A new study claims that humans could return in the next decade to the Moon and even live there on permanent basis just a decade after. The study was made public on the 46th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission, which has marked in humankind's history the crew's first steps on the surface of another planetary body.
During the times of NASA's Apollo missions everyone was thrilled watching the new advances in space exploration. People also thought that humankind steps on the Moon will keep progressing at high speed. However, NASA abandoned its manned space flight to the Moon for a while. But today, with the speed of progress in our contemporary technology, there are hopes again to see humans living on the Moon at some point.
Some reports are pointing on the fact that NASA is planning precisely that. The American Space Agency might work on building a permanent Moon base. And this is going to happen within the next 20 years or so.
A recent study concluded that America could lead again Moon exploration by developing a permanent industrial base on the Moon in about 10 to 12 years. The Moon base could offer habitat to four private-sector astronauts.
The new study was performed by NexGen Space LLC. According to them, NASA already laid out a detailed plan for how and when to land on the Moon again. The study is pointing out that robots could return to the Moon by 2017.
NASA would send Moon rovers to search for hydrogen. Scientists are estimating that the Moon has a similar amount of water to the Utah's Great Salt Lake. By using robots for harvesting the Moon's resources, NASA could provide means of survival for the humans that would later arrive.
By the year 2021, NASA's robots would build a base on the Moon, in anticipation of incoming humans later in the same year. The Moon base would become permanent by the year 2030.It is perfectly possible for NASA to do all of this only by remaining within its existing budget for space travel. This is an important concern, since NASA is currently struggling to cut costs.
Such a complex operation would require a period of trial and error, growth, failure, maintenance and repair. The report states that the process would mature in procedures and operations before humans could be sent to live permanently on the Moon base.
However, the mission would be likely being cancelled if robots cannot find water on the Moon. Even if no official plans were made public yet, it seems that NASA has serious plans to return to the moon. A lunar fuel station on the Moon would also make planet Mars more accessible, by cutting costs.
