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from the To-the-Moon,-Alice!-To-the-Moon! dept.
No more sending humans to an asteroid. We're going back to the Moon:
The policy calls for the NASA administrator to "lead an innovative and sustainable program of exploration with commercial and international partners to enable human expansion across the solar system and to bring back to Earth new knowledge and opportunities." The effort will more effectively organize government, private industry, and international efforts toward returning humans on the Moon, and will lay the foundation that will eventually enable human exploration of Mars.
"The directive I am signing today will refocus America's space program on human exploration and discovery," said President Trump. "It marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972, for long-term exploration and use. This time, we will not only plant our flag and leave our footprints -- we will establish a foundation for an eventual mission to Mars, and perhaps someday, to many worlds beyond."
The policy grew from a unanimous recommendation by the new National Space Council, chaired by Vice President Mike Pence, after its first meeting Oct. 5. In addition to the direction to plan for human return to the Moon, the policy also ends NASA's existing effort to send humans to an asteroid. The president revived the National Space Council in July to advise and help implement his space policy with exploration as a national priority.
President's remarks and White House release.
Presidential Memorandum on Reinvigorating America's Human Space Exploration Program
Also at Reuters and New Scientist.
Previously: Should We Skip Mars for Now and Go to the Moon Again?
How to Get Back to the Moon in 4 Years, Permanently
NASA Eyeing Mini Space Station in Lunar Orbit as Stepping Stone to Mars
NASA and Roscosmos Sign Joint Statement on the Development of a Lunar Space Station
Bigelow and ULA to Put Inflatable Module in Orbit Around the Moon by 2022
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Wednesday December 13 2017, @04:38PM
You don't need to spend energy to dissociate H2O just so that you could combine H2 and O2 again in a chemical reactor with a nozzle on one side. To much loss, both in separation and during recombination!
Losses aren't important in space: you have limitless solar energy up there, at least anywhere near Earth orbit (not so much in the outer system). You just have to collect it, which can take a little time, but water can make a good energy-dense energy storage form this way, by converting it to H2 and O2 over time with a power station.
most efficient use of the energy you collect would be spending it on direct acceleration of matter using electromagnetic force.
Ok, and where are you going to get something that can create that much electric power? There's plenty of sunlight, sure, but collecting that much (to get enough power for what you want to do) will require an enormous PV array, which really isn't feasible. That's why the idea is to use water: have a somewhat-enormous PV array in a fixed point near where you're mining H2O, and use that to slowly electrolyze the water to fuel, which you can then load onto small spacecraft so they can do whatever it is you want done with them, like transporting valuable metals around.
Maybe before long, it'll make more sense to just use those enormous PV arrays to store electricity in batteries and power the spacecraft with ion engines, but we're not there yet. We have working H2/O2 rocket engines; we don't have ion engines capable of powering significant-sized spacecraft.