Upcoming Moon mission needs no big budget, says NASA Chief
New Delhi : In a meeting held, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said that now sending human to the lunar space would not consume big money like the Apollo mission which was conducted in the mid-1960s. The Apollo programme gobbled up about 4.5 per cent of the federal budget, but the space agency's current budget share is around just 0.5 per cent. He believes that the estimated amount should be sufficient to conduct crewed lunar missions in the next 10 years.
But, the things depend in not going it alone and continuing to get relatively humble but important financial bang, he added.
It was Bridenstine first visit to NASA's Ames Research Center.
"We now have more space agencies on the surface of the planet than we've ever had before. And even countries that don't have a space agency - they have space activities, and they want to partner with us on our return to the moon," Bridenstine was quoted as saying by Space.com
The chief further added that NASA has powerful commercial marketplace that can provide access that historically did not exist.
"So, between our international and commercial partners and our increased budget, I think we're going to be in good shape to accomplish the objectives of Space Policy Directive 1," Bridenstine noted.
For now, main attention is on NASA's Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway. Sources confirmed that a small small, moon-orbiting space station will be assembled and visited with the aid of the space agency's Space Launch System megarocket and Orion capsule, both of which are in development.
The Gateway will be designed to house up to four astronauts for a month or two at a time. The space station will serve as a hub for robotic and crewed exploration of the lunar surface. The first launch is scheduled to take off on 2022.
If all goes according to plan, astronauts could visit the outpost as early as 2024 and start making trips to the lunar surface a few years later, before the end of the 2020s, NASA officials have said.
