Long-range space projects revealed

Press, 19 April 1986, Page 6

Long-range space projects revealed

NZPA-AP Washington A presidential panel is proposing a long-range, SUS7OO billion (5NZ1318.56 billion) space

programme that would put manned settlements on the Moon in 30 years and envisions an eventual one million space travellers a day, a published report said. The National Commission on Space, appointed by President Ronald Reagan a year ago, is to present the White House with a report setting forth an ambitious 50-year space programme, says “Aviation Week and Space Technology.”

Under the commission’s plan, new spacecraft would place settlements on the Moon and Mars, where they would be sustained by interplanetary factories and permanant spaceport supply depots, says "Aviation Week,” which obtained a final draft of the panel’s report. The panel, chaired by Thomas Paine, former administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, also

includes Neil Armstrong, the first man on the moon; astronaut Kathryn Sullivan; and Air Force Brigadier-General Chuck Yeager, the first pilot to fly faster than the speed of sound.

In its early stages, the programme calls for the development of new equipment including a low-orbit cargo vehicle by the year 2000, a passenger vehicle for travel to and from low Earth orbit, and a transfer ship to carry passengers and cargo beyond the Moon. The report envisions a “network of spaceports between the Earth, the Moon and Mars,” with a permanent colony on Mars by 2027.

The report also recommends expanded searches for asteroids that might contain mineral and other resources, and stepped-up development of robot technology for space operations.