Grey Havoc

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Previously known as the Deep Space Gateway (DSG) or Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G).


 
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(h/t Triton)
 
NASA has quietly decided to give Northrop Grumman a contract to build a “minimal” habitation module for its lunar Gateway after concluding it was the only company that could meet NASA’s schedule.
The agency made the determination in a low-key “Justification for Other Than Full and Open Competition” documentpublished late July 19 on a procurement website, linked a special notice issued May 30 that stated that NASA intended to use an existing Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships 2 (NextSTEP-2) program to procure the habitation module.

 
The latest incarnation of the Lunar Gateway design can be found here:
 
for my part is Lunar Gateway a waste of hardware and money

Just park the Lunar lander with it's refuel Tanker and Orion capsule in L1-orbit at Moon
and land from there direct on moon...
 
for my part is Lunar Gateway a waste of hardware and money

Just park the Lunar lander with it's refuel Tanker and Orion capsule in L1-orbit at Moon
and land from there direct on moon...

I wouldn't say that it is a waste of money Michel Van, after all if future Mars rockets are to be powered by nuclear fusion that means they will have to be built in space somehow and have all the parts ferried up to to the Lunar Gateway. Even Wernher von Braun had something resembling the Lunar Gateway for his post Apollo 1980's Mars mission.
 
for my part is Lunar Gateway a waste of hardware and money

Just park the Lunar lander with it's refuel Tanker and Orion capsule in L1-orbit at Moon
and land from there direct on moon...

I wouldn't say that it is a waste of money Michel Van, after all if future Mars rockets are to be powered by nuclear fusion that means they will have to be built in space somehow and have all the parts ferried up to to the Lunar Gateway. Even Wernher von Braun had something resembling the Lunar Gateway for his post Apollo 1980's Mars mission.

Have to say I agree with Michel here. Rendezvousing with the gateway by the Earth shuttle seems a complicated affair. Obviously a craft outgoing from Earth will formate with the gateway when it is starting on its journey back towards the moon, at whatever velocity the shuttle needs for its five days' travel. After that the shuttle must decelerate and return to Earth in its own time. But then, on the return journey the shuttle must either rendezvous in the same spot, then turn its trajectory round and come home - which might take rather a long time - or it must overshoot, turn and come back to meet the gateway before its nearest approach. The best way to do either of these things is to follow the orbit of the gateway and use the moon's gravity to turn round. Hopping between shuttle and gateway is just needles complication. The gateway must also be provisioned with all necessities by similar manoeuvres. If you really need another lab and storage area besides the ISS, then build just that. All you need for say a Mars assembly area is an agreed time and trajectory, you don't need hardware. The whole gateway game saves nothing but adds complexity, cost and failure modes. What can it deliver that the individual elements can't? A sickbay, with no doctor attending? A portakabin for the Mars construction crew in case the habitable Mars module is uninhabitable?

As for fusion-powered Mars ships, whether just for systems of for propulsion to boot, well I should imagine that if that ever does happen it will not be during the lifetime of this gateway or, probably, the one after it.
 
I hope this is the right thread for this:

As NASA prepares to land humans on the Moon by 2024 with the Artemis program, commercial companies are developing new technologies, working toward space ventures of their own, and looking to NASA for assistance. NASA has selected 10 U.S. companies for 19 partnerships to mature industry-developed space technologies and help maintain American leadership in space.

NASA centers will partner with the companies, which range from small businesses with fewer than a dozen employees to large aerospace organizations, to provide expertise, facilities, hardware and software at no cost. The partnerships will advance the commercial space sector and help bring new capabilities to market that could benefit future NASA missions.

“NASA’s proven experience and unique facilities are helping commercial companies mature their technologies at a competitive pace,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). “We’ve identified technology areas NASA needs for future missions, and these public-private partnerships will accelerate their development so we can implement them faster.”

The selections were made through NASA’s Announcement of Collaboration Opportunity (ACO) released in October 2018. They will result in non-reimbursable Space Act Agreements between the companies and NASA. The selections cover the following technology focus areas, which are important to America’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

Advanced Communications, Navigation and Avionics
  • Advanced Space of Boulder, Colorado, will partner with NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, to advance lunar navigation technologies. The collaboration will help mature a navigation system between Earth and the Moon that could supplement NASA’s Deep Space Network and support future exploration missions.
  • Vulcan Wireless of Carlsbad, California, also will partner with Goddard to test a CubeSat radio transponder and its compatibility with NASA’s Space Network.
Advanced Materials
  • Aerogel Technologies of Boston will work with NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to improve properties of flexible aerogels for rocket fairings and other aerospace applications. The material can result in 25% weight savings over soundproofing materials currently used in rocket fairings.
  • Lockheed Martin of Littleton, Colorado, will work with NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, to test materials made from metal powders using solid-state processing to improve the design of spacecraft that operate in high-temperature environments.
  • Spirit AeroSystem Inc. of Wichita, Kansas, will partner with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to improve the durability of low-cost reusable rockets manufactured using friction stir welding. This welding method, already being used for NASA’s Space Launch System, results in a stronger, more defect-free seal compared to traditional methods of joining materials with welding torches.

