NASA briefed senior White House officials Wednesday on its plan to spend $100 billion and the next 12 years building the spacecraft and rockets it needs to put humans back on the Moon by 2018.
The U.S. space agency now expects to roll out its lunar exploration plan to key Congressional committees on Friday and to the broader public through a news conference on Monday, Washington sources tell SPACE.com.
September 15th, 2005
NASA to Unveil Plans to Send 4 Astronauts to Moon in 2018
September 15th, 2005
Senate Approves $16.4 Billion Budget for NASA
The U.S. Senate approved a $200 million budget increase for NASA Thursday, giving the U.S. space agency most of the funding it needs to get started on a new lunar exploration plan to be unveiled Monday.
The NASA funding was approved as part of a $48.9 billion spending bill that also funds the Justice and Commerce Departments. Of that amount, NASA would receive $16.4 billion for 2006, about $60 million less than the agency requested but $200 million more than it had to spend this year.
September 11th, 2005
Spirit Rover Captures Animation of Martian Moons
The Spirit Mars rover perched high atop Husband Hill at Gusev Crater is stargazing. Imagery released September 9 by the NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California show the two moons of Mars
September 9th, 2005
New Company Launches With Aim of Colonizing Mars
A new center that aims to be a cross between a museum and an amusement park may soon allow people to explore a Martian settlement without ever having to leave Earth. The Martian research and outreach center will be operated by Four Frontiers, a new Florida-based space commerce company whose main objective is the establishment of a permanent human settlement on Mars.
September 7th, 2005
Inflation Factor: Bigelow Readies Test Module
A test of an inflatable Earth orbiting module is slated for liftoff early next year, bankrolled by a go-it-alone, do-it-yourself entrepreneur keen on providing commercial space habitats for research and manufacturing, among other duties. Bigelow Aerospace of North Las Vegas, Nevada is readying a test prototype of the firm
August 23rd, 2005
Mars Rover Reaches Summit, and the View is Spectacular
The Spirit Mars robot is closing in on a milestone moment in its roving history
August 19th, 2005
Viewer’s Guide: Mars to be Spectacular in Fall, 2005
Mars is coming back. The Red Planet, the only one whose surface we can see in any detail from the Earth, has begun the best apparition it will give us until the summer of 2018. Planet watchers have already begun readying their telescopes. If this sounds familiar, you might recall a similar setup two years ago. This current apparition of Mars will not be as spectacular as the one in August 2003 when the planet came closer to Earth than it had in nearly 60,000-years. This time around, Mars comes closest to the Earth on the night of Oct. 29 (around 11:25 p.m. Eastern daylight time). The planet will then lie 43,137,071 miles (69,422,386 kilometers) from Earth measured center to center. Mars will arrive at opposition to the Sun (rising at sunset, setting at sunrise) nine days later, on Nov. 7.
August 18th, 2005
Mars Backers Say Action on Human Missions Must Start Now
NASA will soon make public its space exploration strategy of returning crews to the Moon and sending humans to distant Mars and other targets.
But implementing such lofty goals is fraught with political correctness, as well as the need for heavy doses of technological suitability and cost-saving savvy.
August 17th, 2005
Summit in Sight for Mars Rover Spirit
At its Gusev crater exploration site, the Spirit Mars rover is wheeling to the summit of Husband Hill and likely to complete its climb this week. “I think we