I read on Slashdot today that NASA has plans to return to the moon.
And according to Space.com it’s true. NASA will pursue a base on the moon by 2024.
There’ll be robotic and human exploration and
the base would be built in incremental steps, starting with four-person crews making several seven-day visits. The first mission would begin by 2020, with the base growing over time, beefed up with more power, mobility rovers and living quarters.
NASA is looking at polar locations — the north and south poles.
One particular area that’s already receiving high marks by NASA’s lunar architecture team is at the South Pole—a spot on the rim of Shackleton Crater that’s almost permanently sunlit.
Here’s a position paper about why we should return to the moon written in March 2004.
There are all sorts of good reasons why we should return to the moon and space exploration. It’s not just an extension of Westward Expansion of the 1840s. It’s more than that, much more.
maryt