Entry, Decent and Landing
  • Anasphere of Bozeman, Montana, will partner with Marshall to test a compact hydrogen generator for inflating heat shields, which could help deliver larger payloads to Mars.
  • Bally Ribbon Mills of Bally, Pennsylvania, will perform thermal testing in the Arc Jet Complex at NASA’s Ames Research Center in California’s Silicon Valley. The facility will be used to test a new seamless weave for a mechanically deployable carbon fabric heat shield.
  • Blue Origin of Kent, Washington, will collaborate with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston and Goddard to mature a navigation and guidance system for safe and precise landing at a range of locations on the Moon.
  • Sierra Nevada Corporation of Sparks, Nevada, will work with NASA on two entry, decent and landing projects. The company will partner with Langley to capture infrared images of their Dream Chaser spacecraft as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere traveling faster than the speed of sound.
  • For the second collaboration, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Langley will mature a method to recover the upper stage of a rocket using a deployable decelerator.
  • SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, will work with NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to advance their technology to vertically land large rockets on the Moon. This includes advancing models to assess engine plume interaction with lunar regolith.

In-Space Manufacturing and Assembly
  • Maxar Technologies of Palo Alto, California, will work with Langley to build a breadboard – a base for prototyping electronics – for a deployable, semi-rigid radio antenna. In-orbit assembly of large structures like antennae will enhance the performance of assets in space. Such capabilities could enable entirely new exploration missions that are currently size-constrained and reduce launch costs due to improved packaging.

Power
  • Blue Origin will partner with Glenn and Johnson to mature a fuel cell power system for the company’s Blue Moon lander. The system could provide uninterrupted power during the lunar night, which lasts for about two weeks in most locations.
  • Maxar will test lightweight solar cells for flexible solar panels using facilities at Glenn and Marshall that mimic the environment of space. The technology could be used by future spacecraft to provide more power with a lower mass system.

Propulsion
  • Aerojet Rocketdyne of Canoga Park, California, and Marshall will design and manufacture a lightweight rocket engine combustion chamber using innovative processes and materials. The goal of the project is to reduce manufacturing costs and make the chamber scalable for different missions.
  • Blue Origin, Marshall and Langley will evaluate and mature high-temperature materials for liquid rocket engine nozzles that could be used on lunar landers.
  • Colorado Power Electronics Inc. of Fort Collins, Colorado, will partner with Glenn to mature power processing unit technology that extends the operating range of Hall thrusters, which are primarily used on Earth-orbiting satellites and can also be used for deep space missions. By integrating their technology with NASA and commercial Hall thrusters, the company expects to provide a propulsion system that can significantly increase mission payload or extend mission durations.
  • SpaceX will work with Glenn and Marshall to advance technology needed to transfer propellant in orbit, an important step in the development of the company’s Starship space vehicle.

Other Exploration Technologies
  • Lockheed Martin will partner with Kennedy to test technologies and operations for autonomous in-space plant growth systems. Integrating robotics with plant systems could help NASA harvest plants on future platforms in deep space.

Through ACO, NASA helps reduce the development cost of technologies and accelerate the infusion of emerging commercial capabilities into space missions. As the agency embarks on its next era of exploration, STMD is focused on advancing technologies and testing new capabilities for use at the Moon that also will be critical for crewed missions to Mars.

For more information about NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate, visit:

 
Wait.

So we've got a real need to study how people react to partial gravity.

We're designing a whole new space station, ostensibly for logistics, rather than 0-g research.

Why does it have no centrifuge?
 
Why does it have no centrifuge?

Someone's idea of a (false) economy, one presumes. Though to be fair, it won't be manned full time initially. Think of it as an unmanned way station for various missions.
 
Wait.

So we've got a real need to study how people react to partial gravity.

We're designing a whole new space station, ostensibly for logistics, rather than 0-g research.

Why does it have no centrifuge?

Do you have 10 hours for a full explanation?

