NASA may be preparing to announce an initiative to begin building a floating Moon base for future deep space missions following the U.S. presidential election next month, Space.com reported this week. <\/p>\n
The space agency's rumored plan to construct and position a \"gateway spacecraft\" that could support a small crew of astronauts and serve as a staging platform for future missions to the Moon, Mars, and elsewhere in the solar system was first reported last month by the Orlando Sentinel, though NASA contractor Boeing had actually floated a similar plan late last year. <\/p>\n
As with the Sentinel report, Space.com cited unnamed sources with insights into NASA's internal plans. <\/p>\n
The proposed space station would be situated at what's called a Lagrangian point, or L-Point, a place where the gravitational pull of two large bodiesin this case the Earth and the Moonare at an equilibrium, making it possible to place a spacecraft in a fixed spot in space at relatively little expense. NASA wants to put its base at Earth-Moon L-Point 2, on the far side of the Moon, according to the Sentinel and Space.com. <\/p>\n
That would place the spacecraft about 277,000 miles from Earth and about 38,000 miles from the Moon's surface. Though taking advantage of an L-point reduces the power cost of fixing an object in space, the project's costs \"would certainly run into the billions of dollars,\" according to the Sentinel. <\/p>\n
NASA is now reviewing methods for building an L2-situated launch platform for missions involving its next-generation, deep-space Orion spacecraft, Space.com reported. These include using \"Russian-supplied hardware,\" which could reference parts salvaged from the modular International Space Station after its decommissioning, as the Sentinel earlier reported, but also mean using \"new modules being developed in Russia,\" like the Multipurpose Laboratory Module and Scientific-Power Module, according to Space.com. <\/p>\n
Humans have voyaged around the dark side of the Moon, but a manned trip to the L2 point would take astronauts further from Earth than people have ever ventured. <\/p>\n
Following the Sentinel report, NASA did not confirm or deny its contents but did send PCMag the following statement. <\/p>\n
\"NASA is executing President Obama's ambitious space exploration plan that includes missions around the Moon, to asteroids, and ultimately putting humans on Mars. There are many optionsand many routesbeing discussed on our way to the Red Planet. In addition to the Moon and an asteroid, other options may be considered as we look for ways to buy down riskand make it easierto get to Mars. We have regular meetings with [the White House Office of Management and Budget], [the White House Office of Science and Technology], Congress, and other stakeholders to keep them appraised of our progress on our deep space exploration destinations.\" <\/p>\n
Last December, Boeing proposed the development of what it called an \"Exploration Gateway Platform architecture that not only returns man to the lunar surfacevia the use of only one SLS launch to a reusable Lunar Landerbut provides a baseline for pathfinders towards an eventual crewed mission to Mars.\" <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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NASA Prepping Post-Election Moon Base Announcement?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" NASA may be preparing to announce an initiative to begin building a floating Moon base for future deep space missions following the U.S. presidential election next month, Space.com reported this week. Continue reading