Well Finally!
A few years ago I read an article (well, a graph if you want to be technical) in Wired Magazine about the plans NASA had made in the 1960s for the future missions of the agency. Needless to say, they may have been a little high on themselves coming off of the recent Apollo missions because it was being compared side-by-side to the actual accomplishments by the agency in the year's since we've had the right stuff.
I'll just say that it is about time we are seeing the word "Moon Camp" in the news without it referring to a mass wedding somewhere. Ok - I know, that was way too obscure.
NASA Says It Will Set Up Polar Moon Camp
WASHINGTON - NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon.
It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.
After consulting more than 1,000 experts from 14 different countries, NASA decided on what deputy NASA chief Shana Dale called a "fundamental lunar approach" that is sharply different from its previous moon missions in nearly everything but the shape of the ship going there.
NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the center of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer- term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey.
The more likely of the two lunar destinations is the moon's south pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time, making solar power easier, and has possible resources to mine in dark areas nearby, said associate deputy administrator Doug Cooke.
To get to the moon, NASA envisions an all-purpose lunar lander that could touch down anywhere and can be the first part of a base camp, said exploration chief Scott Horowitz.
"The nickname I use for the lander is, it's a pickup truck," Horowitz said in a Monday news conference from Houston. "You can put whatever you want in the back. You can take it to wherever you want. So you can deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans on board. These are the types of things we're looking for in this system."
Also - Why The Moon? - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/why_moon.html
Taken from - http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/04/D8LQ8TKO0.html
Now let's dig-up that monolith and get going to Europa!
A few years ago I read an article (well, a graph if you want to be technical) in Wired Magazine about the plans NASA had made in the 1960s for the future missions of the agency. Needless to say, they may have been a little high on themselves coming off of the recent Apollo missions because it was being compared side-by-side to the actual accomplishments by the agency in the year's since we've had the right stuff.
I'll just say that it is about time we are seeing the word "Moon Camp" in the news without it referring to a mass wedding somewhere. Ok - I know, that was way too obscure.
NASA Says It Will Set Up Polar Moon Camp
WASHINGTON - NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon.
It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010.
After consulting more than 1,000 experts from 14 different countries, NASA decided on what deputy NASA chief Shana Dale called a "fundamental lunar approach" that is sharply different from its previous moon missions in nearly everything but the shape of the ship going there.
NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the center of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer- term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey.
The more likely of the two lunar destinations is the moon's south pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time, making solar power easier, and has possible resources to mine in dark areas nearby, said associate deputy administrator Doug Cooke.
To get to the moon, NASA envisions an all-purpose lunar lander that could touch down anywhere and can be the first part of a base camp, said exploration chief Scott Horowitz.
"The nickname I use for the lander is, it's a pickup truck," Horowitz said in a Monday news conference from Houston. "You can put whatever you want in the back. You can take it to wherever you want. So you can deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans on board. These are the types of things we're looking for in this system."
Also - Why The Moon? - http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/exploration/mmb/why_moon.html
Taken from - http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/04/D8LQ8TKO0.html
Now let's dig-up that monolith and get going to Europa!
posted by golgo13 at 9:36 PM
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