NASA is planning a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, a space station in the moon’s orbit that by the end of the 2020s would be used as a launch pad for crewed deep-space missions sent farther out into the solar system, including Mars. Here are some fast facts you should know about the program:
1. NASA announced a plan in March 2017 to build a crewed spaceport in lunar orbit called the Deep Space Gateway, which would be part of a mission to redirect asteroids. The program has since been canceled.
2. President Trump gave NASA a new directive in December 2017 to work with international and commercial partners to refocus on sending astronauts back to the moon for the first time since 1972, and eventually to Mars.
3. With the February release of the Trump administration’s fiscal 2019 budget, which set aside $19.9 billion for NASA, the agency said it would be moving forward with the plan, renamed the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway.
4. The space outpost will have a number of components sent up to the moon and stacked together. Among its features will be a robotic arm. NASA plans to launch the first element of the gateway, a power and propulsion module with an expansive solar array, with a commercial rocket by 2022. The habitat module will be small in comparison to the one found on the International Space Station orbiting Earth. According to Space.com it is envisioned to be a cramped 1,942 cubic feet at a minimum, accommodating up to four astronauts in orbit around the moon for one to three months. Habitable volume on the ISS is 13,696 cubic feet for up to six crew members.
5. NASA is relying, in part, on U.S. industry partners to help make this project become a reality. For instance, NASA is working with U.S. companies to develop the habitat and power and propulsion elements. The agency has also selected 10 companies to conduct studies and develop technologies that can be used for gathering space-based resources.
6. In August, Vice President Mike Pence announced that the administration is working to put astronauts in the gateway before the end of 2024. NASA says crewed missions will include participating in scientific and commercial activities in the vicinity of the moon, including possible missions to the lunar surface.
7. After a planned test mission in 2020 to send an uncrewed Orion spacecraft using a Space Launch System rocket around the moon, a lunar flyby with a crew will follow in 2023. NASA plans to use this SLS/Orion combination to one day send men and women to Mars.
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