For starters, not everybody agrees that there is "a real need to study how people react to partial gravity." There are a bunch of life sciences people who study astronauts on the ISS who will (and do) argue that we know enough for humans to operate for the kinds of missions that are currently being contemplated. When people come up with plans for partial gravity research projects, those things come with huge price tags. That prompts another round of back and forth with the life sciences people who say "well, we know enough for now..." And once we get humans on the Moon, we can study how they react in that gravity field. For instance, will they still need to do as much exercise, or can they do less?

Now there are all kinds of side arguments to this. For example, if you could reduce crew exercise time by 50% by applying some partial gravity, that might have a major impact on operations--freeing up the crew to do more stuff instead of exercising, reducing the mass of exercise equipment, having an impact on the environmental systems, etc. So a partial gravity research program might make sense. But it usually gets rejected early because there's just not enough money to do it, and the life scientists people accurately note that it is not currently necessary. No chicken and no egg.
 
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From over in the SLS thread:
SLS is connected to Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway program

A manned space station installed between Earth and Moon
Original plan was that SLS would launch 6 parts of Lunar Orbital Platform to destination, follow by Supply and Orions flights by SLS
Now it seem that its down to three SLS launches and 3 launches of commercial rocket and seems the resupply mission also

Note: SpaceX BFR could launch entire Lunar Orbital Platform in one launch to destination

assembly_scenario_1.jpg


source:
RussianSpaceWeb.com
Anatoly Zak

According Anatoly Zak
has NASA revise the Gateway station launch sequence
this time four SLS launches and three Commercial launches...

schedule_2018_05_1.jpg
 
NASA has selected 14 American companies as partners whose technologies will help enable the agency’s Moon to Mars exploration approach.

The selections are based on NASA’s fourth competitive Tipping Point solicitation and have a combined total award value of about $43.2 million. This investment in the U.S. space industry, including small businesses across the country, will help bring the technologies to market and ready them for use by NASA.

“These promising technologies are at a ‘tipping point’ in their development, meaning NASA’s investment is likely the extra push a company needs to significantly mature a capability,” said Jim Reuter, associate administrator of NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD). “These are important technologies necessary for sustained exploration of the Moon and Mars. As the agency focuses on landing astronauts on the Moon by 2024 with the Artemis program, we continue to prepare for the next phase of lunar exploration that feeds forward to Mars.”

The selections address technology areas such as cryogenic propellant production and management, sustainable energy generation, storage and distribution, efficient and affordable propulsion systems, autonomous operations, rover mobility, and advanced avionics. The selected proposals, organized by technology area, are:

Cryogenic Propellant Production and Management

• Blue Origin LLC of Kent, Washington, $10 million

A ground demonstration of hydrogen and oxygen liquefaction and storage, representing rocket and spacecraft propellant that could be produced on the Moon. The demonstration could help inform a large-scale propellant production plant suitable for the lunar surface.

• OxEon Energy LLC of North Salt Lake, Utah, $1.8 million

OxEon Energy will work with the Colorado School of Mines to integrate an electrolysis technology to process ice and separate the hydrogen and oxygen. The molecules could then be cooled to produce fuel for cislunar transport. This technology could provide a flexible and scalable solution for future in-situ resource utilization operations on the Moon.

• Skyre Inc. of East Hartford, Connecticut, $2.6 million

Skyre, also known as Sustainable Innovations, along with partner Meta Vista USA LLC, will develop a system to make propellant from permanently frozen water located at the Moon’s poles, including processes to separate the hydrogen and oxygen, keep the product extremely cold and use hydrogen as a refrigerant to liquefy oxygen.

• SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, $3 million

SpaceX will collaborate with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, to develop and test coupler prototypes – or nozzles – for refueling spacecraft such as the company’s Starship vehicle. A cryogenic fluid coupler for large-scale in-space propellant transfer is an important technology to aid sustained exploration efforts on the Moon and Mars.

Sustainable Energy Generation, Storage and Distribution

• Infinity Fuel Cell and Hydrogen Inc. of Windsor, Connecticut, $4 million

The company will collaborate with NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston to develop a scalable, modular and flexible power and energy product that utilizes new manufacturing methods to reduce cost and improve reliability. The technology could be used for lunar rovers, surface equipment and habitats.

• Paragon Space Development Corporation of Houston, $2 million

Paragon Space Development Corporation will work with Johnson and NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland to develop an environmental control and life support system as well as a thermal control system for lunar missions that maintain acceptable operating temperatures throughout the Moon’s day and night cycle. The design of these systems could be adapted for crewed missions to Mars.

• TallannQuest LLC of Sachse, Texas, $2 million

Working with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, the company, also known as Apogee Semiconductor, will develop a flexible, radiation-hardened switching power controller capable of being configured based on a mission’s power needs. This technology could be used for missions to the Moon, Mars, Jupiter’s moon Europa, and other destinations.

