A US government panel, summoned by
el presidente to review the future of
human space travel, has expressed strong support for introducing
fuel depots into Earth's orbit. Refueling between stops is expected to cut down significantly on the weight of spacecraft and, accordingly, eliminate the need to engineer
ever more powerful rockets to launch missions. It would then be up to private companies to compete -- and NASA already knows a thing or two about
privatizing space missions -- by reducing costs and developing more efficient methods. While by no means the only potion
NASA has bubbling, if the panel concludes in favor of orbiting gas stations, they will form the backbone of all future extraterrestrial exploration. So we're just letting you know in advance -- we're nice like that.
Filed under: Science
Orbiting fuel stations proposed for trips to the Moon, Mars, and beyond originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 05 Aug 2009 01:51:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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