NASA Might announce their plans for New MANNED moon missions soon - Polidicks

[QUOTE]NASA is serious about sending astronauts back to the moon's neighborhood and will likely unveil its ambitious plans soon now that President Barack Obama has been re-elected, experts say.The space agency has apparently been thinking about[URL="http://www.space.com/14518-nasa-moon-deep-space-station-astronauts.html"]setting up a manned outpost [/URL]beyond the moon's far side, both to establish a human presence in deep space and to build momentum toward a planned visit to an asteroid in 2025. The new plans have probably already been cleared with the[URL="http://www.space.com/11545-photos-obama-president-nasa-space.html"]Obama Administration [/URL]but have been kept under wraps in case Republican candidate Mitt Romney won Tuesday night's (Nov. 6) presidential election, said space policy expert John Logsdon, a professor emeritus at George Washington University. "NASA has been evolving its thinking, and its latest charts have inserted a new element of cislunar/lunar gateway/Earth-moon L2 sort of stuff into the plan," Logsdon told SPACE.com. (The Earth-moon L2 is a so-called libration point where the two bodies' gravitational pulls roughly balance out, allowing spacecraft to essentially park there.) [[URL="http://www.space.com/14523-photos-deep-space-station-exploration-lagrange-points.html"] Gallery: Visions of Deep-Space Station Missions [/URL]] "They've been holding off announcing that until after the election," Logsdon added, noting that Romney had pledged to reassess and possibly revise NASA's missions and direction. [B]New vision of human space exploration [/B]In 2010, President Obama directed NASA to work toward sending astronauts to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s. To reach such deep-space destinations, the agency is developing a huge rocket called the [URL="http://www.space.com/12942-photos-nasa-giant-rocket-space-launch-system.html"]Space Launch System[/URL](SLS) and a crew capsule named Orion. But astronauts likely won't head straight to a space rock when SLS and Orion are ready to fly together in 2021. In the last year, word has begun leaking out that [URL="http://www.space.com/17856-nasa-deep-space-station-moon-farside.html"]NASA wants to explore Earth-moon L2[/URL], a point in space that lies beyond the moon's far side, as a precursor. Rumors currently point toward parking a spacecraft at the Earth-moon L2 gateway, so NASA (and perhaps international partners) can learn more about supporting humans in deep space. Astronauts stationed there could also aid in lunar exploration — by teleoperating rovers on the moon's surface, for example. NASA officials think they can pull off such manned missions without busting their budget, which stands at $17.7 billion in the proposed 2013 federal budget. "They're not talking about plans that imply significant budget increases," Logsdon said. "It gives a more focused use for SLS and Orion before an asteroid mission." [B]Moon missions coming soon? [/B]Exploration of Earth-moon L2 could get started as early as 2021 with the first manned flight of SLS and Orion, which NASA calls Exploration Mission 2. (Exploration Mission 1 is the initial, unmanned test launch of SLS, slated for late 2017.) "I'm not privy to the specifics of this, but one could conceive of the second SLS mission being the start of activity in cislunar space, rather than just being a lunar orbit mission," Logsdon said. We may know soon enough. NASA higher-ups have dropped hints recently that a big announcement may indeed be in the offing before too much longer. "We just recently delivered a comprehensive report to Congress outlining our destinations which makes clear that SLS will go way beyond low-Earth orbit to explore the expansive space around the Earth-moon system, near-Earth asteroids, the moon, and ultimately, Mars," NASA deputy chief Lori Garver said at a conference in September. "Let me say that again: We're going back to the moon, attempting a first-ever mission to send humans to an asteroid and actively developing a plan to take Americans to Mars," Garver added.[/QUOTE] Relevant video: [URL]http://www.space.com/14952-orion-capsule-test-flight-deepest-space-1972-video.html[/URL] Source:[URL]http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/49734624/ns/technology_and_science-space/[/URL]

Fuck yes let's do this.

We should build our moonbase just uphill of China's moonbase.

[QUOTE=_Kent_;38365233]We should build our moonbase just uphill of China's moonbase.[/QUOTE] And then legalize weed on the moon.

[QUOTE]NASA is serious about sending astronauts [b]back[/b] to the moon's neighborhood[/QUOTE] Right... :tinfoil:

Too bad they can't go in half the time expected.

I'm ready

Just watch out for the moon spiders.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;38365587]Just watch out for the moon spiders.[/QUOTE] God that movie was awful.

Moon dust scares me more than that movie. Shit's deadly.

And in 4 years that plan will be scrapped without flying a single mission.

