As the new lunar station will help us get to Mars and beyond?
Source:
People began to step closer to the dream of human habitation near the moon on September 27, when NASA and the Russian space Agency have approved a joint plan for space exploration in the future. Their project, which will be a continuation of the International space station (ISS), involves the placement of an object in orbit between the earth and the Moon, in Preluna space. It figures you see the cornerstone of deep space exploration, and calling: Deep Space Gateway, literally "portal to the deep space".
The New missile-heavy NASA Space Launch System, which is still in development, will provide the construction of a DSG. Will help it a little less powerful, but has proven a Russian rocket "proton-M" and "Angara". You should not see this partnership as involving only two parties, because the three other ISS partners (Europe, Japan and Canada) will also be involved with a high probability.
Since "Apollo-17" back from the moon in 1972, no one went farther from home than before "low earth orbit", which is located at an altitude of 400 kilometers in the case of the ISS.
The ISS was launched in 1998, and the station is constantly visited by crews since November 2000. Previously, the project planned to support up to 2020 but was extended to 2024 and may extend for another. But the ISS is aging – and many argue that its long overdue to be replaced. Today the station is estimated at $ 150 billion, expressed in cost of construction and maintenance of the station for so many years. It's not cheap, but about as much humanity has spent on a lipstick in the same 20-year period.
We can expect comparable or greater value, in assessing the DSG project, which will start collecting in the mid-2020s, unless, of course, NASA will be able to bring up their rocket, the SLS, despite the difficulties with financing.
theOrbit
The Name of DSG due to the fact that the station will be located outside the deepest part of the gravitational well of the Earth, the strongest part of the gravitational field of the planet, and therefore will need less energy to start the mission from there. Such a station would be a great starting point for expeditions to the moon and even Mars. Also it would be convenient to study samples (and quarantine them for the sake of planetary security), brought from Mars and other bodies.
Unlike the ISS, the DSG will not continually inhabited. The present plan includes one annual 42-day visit by a team of four members to begin with. When the station is empty, instruments on the DSG will continue to collect valuable scientific data, especially on the approach to the moon. The station will be accommodated in low lunar orbit, and at special points in space where the gravitational pull between the earth and the Moon is balanced. This will allow the station to follow close to a straight halo orbit. From the point of view of the moon DSG will repeatedly come to the same pole, offering excellent opportunities for scientific measurements.
The rest of the time DSG will be further away from the moon to the halo orbit relative to the line position of the moon — of the Earth at the Lagrangian point L2. The balance of gravitational forces it allows you to "Park" the spacecraft to observe.
However, these orbits are only quasi-stable, therefore, to maintain the DSG in these areas will require adjustments to the station not blown away. Canadian space Agency proposes to use a solar sail for these purposes, not fuel. It's a great idea, since the solar sail receiving the pulse from radiation, has really never been tested – so check them too. In addition to using them while maneuvering around the Solar system, the solar sails will one day be able to push the probes to other stars.
theCompetition
The DSG is still very far from reality. However, it is a logical next step after the ISS – and any long-term multinational cooperative venture in space should be good, given the strife between Nations that is happening on the Ground. Maybe we will get to Mars, how would, after all, publicly funded projects are often limited in the Finance and private enterprise can great to overtake them. Take the same Big Fucking Rocket Elon musk. And this is only the first step. Speaking at the International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, he revealed his ambitious plans to establish a lunar base, followed by and a rocket to Mars by 2022.
In whatever form it may happen, of course, the lunar base will inspire the astronauts and cosmonauts on flights beyond low earth orbit. Reusable like DSG station somewhere near the Moon will offer many ways to learn how the moon and Earth with the Sun.
Recommended
The Americans on the moon: what everyone should know?
the Upcoming cosmonautics day is my favorite holiday. It marks the triumph of the human mind: in just four thousand years Homo Sapiens went from hunter-gatherers to space explorers. 12 April 1961 Soviet cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin became the first man in ...
Why are some galaxies spiral shaped?
you Know what surprised me the most? The fact that we perceive the surrounding world as it is. Animals, plants, the laws of physics and the cosmos are perceived by many people as something so mundane and boring that they invent fairies, ghosts, monst...
Astronomers were able to see the death of another star system
In the cosmic ocean drifts a lot of mysteries about the existence of which we are unaware. One of these was uncovered five years ago, when astronomers have discovered a lonely star at a distance of 570 light years from Earth, the brightness of which ...
Related News
Began selling tickets for stratospheric balloons for tourists
Balloons are inexpensive, but can be useful in many different situations. For example, they can be used to observe the surface of the Earth to monitor the weather and various natural phenomena. They may be useful for the control o...
