Dec. 05, 2006 - 22:15 MST

EVER ONWARD

I guess the good part of where the world is today is the result of intrepid explorers, leastways that is how I look at it. There are two articles in this morning's The Rocky Mountain News that talk about the proposed explorations of today. The first, by Seth Borenstien of The Associted Press quoted in full is what NASA proposes:

NASA PROPOSES PERMANENT BASE ON ONE OF MOON'S POLES BY 2024

WASHINGTON -- "NASA announced Monday it will establish an international base camp on one of the moon's poles, permanently staffing it by 2024, four years after astronauts return to the moon."

"It is a sweeping departure from the Apollo moon missions of the 1960s and represents a new phase of space exploration after space shuttles are retired in 2010."

"After consulting more than 1,000 experts from different countries, NASA decided on what deputy NASA chief Shana Dale called a "fundamental lunar approach," that is sharply different from its previous moon missions to nearly everything but the shape of the ship going there."

"NASA chose a "lunar outpost" over the short expeditions of the '60s. Apollo flights were all around the center of the moon, but NASA decided to go to the moon's poles because they are best for longer-term settlements. And this time NASA is welcoming other nations on its journey."

"The more likely of the two lunar destinations is the moon's south pole because it's sunlit for three-quarters of the time, making solar power easier. and has possible resources to mine in dark areas nearby, said associate deputy administrator Doug Cooke."

"To get to the moon, NASA envisions an all-purpoose lunar lander thjat could touch down, anywhere and can be the first part of a base camp, said exploration chief Scott Horowitz."

"The nickname I use for the lander is, it's a pick-up truck," Horowitz said in a Monday news conference from Houston. "You can put it whatever you want in the back. You can take it to wherever you want. So you can deliver cargo, crew, do it robotically, do it with humans on board. These are the types of things we're looking for in this system."

"In the wake of the space shuttle Columbia accident, President Bush announced in 2004 a plan to return astronauts to the moon by 2020. His plan would take 16 years, twice as long as NASA's first trip to the moon took in planning. NASA has refused to estimate a price tag for the project."

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And then there is a reaction by the president of the Colorado-based Mars Society, for one thing, as well as by others. in this article by Jim Erickson of The Rocky Mountain News

Quoted here in full:

VIEWS MIXED ON MOON

Some see opportunity; other urge Mars now

Several local planetary scientists enthusiastically endorsed NASA's decision, announced Monday, to permanently staff an international base camp on the moon by 2024."

But the presidents of the Colorado-based Mars Society said that the lunar goal is "too timid" and that the nation "needs something a bit more ambitious than this."

"In January 2004 President Bush announced plans to send astronauts back to the moon by 2020 then on to Mars. On Monday, agency officials said that a lunar base will be built at on of the moon's poles and will be permanently staffed four years after the first return mission"

"The Mars Society would skip the lunar base and send humans straight to the Red Planet."

"It's better than no goal at all, but it's not as good as having the right goals," Mars Society President Robert Zubrin siad of the lunar base."

"This sort of thing would have been an appropriate goal for 1975. It would have been a logical follow-on to the Apollo program," he said. "But Mars is where the science is and where the challenge is and where the future is."

Other local planetary scientists disagreed and said a lunar base is the next logicial step for NASA."

"This is one of those rare events where scientists and engineers agree on the shape of the future NASA program," said the University of Colorado's Larry Esposito."

"If you want to learn how to live in space and practice the things you'll use when you go to Mars, then you have to stay there long enough to experience what such a mission would be like."

"The thing to do next is to stay for a long time on the Moon," he said. "If you're there for just a few days, it's like a camping trip."

"In addition to laying the groundwork of a Mars mission, a lunar base could pay big scientific dividends" Esposito said."

"The skills and ingenuity of astronauts would allow " he said."

"For example crews can conduct detailed studies of lunar geology, or build and maintain astronomical observatories far from the glare of EArthly light pollution."

"Esposito said he has just one reservation: The cost."

"The danger is that they decide to get the money they need (for the base) from other parts of their budget," he said."

"I'm concerned that they might rob from other aspects of scientific exploration."

"Boulder planetary scientist, Alan Stern said a permanent base will enable NASA and its partners to build a substantial lunar infrastructure over decades."

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Guess I am as qualified as the next armchair expert to voice an opinion. My feeling is that we should build a lunar base, prepare for the Mars mission and in addition set up commercial manufacturing operations that could only be accomplished in outer space.

Of course for a man used to operating in a corporate vacuum, it would be easy to think of that perhaps. Remarkable how much productive things can happen with the labor and thought of the peons while corporate brains concentrate on company politics.

I think many of the research projects could be better accomplished on the moon than on Earth with its varied pollutions.

My opinions alone.

Wonder how anything ever got done on earth in the old days ? Of course things were between the king and the explorers then.

I do hope that I live long enough to see something like a huge base be built on the Moon.

2024, I would only be 103 years old then -- 102 if they got it done before April 11th. But my dearest desire is that mankind forge EVER ONWARD . . . . . . . . . . . . .

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