NASA has decided its next big mission, and according to the
Orlando Sentinel, it's a project that aims to build a base on the moon. Sound
familiar? That's because it's not just NASA who's thinking of building outposts
on Earth's natural satellite. Japan's and Russia's space agencies are working
on the same thing, former presidential-hopeful Newt Gingrich wanted to make the
moon a U.S. state by 2020, and even Domino's hopes to ship a franchise out there
to feed the moon's first human colony.
The U.S. space agency isn't planning to build
infrastructures on the moon's surface, though... at least not yet. It will
instead create what it calls a "gateway spacecraft" that will stay in
orbit above the far side of the moon, or the other side of what we see when
look up at the night sky. The spacecraft will be designed to support a small
crew of astronauts — just like the International Space Station (ISS) — and will
serve as the base for future moon and Mars missions.
The spacecraft will likely be built using leftover ISS parts
and will stay at a location where the gravity isn't that strong so it can
operate using minimal amount of fuel. However, there's one thing NASA has to
iron out before it can start putting a gateway spacecraft together: funding. NASA
has to secure billions of dollars for the project, which won't be easy
considering the agency has been hard up for money due to budget cuts. The
agency also has to ensure that safety of its astronauts and come up with a
viable rescue plan in case of emergency — something that's difficult to do when
the far side of the moon is much, much farther than the current location of the
ISS.
If everything goes well for NASA, it will send its new
rocket (that's currently being developed) on a test flight in 2017. Construction
on the gateway spacecraft will begin in 2019.
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