A. Assuming that the best of both is combined in a return to the moon campaign, what can we expect in the next 5-10 years? B. Beyond that? C. What architectures are optimum for going furthest, fastest, most cost-effectively? D. What is the appropriate level of risk we should tolerate? E. Should we include/welcome all comers (international collaboration, public and/or private), a select few, or simply just do it?
Money from both... hardware from both... expertise and innovation from both.How to lead and coordinate this multi-party effort is a huge challenge.Could a multi-party Space Act Agreement establish a leadership structure and other ground rules?
The possibility of a Private versus Public competition to the Moon is a non-starter for me.
Quote from: AncientU on 03/04/2017 10:46 pmThe possibility of a Private versus Public competition to the Moon is a non-starter for me.I don't know what you mean by "non-starter". To me, it looks that effectively we have exactly this situation right now.NASA still clings to its guns wrt SLS, and fielding of more and more capable, yet cheap American LVs by SpaceX can't avoid colliding with that (even if Musk does not want that).The collision happened with the Moon flight announcement, and you only need to reread NASA response to Musk announcement to see it.The only way this can be resolved is NASA abandons SLS and all other attepts to have its own LVs. Or SpaceX going bankrupt (but even that may not be enough to stop the momentum now).