While debate swirls over whether the United States should stick with plans for a base on the moon or head straight to Mars, members of a presidential panel assessing options for NASA's future have another idea: orbital gas stations.
Stashing rocket fuel in orbit around Earth would open a world of possibilities for long-distance space travel, said a subcommittee of the board convened by the White House to review the nation's human space flight program.
"It is often said that if you want to go beyond LEO (low-Earth orbit, or about 200 miles above the planet) you've got to have a big rocket. I don't think that's right," said Jeff Greason, co-founder of XCOR Aerospace based in Mojave, Calif., and a member of the space program review panel.
A key facet of the current plan for the space program after the space shuttles are retired next year is to design a heavy-lift rocket called Ares 5 which, like the Saturn boosters of the 1960s Apollo-era program, would have the muscle to leave Earth's orbit and deliver cargo to the moon.
The space agency estimates the cost of a program to land astronauts on the lunar surface by 2020 to be $108 billion.
Niciun comentariu:
Trimiteți un comentariu