
NASA chief on Moon return: “This will not be Lucy and the football again” - rbanffy
https://arstechnica.com/science/2018/05/nasa-chief-on-moon-return-this-will-not-be-lucy-and-the-football-again/
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mikestew
_“This will not be Lucy and the football again”_

Isn't that what Lucy said every time she stuck the pointy end of the ball on
the ground?

Were the NASA chief the sole decider, I might buy it. But there's a Congress
he has to answer to.

~~~
avmich
AFAIK, Dan Goldin once ordered calculations for return to the Moon on the
cheap. The bottom price was about $1B to bring humans to the Moon surface
again (and safely return them back) using then-dirt-cheap Proton launchers.

Congress could apply its force in a few different ways here. For one Congress
may decide not to spend on the Moon program because it's too expensive. For
comparison the NASA annual budget is about $20B, so the Moon has to be
expensive related to that. For another Congress may insist to use pretty
expensive but politically convenient means, like SLS, for that. Big total
budget will require delays, so the program will move slowly.

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fallingfrog
The important thing about humans is that we do better the more of us there
are- so if you want your moon base or other off-earth colony to succeed, you
need to get people and equipment there at _scale_. I don't see it happening
anytime soon, unless Elon musk succeeds with his mars colony. Another couple
astronauts collecting moon rocks is not going to accomplish anything.

