At least not while eating, Not anymore.
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 ...
Some brain dead politician is sure we put a flag there too. I guess the bots will find it one day.
NASA should start by building a dependable American rocket engine...for a change.
Any Man-in-the-Moon worshiping muslim would be embarrassed that a kafir ground his boot on his face.
EVERYTHING obama does either:
a) Weakens America/AmericansThere are NO counter examples.
b) Distances America's allies
c) Strengthens America's enemies
d) Serves Islam
e) Harms Israel
Or some combination of the above.
The sad part? That could be an actual quote.
It isn't is it? Is it???
Sure. You say that now.
You'll be singing a different tune when the sun gets old and swells to the size of the earth's orbit!
Forget the gold. Water ice is worth its weight/mass in gold.
I believe when Neil Armstrong took that first step on the Moon was the peak of American power. (sadly I wasn’t alive to see it)
It has been in decline ever since, with exception for a few bright spots here and there.
Yes, but long before then multiple large asteroids will have eradicated Humans on the Earth and transformed the face of the Earth into a molten mass while greatly accelerating the thinning of the atmosphere to a small percentage of its current mass and pressure.
Tell him we put in 18 holes and he’ll go himself! I’m all for that.
Right, put them there and leave them ...
Yes. Potentially lava tubes are a great resource. But first the water ice at the poles (not were these lava tubes are) is what they call an “enabling” resource to get the ball rolling. Apparently there is almost constant sunlight in areas of the polls near the water ice source (inside sunless craters).
Thank you for adding the link. There really is so much to learn and to do there.
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