Going to the moon again, then Mars...

[Joshpantera]

 

[TABA]

Fascinating.  I wonder though if any of this will even happen within the next few decades.  A return to the moon always seems to be just around the corner.

 

There’s an excellent PBS Nova program about this:

https://www.pbs.org/video/back-to-the-moon-7jjcvo/

I believe it requires a PBS Passport subscription, which I highly recommend.  

 

 

[florduh]

The aliens warned us to not return to the moon.

[pantheory]

On 12/30/2019 at 1:13 PM, TABA said:

Fascinating.  I wonder though if any of this will even happen within the next few decades.  A return to the moon always seems to be just around the corner.

 

There’s an excellent PBS Nova program about this:

https://www.pbs.org/video/back-to-the-moon-7jjcvo/

I believe it requires a PBS Passport subscription, which I highly recommend.  

 

 

NASA has requested an increase in their 2020 budget of $1.6 billion in order to make another crewed mission to the Moon by 2024, supposedly followed by a sustained U.S. presence on the Moon by 2028 if it is budgeted. Trump says he supports all aspects of this project.

[Joshpantera]

On 12/30/2019 at 11:30 PM, pantheory said:

Trump says he supports all aspects of this project.

 

Aliens be dammed, we're going to the moon! 

[pantheory]

15 minutes ago, Joshpantera said:

 

Aliens be dammed, we're going to the moon! 

 Maybe Trumps secret plan is to provide plenty of underground space on the moon for aliens.

[Joshpantera]

I saw a few headlines, a practice test for this rocket just blew up the other day or something? I'll have to look into it. I saw pics of the explosion on a surf report website. 

 

 

 

[TABA]

6 hours ago, Joshpantera said:

I saw a few headlines, a practice test for this rocket just blew up the other day or something? I'll have to look into it. I saw pics of the explosion on a surf report website. 

 

 

 

 

I watched the launch live on NASA TV.  It was a vert short but completely successful mission, as far as I know.  The purpose was to test the escape system on the SpaceX manned spacecraft in the event of a major malfunction before reaching orbit (something like the shuttle Challenger experienced).  Around 80 seconds after launch, they shut down the main rocket engines.  The computers detected this and fired the capsule’s emergency rockets, firing it clear of the first stage, which then - as expected - tumbled out of control and exploded.  All part of the plan, as a Christian might say, but in this case it really was planned.  At the appropriate time, the drogue chutes were deployed, then the main chutes.  By the time the capsule splashed down, rescue teams were in their fast boats heading for the scene.  Of course this was an unmanned test.  It was certainly very cool to be able to watch the whole thing from my couch!

 

The Apollo spacecraft had a similar escape rocket system that was never needed.  Challenger needed it but sadly didn’t have such a system. 

[Joshpantera]

On 1/22/2020 at 6:22 AM, TABA said:

I watched the launch live on NASA TV.  It was a vert short but completely successful mission, as far as I know.  The purpose was to test the escape system on the SpaceX manned spacecraft in the event of a major malfunction before reaching orbit (something like the shuttle Challenger experienced).  Around 80 seconds after launch, they shut down the main rocket engines.  The computers detected this and fired the capsule’s emergency rockets, firing it clear of the first stage, which then - as expected - tumbled out of control and exploded.  All part of the plan, as a Christian might say, but in this case it really was planned.  At the appropriate time, the drogue chutes were deployed, then the main chutes.  By the time the capsule splashed down, rescue teams were in their fast boats heading for the scene.  Of course this was an unmanned test.  It was certainly very cool to be able to watch the whole thing from my couch!

 

The Apollo spacecraft had a similar escape rocket system that was never needed.  Challenger needed it but sadly didn’t have such a system. 

 

Oh, good. I wondered what was going on. I used to work at Cape Canaveral Air Station in the late 90's. I saw several unmanned rockets explode during that time. Those were not intentional. They were carrying payloads like satellites. It was getting common to see rocket explosions at that time. It's good that they've probably come a long, long way since then. 

 

I watched, "The Martian," recently. It reminded me of this projected mission. And how close we're getting to actually doing such a thing. 

[pantheory]

House bill presented Jan. 24, 2020.

House bill proposes pushing NASA's crewed moon landing back to 2028

According to a bill supported by some house democrats, NASA should aim to put boots on the moon again by 2028, not 2024 as requested by the Trump administration. But the bill is still a long way from passing.

Many House Republicans are against the bill.  The Trump administration supports boots on the moon by 2024, and the first moon base by 2028. Considering only moderate additional monies to NASA, democrats supporting this bill prefer using NASA funding to have our continued use of the space station beyond 2024 to 2028. Also they say that the goal of having our first moon base by 2028 will take away funds from boots on Mars by the mid 2030’s.

Those not in favor of our funds going to the international space station past 2024 say that our international partners can and will use the space station when we are not using it, and that we should not put our money into it beyond the minimum we agreed to after 2024 so that we can achieve our goal of having the first moon base by 2028 and a continued presence within a few years thereafter.  They say that if for the time being we put our money into establishing a moon base we can always later also fund our continued use of the international space station.

The Trump administration says that there is competition for the moons resources and at least the possibility of some return on our investment there as well as strategic defense advantages , and that the moon is a great place to built telescopes and other science research beyond what can be done at the international space station, also stating that the moon would be a better place to launch our manned missions to Mars for a great many reasons.

Of course priorities would likely change with a different U.S. administration, further study, changing NASA priorities, and/or increased funding to NASA.

https://www.space.com/house-bill-nasa-moon-landing-2028.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9155&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2875217&m_i=iJBMw8xvZCpv6DiOobDyes3%2B1H1Q1s9lbkIfB299nkbKjALu%2BUJ0YP3u8F01eV7WMkt6jdboY%2BZNxjrB0%2BLc1PgR75gxMZKxeczMLDiii7

[pantheory]

Trump is personally making a request to raise NASA's budget to $25.2 billion for the next fiscal year beginning October 2020. This would be an increase of 12% over the current year's funding and budget. Is this an attempt to get more votes in November? Prior to this request the Vice President publicly spoke in the president's behalf concerning NASA objectives. 

Nearly half of this total budget would be directed toward getting humans back to the moon and then to Mars. The budget request includes $3.3 billion for human lunar landers, part of NASA's Artemis program having the present goal of a manned lunar landing by 2024. This request also proposes to reduce the pace of several other on-going programs and instead introduces a new mission to study the ice on Mars. Of course this is only a request. Congress must approve, amend, or reject it.  A congressional bill supported by some Democrats instead proposes a delay in the moon landing to 2028 and extend America's role in the international space station beyond 2024 to 2028, although there may not be enough votes to pass this bill.

 

"This is a 21st century budget worthy of 21st century space exploration and one of the strongest NASA budgets in history," NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said during a State of NASA event unveiling the budget. "If the president's support for NASA wasn't clear before, it sure is now." Under Trump, NASA's annual budget has increased from about $19 billion during his first year to $22 billion for the fiscal year that began in October 2019, according to the Washington Post. This new proposal would be a NASA budget increase of about 30% since Trump has been in office.

 

https://www.space.com/nasa-2021-budget-request-aims-at-moon-mars.html?utm_source=Selligent&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=9155&utm_content=SDC_Newsletter+&utm_term=2875217&m_i=ql0PM9HcgsTXr33cJBvvlkODpFqFP2sPcVhvs7s8YjQWnwkjjiW2NZcW0svPl2tMvSB_3B9VxKv3S4NUg3kYLOsjEXZwbbvnLS2GbWYqqT

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[midniterider]

Make the moon great again