Role of Lunar Development in Human Exploration of the Solar System
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 11, Issue 4
Abstract
Human exploration of the solar system can be said to have begun with the Apollo missions. The Apollo Project was publicly funded with the narrow technical objective of landing human beings on the Moon. The transportation and life support systems were specialized technical designs, developed in a project management environment tailored to that objective. Most scenarios for future human exploration assume a similar long-term commitment of public funds to a narrowly focused project managed by a government organization, which becomes a single customer for a large industrial complex supporting the mission. Advocates of human exploration of space have not yet been successful in generating the political momentum required to initiate such a project to return to the Moon or to explore Mars. Alternative scenarios of exploration may relax some or all of the parameters of organizational complexity, great expense, narrow technical focus, required public funding, and control by a single organization. Development of the Moon using private investment is quite possibly a necessary condition for alternative scenarios to succeed.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 11 • Issue 4 • October 1998
Pages: 106 - 110
Copyright
Copyright © 1998 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Published online: Oct 1, 1998
Published in print: Oct 1998
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