Lunar News Network

Lunar Habitats

When our intrepid explorers finally reach the Moon again and set up an encampment, where will they live? NASA has plans to build inflatable structures to house our first lunar colonists (Space.com - NASA Tests Inflatable Lunar Shelters): 

The inflatable structure is made of multilayer fabric and looks like an ungainly white robot with legs. The main unit is 12 feet in diameter and 18 feet tall. It has a volume of about 1,600 cubic feet and is connected to an airlock, also inflatable. The two spaces are essentially pressurized cylinders, connected by an airtight door.

I wonder how well that kind of structure will do in shielding them from solar radiation? That is one of the great dangers the colonists will face.

More Reasons To Go

Ever since NASA unveiled its plans for establishing a permanent base on the Moon, people have argued about which rationales are compelling enough to justify the enormous risk and expense involved in such a venture.  Robert Shapiro argues (The Space Review - Why the Moon? Human survival!) that the best reason may be simply to insure the future of the human race.

Lunar Supply Chain

Space.com takes a look at some of the logistical problems inherent in lunar exploration and settlement (Packing for the Moon: New Software Aims to Track Supplies):

If an outhouse on the Moon ran out of toilet paper, an intrepid settler might have to waddle about 240,000 miles to get a fresh roll back on Earth. To make sure that doesn't happen, scientists have developed a software tool that tracks and ensures a reliable stream of necessities from the Earth to the Moon.

NASA Funding News

Space.com has more details on the NASA budget situation (Senator Calls for White House Summit on NASA Budget):

Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.), chair of the Senate subcommittee responsible for NASA funding, formally pledged Thursday to again work with Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) to increase NASA funding by $1 billion. Mikulski also called for a space summit with the White House to ensure NASA gets the support and funding it needs.

NASA Funding News

"The chairman of the U.S. House science committee said Thursday that NASA is headed for 'a train wreck' if the space agency isn't better funded to finish building the international space station and develop the next-generation spacecraft," reports the Associated Press (NewsMax - 'NASA Is Headed for a Train Wreck': Rep. Gordon). "The White House has cut NASA's five-year budget plan by almost $2.26-billion in the three years since U.S. President George W. Bush announced the 'Vision for Space Exploration' plan to develop new spacecraft to go back to the moon and then to Mars, said U.S. Rep. Bart Gordon, D-Tenn. Gordon, chairman of the Committee on Science and Technology, spoke at a hearing in Washington on NASA's 2008 budget request."

Vision Status

Space.com takes a look at where things stand now with the Vision for Space Exploration (The Vision at Three Years and Counting): When U.S. President George W. Bush stepped to the podium at NASA headquarters here Jan. 19, 2004, to call for returning humans to the Moon by 2020, cynics could be forgiven for giving the Vision for Space Exploration little chance of succeeding.