Step one to eventual colonization of the Sol System.................whats next?
Ask me in about fifty years.
January 31
Green Light on Two-Way Earth-Moon Highway
A new commercial space venture for lunar exploration has been born.
The Lunar Transportation Systems, Inc. of Bellevue, Washington envisions a bustling space highway as hardware traffics back and forth between the Earth and the Moon.
The LTS lander nears the Moon’s surface. Credit: LTS, Inc.
Goal of the group is to raise major bucks from the private sector to develop, build, ground test, flight test, and operate a new Earth-Moon transportation system.
The Lunar Transportation Systems (LTS) private enterprise has been established by two longtime space businessmen, Walter Kistler and Bob Citron. Both have a track record in pushing the entrepreneurial envelope.
Kistler founded Kistler Instruments AG and was the first investor in SPACEHAB, and co-founded Kistler Aerospace Corporation with Citron who also founded SPACEHAB.
LTS wants to tie into NASA’s Vision for Space Exploration – a sweeping agenda that calls for a greater role of the private sector in space exploration. A scaled-up version of the LTS system will be capable of sending crews to and from the Moon and can provide large cargo payloads to support a permanent lunar base.
“We are so excited that the White House and the recent new government space policy underscores the need to involve the private sector in assisting NASA develop its plans for the new Vision for Space Exploration,” said Walter Kistler, LTS co-founder and Chairman.
“Our new lunar transportation system utilizes a unique architecture that will establish the equivalent of a two-way highway between the Earth and the Moon,” Kistler told SPACE.com. “Our plans include raising private capital to develop, build, flight test, and operate this Earth-Moon highway for the benefit of the country and the benefit of our investors.”
-- Leonard David
http://www.space.com/astronotes/astronotes.html