On 21/05/2019 2:56 am, wrote:
"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/


Plans are easy. They've been told they need to get back to the moon
quickly, so they've produced a plan to do so.

Doesn't mean it will happen, or even that the people at NASA think it
will happen.

It's a good way of telling contractors to increase their prices though.

Sylvia.