NASA plans for Moon Base and Radio Telescope

[sheeny]

ABC radio this morning did a story on NASA's plans for a base and radio telescope on the moon as part of preparations for missions to Mars. I can't remember most of the details now, but they talked about a series of mission of about a week each to establish a base, then longer missions of about 6 months each on the moon once the base is established. Presumably that's when they build the radio telescope. They plan to mine the moon to extract oxygen from the moon rock as part of the live off the land strategy required for a Mars Mission. They talked of both pressurised and unpressurised lunar rovers for astronauts to get around in.

Sounds interesting. Be a great place for an optical observatory as well! Anyone else here the story?

Al.

[iceman]

Yeh, heard it yesterday and again this morning.

They're planning on setting up at the Lunar North Pole, due to having a better climate, less explored, and possibility of hydrogen + ice under the surface.

It won't be until 2020 when they start sending men to the moon again though, with the base partly constructed by 2024.. so still a while to wait :(

[jjjnettie]

We may be too old to go there by the time it's built, but what about our kids. My son Jack would love to go to the moon to work.