Should Lunar Missions Be Scrubbed?
January 23rd, 2008 | 
Author:  Apollo 11 Bootprint © NASA |
The majority of Americans have no clue what is going on in space exploration. Plans to revisit moon have been in the works for years and as I’ve mentioned before it is an exciting time. Some do not see the moon as a sensible next step in exploring space; they want to scrub the planned lunar missions in favor of landing on asteroids.
“Top U.S. planetary scientists, several astronauts and former NASA division directors” are forming a workshop at Stanford University. Their goal is “to offer the next U.S. president an alternative to President Bush’s ‘vision for space exploration’–one that would delete a lunar base and move instead toward manned missions to asteroids along with a renewed emphasis on Earth environmental spacecraft.” Asteroids?
 Schmitt with Flag and Earth Above © NASA |
I’ve visited several websites and blogs that are currently discussing this issue and have found some great pros and cons for such a change in plans. In truth, my opinion could be purely emotional and therefore biased. We should return to the moon first and here is my reasoning:
- It takes less time to reach the moon; we’re talking days as opposed to years.
- I think we should venture farther into space by increments; we aren’t sure humans can reach an asteroid/Mars and safely return to Earth.
- The lunar surface could serve as a weigh station for future exploration of asteroids, mars and other regions of our solar system (and maybe someday our entire galaxy).
- Scientific exploration is awesome, but if we are making scientific discoveries just for the heck of it rather than determining if man can survive for prolonged periods in space, then what’s the point of acquiring the knowledge.
- Scrubbing the lunar missions would mean we’ve wasted a great deal of money.
If I took more time, I could probably come up with many more reasons for sticking with the current plans. Of course, if the next president decides space exploration needs to be eliminated the point is moot. China and Japan are currently orbiting the moon and India plans to launch a mission later this year. Maybe we should just sit back and let them do all the work, and receive the glory.
Sources: Universe Today, On Orbit Mercury, SpaceRef.com, Political Action for Space
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The asteroids that we’re talking about here are NEOs, or Near Earth Asteroids. So we would still be talking about days, not years. Also, the current development that has been done, hence all the money spent, would not be wasted, as the current architecture would be used. They’re just debating location, not methods. NASA wants to do both, but can only afford one.
Personally, I’d rather see us get stuck on the moon, then do a few sorties on asteroids and the moon, and watch the Ares V get cancelled…
Hmmm… I guess I read something wrong, because I was under the impression folks were wanting to venture to the Asteroid Belt (a dangerous task). Exploring space fascinates me, so I would be grieved if the Ares V were to be cancelled.
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