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The FAA To Facilitate American Commercial Participation In the ESA Moon Village (examiner.com)
MarkWhittington writes: While NASA remains fixated on its Journey to Mars, quietly, the FAA is positioning itself as the lead United States Government agency for a return to the moon. According to a story in Space News, "FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee (COMSTAC) unanimously approved a recommendation that the FAA's Office of Commercial Space Transportation begin discussions with ESA on ways American companies could participate in what's known as 'Moon Village.'" The "Moon Village" is a European concept for an international moon base where various countries and private entities would collocate habitats for mutual support and benefit.
When you see government agencies competing with each other, you know, you have too many of them.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
This is all because Obama and his enforcer at NASA, Charles Bolden, have made any discussion of the moon verboten.
Hardly. Obama simply cancelled the Constellation program and the billions of dollars that were projected (but never appropriated) to be spent on basically re-creating the Apollo "J" missions and perhaps even the "K" missions that might have happened with Apollo missions 18-21 had funding continued back then. Boldly redoing stuff from the past isn't really colonizing.
WE NEED TO COLONIZE BOTH THESE BODIES FOR THE WELFARE OF OUR RACE!
I agree with the notion, but there has yet to be any major presidential candidate besides Newt Gingrich to even suggest colonizing anything off of the Earth. Even Mr. Gingrich was so ridiculed by all of the other candidates (including Obama I might add) that the idea died a very quick death and hasn't been brought up since.
Blame doesn't belong with just Obama here but with literally everybody.
The Moon Village is simply name coined by newly minted ESA Director-General Johann-Dietrich Woerner. He has selected this as his stretch goal as something he has discussed prior to become the head of the agency. It is in the *concept* stage right now. As of yet, there are no partners, no money, no plan, etc. It also doesn't yet have the actual ESA as backer as he made this whole thing simply in a speech at the 31st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs in April.
The concept he was pitching was a manned base on the far side of the moon which should have opportunities for astronomy and planetary science, learning resource management.
Some of NASA administrator Charles Bolden' comments on this so called "Moon Village"...
“The US does not have to be the country that says, ‘We’re going, follow us,’” he said. “We’re all going back to the surface of the Moon. But, it’s just that the United States has no intention of leading that effort. We will support and be along with anybody that goes.”
“It will be critical for industry, both in the United States and elsewhere, but most importantly for our international partners to finally step up” and take the lead on lunar landing plans, he said. “Unfortunately, nobody’s stepped up yet.”
The FAA seem to be simply just trying to grab some turf in the commercial angle of this, but there's nothing really to grab yet.