NASA Details Its Plan to Build a Lunar Base At the Moon's South Pole (wired.com)
- Reference: 0183438364
- News link: https://science.slashdot.org/story/26/05/28/2046259/nasa-details-its-plan-to-build-a-lunar-base-at-the-moons-south-pole
- Source link: https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-details-its-plan-to-build-a-lunar-base-at-the-moons-south-pole/
> According to a recent press conference, phase one will be particularly active: at least 25 missions and 21 surface landings. Without detailing specific dates, the agency said that over the next three years it will send rovers, including manned models for future mobility, drones, surface reactors, new-generation satellites, and payloads to prepare the ground.
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> One of the first key missions will be the test of the Blue Moon Mark 1 Endurance module in fall 2026. Its purpose is to evaluate conditions for a controlled descent and validate navigation and positioning technology. It will not carry astronauts. If the mission is successful, Blue Origin plans a manned version around 2028, possibly with Blue Moon Mark 2. Moon Base II and III missions are also part of the program's 2026 startup. One will send rovers and payloads to evaluate more complex rover operations; the other will carry scientific instruments to study the behavior of materials and systems under extreme lunar conditions.
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> Phase two, starting in 2029, marks the beginning of semipermanent infrastructure assembly and first occupancy operations. NASA plans to install advanced energy systems, including surface reactors, initial habitat elements, and more robust communication networks. Up to 60 tons of cargo will be delivered in 24 missions during this period.
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> Phase three is for scale-up. The infrastructure in place will be strengthened and expanded to form durable centers with constant turnover of personnel. NASA envisions a lunar south pole with habitable modules, reliable power systems, logistics networks for cargo and crew transportation, and the shipment of about 38 tons of cargo annually for maintenance and expansion.
"Every mission, crewed and uncrewed, will be a learning opportunity as we return to the lunar surface, build the infrastructure to stay, and master the skills required to live and operate in one of the most demanding and dangerous environments imaginable," said administrator Jared Isaacman in [2]a NASA statement . "We will go for the science, for all we stand to gain from an economic and technological perspective, for the innovations that will make life better here on Earth, and to prepare for where we will inevitably go next."
[1] https://www.wired.com/story/nasa-details-its-plan-to-build-a-lunar-base-at-the-moons-south-pole/
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-provides-update-on-moon-base-rovers-landers-missions/
Why do we need a giant publicly funded moon base? (Score:3)
Is... is this just a way to give musk & bezos even more goverment money?
I'm beginning to get a little suspicious.
Re: Why do we need a giant publicly funded moon ba (Score:2)
Because China.
This isn't some anti-communist post. This is just a fact that one of the US's primary rivals is doing something in regards to moon exploration, so therefore the US needs to show off. Think about the last set of landings. Incentive was USSR. There's been no reason since.
Commercial for low orbit, NASA for farther out (Score:2)
Because the NSF, NIH, NASA, and other departments are tasked with doing things the commercial market is not ready for yet. Things that involve too many unknowns and risks that would turn away commercial investors.
The current feeling seems to be that commercial outfits are ready for low earth orbit, but not moon or mars. So NASA hands over orbital stuff to commercial entities and focus on things farther out.
Re: (Score:2)
Staking a claim maybe. China is probably headed to the same area, because there are resources there. China has already demonstrated some of the required capability, and has installed relay satellites at key positions to facilitate it.
If they're building it on the south pole.. (Score:2)
I bet the first thing they're building is a still.
Rocket fuel manufacturing (Score:2)
> I bet the first thing they're building is a still.
Look for things sneaked into the budget / payload manifest under rocket fuel manufacturing. :-)
Blue Origin's New Glenn Exploded (Score:2)
taking out a heap of pad infrastructure, so that's not good. Anticipate something like a year's delay to plans involving their rockets. This was Blue Origin's only launch pad.
We may have altered the plan. (Score:2)
I'm not an expert on rebuilding massively exploded launch infrastructure; but I have a suspicion that a 2026-2029 plan is now going to involve less Blue Origin than previously believed.
Re: (Score:2)
You mean that company that sued the US government in 2021 because they awarded a lander contract to another space company that was already operating in space?
Re: (Score:2)
SpaceX had a comparable anomaly ten years ago, when SLC-40 was destroyed along with the $200M AMOS-6 satellite.
It took 15 months to rebuild.
So I figure 3 years for BO.
Drones? (Score:2)
How are drones going to work on the moon?
Re: (Score:2)
Only thing I can think of is they will use tiny rockets or air jets in place of propellors... Carrying an air or fuel tank will be less of an issue in the low gravity I guess. *shrug*
Re: (Score:2)
I think they are naming "drones" just multipurpose rovers. Not flying drones, but rovers dedicated to menial tasks.
We've operated drones on mars (Score:2)
> How are drones going to work on the moon?
Faster than those we have already operated on Mars. :-)
Drones can be land based. We've operated drones on mars, typically calling them rovers.