Here are 10 alternative ideas for what NASA could do with its Moon budget | Ars Technica

Here are 10 alternative ideas for what NASA could do with its Moon budget | Ars Technica

The Moon, again? Maybe do this instead

What could US$35 billion — the amount NASA plans to spend to land on the Moon again — buy you in space? Ars Technica’s list of ten alternatives includes boosting the tracking of near-Earth objects and learning how to deflect the scariest ones; replacing NASA’s ageing fleet of Earth-observation probes to understand the impact of greenhouse-gas emissions; and launching a new generation of telescopes to study the cosmos. Quirkier ideas also made the list, such as developing nuclear space propulsion or sending people to Mars — although it’s unclear whether that would cost less than NASA’s Moon programme.

Ars Technica | 15 min read