In 5 years, people will return to the moon, says NASA

Jim Bridenstine, the new head of NASA, gave a very interesting interview in which he revealed some details of the next mission of the American space agency.

NASA is planning a great return of moon crew missions already from August 2018. But then Bridenstine did not want to go into details and clarified only a few inaccuracies related to the Gateway program and SLS rockets. The latest strategy of the American space agency, however, assumes a greater emphasis on cooperation with the private sector.

The new NASA strategy is based on close cooperation with the private sector

The Americans are slowly sending their people into space on board the Russian Soyuz. Space Shuttle ended in 2011 and since then, Americans must use Russian infrastructure. In an interview with CNBC, Bridenstine revealed that for one place on board a Russian vessel NASA pays about 70 million dollars. Taking into account the turbulent history of both superpowers, I suspect that this price is a bit overstated, but we will probably never know it.

Returning, however, to NASA's cosmic plans: the American agency wants to focus on cooperation with two private entities: Boeing and SpaceX. The partnership with the private sector will result from the Commercial Crew program, for which Boeing and SpaceX have prepared space capsules - Starliner and Crew Dragon - on which American astronauts will return to space flights from their own territory.

When it comes to the level of advancement of the work, SpaceX claims that their first test flight with the use of a new capsule (still without a crew) will take place on March 2. Boeing representatives have not yet announced any specific date, but unofficially it is said that the first Starliner tests will not start earlier than in April.

What about back to the moon?

Here, the plan gets a little more complicated. Manned space missions, whose members leave their traces on the moon, are to be sent from the orbital lunar station . The one that construction has not yet begun. Gateway, because it is supposed to be named, will start to be created in 2022. Module by module. To make it even harder: the rocket, on which the residential module is to be delivered, has not yet been created. NASA intends to use the SLS missile, the smaller versions of which will be used in three previous missions:

  • EM-1: unmanned aircraft with the Orion MPCV spaceship into the orbit of the Moon
  • EM-2: a manned flight with Orion to the orbit of the Moon
  • This is not a mission under the code name EM, but NASA is planning to use the SLS rocket to send an unmanned mission to Europe.

Bridenstine claims that the first manned mission will land on the moon in 2024. However, I assume that the lander will start from Earth. Well, unless by some miracle in these two years NASA manages to build an orbital lunar station. So far, however, we did not get to know any details of this plan, so I would not count on it personally. The first (at this age) landing on the moon will probably have a familiar character.

Planned lunar missions will not be limited only to scientific research

Bridenstine in an interview with CNBC mentioned several times that the long-term strategy for the moon will be the commercial use of its resources. This is probably about the production of rocket fuel (much of the surface of our natural satellite consists of ice, which can be easily converted into hydrogen fuel) and the extraction of rare minerals.

Contrary to appearances, this is much more important news than you might think. Commercialization of some of NASA's activities means that the space agency will be able to become independent of government funding to a certain extent, which means that the frequency of its planned missions will increase in the future. I do not know how true the manned mission to Mars is, which, according to Bridenstine, will take off "soon after 2030," but I'm good at it.

I am also happy that the new NASA boss remembers to appear in the media from time to time and inform about the current status of the US space agency. Let us hope that during the next speech he will have a bit more to offer.



In 5 years, people will return to the moon, says NASA

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