Tuesday, June 10, 2008

NASA Details Moon Base Plans, Asks For Help

WASHINGTON — NASA is asking private industry to come up with creative ideas for a lunar outpost that can house four astronauts for one to four weeks on the moon starting about 2024.

The moon base must be equipped to send out crews for hundreds of miles in pressurized rovers, bring back scientific samples and return them safely to Earth, NASA officials said.


Later in the story, a discussion of packing foam for transporting materiél to the moon:

Novel packaging systems are needed to protect the astronauts' equipment during the intense vibration of a rocket launch. To save space and weight, Leonard urged the executives to consider an edible foam material that could be disposed of when it's done its job.

"Maybe they could eat it," he said.


Eat it?

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