An independent U.S. panel regarding NASA’s moon mission has informed the White House it should abandon that mission. The panel concluded in its 155 page report that instead of the new rocket, Ares, currently on the launch pad at Cape Canaveral, NASA should have focused on a bigger one for reaching Mars.
Norman Augustine, is chairman of the panel reviewing, and is advocating either landing on a nearby asteroid or one of the moons of Mars. This could be accomplished quicker than returning to the moon in 15 years as NASA intended to do.
The current moon-Mars plan is restrained by budgetary cuts and physics. The panel suggested 8 options for NASA’s continued missions: 3 are “flexible path” options for exploring places other than the moon and, eventually reaching Mars. Landing a vessel on the moon and then relaunching back requires plenty of fuel due to the moon’s gravity, but less so from other celestial objects.
I am someone that certainly doesn’t always agree with what the White House does, however having never seen the actual White House I would really like to one day visit it.
