Return to the Moon

Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 19:28:22 +0000

Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/01/2022 - 13:28

Nicholas Hunt

From 5280 Magazine: “If you would’ve told me in 1972 that we wouldn’t be back to the moon for 50 years,” says Jack Burns, a professor of astrophysics at CU Boulder, “I would have said you are full of you-know-what.” Burns has a special interest in moon landings beyond being a child of the Apollo age. He’s director of the Network for Exploration and Space Science, a multiuniversity organization dedicated to developing advanced science on the moon.

Burns also served on former President Donald Trump’s NASA transition team, which laid the groundwork for Artemis, the NASA mission that aims to not only return astronauts to Earth’s only natural satellite but also eventually establish long-term habitation there. “I’ve been working on this for 38 years,” he says. “This is the third iteration of us going back to the moon, but it looks like this one is actually going to stick.” In fact, NASA hopes for boots on the ground—including the first woman and first person of color—starting in 2025.

What took so long? It’s not just delays and red tape, although there’s been plenty of both. We simply didn’t have the means until recently, Burns says. Apollo-era technology barely let us poke our heads around, and it’s only in the past few years, thanks in large part to the NewSpace economy, that we’ve developed the capability to live and work on the moon, which gives us more reason to return than simply taking a few small steps. Read more...

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Fly me to the moon, and far beyond

Anonymous — Mon, 13 Jul 2020 21:56:43 +0000

Fly me to the moon, and far beyond Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 07/13/2020 - 15:56

Ken McConnellogue

From CU On the Air Podcast: Since the late 1940s, the �鶹��Ƶ has sent important experiments and instruments to every planet in our solar system. In 50+ space missions, NASA spacecraft have launched hundreds of instruments from CU Boulder as well as 20 CU scientists, faculty and alumni – including 18 from Boulder, one from UCCS and one from CU Anschutz. CU Boulder Astrophysical and Planetary Sciences Professor Jack Burns continues to have longstanding ties with NASA that benefit the department and CU as a leading-edge institution. Listen to the Podcast.

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Heading Back to the Moon (This Time, For Good)

Anonymous — Fri, 28 Jun 2019 19:34:19 +0000

Heading Back to the Moon (This Time, For Good) Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 06/28/2019 - 13:34

Daniel Strain

From the Coloradan Alumni Magazine: On Dec. 13, 1972, Apollo 17 astronaut Eugene Cernan stepped off the surface of the moon and onto a ladder leading up the Challenger lunar module.

“We leave as we came,” he’d proclaimed a moment earlier, “and, God willing, as we shall return, with peace and hope for all mankind.”

But nearly 47 years later, we still haven’t: No human from any country has been back to the moon.

Now, as the United States prepares to celebrate the 50th anniversary, on July 20, of Neil Armstrong’s first lunar step, the nation is again getting serious about going back. In April, Vice President Mike Pence vowed NASA would return astronauts to the moon by 2024.

The space agency is already testing the Orion spacecraft, a capsule designed by Lockheed Martin that is expected to deliver astronauts there. Plans are also underway for an orbiting space station called the Lunar Gateway, which could serve as a base of operations for astronauts shuttling to and from the lunar surface.

CU Boulder’s Jack Burns, who served on the Trump administration’s NASA transition team and was present for Pence’s pledge, has been waiting a long time for this moment — not for the sake of adventure or geopolitics, but for science. He envisions humans living and working on the moon, using it as a platform for seeing the cosmos’ origins.

“When I hear people say ‘been there, done that for science on the moon, I tell them ‘You are nuts,’” said Burns, a professor of astrophysical and planetary sciences who also directs the NASA-funded Network for Exploration and Space Science at CU. Read more...

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Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Matters Podcast - CU scientist is shaping the new U.S. plan to go to the Moon

Anonymous — Wed, 15 May 2019 16:38:12 +0000

Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Matters Podcast - CU scientist is shaping the new U.S. plan to go to the Moon Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 05/15/2019 - 10:38

Ryan Warner

Colorado Public Radio, Colorado Matters Podcast: Denver voters decriminalized psychedelic mushrooms—now what? Then, homelessness is an issue in Denver's mayoral runoff. Next, a CU scientist is shaping the new U.S. plan to go to the moon. Plus, Dixie Rinehart designed space gloves. Also, Chinese tariffs could impact agriculture. Then, recalling Democrats roils Republicans. Finally, more "Solo on the Slope." Listen now

In addition, this podcast referred to NASA’s FY 2020 Budget Amendment Summary- America to the Moon by 2024. Read it here.

