On the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 11 crew's first landing on the moon, researchers from the NexGen Space LLC announced that NASA explorers may possibly return to the moon and live there for a decade to set up a base and gather resources. This move will supposedly make other space explorations cheaper.
THe Mars misson would immediately stand to gain from NASA's lunar return. but to see if it's really feasible, NASA commissioned experts from NexGen to figure out the plan together with the space agency's engineers.
The team found out that with the help of private rockets from SpaceX and Boeing, NASA's idea of returning to the moon - and using this as the jumping off for its new mission to Mars - is worth "approximately 90 percent less than the previously estimated $US100 billion," according to a NextGen.
Going back could prove beneficial as scientists said there could be frozen water in its surface that will help astronauts' fuel their rocket ships. Water is vital ingredient for making rocket fuel and it is expensive to bring this from the Earth to outerspace. If water can be mined from the lunar base, then this will cut cost for NASA.
"You basically expand free enterprise to the Moon," said Charles Miller, president of NexGen, via The Verge.
But first, scientists have to determine if there is enough water on the moon so that humans will be able to establish the lunar base. If so, the whole project could "substantially, if not completely, pay for itself," said the NexGen executive in the report.
If approved, the project is to be set up in five to seven years. Robots will be sent first as early as 2017 to rove and scout lunar poles. Construction of the lunar base, which will also be done by robots, could begin by 2021, with humans returning to the moon afterwards.
The study, which was presented to a 21-man panel for review at the National Press Club in Washington DC, was published on Research Gate.
