‘Think Apollo on steroids’
American space buffs are once again singing, “ Fly me to the moon.” The U. S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration yesterday announced ambitious plans to land humans on the lunar surface for the first time since 1972.
It won’t be quick: The first trip isn’t scheduled until 2018. And it certainly won’t be cheap: The estimated price tag is $ 104 billion ( U. S.).
If funding is approved and the project goes as planned, it would borrow heavily from the Apollo moon missions of the late 1960s and early ’ 70s, and the current space shuttle.
Astronauts would fly in a revamped, enlarged version of the Apollo capsule that carried six missions to the moon, from the heart- stopping landing by Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin in July 1969, to the ho- hum December 1972 visit by Eugene Cernan and Harrison Schmitt, who bounced across rocks and craters for hours in a Lunar Rover and collected nearly 109 kilograms of moon samples. The capsule “ is very Apollolike . . . but bigger,” says NASA administrator Michael Griffin. “ Think Apollo on steroids.” The rocket that blasts the next generation into space will be a new and improved version of the one that propels the shuttle into orbit. Canada is talking with NASA about getting a piece of the action, but it’s too soon to say what that might be, says Hughes Gilbert, of the Canadian Space Agency. The space agency’s $300 million annual budget would likely need a big boost for Canada to get involved, Gilbert says. The first of the new moon missions would likely carry four astronauts for a stay of up to a week, Griffin says.
Later visits could last up to six months.
Trips would start with the launch of a giant “heavy-lift” cargo craft, carrying the lunar landing craft, equipment, and a departure stage. It would use some shuttle components, including the solid rocket boosters, main engine and massive external tank.
Alittle later, a crew would leave Earth in a capsule sitting atop a smaller rocket. They’d link up with the cargo ship while orbiting Earth, then, with a push from the departure stage, head to the moon. The capsule — named the Crew Exploration Vehicle — would be three times as big as the Apollo capsule and could be used as many as 10 times, NASA says.
It would carry six people, instead of Apollo’s three, and stay in lunar orbit for six months.
After settling into lunar orbit, the landing craft, with room for four, would separate from the crew capsule and fly down to the surface. The crew would return to the capsule for the voyage back to Earth. After ditching the remnants of the landing craft, the capsule would re- enter the atmosphere. Unlike the shuttle, which glided to Earth on wings, it would descend under parachutes to a soft landing at — preferably at California’s Edwards Air Force base, but into the ocean if necessary. The new spacecraft is also intended for eventual journeys to Mars. Both the capsule and lander use liquid methane in their engines. “ Why methane?” NASA asks in its announcement. The agency is: “ thinking ahead, planning for a day when future astronauts can convert Martian atmospheric resources into methane fuel.” The program’s cost is expected to spark criticism in light of billions the U. S. is spending on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and the reconstruction after Hurricane Katrina, as well as funding shortfalls in the space shuttle program.
“ There is simply no credible way to accelerate the development of a Crew Exploration Vehicle unless the NASA budget increases more than has been anticipated,” says Sherwood Boehlert, the Republican head of the House of Representatives’ Science Committee, which oversees the space agency. “ Whether such an increase is a
good idea in the context of overall federal
spending at this time is
something neither
Congress nor the Administration has yet
determined.”
On the other hand,
the return to the moon is backed by President George W. Bush, who made it part of his 2004 Vision for Space Exploration, which called for a human landing on the moon by 2020 and later visits to Mars and other planets. NASA’s announcement came as the European Space Agency announced at a Toronto conference it had landed an unmanned craft, the size of a dishwasher, on the moon. The first landing of the Smart- 1 probe sets the stage for future research and exploration by Europe, China, India, Japan and the U. S., says the project’s chief scientist, Bernard Foing. NASA made no reference to other countries in its announcement. Also yesterday, NASA announced $ 250,000 ( U. S.) for the best idea for a way to move moon dirt known as regolith. The “Centennial Challenge” contest is the latest in a series to enlist non- NASA people in solving space exploration problems.
Regolith is expected to be a source of oxygen for humans working on the moon, and might also be used in construction there. It looks like sand, but its grains interlock and form a compact mass that’s tough to dig, competition manager Brant Sponberg says. To be eligible for the prize, the machine must weigh less than 25 kilograms and move 150 kilograms of regolith in 30 minutes.