The question I keep wondering is why are we sending people to the Moon? If we had a clear answer, we'd know where they needed to go, how many there needed to be, how long they needed to be there, and what equipment they needed to have with them.
How about the government stimulating this by building (or better yet: renting) gateway stations, buying resupply and crew rotation transport services and generally acting as an anchor customer?
Unless they are doing something that uniquely requires human presence and where human presence is justified on a value basis, I don't think that's a good idea.
That's why ISRU experiments, while good and desirable, do not need nor should include human "presence".
Unmanned is for the Beagles of this world. Let those pressing for it pay for it, and free NASA to concentrate on what it's famous for, human space flight.
Manned is for new space
1) Can I be the first to say "no Buck Rogers, no bucks?" Who really believes NASA would continue to get $17bn per year for unmanned activities only?2) The lay person is amazingly poorly informed about what NASA actually does. A couple of years ago my girlfriend asked me if anybody had landed on Mars yet!3) For some reason, much of the population assume that HSF is necessary.
Can I be the first to say "no Buck Rogers, no bucks?"Who really believes NASA would continue to get $17bn per year for unmanned activities only?
Long-term species survival.
Quote from: marsavian on 05/25/2009 01:31 pmLong-term species survival.Science fiction.
Government doesn't need to do "anchor tenant" anything unless it has a real need to put people in space. NASA does it, but that doesn't mean it "needs" to. No other branch of US government has any interest in manned flight, and I think that's rather indicative of its real value.
Trying again in a new thread.Quote from: vanilla on 05/24/2009 06:04 pmThe question I keep wondering is why are we sending people to the Moon? If we had a clear answer, we'd know where they needed to go, how many there needed to be, how long they needed to be there, and what equipment they needed to have with them.IMHO:1) ISRU2) science