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For Artemis Mission to Moon, NASA Seeks to Add Billions to Budget

Anonymous — Mon, 13 May 2019 20:56:34 +0000

For Artemis Mission to Moon, NASA Seeks to Add Billions to Budget Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/13/2019 - 14:56

Kenneth Chang

From The New York Times: NASA officials on Monday evening unveiled an updated budget request to Congress, seeking more than $1 billion in additional funding in what they called a down payment to accelerate the return of astronauts to the moon by 2024.

Jim Bridenstine, NASA’s administrator, also said that the mission back to the moon would be called Artemis. In Greek mythology, Artemis is the twin sister of Apollo, whose name was used by NASA for the series of spacecraft that first landed Americans on the moon in 1969.

But the revision is just a request, and Congress must decide whether to back the Trump administration’s plan to race back to the lunar surface. Read more...

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American is ready to explore

Anonymous — Mon, 06 May 2019 16:49:36 +0000

American is ready to explore Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 05/06/2019 - 10:49

Jack Burns

From SpaceNews: Commentary by Jack Burns - At the recent National Space Council meeting, U.S. Vice President Pence challenged the nation to begin exploring space again with a human mission to the moon’s south pole by 2024.

Public-private-academic partnerships will help us accelerate a new lunar program. Such successful collaborations have already advanced commercial development in low earth orbit and space science missions that are surveying the solar system and beyond. Coupled with international alliances, we can expand the aerospace pie, open new opportunities for a new generation of engineers and scientists, and develop a true space economy.

America must continue to be a leader, willing to invest real and intellectual capital, to develop a balanced space exploration program. Read more...

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Boulder scientist endorses White House bid for U.S. astronauts to moon by 2024

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 22:59:09 +0000

Boulder scientist endorses White House bid for U.S. astronauts to moon by 2024 Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/26/2019 - 16:59

Charlie Brennan

From the Daily Camera: Vice President Mike Pence, chair of the National Space Council, on Tuesday called for a landing of American astronauts at the south pole of the moon by 2024.

The pledge by Pence, which he said carried the backing of President Donald Trump, came at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., and a Boulder scientist was there to help articulate the case as to what could be done there.

"Now has come the time for us to make the next giant leap and return American astronauts to the moon and establish a permanent base there and develop the technology to take American astronauts to Mars and beyond. That is the next giant leap," said Pence, noting that this summer will mark the 50-year anniversary of Neil Armstrong uttering "one small step for (a) man, one giant leap for mankind" as he became the first human to set foot on the lunar surface. Read more...

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Why America Wants to Send Astronauts to the Moon's South Pole

Anonymous — Tue, 26 Mar 2019 16:08:34 +0000

Why America Wants to Send Astronauts to the Moon's South Pole Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 03/26/2019 - 10:08

Daniel Obrehaus

From WIRED: In December 2017, roughly a year into his tenure as president, Donald Trump directed NASA to develop a plan to return American astronauts to the moon. Since then, the government has released few details about what this mission would look like. But Tuesday, at the fifth meeting of the National Space Council, Vice President Mike Pence doled out a big piece of information: When American astronauts go back to the moon, they will land at the lunar south pole. Why there? Because there’s ice at the moon’s poles, which Pence claimed could be turned into rocket fuel.

“In this century, we’re going back to the moon with new ambitions,” Pence said. “Not just to travel there, but also to mine oxygen from lunar rocks that will refuel our ships, to use nuclear power to extract water from the permanently shadowed craters of the south pole, and to fly on a new generation of spacecraft that will enable us to reach Mars in months, not years.”

Up until a decade ago, planetary scientists were fairly certain no water existed on the moon because it has no substantial atmosphere. Over the past 10 years, however, analysis of data collected by the Indian Space Research Organization’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter “definitively” proved ice exists on the moon. Most of the ice the Chandrayaan-1 detected is located in craters at the south pole, which is permanently shadowed due to the moon’s slight axial tilt. Temperatures never rise above –250 degrees Fahrenheit in these craters, preventing the ice from evaporating into space. Read more...

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Put Telescopes on the Far Side of the Moon

Anonymous — Wed, 03 Jan 2018 19:30:06 +0000

Put Telescopes on the Far Side of the Moon Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 01/03/2018 - 12:30

Joseph Silk

From Nature: Plans to return to the Moon are getting serious. Last month, US President Donald Trump declared that the next time US astronauts blast off, they will be headed to our rocky satellite. In September, the European Space Agency made its strongest call yet for the installation of a permanent, human-inhabited village at the lunar southern pole. China’s National Space Administration is pursuing a human outpost there, among other lunar projects, and private entrepreneurs are enthusiastic about mining minerals on the Moon and making rocket fuel for further space exploration. Read more…

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