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BREAKING: We are announcing new Moon partnerships with American companies at 2pm ET this Thursday. The U.S. is returning to the surface of the Moon, and we’re doing it sooner than you think!
originally posted by: Middleoftheroad
a reply to: jedi_hamster
I’m gonna guess 2024, but I’d hope they could pull it off by 2020.
originally posted by: DBCowboy
a reply to: jedi_hamster
"This moon landing was brought to you by Depends Adult Diapers and Coca-Cola."
originally posted by: gort51
Hey, Perhaps GM could build some parts for the project.....In China!!!
Believe it or not, the good old Chrysler Corporation of the 60s and 70s had a UUUUGE electronics and Aerospace division in them good old days, and made the Saturn rockets for Nasa.
Conduct the uncrewed SLS/Orion first flight in 2020 to the lunar vicinity. Conduct a crewed flight sending Americans around the Moon in 2023. Establish a human tended lunar orbiting platform for crews to visit from earth, to transit to and from the lunar surface, and to depart to and return from Mars
Lunar surface objectives: Orchestrate a lunar robotics campaign with a focus on growing a commercial base of partnerships and activity that can support U.S. science, technology, and exploration objectives. Include international participation, where appropriate. Support a small commercial lander initiative with an initial strategic presence on the Moon no later than 2020. Develop (a mid-to-large scale lander initiative working toward human-rated lander. This initiative will focus on enabling commercial and international partnerships. Support an early science and technology initiative that includes Lunar CubeSats, a Virtual Lunar Institute and other activities. Further enable and nurture entrepreneurial and commercial market forces that will define long-term human exploration and exploitation of the lunar surface. Aggressively characterize lunar resources so that their potential future exploitation can be addressed.
President Donald Trump In December 2017, President Donald J. Trump gave NASA a new direction, telling the agency to work with international and commercial partners to refocus exploration efforts on the moon, with an eye to eventually going on to Mars and even beyond.
NASA stated in Space Policy Directive-1, "The NASA Administrator shall, 'Lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities. Beginning with missions beyond low-Earth orbit, the United States will lead the return of humans to the Moon for long-term exploration and utilization, followed by human missions to Mars and other destinations.' ”
While the official Obama administration line is that NASA should have its eyes on a Mars landing, a study from NexGen Space LLC and funded in part by NASA says that we should go to the moon instead and set up camp for good. The price tag is $10 billion, and NexGen Space proposes it be funded by a public-private partnership. Under the proposed timeline, robotic construction would begin in 2021, with humans arriving shortly after. A full-scale base would open by 2031, likely at the moon's south pole, where the sun isn't as much of a hazard and water accumulates as ice caps.