[ad_1]
Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX, approved the plan presented by former House Speaker, Newt Gingrich, to award a $ 2 billion prize to the first private company to establish and manage the first base on the Moon.
"It's a great idea," Musk tweeted in response to a story about the plan, which was first reported by Politico.
The plan, which was developed by Gingrich, Air Force General Steven Kwast, Howard Bloom (the former music publicist for personalities such as Michael Jackson, Prince and Billy Joel) and others, would be rewarded in order to help reduce costs. public spending on space exploration, mainly NASA's domain.
ELON MUSK ALWAYS WANTS 'NUKE MARS & # 39;
"In the past, building permanent housing on the moon cost between $ 50 billion and $ 500 billion," the proposal says, according to Politico. "But several private companies have developed their own Moon programs, so we are now able to buy transportation and housing from private US companies at an incredible cost.
Gingrich, a contributor to Fox News, told Politico that people would be "shocked" by the speed with which private space companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, led by Jeff Bezos, can move.
According to the plan summary, the plan would divide the $ 2 billion into two installments. The first tranche would go to "the first company or organization capable of reaching a spacious and comfortable human base on the Moon", while the second would go to the company "able to establish and manage this base".
Fox News has contacted NASA and Gingrich for additional comments on this story.
In May, Bezos unveiled an ambitious plan to send a spacecraft to the moon, the lunar lander Blue Moon. The robotic vessel is the size of a small house and is capable of carrying four rovers, using a newly designed rocket engine and inflated rockets. It would be followed by a version that could bring people to the moon the same time as NASA's proposed return for 2024.
The leader of the Amazon, who had been reduced by his model of the Blue Moon vehicle during his presentation in Washington, DC earlier this year, said: "It's time to return to the moon. stay. "
It is unclear whether President Trump was informed of this plan. However, the Trump administration and the president himself have expressed dissatisfaction with the pace at which NASA should send astronauts back to the moon and ultimately to Mars.
In March, Vice President Mike Pence called on NASA to speed up the pace and land the astronauts on the moon five years ago, "by all means necessary".
Pence warned that if NASA can not send astronauts to the Moon by 2024, "we must change the organization, not the mission".
"It is time to redouble efforts," said Pence at a meeting of the National Space Council in Huntsville, Alabama. "It can happen, but it will not happen if we do not increase the pace."
"We are not committed to a single contractor. If our current contractors can not achieve this goal, we will find one, "said Pence." If the US industry can provide essential business services without government development, we will buy them. And if commercial rockets are the only way to attract American astronauts to the moon over the next five years, these will be commercial rockets. "
ELON MUSK CONCERNED WE HAVE "NO DEFENSE" AGAINST POTENTIAL KILLER ASTEROID
In June, Trump sent a surprising tweet that surprised many people in the space community, lamenting NASA for talking about going to the moon.
"Despite all the money we spend, NASA should NOT talk about going to the moon, we did it 50 years ago," Trump wrote in a tweet aboard Air Force One. "They should focus on the much bigger things we do, including Mars (which the Moon is part of), Defense and Science!"
It's unclear what motivated Trump's tweet and exactly what he meant when he said the moon was part of Mars. In May, Trump tweeted that under his administration, NASA would return to the moon and ultimately to Mars, in order to "return to space dramatically!"
Other members of the space community, including Apollo 11 astronauts, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins, have also expressed dissatisfaction with the pace of NASA.
Speaking at an event celebrating the 50th anniversary of Apollo 11 at the White House, Aldrin, the second man to walk on the moon, said he was "disappointed" with progress being made by the US space program since Neil Armstrong and he became the first men to walk. on another celestial body.
"[I’m] disappointed by the progress made over the past 50 years, "said Aldrin at the meeting that was held at the Oval Office." We had a rocket, the Saturn 5. We have the [No. 1] rocket and spaceship and they can not enter lunar orbit. This is a big disappointment for me. "
Collins, who recently recounted how the Apollo 11 mission was, believes that NASA should avoid a return trip to the moon and head straight for Mars.
NASA's director Jim Bridenstine, who also attended the event, said the space agency "is working on it."
In June, Bridenstine announced that the Artemis project, successor to the Apollo program, would cost between $ 20 billion and $ 30 billion.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
James Rogers and Bradford Betz of Fox News contributed to this story.
[ad_2]
Source link