ＮＡＳＡの２０２４年月面有人着陸、実現には２兆９０００億円

【ワシントンＡＦＰ＝時事】米航空宇宙局（NASA）は21日、2024年に月面への有人着陸を実現させために必要な予算を280億ドル（約2兆9000億円）とする見積もりを発表した。うち160億ドル（約1兆7000億円）は、月着陸船に使われるという。（写真は資料写真）
　ドナルド・トランプ大統領はＮＡＳＡの計画を最優先事項としている。月面着陸計画の財源を確保するためには、今年１１月３日に選挙を迎える米議会による承認が必要になる。
　ＮＡＳＡのジム・ブライデンスタイン長官は２１日、月面への有人着陸を目指す「アルテミス計画」について電話会見。ＮＡＳＡの活動にとってしばしば最大の脅威となるのは「政治的なリスク」だと指摘し、特に重要な選挙の前には顕在化すると述べた。
　バラク・オバマ前大統領は、前任者が多額の資金を投入していた有人火星着陸の計画を中止している。
　ブライデンスタイン氏によると、最初の３２億ドル（約３３００億円）がクリスマスまでに議会承認されれば、「２０２４年の月面着陸に向けて計画は順調に進む」という。
　２０２１年の「アルテミス１」計画は無人で行われるが、２０２３年の「アルテミス２」計画では宇宙飛行士らが搭乗し、月を周回する。ただ月面着陸は予定されていない。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2020/09/23-12:39）

NASA on Monday revealed its latest plan to return astronauts to the Moon in 2024, and estimated the cost of meeting that deadline at $28 billion, $16 billion of which would be spent on the lunar landing module.
Congress, which faces elections on November 3, will have to sign off on the financing for a project that has been set by President Donald Trump as a top priority. The $28 billion would cover the budgetary years of 2021-25.
In a phone briefing with journalists Monday on the Artemis mission to return human beings to the Moon, NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine noted that political risks were often the biggest threat to NASA's work, especially before such a crucial election.
Barack Obama cancelled plans for a manned Mars mission, after his predecessor spent billions of dollars on the project.
If Congress approves the first tranche of $3.2 billion by Christmas, we're still on track for a 2024 moon landing, Bridenstine said.
To be clear, we're going to the South Pole, he said, ruling out the sites of the Apollo landings on the Moon's equator between 1969 and 1972. There's no discussion of anything other than that.
Three different projects are in competition to build the lunar lander that will carry two astronauts -- one of them a woman -- to the Moon from their vessel Orion.
The first one is being developed by Blue Origin, founded by Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, in partnership with Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Draper. The other two projects are being undertaken by Elon Musk's SpaceX and by the company Dynetics.
The first flight, Artemis I, scheduled for November of 2021, will be unmanned: the new giant rocket SLS, currently in its test phase, will take off for the first time with the Orion capsule.
Artemis II, in 2023, will take astronauts around the Moon but will not land.
Finally, Artemis III will be the equivalent of Apollo 11 in 1969, but the stay on the Moon will last longer -- for a week -- and will include two to five extravehicular activities.
The science that we would be doing is really very different than anything we've done before, said Bridenstine. We have to remember during the Apollo era, we thought the moon was bone dry. Now we know that there's lots of water ice and we know that it's at the South Pole.