Winston
Lorenzo von Matterhorn
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NASA Shapes Science Plan for Deep-Space Outpost Near the Moon
https://www.space.com/39985-nasa-lunar-orbital-platform-gateway-science-plan.html
NASA is pressing forward on plans to build a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, an outpost for astronauts positioned in the space near Earth's moon.
According to NASA, the Gateway will not only be a place to live, learn and work around the moon but will also support an array of missions to the lunar surface. And scientists foresee a host of uses for the station.
One thing is clear: Don't think of the Gateway as International Space Station 2.0.
"It's a lot smaller," Bussey said, and would be an uncrewed platform that has a crew once a year.
A Purpose-driven Space Program?
https://www.marssociety.org/r-zubrin-op-ed-purpose-driven-space-program/
Deep Space Gateway (recently renamed Lunar Orbital PlatformGateway), on the other hand, is a boondoggle that will cost several tens of billions of dollars at the least and serve no useful purpose. We do not need a lunar-orbiting station to go to the Moon, or to Mars, or to near-Earth asteroids. We do not need it to go anywhere.
There is nothing worth doing in lunar orbit, nothing to use, and nothing to explore. It is true that one could operate rovers on the lunar surface from orbit, but the argument that it is worth the expense of such a station in order to eliminate the two-second time delay involved in controlling them from Earth is absurd. We are on the verge of having self-driving cars on Earth that can handle traffic conditions in New York City and Los Angeles. Theres a lot less traffic on the Moon.
Yet the problem with Deep Space Gateway is much bigger than the waste of decades of time and tens of billions of dollars. The deeper problem is the form of thinking it represents.
NASAs astronomy and robotic planetary-exploration programs have achieved epic accomplishments because they are purpose-driven. In contrast, since the end of Apollo, NASAs human-spaceflight program has been purpose-free. As a result, its accomplishments have been negligible.
https://www.space.com/39985-nasa-lunar-orbital-platform-gateway-science-plan.html
NASA is pressing forward on plans to build a Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway, an outpost for astronauts positioned in the space near Earth's moon.
According to NASA, the Gateway will not only be a place to live, learn and work around the moon but will also support an array of missions to the lunar surface. And scientists foresee a host of uses for the station.
One thing is clear: Don't think of the Gateway as International Space Station 2.0.
"It's a lot smaller," Bussey said, and would be an uncrewed platform that has a crew once a year.
A Purpose-driven Space Program?
https://www.marssociety.org/r-zubrin-op-ed-purpose-driven-space-program/
Deep Space Gateway (recently renamed Lunar Orbital PlatformGateway), on the other hand, is a boondoggle that will cost several tens of billions of dollars at the least and serve no useful purpose. We do not need a lunar-orbiting station to go to the Moon, or to Mars, or to near-Earth asteroids. We do not need it to go anywhere.
There is nothing worth doing in lunar orbit, nothing to use, and nothing to explore. It is true that one could operate rovers on the lunar surface from orbit, but the argument that it is worth the expense of such a station in order to eliminate the two-second time delay involved in controlling them from Earth is absurd. We are on the verge of having self-driving cars on Earth that can handle traffic conditions in New York City and Los Angeles. Theres a lot less traffic on the Moon.
Yet the problem with Deep Space Gateway is much bigger than the waste of decades of time and tens of billions of dollars. The deeper problem is the form of thinking it represents.
NASAs astronomy and robotic planetary-exploration programs have achieved epic accomplishments because they are purpose-driven. In contrast, since the end of Apollo, NASAs human-spaceflight program has been purpose-free. As a result, its accomplishments have been negligible.
