wrote on Mon, 20 May 2019 09:56:58 -0700 (PDT):

"In the nearly two months since Vice President Mike Pence directed NASA to return
to the Moon by 2024, space agency engineers have been working to put together a
plan that leverages existing technology, large projects nearing completion, and
commercial rockets to bring this about.

Last week, an updated plan that demonstrated a human landing in 2024, annual
sorties to the lunar surface thereafter, and the beginning of a Moon base by 2028,
began circulating within the agency. A graphic, shown below, provides information
about each of the major launches needed to construct a small Lunar Gateway, stage
elements of a lunar lander there, fly crews to the Moon and back, and conduct
refueling missions.

This decade-long plan, which entails 37 launches of private and NASA rockets, as
well as a mix of robotic and human landers, culminates with a "Lunar Surface Asset
Deployment" in 2028, likely the beginning of a surface outpost for long-duration
crew stays. Developed by the agency's senior human spaceflight manager, Bill
Gerstenmaier, this plan is everything Pence asked for—an urgent human return, a
Moon base, a mix of existing and new contractors."

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2019...lunar-outpost/


This 'plan' is DOA. Hell, I'm about as 'pro-space' as you can be and
*I* am against it. Take money from college grants, increase NASA's
budget by over 30%, give them unprecedented authority to 'reprogram'
money, and rely on a booster (SLS Block 1B) that has essentially had a
'stop work' put on it)? That's just not a realistic plan.

What does it cost insofar as budget increases if we kill SLS and
reprogram THAT money and build a plan without SLS?


--
"Millions for defense, but not one cent for tribute."
-- Charles Pinckney