Lockheed Martin wants to create a Martian lander
on the last day of the 68th annual meeting of the International Congress of Astronautics held in the Australian city of Adelaide, private aerospace company Lockheed Martin has unveiled details of its plan for the construction of t...
Gravitational waves can oscillate as neutrinos
Armed with data about the first gravitational waves was last year, and the theoretical analysis, physics has shown that gravity waves can oscillate between two different forms of g - and f-types of gravitational waves. Physicists ...
The launch of the space telescope "James Webb" was postponed in the spring of 2019
If you, like us, counted the days until, as the space Agency NASA will launch into space with a modern space telescope in the world, we have bad news for you – you will have to consider further. Before the withdrawal of the Space ...
Elon Musk has proposed the use of rockets and space ships instead of airplanes
Elon Musk is not sitting idle and continues to invent new and new concepts. Today in his «Instagram» it is another interesting idea is to use rockets to fly anywhere in the Earth. According to him, in most places of our ...
Russia and USA together will build a lunar orbital station
Director General of state Corporation «Roskosmos» Igor Komarov, in an interview with reporters on the sidelines of the Australian international Astronautical Congress said that he agreed with his U.S. counterpart on begi...
Colonization of Mars for Elon musk: new details this Friday
this Friday At the meeting of the International Congress of Astronautics, meeting which will be held in the Australian city of Adelaide, Executive Director of the company SpaceX Elon Musk is going to make a presentation and submit...
10 facts about how unpleasant it may be the journey to Mars
Rapid progress in space exploration, combined with the doom and gloom that filled the daily news, forcing more people to abandon the romantic view of the stars. The idea of exploring and colonizing Mars has long moved from a futur...
Instead of Mars, NASA can change course to the moon
One of the current priority projects for the space Agency NASA is to send people to Mars. How soon it will happen – question. Previously, the Agency already talked about the fact that while not able to deliver humans to the Red pl...
The Australian government plans to create its own space Agency
Australia hosts the international Astronautical Congress. At the ceremony of its opening in Adelaide was made by the Minister of education, Senator Simon Birmingham. In his welcoming speech, he mentioned about the plans of the gov...
In seven places in the Solar system could exist microbial life
Opening the way into space, we, of course, did not stop and started to search in it for signs of living organisms, proving that we are not alone in this Universe. Unfortunately, no progress in this direction. However, an accumulat...
Hurricane "Maria" seriously damaged the famous radio telescope, "Arecibo"
"Arecibo" is an astronomical Observatory located in Puerto Rico at a height of 497 meters above sea level. With its help, the national science Foundation and Cornell are conducting various studies. The radio telescope is among the...
Chinese truck ", Tenjo-1" descended from orbit and burned up in the atmosphere
Yesterday, the Chinese cargo spacecraft ", Tenjo-1" under the control of the Chinese mission control Center began a controlled descent from orbit. He started with two braking maneuvers, and then "Tanjou-1" began continuously to de...
Astronomers find star older than the Universe. How is this possible?
after Reading the title, you probably think that something is not right here. But what is a star universe or something? If you know how to work the stars, you can get one of them to study its physical properties and to know when i...
10 ways to destroy mankind from space
Starry sky on a warm summer night entertaining show. We used to think about space as something unknown and at the same time attractive, even inviting. In space, our planet would be saved, we will find friendly aliens and learn abo...
Cargo ship Dragon returned from the ISS to Earth
the Cargo ship Dragon, owned by SpaceX, after a month spent on the International space station successfully returned to Earth. According to information posted on Twitter, SpaceX, ISS, the ship undocked at 11.47 Moscow time and sta...
#video | How not to put reusable launch visual aid from Elon musk
the Rocket company SpaceX for quite some time successfully fly into space, and then come back, carefully, and with minimal damage going down on a specially equipped water platform. But it was not always so. Success was preceded by...
Bacteria grown on ISS were more tenacious than earth
according to the publication Frontiers in Microbiology, a group of researchers from Denmark, Germany, USA and Brazil managed to grow on the International space station, a colony of bacteria, which was not only more adapted to life...
Conducted the first test of a jet engine made on a 3D printer
Very often you can find news about certain things printed with a 3D printer. This technology has already been successfully created gadgets, bridges and entire buildings. But scientists from Monash University (Australia) jointly wi...
The ISS crew hid in the shelter from solar flares
Astronauts from the International space station on the tenth of September, had for some time to hide in a special shelter because of the danger associated with the outbreak in the Sun — this was stated by the head of the res...
Comments (0)
This article has no comment, be the first!