Pit stop on the way to the moon (Image: NASA)

FORGET huge, expensive rockets. A plan being examined by a US government panel would allow smaller, cheaper rockets to fly to the moon and beyond by stopping off at an “orbiting gas station”.

With conventional rockets, many tonnes of fuel are needed on such missions for each tonne of payload. Sending astronauts or the heftiest robotic probes to these distant destinations therefore requires huge launchers.

That may be about to change. The panel convened by order of the White House to assess NASA’s plans for the future of human …