President-elect Donald Trump wants to see Americans colonise the Moon

The election of Donald Trump as the next president of the United States has placed NASA at a crossroads because it could herald the return of American astronauts to the surface of the Moon. The former House speaker Newt Gingrich had suggested that the lunar colony would one day hold 13,000 settlers. It would probably qualify for statehood in the US.
This has been reported in dailymail.co.uk dated 20 November 2016.

Observers of NASA and the American space program are of the opinion that if Trump appoints key Republican ally Newt Gingrich to a top position, the US may find itself leading international efforts to build a permanent base on the lunar surface. That would be a major stepping stone toward the ultimate goal of one day sending a manned mission to Mars.
Incidentally, President Obama has gone on record as saying that he supports putting a man on Mars by the year 2030. It may be noted that between 1969 and 1972, a total of 12 American astronauts had set foot on the moon and, since then, no one has come close. However, given the present scenario, Americans might be forced to return to the Moon in view of the increasing interest in manned lunar missions from rival space programs in Europe, China, Japan, and Russia.


Image courtesy wikimediacommons.org


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Major Tim Peake, British astronaut on-board ISS, talks of Moon Colony

Major Tim Peake, the British astronaut who is right now a member of the ISS squad, had joined the European Space Agency in 2009 after retiring as a helicopter test pilot in the British Army. He has suggested that setting up a "Moon colony" could be the next logical step for space research.
This has been reported in news.sky.com dated 30 March 2016.

In his first live television interview after blasting off from Earth, Major Tim Peake answered a number of questions submitted by Sky News viewers. On the question of the possibility of establishing a permanent base on the Moon, he has suggested that it was a "great ambition" since the experience gained could be used to learn more about traveling to the Red Planet Mars.
He also elaborated on investigation into the challenges that Man would have to face in terms of radiation exposure, (and) energy production - and the Moon is a wonderful place to set up a location for research. Study of the Moon could help us plenty about the origins of our own planet and Moon should be considered as a stepping stone to Mars in the future.
About life on the International Space Station (ISS) he has revealed that the scientists are engaged in 12 to 14 hour days to carry out more than 250 experiments. The results of these experiments would ultimately be of benefit to people back on planet Earth. Some of that research is on how the ageing process affects bone density and muscle loss. It is also investigating why viruses are more virulent in a micro-gravity environment.
Major Tim Peake will spend a total of six months before returning to Earth. Up in the ISS, he misses a few things - like fresh air and being outdoors, but also the color green. The green color is absent on the Space Station.


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Next chief of ESA wants a Moon Colony on the lines of the ISS

#MoonColony #ESA #NASA #NationalSpaceSymposium The European Space Agency (ESA) would be getting a new chief in Johann-Dietrich Wörner and, he wants a Moon Colony to be built on the lines of the International Space Station where specialists from all countries can work and pool their resources so that Man can venture beyond the Moon.
This has been reported in space.com of 1 May 2015.

The incoming leader of the European Space Agency Johann-Dietrich Wörner has expressed his enthusiasm for such a concept of a Moon Colony while speaking at the Space Foundation’s National Space Symposium. This is a gathering of global, commercial, civil, military and "new space" experts and the symposium was held in Colorado Springs last month. Wörner is currently the chairman of the executive board of DLR, the German Aerospace Center and his appointment as the next director general of the European Space Agency (ESA) had been announced on Dec. 18, 2014 and he would succeed Jean-Jacques Dordain, whose term of office ends on June 30.
Agreeing that the end of ISS operations was inevitable, he explained that there should be a permanent moon station as the successor of ISS. This station should be international, "meaning that the different actors can contribute with their respective competencies and interests."
NASA chief Charles Bolden also took part in the panel of space agency leaders during the symposium and, in his opinion, the moon as an interesting destination.

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