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| NASA Administrator Michael Griffin
speaks at a news conference at NASA headquarters in Washington
September 19, 2005. | |
It will cost $104 billion over the next decade to
send astronauts back to the moon, NASA's chief said Monday, defending the
price tag
as an investment the nation can afford despite the expense of
Hurricane Katrina.
The new moon exploration plan unveiled by the
space agency will use beefed-up shuttle and Apollo parts and aims to put
people on the moon by 2018.
"There will be a lot more hurricanes and a lot
more other natural disasters to befall
the United States and the world in that time, I hope
none worse than Katrina," NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said at a
news conference.
"But the space program is a long-term investment in our future. We must
deal with our short-term problems while not sacrificing our long-term
investments in our future. When we have a hurricane, we don't cancel the
Air Force. We don't cancel the Navy. And we're not going to cancel NASA."
The $104 billion price tag, leading up to an initial four-person lunar
landing and spread over 13 years, represents 55 percent of what the Apollo
program would cost in today's dollars, Griffin said. Apollo development
spanned eight years, from 1961 to the first manned moon landing in 1969.
The new space vehicle design uses shuttle rocket parts, an Apollo-style
capsule and a lander capable of carrying four people to the moon. The
rockets - there would be two, a small version for people and a heftier one
for cargo - would eclipse the 18-story space shuttle. The larger one, in
fact, would come close to the 36-story Saturn 5 moon rocket.
They would be built from shuttle booster rockets,
fuel tanks and main engines, as well as moon rocket engines. The so-called
crew exploration vehicle perched on top would look very much like an
Apollo capsule, albeit
larger.
The crew exploration vehicle would replace the space shuttle, due to be
retired in 2010, but not before 2012 and possibly as late as 2014
depending on the money available, Griffin said. It could carry as many as
six astronauts back and forth to the international space station.
If all goes well, the first crew would set off for the moon by 2018 -
or 2020 at the latest, the year targeted by President Bush who proposed
such an initiative last year. The same type of vessel could be used, one
day, to transport astronauts to Mars.
The new exploration plan would allow four
astronauts to stay on the moon for a week - twice as long as Apollo
missions. It also would haul considerably more cargo, much of which would
be left on the moon for future crews. In time, lunar stays of up to six
months would be possible.
(Agencies) |
美國宇航局局長本周一宣布，在未來十年間，美國宇航局將出資1040億美元將宇航員重新送回月球。他還解釋說，盡管卡特里娜颶風給美國造成了巨大的損失，美國仍然有能力重金開啟新一輪的登月計劃。
美國宇航局最新公布的探月計劃將使用新一代登月飛船和阿波羅飛船的部分組件，目標是在2018年將人類再次送上月球。
“在此期間，還會有更多颶風和其他各種各樣的自然災害降臨美國，乃至整個世界，我希望不會有比卡特里娜更糟糕的了。”美國宇航局局長邁克爾·格里芬在新聞發布會上說。
“但航天計劃是一項對未來的長期投資。我們在處理短期問題的同時，也不應犧牲對未來的長期投資。當我們遭遇颶風時，我們沒有撤銷空軍，我們沒有放棄海軍，因此，我們也不會在這個時候取消國家宇航局。”
這項耗資1040億美元的登月計劃的第一步是將四名宇航員送上月球。按照通貨膨脹率折算，這項歷時13年之久的重返月球計劃其實只相當于當年“阿波羅”登月計劃費用的55%，格里芬說。當年，準備“阿波羅”登月計劃前后共花費了8年時間，從1961年開始計劃，到1969年人類第一次成功地登上月球。
新一代航天工具的設計采用了運載火箭部件、和“阿波羅”號類似的太空艙和一個能夠搭載四名探月宇航員的登陸艙。新型運載火箭分為兩種不同的類型，體積較小的載人火箭和較笨重的貨運火箭。和它們相比，18層樓高的航天飛機都相形見絀。實際上，其中較大的貨運火箭的高度接近36層樓高的“土星5”月球火箭。
新型運載火箭將由飛船助推火箭、燃料箱、主發動機以及月球火箭發動機組成。位于新型運載火箭頂端的所謂的宇航員探險飛行器看上去和阿波羅太空艙非常相似，只是更大了一些。
到2010年，航天飛機將退役，被宇航員探險飛行器取代。但這一計劃在2012年之前很難實現，可能要推遲到2014年，主要取決于資金問題，格里芬說。宇航員探險飛行器一次最多可以運送6名宇航員往返國際空間站。
如果一切進展順利，第一批宇航員將于2018年飛向月球，最遲不超過2020年，這是布什總統去年最早提出的想法。將來，這套航天設備還可以用來將宇航員送上火星。
新的探索計劃將允許四名宇航員在月球上停留一個星期，比“阿波羅”號在月球停留的時間多出一倍。新的探索計劃還將攜帶更多貨物，其中大部分將留在月球上，滿足日后登上月球的宇航員的需要。屆時，在月球上停留6個月將成為可能。
（中國日報網站 薛曉文譯） |
Updated: 2005-09-21 09:40
