FYI,

"NASA Plans Bigger Moon Base, Sporty Rovers for Future Missions"
SPACE.com
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20070920/sc_space/nasaplansbiggermoonbas
esportyroversforfuturemissions;_ylt=ApH.hmHNl.tjdlmvyB2ILH8E1vAI

: The next astronauts to work on the moon will likely live in larger
: habitats and drive sporty new rovers capable of two-week treks,
: NASA officials said Thursday.

: Rather than assembling a lunar outpost over time from a multitude
: of small, separately launched modules, NASA is now hoping to land
: up to three large habitats on fewer flights to build a beachhead on
: the moon, the space agency said.

: Doug Cooke, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration
: systems, said that the space agency's revised lunar plan calls for
: the launching of larger habitats to the moon on unmanned cargo
: flights. That way, the first new lunar astronauts could begin to
: reap science rewards faster than if they had to haul smaller
: habitat sections and hardware to the moon on each flight, then
: combine them into a larger base to support long-duration
: expeditions.

: "We want to get scientific return. We want to get information that
: will help, potentially, space commerce and we want to get
: international participation early," Cooke told reporters in a
: teleconference. "All of these objectives we want to address as
: early in the flights as we possibly can by getting the outpost up
: and running quickly."

: Cooke and other NASA officials detailed the agency's revised lunar
: plan at the Space 2007 Conference of the American Institute of
: Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) in Long Beach, California. NASA
: aims to return astronauts to the moon by 2020 using its space
: shuttle successor -- the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and the
: Ares I booster -- as well as the Ares V heavy-lift rocket.

: "There is some great science to do on the moon," said Laurie
: Leshin, director of sciences and exploration NASA's Goddard Space
: Flight Center, adding that future astronauts will help better
: understand the moon's environment and interior.

: NASA has eyed the moon's Shackleton Crater near the lunar south
: pole as a possible moon base site because of its proximity to
: permanently lit and shadowed regions that could be key for solar
: power stations and the hunt for water ice. But Cooke said that
: Shackleton is not the only candidate for a moon base, especially
: since the revised plan calls for mobile habitat modules that could
: move between science targets or gather together in a sort of lunar
: spare parts depot.

: Data from NASA's unmanned Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, set to
: launch next year, and other international probes will help pin down
: future landing sites, Cooke added.

: Lunar hot rod

: Once astronauts return to the moon, NASA does not expect them to
: simply stand around their landing craft collecting nearby rocks.

: Astronaut Mike Gernhardt, NASA's lead for extravehicular physiology
: systems and performance projects, said the agency is now planning
: to send a pair of pressurized rovers that will allow spaceflyers to
: explore more of the lunar surface while retaining the relative
: comfort of a shirt-sleeve environment.

: "They're basically habitats on wheels," Gernhardt said, adding that
: the new vehicles would be about the same size as the unpressurized
: rovers driven by astronauts during NASA's Apollo moon landings. "If
: you can picture this thing, it's kind of a combination between a
: spacesuit and a sports car."

: Both rovers would be deployed together, each with a crew of two
: astronauts. If one rover failed, all four spaceflyers could pile
: into the remaining vehicle to return to their lunar base, Gernhardt
: said. Current plans call for a 5,000-pound (2,267-kilogram)
: pressurized vehicle with seats that fold into beds for longer
: trips.

: The two-person rovers would be equipped to handle three-day,
: seven-day and two-week excursions on the moon with exterior-mounted
: spacesuits that could be donned by climbing through a shared
: hatchway, Gernhardt said. It could take just 10 minutes to step
: into the spacesuits and onto the lunar surface, he added.

: Short jaunts could cover about 25 miles (40 kilometers) with the
: two-week trips roving across 596 miles (960 kilometers) across the
: lunar surface, he added.

: As to how much the rovers may cost, Gernhardt could only offer an
: estimate.

: "I will only say that it will be more than a Ferrari," he said.

Mark Reiff