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NASA's new space exploration program may be skewed toward sending astronauts to an asteroid and onto Mars, but a return to Earth's moon is not completely lost, NASA's deputy chief told reporters today (Sept. 30).
NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver, the space agency's second-in-command, said the moon has a role to play in the new space exploration plan set by President Obama and approved by Congress this week. NASA, she added, won't turn its back on Earth's nearest neighbor. [10 Coolest New Moon Discoveries]
"Lunar science and lunar exploration is alive and well in NASA," Garver said in a teleconference.
Congress approved a NASA authorization bill late Wednesday (Sept. 29) that would give the space agency a $19 billion budget for 2011. The bill supports President Obama's plan to send astronauts to visit an asteroid by 2025 and then target a manned trip to Mars in the 2030s.
NASA currently has one spacecraft orbiting the moon, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which began a new science-oriented mission after spending a year mapping and scouting the lunar surface to support exploration programs.
The space agency plans more robotic probes, as do other countries. China, India and Japan have all sent probes in recent years, with China poised to launch its second lunar probe Chang'e 2 in the next few days.
The moon is also a goal for commercial enterprises as well.
The Virginia-based space tourism firm Space Adventures has been drawing up plans for private trips around the moon on Russian Soyuz spacecraft for several years. The Las Vegas-based company Bigelow Aerospace has also studied the potential of private moon bases built from its inflatable space modules.
The moon also serves as the finish line for the $30 million Google Lunar X Prize contest for private teams capable of building and launching robot lunar probes. SPACE.com
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