Destination Moon: Private Spaceflight Companies Eye Lunar Bases

[Buster's Uncle]

Destination Moon: Private Spaceflight Companies Eye Lunar Bases
By Mike Wall | SPACE.com – Thu, May 23, 2013..

Pit stop, the moon! Lunar extraction of minerals and ice are envisioned as near-term objectives for space mining advocates.


Space entrepreneur Robert Bigelow (left) discusses layout plans of the company's lunar base with Eric Haakonstad, one of the Bigelow Aerospace lead engineers.

 
Human exploration of deep space is looking more and more like a tag-team affair, with NASA jetting off to asteroids and Mars while the private sector sets up shop on the moon.

While NASA has no plans to return humans to the lunar surface anytime soon, private industry is eyeing  Earth's nearest neighbor intently, said Bigelow Aerospace founder and president Robert Bigelow.

"The brass ring for us is having a lunar base — as a company and in conjunction with other companies, and even other, possibly, foreign entities as well," Bigelow said during a teleconference with reporters today (May 23). "That is an appetite and a desire that we've had for a long, long time."

Two months ago, NASA tapped Bigelow Aerospace to sound out the private sector's interest and intent in going beyond low-Earth orbit, in an attempt to help map out possible public-private partnerships in deep space.

The Space Act agreement set out a two-phase study approach. Bigelow delivered a draft report of the Phase 1 findings today to NASA human exploration chief Bill Gerstenmaier, who also participated in the teleconference.

Bigelow Aerospace makes expandable habitat modules designed to house astronauts in space or on the surface of the moon and other bodies. The company has long been an advocate of setting up manned lunar bases, and Bigelow said other firms see the appeal of commercial lunar operations as well.

Golden Spike, for example, aims to begin launching two-person missions to the lunar surface and back by 2020. And several different firms, such as Shackleton Energy Company and Moon Express, plan to mine the moon's resources.

NASA had been planning on sending astronauts back to the moon until 2010, when President Barack Obama directed the space agency to work instead toward getting to a near-Earth asteroid by 2025, then on to the vicinity of Mars by the mid-2030s.

Gerstenmaier said NASA welcomes private industry's interest in the moon, viewing it as a complement to the agency's plans in deeper space.

"NASA and the government, we focus on maybe deep space, we focus on asteroids. The private sector picks up the lunar activity, and then we'll combine and share with them to see what makes sense," Gerstenmaier said.

"Transportation to the same region is common between us," he added. "Other aspects — life-support — are common between us. We can do lots of co-development between these that actually share what the private sector needs and what the government needs."

Bigelow said he talked to around 20 private companies during the course of the study, including major players such as SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corp.

"You would recognize most of the names," he said.

Gerstenmaier said NASA would release the Phase 1 report to the public after the agency receives the final draft. The Phase 2 portion of the study, meanwhile, is slated to last four months.

http://news.yahoo.com/destination-moon-private-spaceflight-companies-eye-lunar-bases-224225236.html

[Buster's Uncle]

Commercial human ventures planned for the moon: NASA study
By Irene Klotz | Reuters – Thu, May 23, 2013..

The moon is pictured above Earth in this handout photo courtesy of Col. Chris Hadfield of the Canadian Space Agency. REUTERS/CSA/Col. Chris Hadfield/Handout

CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (Reuters) - Corporate researchers may be living on the moon by the time NASA astronauts head off to visit an asteroid in the 2020s, a study of future human missions unveiled on Thursday shows.

The study by Bigelow Aerospace, commissioned by NASA, shows "a lot of excitement and interest from various companies" for such ventures, said Robert Bigelow, founder and president of the Las Vegas-based firm.

The projects range from pharmaceutical research aboard Earth-orbiting habitats, to missions to the moon's surface, he said on Thursday, citing a draft of the report due to be released in a few weeks.

NASA intends to follow the International Space Station program with astronaut visits to an asteroid by 2025 and to Mars about a decade later.

President Barack Obama's proposed budget for the fiscal year beginning October 1 requests $105 million for the U.S. space agency to begin work on a mission to find a small asteroid and reposition it around the moon for a future visit by astronauts.

But private companies, including Bigelow Aerospace, have more interest in the moon itself, Bigelow told reporters on a conference call on Thursday.

William Gerstenmaier, NASA's head of space operations, said on the call "it's important for us to know that there's some interest in moon activity and lunar surface activity."

"We can take advantage of what the private sector is doing" in areas such as space transportation, life support systems and other technologies needed for travel beyond the space station's 250 mile high orbit, he noted.

NASA typically completes its mission planning before looking at what partnerships and collaborations may be possible, Gerstenmaier added.

"We thought that this time we would kind of turn that around a little bit, that we would ask industry first what they're interested in ... where they see human presence that makes sense, where they see potential commercial markets."

Bigelow Aerospace surveyed about 20 companies as well as foreign space agencies and research organizations for the NASA study, which the company undertook at its own expense. Bigelow has made no secret of its ambition to own, lease and operate inflatable space habitats in Earth orbit and on the moon.

Bigelow handed a draft of the first part of the report to Gerstenmaier on Thursday, 40 days ahead of schedule. The second section, which probes mission planning and other aspects of potential public-private partnerships, is due this fall.

http://news.yahoo.com/commercial-human-ventures-planned-moon-nasa-study-004509682.html