www.newscientistspace.com/artic...-.html
"JAXA hopes to launch a satellite into lunar orbit in 2007, followed by uncrewed spacecraft that will land on the Moon and collect lunar rock samples.
Under the plan, astronauts will be sent to the Moon around 2020 to start construction of the base that will be completed by 2030, the agency said. Japan had earlier given 2025 as the target date for a lunar base. "
Looks like the US has a real competition.
"JAXA hopes to launch a satellite into lunar orbit in 2007, followed by uncrewed spacecraft that will land on the Moon and collect lunar rock samples.
Under the plan, astronauts will be sent to the Moon around 2020 to start construction of the base that will be completed by 2030, the agency said. Japan had earlier given 2025 as the target date for a lunar base. "
Looks like the US has a real competition.
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Re: Japan aims to have a moon base by 2030
Fri, August 11, 2006 - 7:27 AMAnd if current trends continue, they may get to the moon before the U.S. can return there. -
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Re: Japan aims to have a moon base by 2030
Mon, August 14, 2006 - 12:26 AMWell, the current plan is for the Lunar CEV to make the first manned flight to Luna of the 21st century by around 2016, so I think we'll at least be conducting manned exploration again there well before 2030. I don't know if there are any explicit plans to build an American Moonbase, but I strongly suspect that by the late 2010's there will be.
Of course, all this assumes that we don't get an anti-space administration in the White House in between then and now. Which is the basic problem with expansion by government action, really.
- Jordan -
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Re: Japan aims to have a moon base by 2030
Mon, August 14, 2006 - 7:48 AMI think there's a very good chance there'll be an anti-space administration in the White House soon. You may disagree, but I'm of the mind that the current adminstration has a very lackluster support of the space program. Otherwise, the NASA budget would be at least twice what it is now. -
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Re: Japan aims to have a moon base by 2030
Wed, August 16, 2006 - 2:51 AMWell, it's certainly possible that there will be an anti-space administration in the White House soon. One of the distressing political realities right now is that the Democratic Party (which was originally a strong supporter of space exploration -- note that JFK was the man to define putting a man on the Moon as an American objective) has become anti-space exploration, and the Republican Party has become anti-biotechnology, so from a science point of view we have only a Choice of Evils.
The CEV program has received a project name -- "Constellation" -- and the Lunar CEV the "Ares" rockets. I think that's a good step -- it's easier to kill an unnamed project than a named one. There is also now a firm deadline of 2014 for the first test of the Ares (mind you this won't be an actual Moonflight but an Earth orbital test of the technnology, in all probability). OTOH if we get an anti-space President in 2008 or 2012, all bets could be off.
One other encouraging sign though is the increased interest in commercial space launches, and one encouraging thing that has already happened is the breaking of the NASA monopoly on payload rentals. We no longer live in a world where an American turn away from space exploration can stymie the whole species -- space technology is spreading. And that's a _very_ good thing.
Sincerely Yours,
Jordan
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