Back to the Moon

starexplorer2001 writes "Space.com is reporting that NASA's planned trip back to the Moon isn't without a significant amount of science and technological innovation. Simply 'sponging off Apollo' won't do it. Among the issues: safer human spaceflight, lunar ice, sustainability, robotic scouting missions and more. This won't be easy."

Comments

I might even be inclined to be sympathetic...

[jd]

...towards NASA, but they're sponging off the Indian space program, for chrissakes!

THAT is how our great, illustrius NASA is getting to the moon - by outsourcing the R&D and get low-paid foreigners to take all the risks. (Bet you 10:1 that almost all early next-gen manned lunar rockets are built and manned by India, with NASA only using their astronauts when India becomes expendable and the rocket has been constructed.)

I strongly urge all nations with space programs of their own to refuse to cooperate with the American space program unless treated with respect and as equals. I feel reasonably sure that many such programs could reach the moon without much trouble, with no help whatsoever from NASA, before NASA could reach the moon on their own. The more such programs do so, the better. If Russia, China, India and the ESA all get manned mission vehicles that outperform NASA's best at that time, maybe - just maybe - we will see greater cooperation and less nationalism. Total cooperation, total pursuit of technology (and not applause), total openness (none of this "ITAR stops us telling you why our spaceship rammed that satelite" b*shit), and we could see achievements in space taking an order of magnitude less time yet achieving an order of magnitude greater results.