…Isaacman also confirmed that NASA will no longer build a Lunar Gateway in orbit around the Moon, but would rather focus all of its energy and resources on the lunar surface…
…One of Isaacman’s fundamental beliefs is that NASA does not have a revenue problem. Rather, it has an expense problem.
“For too long we tried to satisfy every stakeholder, and the results of that are very well documented in Office of the Inspector General reports,” he said. “Billions of dollars wasted. Years lost. Hardware that never launched. Fewer flagship science missions. And fewer astronauts in space, which means fewer kids dressing up as astronauts for Halloween…
…the lunar base would be established through three phases…The first of these, running through 2028, is estimated to comprise 21 landings, putting a total of 4 metric tons of payload on the Moon…
Yeah true, probably another good reason to have a large flat area to land on! Although would be curious if concrete or something would even be useful or not to take (water and all).
They plan on using local materials as often as possible. 100% guarantee that would include making lunar concrete, not shipping terrestrial concrete up there. Rough napkin math: It would take a full, dedicated Falcon 9 launch just to ship the 15 metric tonnes needed for a single launch pad. Not a great use of resources.