Several countries want their astronauts to hitch a ride with the United States on its next set of lunar missions, but the second nation to have Moon boots on the ground will depend on how much they contribute, NASA's chief said Thursday.

The United States plans to return to the Moon under the Artemis program in order to set up a long-term colony and test technologies for a crewed mission to Mars; it is inviting international partners to take part.

"You can imagine there are going to be a lot of countries to step up to the plate at a level that would say, 'OK, that warrants having an astronaut on the surface of the Moon," Jim Bridenstine said, speaking at the 70th International Astronautical Congress in Washington.

The European Space Agency (ESA) and Japan's space agency have publicly announced they'd like their astronauts to participate in Artemis.

It foresees the next set of astronauts on the Moon by 2024 with further missions to follow.

"The goal is to have many different nations living and working on the Moon at the same time," said Bridenstine.

Fifteen countries (the United States, Russia, Canada, Japan and several European states) collaborate on the International Space Station (ISS) and astronauts of 19 nationalities have stayed there.

In the case of the European Space Agency, the partnership is based on barter and in-kind contributions.

Bridenstine said he was not sure if non-Americans would join from the second landing onward, and that it would depend on what they learned from the first.

"But certainly there's plenty of opportunity when this is sustainable," he said.

And he reaffirmed that the mini lunar space station that the Americans intend to build, called Gateway, will have a lifetime of at least 15 years, and an "open architecture," meaning the standards for docking ports, life support and communications will be open source.

"Small countries, large countries private companies, they can build their own landers, and they can send people to the Moon," he said.

ico/sdu/ia/mdl

ISS A/S

Related Links
Mars News and Information at MarsDaily.com
Lunar Dreams and more

Tweet

Thanks for being here; We need your help. The Space Media Network continues to grow but revenues have never been harder to maintain. With the rise of Ad Blockers, and Facebook - our traditional revenue sources via quality network advertising continues to decline. And unlike so many other news sites, we don't have a paywall - with those annoying usernames and passwords. Our news coverage takes time and effort to publish 365 days a year. If you find our news sites informative and useful then please consider becoming a regular supporter or for now make a one off contribution.
SpaceMediaNetwork Contributor $5 Billed Once credit card or paypal		SpaceMediaNetwork Monthly Supporter $5 Billed Monthly paypal only

Blue Origin's moon deal with Lockheed, other firms, signals new era
Washington DC (UPI) Oct 22, 2019
Blue Origin announced Tuesday a new partnership with old-guard aerospace firms Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper to land on the moon - signalling a new era in U.S. space exploration. Until now, Blue Origin functioned as a standalone startup, funded by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos' billions. It was seen chiefly as a competitor to new space companies like SpaceX. With Tuesday's announcement, Blue Origin leads a team in NASA's aggressive plan to return people to the moon by 2024, and t ... read more