Stories like these, along with Curiosity, Bill Nye, and Neil deGrasse Tyson, have recently convinced me to pursue a minor in physics just so I can have a base to start with in terms of how the universe works. Space is just so inspiring and awesome; it really saddens me that NASA gets next to no funding when they're trying to do such amazing things.

[QUOTE=Raidyr;38365587]Just watch out for the moon spiders.[/QUOTE]Yeah or giant robots from another galaxy crash landed on the dark side of the moon.

And now we may be going back to the moon? What an awesome week this has shaped up to be

If they invested in SpaceX we'd be there by 2017.

I want sources from NASA!!

[QUOTE=Lizzrd;38365954]Yeah or giant robots from another galaxy crash landed on the dark side of the moon.[/QUOTE] the real threat is the nazis

Here's my plan Step 1: Get all of the nations leaders in one room Step 2: Deliver five ounces of weed and smoking implements, beverages and beer will be provided too Step 3: All nations will reconcile their differences (NK too) Step 4: Everyone pool their resources together into space exploration Step 5: Humanity will expand across the stars in my lifetime

We should start a colony only for space missions on the moon, and slowly go to each planet, making colonies on them, till we reach mars.

[QUOTE=WhatAmI;38366228]Here's my plan Step 1: Get all of the nations leaders in one room Step 2: Deliver five ounces of weed and smoking implements, beverages and beer will be provided too Step 3: All nations will reconcile their differences (NK too) Step 4: Everyone pool their resources together into space exploration Step 5: Humanity will expand across the stars in my lifetime[/QUOTE] You forgot the part where they get 90% of the funds before they agree to it

[QUOTE=WhatAmI;38366228]Here's my plan Step 1: Get all of the nations leaders in one room Step 2: Deliver five ounces of weed and smoking implements, beverages and beer will be provided too Step 3: All nations will reconcile their differences (NK too) Step 4: Everyone pool their resources together into space exploration Step 5: Humanity will expand across the stars in my lifetime[/QUOTE] or send all nations leaders to the moon and have all the food in the station edibles only and force them to have to eat that

That would be too expensive to get them out there It'd be easier to just smoke out a UN conference or something

[QUOTE=Rocko's;38366286]We should start a colony only for space missions on the moon, and slowly go to each planet, making colonies on them, till we reach mars.[/QUOTE] you realize we're right beside mars planet wise? It would just be us-moon-mars.

It would be interesting to see what sort of launch vehicle such an outpost would be carried on. It probably wont be built out of many different modules, like the ISS, as launch vehicles such as the space shuttle do not have the capability to put something into such a high orbit. It would probably be launched in a single piece or in very few pieces by large rockets much like the Saturn V. It would be awesome to see massive rockets launched during my lifetime. The Saturn V launches where spectacular. Things the size of a 35 story office building moving at the speed of sound

[QUOTE=mecaguy03;38366640]It would be interesting to see what sort of launch vehicle such an outpost would be carried on. It probably wont be built out of many different modules, like the ISS, as launch vehicles such as the space shuttle do not have the capability to put something into such a high orbit. It would probably be launched in a single piece or in very few pieces by large rockets much like the Saturn V. It would be awesome to see massive rockets launched during my lifetime. The Saturn V launches where spectacular. Things the size of a 35 story office building moving at the speed of sound[/QUOTE] [quote]To reach such deep-space destinations, the agency is developing a huge rocket called the Space Launch System(SLS) and a crew capsule named Orion.[/quote] It's already in production. And it's bigger than the Saturn V. [editline]8th November 2012[/editline] [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=coivVF9W0Rg&feature=related[/media]

[QUOTE=OvB;38366689]It's already in production. And it's bigger than the Saturn V. [editline]8th November 2012[/editline] [/QUOTE] Holy shit.

[QUOTE=OvB;38366689]It's already in production. And it's bigger than the Saturn V.[/QUOTE] And if they need even bigger than that, there were plans for a rocket called the [URL=http://www.astronautix.com/lvs/satnv4xu.htm]Saturn V-4X(U)[/URL], which was designed to lift over a million pounds into low Earth orbit. Basically, they wanted to strap four Saturn Vs together to make a really really really powerful rocket. I'd imagine they could try the same thing with the SLS.

[QUOTE=mecaguy03;38366715]Holy shit.[/QUOTE] Here's another neat video: [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lhzIWeZedJM[/media]

Thats really cool how it isnt just some idea and blueprint, its actually being built right now.

They get there and find some giant double yellow lines with a martian traffic warden saying 'you can't park here'. :v: