In December 1972, the American manned spacecraft Apollo 17 returned to Earth from the Moon. Thus ended the sixth and last landing of people on the surface of our natural satellite …
The Apollo 17 mission had several goals: lunar geological research, the study of lunar gravity and its measurement, the study of particle emissions from the lunar surface and meteorites, as well as the lunar atmosphere, the determination of the electrical properties of the soil, plus various experiments in orbit.
The crew consisted of three astronauts: Cernan, Schmitt, Evans. The latter piloted the spacecraft while the first two made sorties to the moon. There were three sorties in total. Duration more than seven hours each. As a result, a record 110 kg of lunar rock was collected.
The crew of the Apollo 17 spacecraft, 1972 (BTAR-TASS).
In memory of themselves, or rather, so as not to drag back their spent equipment, the Americans left a complex of complex equipment on the lunar surface. And yet - a plate with the image of the two earthly hemispheres and the visible side of the Moon, with his own, and then US President Nixon, autographs. Officially, Eugene Cernan is the last person to be on the moon so far.
Barely returning to Earth, Cernan said that "mankind must return to the moon, where it is necessary to build a base to research advanced technologies that will further help people in space exploration, in particular, to get to Mars in 60 days."
His suggestions were heard. Over the next forty years, scientists from the American space agency NASA, and not only them, competed among themselves in the development of all kinds of "super-lunar projects." Which, however, was never implemented. Here are some of them.
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1. In 2006, the leadership of NASA announced that it does not exclude the creation by 2024 of a lunar base for the permanent stay of several astronauts on the Earth's satellite. According to Scott Horowitz, assistant head of the Space Agency, "This base will become a kind of staging post for missions heading to Mars." Its construction is supposed to be undertaken by teams of four astronauts. They will change regularly, making short-term flights to the Earth's satellite.
Such a base should be located at the north or south pole of the moon. There is more sunlight, thanks to which astronauts will be able to “make full use of” the lunar resources. One of the proposed sites for the construction was named the Shackelton Crater at the south pole. In the implementation of this project, NASA counted on international support. But seven years have passed, and colleagues from other countries are still “thinking”.
2. The business also announced its proposals for the "development" of the Moon at about the same time. In 2008, an American company announced to the whole world that it was ready to open cemeteries among the lunar craters. Customers wishing to rest there in peace were offered to send a gram of ash from their body to the moon for 10,000 dollars. The maximum ash is 14 grams. A pair (if desired) burial was estimated by enterprising gentlemen at 30 thousand dollars.
“Born among the stars, we will return to the stars” - this is the motto of the American company Celestis. This company has begun accepting pre-orders for the burial of urns with ashes on the surface of the moon.
However, the prices were flexible enough. They offered to "rest" and for a thousand "green". But not on the Moon itself, but in near-earth orbit. The very first earthling was buried on the moon at his request and completely free for the family, NASA astronomer Eugene Shoemaker. A little later, the late astronaut Gordon Cooper went there. In addition to the capsule with his ashes, the second stage of the rocket contained containers with ashes of another 306 dead. At that time, the matter has stalled. Either the prices "bite" too much, or the climate on the moon is "not the same" for the deceased. Or maybe with the location of the problem: craters are not a soft grave in your native land.
3. In the spring of 2013, NASA announced its new "space mission" to the whole world: using a special spacecraft to catch an asteroid, and then release it into the orbit of the Moon for research. This should help protect the Earth from asteroid strikes. As NASA Director Charles Bolden emphasized, "this mission represents an unprecedented technical achievement that will lead to new scientific discoveries and help protect our home planet."
The catch turned out to be different: how exactly to catch the asteroid, how to identify it and then release it in a strictly defined place. All the layouts of the Americans are still purely theoretical. NASA has applied for a $ 78 million "project start-up budget."
4. Another NASA project is the creation of a space base located behind the Moon. There are several suggestions. According to one of them, it is planned to use a Russian-made module during its creation. It is similar to the Science and Power Platform, a project of one of the modules for the ISS. It was supposed to assemble a new space station at the so-called Lagrange point - L2 in the Earth-Moon system.
It was planned to name the station EML-2 (Earth-Moon Lagrange 2). It should be located at a distance of 61 thousand km from the Moon (behind the far side of the Earth's satellite) and at a distance of 446 thousand km from our planet. The official announcement of the new mission of the American space agency was supposed to appear in the mid-2000s. But it never appeared.
5. Several years ago, a group of American and European scientists proposed to equip space power plants on the lunar surface. The basic principle is that installations located on the surface of the Moon will concentrate solar radiation and transmit it in the form of a microwave beam to a receiver located on the surface of the Earth. According to pundits, it is possible to use local materials for the construction of such stations, that is, lunar materials.
Everything "rested" on the problem of micrometeorites. If the equipment can in principle be protected from them, then the surface of the solar panels themselves is practically nonexistent. And it will lose working elements due to the "bombardment" by micrometeorites.
Another problem is hardware. First, electronic components that allow converting light into microwave radiation and operating at high temperatures, while they exist only in the form of their laboratory prototypes.
Secondly, the dimensions of the mirrors and solar cells are many times larger than the transmitter. And these are kilometers of materials that must not only be lifted into orbit, but also collected and adjusted. Plus - the content of the "technological miracle". All this costs space assets. While searching for them, everything has stalled …