Experts Say Gingrich Moon Base Dreams not Lunacy

Source: Sci-Tech Today

At a recent debate in Florida, Newt Gingrich promised that "by the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the moon." Sound far out? Actually, the idea of returning to the moon and building an outpost there is not new. Until three years ago, it was U.S. policy and billions of dollars were spent on that idea.

Republican presidential candidate Newt Gingrich wants to create a lunar colony that he says could become a U.S. state. There's his grand research plan to figure out what makes the human brain tick. And he's warned about electromagnetic pulse attacks leaving America without electricity. 

To some people, these ideas sound like science fiction. But mostly they are not. 

Several science policy experts say the former House speaker's ideas are based in mainstream science. But somehow, Gingrich manages to make them sound way out there, taking them first a small step and then a giant leap further than where other politicians have gone. 

Gingrich's promise that "by the end of my second term we will have the first permanent base on the moon" got amped up in a recent debate in Florida, which lost thousands of jobs with the end of the space shuttle program. By then, the lunar base had become a colony and even a potential state, and his moon ideas were ridiculed by rival Mitt Romney. 

Returning to the moon and building an outpost there is not new. Until three years ago, it was U.S. policy and billions of dollars were spent on that idea.

Staying on the moon dates at least to 1969, when a government committee recommended that NASA first build a winged, reusable space shuttle followed by a space station and then a moon outpost. In 1989, President George H.W. Bush proposed going to the moon and staying there. 

China Prepares for Lift-off With Mission to Land on the Moon

Source: The Independent
Clifford Coonan

China has released plans for a five-year space programme, including building a space station and manned missions.

Its ambitions reflect those of the US more than 40 decades ago, and have similar goals. Just as the US space programme came at a time of major economic expansion, so China's drive comes as it grows in economic power and global influence.

Details of the programme include building space labs and manned spaceships, launching high-tech satellites and space freighters as well as deep-space exploration.

"China will work together with the international community to maintain a peaceful and clean outer space and endeavour to make new contributions to the lofty cause of promoting world peace and development," a government white paper called China's Space Activities in 2011, says.

The US has barred China's participation in the 16-country International Space Programme because it is concerned about military espionage.

China is now looking to other partners to help meet its ultimate goal – putting a Chinese taikonaut, or astronaut, on the moon.

It is thought Beijing is keeping in close contact with their Russian counterparts on the Yinghuo-1 Mars orbiter.

Satellites play a big part in China's space plans. It will build a space infrastructure composed of Earth observation satellites, communications and broadcasting satellites, as well as navigation and positioning satellites.

It plans to complete 100 launch missions and send 100 satellites into space over the next five years.

Beijing is keen to ease fears that China is planning to expand its presence in space for military reasons. The white paper specifically states that it opposes any kind of arms race in space.

"The Chinese government has made the space industry an important part of the nation's overall development strategy and adhered to the exploration and utilisation of outer space for peaceful purposes," the paper says.

In the next five years, the country plans to launch spacecraft that will make a soft landing on the moon.

They will then rove and survey to implement stage two of lunar exploration, before beginning the third-stage project of gathering samples of the moon's surface matter and getting those samples back to Earth.

NASA Sting Targets Grandma for Moonrock

Source: Politico
MJ Lee

A 74-year-old grandmother who was the target of a NASA sting operation to uncover a piece of lunar dust said the incident was so frightening that she lost control of her bladder and was left with bruises from rough handling by federal agents.

In an Associated Press exclusive, Joanna Davis said the moon rock – which the wire says is smaller than a grain of rice – was given to her husband by Neil Armstrong in the 1970s, and she was trying to sell the item to take care of her sick son.

No-Fly Zones on the Moon?!

The Promethean Post

Michael Anthony

From a recent article in The Hindu Moon to have no-fly zones by month end, NASA announces no-fly zones on the Moon! By the end of the month NASA will be declaring a long list of landing sites and artifacts from the Apollo missions as “historical sites” and “property of the US government”. These locations will be considered off limits. “Apollo 11 and 17 sites [will] remain off-limits, with ground-travel buffers of 75 meters and 225 meters from each respective lunar lander,” states the July 20 guidelines of NASA, obtained by the Science journal.

According to Science, by the end of the month NASA is expected to provide a set of “recommendations” for spacecraft and astronauts visiting the “U.S. government property on the moon.” However, these recommendations will not be legally binding due to the 1967 Outer Space Treaty, which clearly states that the lunar surface has no owner.