From SPACE.com — Private Sector, Low-Cost Lunar Plan Unveiled
A newly released study has focused on how best to return people to the Moon, reporting that future lunar missions can be done for under $10 billion – far less than a NASA price tag.
The multi-phased three-year study was done by a private space firm, SpaceDev of Poway, California, and concluded that safe, lower cost missions can be completed by the private sector using existing technology or innovative new technology expected to be available in time to support human exploration of the Moon in the near-future.
Artist rendition of the “rocket chair,” designed to lower people and equipment onto the lunar surface. credit: Spacedev
Fraction of time/cost
NASA has tallied its future lunar mission costs, projecting a figure of $104 billion over 13 years.
According to SpaceDev’s chief, Jim Benson, the private group has found that a more comprehensive series of missions could be completed in a fraction of the time and for one-tenth of the cost of the NASA estimate.
Each mission, as envisioned by SpaceDev, would position a habitat module in lunar orbit or on the moon’s surface. The habitat modules would remain in place after each mission and could be re-provisioned and re-used, thus building a complex of habitats at one or more lunar locations over time, according to a press statement on the study findings.
Benson also noted: “We are not surprised by the significant cost savings that our study concludes can be achieved without sacrificing safety and mission support.”
So – just what does NASA attribute the extra costs to?