.
http://www.nasa.gov/topics/technology/hydrogen/hydrogen_fuel_of_choice.html
“I’m waiting for the first jihadi attack in space.”
President Kennedy was concerned about the Soviet space programme, because whoever controls the High Ground has a huge combat advantage over anyone who does not have the High Ground advantage. China is interested in space for the same reasons as the Soviet-Russians and the Americans.
The Cruz effect?
Not enough on their plate with pushing the global warming hoax, and peddling muzzie outreach?
“So, the idea is to put muslims on the moon? That’s worth $10 Trillion, no?”
You neglected the key word, “all”. I say put “all” of them on the moon. That’s worth $10T for sure.
Tell Obama the mission is to put wind farm on the moon and he would gladly fund it.
It would mean more Moon Rocks for Mecca.
That's the Holdren-Obama NASA.
From the article you can see the sane ones are working to keep if from flipping over to the greens.
Cruz is saying good things about this.
He chairs the committee in charge of NASA funding and says they need to get back on target or let someone else do the job.
I’d rather see a base and a telescope on the south pole of the moon than I would a manned mission to Mars.
The moon is the sensible step toward mars. Its a far harsher environment than mars and if we can live there we can live on Mars.
A NASA skunkwork, the best way and put all communications on a private server.
But we're ahead of China on cisgender issues, so there.
I see the moon as its own goal, not as a step to Mars. I'm sure we'll get to Mars some day, I would just like it to be downgraded as a priority.
As for "far harsher environment"... well, it's true that the moon is harsh, but I believe people have a romantic science fiction idea about Mars. It is extremely harsh on Mars, that pale acidic bit of atmosphere notwithstanding.
And if you are going to talk about environments, you have to consider locations.
The supply line to earth is much better on the moon than on Mars, which makes Mars far harsher, in practice.
And BTW, I believe we already are on Mars. I believe in a continued and accelerated robotic presence on the red planet.
OMG.. Obama’s Muslim God!
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