September 26, 2005. Copyright 2005, Graphic News. All rights reserved

New chapter in lunar exploration looks to future space colonisation
By Mark Rutter

LONDON, September 26, Graphic News:  In his famous address to Congress in May 1961, President John F. Kennedy proclaimed that the United States would put a man on the moon by the end of the decade. Eight years later Neil Armstrong became the first man to fulfil that promise. Six more Apollo missions followed, five of which resulted in successful landings, but the programme was terminated after the Apollo 17 mission in December 1972.

Fast forward to January 2004 and President George W. BushÕs announcement of his ÒVision for Space ExplorationÓ. It called for a human mission to the moon by 2020 followed by a trip to Mars, a plan greeted with scepticism by some at the time, but NASA has now published the details of how it intends to fulfil the first phase of BushÕs vision by saying it will land astronauts on the moon by 2018. You could be forgiven for failing to be impressed by a promise to complete a goal in 13 years time that had already been realised 36 years earlier, especially given todayÕs technology and far more powerful computers.

But finance is much more constrained in todayÕs world. There are many competing demands for funding -- military action in Iraq and destructive hurricanes to name two. The new plan is designed around a budget of $100 billion over the next 12 years, made up partly of money reallocated from other NASA programmes and scrapping the space shuttle. To stay within budget, the plan involves using a mixture of space shuttle and Apollo technology.

The crew will launch in a capsule and dock with the main rocket and moon lander, a larger version of the Apollo capsule, while orbiting the Earth. Three days later, when in lunar orbit, the four astronauts will guide the lander to the moon, leaving the capsule orbiting on autopilot. Once the lunar mission is completed, the lander will dock with the capsule and travel back to Earth. The rocket will be able to take up to four astronauts plus cargo and will be reused up to 10 times.

One of the aims of the programme is to establish an outpost on the moon. Astronauts would live here for up to six months, exploiting the moonÕs resources for water and fuel. Ultimately, this would provide a stepping-stone to Mars. To aid this, the rocket will be propelled by liquid methane, opening up the possibility of converting methane in the Martian atmosphere into fuel.

Despite its vision of planetary exploration, NASAÕs announcement lacks a timetable for future missions to Mars. The catalyst for the Apollo programme was the Soviet UnionÕs Yuri Gagarin becoming the first man to orbit the Earth in 1961, at the height of the Cold War. One of the early aspirations of Apollo was the exploration of the planets, but once the United States had effectively won the space race by landing 12 men on the moon, the impetus for further exploration had run out. Perhaps a new catalyst is now required to fulfil the vision of one day landing humans on Mars.
/ENDS