..Lockheed Martin Proposes Manned Mission to the Dark Side of the Moon

11-23-10

The Obama administration may have axed NASA’s ambitious manned moon exploration plans for even an even more ambitious deep space exploration agenda, but for those developing the technologies that will one day take us to deep space the moon is just too ripe a testing ground to ignore. Lockheed Martin is pitching NASA what’s being called an L2-Farside Mission that would launch a manned Orion spacecraft into a stationary halo orbit on the other side of the moon.

The mission, Lockheed says, will serve several purposes. Most immediately, it would allow astronauts to study, via unmanned robots, some lunar real estate that hasn’t been seen with human eyes since the Apollo missions. But its real function is to test out technologies and skills that will be necessary to make a manned trip to an asteroid, and then on to Mars.

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Lockheed Martin's Proposed L2-Farside Mission Lockheed Martin

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Plutonium Shortage Threatens Future Deep Space Mission

Interesting that we are making plans to go back to the Moon, not just the Moon but the darkside of the Moon, not man but unmanned robots. I would like to see man go back to the Moon, with the technology we have today sure they could get much more information to send back.

I don't think we will be going to Mars, at least not in our lifetime, hopefully I am wrong but since the plan isn't in process at the present time it is highly unlikely.

reply to post by Aquarius1


Thread here:

www.abovetopsecret.com...

And, it is "FAR" side. There is no "DARK" side (except, of course, during the Lunar night). Just as Earth also has a 'dark' side, to describe its approximate half that faces away from the Sun, at any given time. Same with the Moon, it just rotates more slowly. A "new" Moon, is when the side facing us is experiencing its "night".

(And, sometimes, if you were there, you'd see a "full Earth").

reply to post by Aquarius1


This screams ulterior motive.

Don't get me wrong, we need to send people back to the moon. Even a mission to do a few quick orbits without landing and then come home would benefit the redevelopment and testing of the required technologies.

But why not have them control a rover on the Earth side of the moon? Why does it have to be the far side?

We (the human race) have a small fleet of probes up there right now from the US, Japan, India and China. These are all survey devices scanning the entire lunar surface across the entire spectrum (additionally, there are sensors to detect the presence of specfic chemicals like water ice or mineral deposits): the human eye is a VASTLY inferior device for observation.

For the cost of one manned mission they could deploy several relay satellites that would counter line-of-sight issues allowing machines to be controlled real-time from here on Earth. The secondary benefit is that once the relays are in place they will remain there to be used by any later mission for thier entire designed lifespan.

What have they found that needs to be examined first hand?

The only reason to send people up there for this type of mission is to provide a deliberate interuption in the data stream. Radio/video between Earth and the capsule, video from the lunar rover to the capsule. In this way there is no chance of an unauthorised viewing as the data is all in orbit until the astronuats return to Earth. Once back home, the data can be taken away and reviewed at a secure location where access can be controlled again.

This mission is too specific. There is nothing that can be accomplished on one side of the moon that cannot be accomplished on the other, unless the mission is to study something that is only on the far side.

This idea is a cover story for something else.