A Dec. 5 article incorrectly referred to the 'dark side' of the moon instead of the 'far side.' The moon has no permanently dark side, but its rotation keeps the same side constantly facing Earth. The far side is ideal for astronomy because it is shielded from most manmade radio interference.
| Page 2 of 2 < |
NASA Plans Lunar Outpost
The NASA plan grew out of President Bush's Vision for Space Exploration, which was announced in 2004 and calls for sending astronauts back to the moon and later to Mars. Congress almost unanimously embraced the general plan last year in an authorization bill, but questions remain about its funding. NASA is counting on redirecting billions of dollars from the space shuttle and international space station programs to fund development of a new spaceship, but some critics have complained that the agency is already cutting back its science programs to pay for the moon-Mars project.
It seems appropriate that the space agency is aiming for the moon's south pole, because NASA Administrator Michael D. Griffin is fond of likening the lunar project to the exploration of Antarctica. Adventurers first reached Earth's South Pole in the early 20th century, but it wasn't until the 1950s that researchers returned and years later before they established permanent, year-round settlements.
|
VIDEO | NASA unveiled the initial elements of the Global Exploration Strategy and a proposed U.S. lunar architecture, two critical tools for achieving the nation's vision of returning humans to the moon.
|
NASA plans to send a robot lander to the moon in 2010 to look for good settlement sites. One of the top candidates now is near the Shackleton Crater (named, fittingly, for Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton), near the south pole, but NASA officials said their plans will evolve based on what they learn from rovers and satellites.
The new lunar plan harks back to NASA's Apollo era, when six missions landed on the moon between 1969 and 1972. But unlike Apollo's spacecraft, the new space transport being developed -- the Ares I rocket and Orion capsule -- will have a lander designed for reuse and to serve as a kind of "pickup truck," according to Horowitz. The plan also calls for the development of a pressurized rover that would allow astronauts to ride around the moon without wearing cumbersome spacesuits.
The first test flight of the Ares rocket is scheduled for 2009, and the first manned flight of the Orion is scheduled for 2014.
While NASA is counting on international support and funds to make the lunar settlement possible, the track record for international cooperation in space is mixed. The space station -- which was initially conceived and designed by the United States -- has taken far longer to assemble than planned, and at a far greater cost. Some of the 14 international partners have also chafed over American priorities for the station -- a situation that Dale said NASA hopes to avoid in the moon mission by bringing in partners very early in the planning process.
John Logsdon, director of the Space Policy Institute at George Washington University, commended NASA for undertaking a "bottom-up" assessment of the project. He said the program seems to have broad support in Congress, though it will probably get more scrutiny now with Democrats in charge.
"The basic assumption in Congress," Logsdon said, "is that this is the way to go."
