NASA Looks at Systems for Lunar Outposts The U.S. space agency
says it’s completed a review designed to help determine the
systems needed to establish an outpost on the moon. The National
Aeronautics and Space Administration’s three-day Lunar
Capability Concept Review capped a nine-month study that
incorporated science and exploration objectives earlier
developed by representatives of 14 nations as part of a Global
Exploration Strategy. The study looked at possible lunar mission
scenarios and compared them to the capabilities of the emerging
Ares V heavy lift launch vehicle and the Altair lunar lander
design concepts, NASA said in a statement. This review of those
findings, led by the Constellation Program Office at NASA’s
Johnson Space Center in Houston, established all the technical
parameters that will be needed to begin Â… the first phase in
preparing vehicle requirements. Jeff Hanley, the Constellation
Program manager at the space center, said the study confirmed
Constellation’s conceptual designs for bo