[extropy-chat] Moon news

[Jose Cordeiro]

UPI Exclusive: Bush OKs new moon missions

By FRANK SIETZEN JR. AND KEITH L. COWING, United Press International

WASHINGTON, Jan. 8 (UPI) -- American astronauts will return to the moon
early in the next decade in preparation for sending crews to explore 
Mars
and nearby asteroids, President Bush is expected to propose next week 
as
part of a sweeping reform of the U.S. space program.

To pay for the new effort -- which would require a new generation of
spacecraft but use Europe's Ariane rockets and Russia's Soyuz capsules 
in
the interim -- NASA's space shuttle fleet would be retired as soon as
construction of the International Space Station is completed, senior
administration sources told United Press International.

The visionary new space plan would be the most ambitious project 
entrusted
to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration since the Apollo 
moon
landings of three decades ago. It commits the United States to an 
aggressive
and far-reaching mission that holds interplanetary space as the human 
race's
new frontier.

Sources said Bush's impending announcement climaxes an unprecedented 
review
of NASA and of America's civilian space goals -- manned and robotic. 
The
review has been proceeding for nearly a year, involving closed-door 
meetings
under the supervision of Vice President Dick Cheney, sources said. The
administration examined a wide range of ideas, including new, reusable 
space
shuttles and even exotic concepts such as space elevators.

To begin the initiative, the president will ask Congress for a down 
payment
of $800 million for fiscal year 2005, most of which will go to develop 
new
robotic space vehicles and begin work on advanced human exploration 
systems.
Bush also plans to ask Congress to boost NASA's budget by 5 percent 
annually
over at least the next five years, with all of the increase supporting 
space
exploration. With the exception of the Departments of Defense and 
Homeland
Security, no other agency is expected to receive a budget increase 
above
inflation in FY 2005.

Along with retiring the shuttle fleet, the new plan calls for NASA to
convert a planned follow-on spacecraft -- called the orbital space 
plane --
into versions of a new spaceship called the crew exploration vehicle. 
NASA
would end substantial involvement in the space station project about 
the
same time the moon landings would begin -- beginning in 2013, according 
to
an administration timetable shown to UPI.

The first test flights of unmanned prototypes of the CEV could occur as 
soon
as 2007. An orbital version would replace the shuttle to transport
astronauts to and from the space station. However, sources said, the 
current
timetable leaves a period several years when NASA would lack manned 
space
capability -- hence the need to use Soyuz vehicles for flights to the
station. Ariane rockets also might be used to launch lunar missions.

During the remainder of its participation in space station activities,
NASA's research would be redirected to sustaining humans in space. 
Other
research programs not involving humans would be terminated or 
curtailed.

The various models of the CEV would be 21st century versions of the 
1960s
Apollo spacecraft. When they become operational, they would be able to
conduct various missions in Earth orbit, travel to and land on the 
moon,
send astronauts to rendezvous with nearby asteroids, and eventually 
serve as
part of a series of manned missions to Mars.

Under the current plan, sources said, the first lunar landings would 
carry
only enough resources to test advanced equipment that would be employed 
on
voyages beyond the moon. Because the early moon missions would use 
existing
rockets, they could deliver only small equipment packages. So the 
initial,
return-to-the-moon missions essentially would begin where the Apollo
landings left off -- a few days at a time, growing gradually longer. 
The
human landings could be both preceded and accompanied by robotic 
vehicles.

The first manned Mars expeditions would attempt to orbit the red planet 
in
advance of landings -- much as Apollo 8 and 10 orbited the moon but did 
not
land. The orbital flights would conduct photo reconnaissance of the 
Martian
surface before sending landing craft, said sources familiar with the 
plan's
details.

Along with new spacecraft, NASA would develop other equipment needed to
allow humans to explore other worlds, including advanced spacesuits, 
roving
vehicles and life support equipment.

As part of its new space package, sources said, the administration will
convene an unusual presidential commission to review NASA's plans as 
they
unfold. The group would consider such factors as the design of the
spacecraft; the procedure for assembly, either in Earth orbit or lunar
orbit; the individual elements the new craft should contain, such as
capsules, supply modules, landing vehicles and propellant stages, and 
the
duration and number of missions and size of crews.

Sources said Bush will direct NASA to scale back or scrap all existing
programs that do not support the new effort. Further details about the 
plan
and the space agency's revised budget will be announced in NASA 
briefings
next week and when the president delivers his FY 2005 budget to 
Congress.

--

Frank Sietzen Jr. covers aerospace issues for UPI Science News. Keith 
L.
Cowing is editor of NASAWatch.com and SpaceRef.com. E-mail
sciencemail at upi.com




La vie est belle!

Yosé (www.cordeiro.org) 

Caracas, Venezuela, Americas, TerraNostra


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