quote:
Japan's space agency has set a goal of constructing a crewed lunar base by 2030, an official said on Wednesday. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) revealed its ambition to an international conference in Tokyo this week but has not yet been allotted the budget for the ambitious project.
JAXA hopes to launch a satellite into lunar orbit in 2007, followed by uncrewed spacecraft that will land on the Moon and collect lunar rock samples.
Under the plan, astronauts will be sent to the Moon around 2020 to start construction of the base that will be completed by 2030, the agency said. Japan had earlier given 2025 as the target date for a lunar base.
This is awesome, the more countries plan their projects, the fiercer the competition will be among countries to not fall behind and the more inevitable the government investments, to be eventually followed by private investments more and more. By 2100 I think the moon will be a science colony much like antarctica is now, with more permanent habitation taking place at full blast in the 22nd century. At some point the international community will have to decide the legal procedures for partitioning non-terran land.
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posted 03 August 2006 01:06 PM
