Next US moon landing will be by private companies, not NASA

[left-of-center2012]

Source: AP news

NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Thursday that nine U.S. companies will compete to deliver experiments to the lunar surface. The space agency will buy the service and let private industry work out the details on getting there, he said.

The goal is to get small science and technology experiments to the surface of the moon as soon as possible. The first flight could be next year; 2019 marks the 50th anniversary of the first manned moon landing.

NASA officials said the research will help get astronauts back to the moon more quickly and keep them safer once they’re there. The initial deliveries likely will include radiation monitors, as well as laser reflectors for gravity and other types of measurements, according to Zurbuchen. Bridenstine said it will be up to the companies to arrange their own rocket rides. NASA will be one of multiple customers using these lunar services.

This new partnership is loosely modeled after NASA’s successful commercial cargo deliveries to the International Space Station, as well as the still-unproven commercial crew effort. SpaceX and Northrop Grumman, formerly Orbital ATK, have been making space station shipments since 2012. SpaceX expects to start transporting astronauts to the orbiting lab next year; so does Boeing.

Read more: https://www.apnews.com/f6d76fb4827d4f708e51340fd2f5e355

[Aristus]

1. I bet they can't wait to get up there and pollute the fuck out of the place.

[aggiesal]

3. They'll say the moon belongs to the U.S. ...

then stake a claim.

[Matthew28]

4. The only way

we're going back to the moon is if we can get resources from it.

We won't do shit for free

[eggplant]

6. There are actual treaties about things like that.

https://www.space.com/33440-space-law.html

[Hortensis]

2. That's okay. It means advance. :) The government is needed

with its giant citizen resources when projects are too large for individuals and private enterprises.

[KWR65]

5. We shouldn't waste tax dollars going to the moon or Mars.

If private parties want to do it then that is fine, but sending people to live on the moon is not a good reason to waste tax dollars. I support having satellites put in orbit for technical reasons, but the rest of it is not needed.