NASA’s Lunar Space Station Is a Great/Terrible Idea

NASA’s Lunar Space Station Is a Great/Terrible Idea
NASA’s orbiting Lunar Gateway is either essential for a moon landing or a boondoggle in the making
8 Jul 2019

https://spectrum.ieee.org/aerospace/space-flight/nasas-lunar-space-station-is-a-greatterrible-idea

Good article! Gives the pro's and many con's and why NASA and congress are digging in to keep this thing. Where have I heard that the Gateway is a boondoggle before ? !!!
The cost will really push back or kill the return to the moon idea or just make it fade away.

Trump asked Buzz Aldrin what he thinks about the space program and then tells NASA chief Brindenstine on the other side of his desk to listen to the other side. I wonder what the other side of the story is. If it is saying forget about the GateWay station for returning to the moon, then Brindestine should listen. Let's see the GateWay wasn't necessary the first time we went to the moon. Why should it be necessary now? Look at how expensive the ISS is. Do you think that the GateWay lunar station is going to be cheap?

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news...o-op-honoring-apollo-moon-landing/1779854001/

It's almost like somebody is making command decisions who knows utterly nothing about space flight, completely abadoning the previous plans on day-to-day whims. Needless to say the international partners are not happy with this. It's all groovy if you're planning to pay the whole bill yourself.

JStarStar said:

It's almost like somebody is making command decisions who knows utterly nothing about space flight, completely abadoning the previous plans on day-to-day whims. Needless to say the international partners are not happy with this. It's all groovy if you're planning to pay the whole bill yourself.

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Yes, I don't think any would-be international partners are enamored with the GateWay concept.

India has launched their lunar lander, which is scheduled to land near the lunar south pole on Sept. 6th. They could end up finding definite water deposits on the south pole way before us.

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-...hopes-to-probe-lunar-south-pole-idUSKCN1UH0WH

https://spaceflightnow.com/2019/07/22/india-launches-robotic-mission-to-land-on-the-moon/

JStarStar said:

It's almost like somebody is making command decisions who knows utterly nothing about space flight, completely abadoning the previous plans on day-to-day whims...

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This is pretty much the definition of how Congress and the Office of the President handle space programs.

In theory, the gateway station will allow for a better exploration of the moon and eventually the other planets. In practice, its cost will balloon out of control, sucking the money away from anything else lunar.

MY plan, once you guys elect me emperor, would be to establish a lunar outpost. After that we build a lunar gateway station to help coordinate multiple outposts and exploration missions when the traffic justifies it. Luna Gateway could also do microgravity manufacturing from lunar resources when THAT starts making economic sense (fuel for longer missions to outer planets for example).

My cynical side, after seeing “dozens of flights a year” of the Shuttle “space truck” dwindle to one or two, tells me we’ll start building it, scale down its capabilities until it’s virtually useless (due to cost overruns and delays) and then use it as a jobs program for talented people who otherwise would be doing cooler projects.