NASA boss Jim Bridenstine has laid out his grand vision to use the water on the Moon to power the space exploration of the future.
The agency should launch a new and “sustainable” mission of human exploration of our nearest neighbor , he said. And the new discovery that there is water ice on the lunar surface is a key part of that mission.
Eventually, it could become something far more spectacular. He laid out a vision of tugs going back and forth between Earth and the Moon, which would have a space station built around it and serve as a launching point for missions to Mars and deeper into the solar system.
A study published the following year in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences concluded that water is likely widespread within the moon’s rocky interior, in concentrations ranging from 64 parts per billion to five parts per million.
Bridenstine spoke to Reuters about making the next generation of lunar exploration a “sustainable enterprise,” using rockets and other space vehicles that could be used again and again.• NASA’s previous program of human moon exploration ended with the Apollo 17 mission in 1972.
Trump last December announced a goal of sending American astronauts back to the moon, with the ultimate goal of establishing “a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars.”
The Trump administration’s $19.9 billion budget proposal for NASA for the fiscal year beginning Oct. 1 includes $10.5 billion for human space exploration.
(ATMC CRICOS CODE: 03013D)