Efficient and Affordable Propulsion Systems

• Accion Systems Inc. of Boston, $3.9 million

The first interplanetary CubeSats, NASA’s MarCO-A and B, used a set of cold gas thrusters for attitude control and course corrections during their cruise to Mars, alongside the Mars InSight lander. Accion and JPL will partner to mature a propulsion system to demonstrate the same capabilities as those required for the MarCO mission, but with a smaller and lighter system that uses less power. The propulsion system could enable more science opportunities with these small, flexible platforms.

• CU Aerospace LLC of Champaign, Illinois, $1.7 million

CU Aerospace, NearSpace Launch and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign will build and test a 6-unit CubeSat equipped with two different propulsion systems. These systems were developed with NASA Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) funding and offer high performance, low cost and safe pre-launch processing. The company plans to deliver the flight-ready CubeSat to NanoRacks for launch and deployment.

• ExoTerra Resource LLC of Littleton, Colorado, $2 million

ExoTerra will build, test and launch a 12-unit CubeSat with a compact, high impulse solar electric propulsion module. Once flight-ready, the system will be demonstrated in-space as the CubeSat moves from low-Earth orbit to the radiation belts surrounding Earth. This small electric propulsion system could open up the inner solar system for targeted science exploration missions, using affordable spacecraft that range from 44 to 440 pounds.

Autonomous Operations

• Blue Canyon Technologies Inc. of Boulder, Colorado, $4.9 million

As access to space increases, so does the need for ground resources, such as tracking stations. With an in-space demonstration, Blue Canyon Technologies will mature an autonomous navigation software solution for SmallSats and CubeSats so they can traverse space without “talking” to Earth.

Rover Mobility

• Astrobotic Technology of Pittsburgh, $2 million

Astrobotic and Carnegie Mellon University will work with JPL and NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida to develop small rover “scouts” that can host payloads and interface with multiple large landers. This project received previous NASA funding through SBIR awards. The new partnership will develop more mature payload interfaces and increase rover capabilities.

Advanced Avionics

• Intuitive Machines LLC of Houston, $1.3 million

Development of a spacecraft vision processing computer and software to reduce the cost and schedule required for deploying optical, or laser, navigation capabilities on government and commercial missions.

• Luna Innovations of Blacksburg, Virginia, $2 million

Luna Innovations is partnering with Sierra Nevada Corporation, ILC Dover and Johnson to prove the viability of sensors that monitor the structural health and safety of inflatable space habitats located in orbit or on the surface of other worlds.

Through firm-fixed-price contracts, STMD will make milestone payments over a performance period of up to 36 months. Each industry partner is required to contribute a minimum percent, based on the company’s size, of the total cost for each project.

STMD develops transformative space technologies to enable future missions. Tipping Point projects are managed by programs within STMD and in some cases include collaborations with NASA centers.

NASA’s Artemis lunar exploration program includes sending a suite of new science instruments and technology demonstrations to study the Moon, landing the first woman and next man on the lunar surface by 2024, and establishing a sustained presence by 2028. The agency will leverage its Artemis experience and technologies to prepare for the next giant leap – sending astronauts to Mars.

For more information about NASA’s Tipping Point solicitation, visit:

 

However, the bill also removes the Gateway, a small space station intended to orbit the Moon, from the Lunar Landing Mission Architecture in favour of just loading up an SLS booster with everything needed to land and firing the stack at the Moon.

Shades of Apollo indeed and, despite the bill's brave words, not particularly sustainable. It also calls for two crew lunar landings a year once the first has been achieved. But a continuously crewed lunar outpost or in-situ resource utilisation on the surface? Not part of the "Moon to Mars" programme.

For many, the emphasising of getting a crew to Mars by 2033 will be welcome, even if just to orbit initially. NASA, however, will have to ponder how to build such a transport vehicle.

The Gateway, now not required for Moon missions, pops up as the "Gateway to Mars" in cis-lunar space or at a Langrangian point and will be a testbed for Martian shenanigans.

41c.jpg
 
News from NASA itself now if that Gateway's no longer on the critical path to the first lunar landings.


This could be the first step to cancellation - even though it's stated that it would be "needed" for "sustainable" operations, its fate would be dependent on whether SLS and further lunar operations are funded after 2024.
 
It may be time to launch my lunar trucking company, but that will be contingent on everything else going as planned.
 

 
When you watch this you’ll see why it’s relevant to this thread.

 

From Gateway to China-Russia lunar station​

The development follows Russia opting not to join eight nations, including the U.S., in signing on to the Artemis Accords last October. The Accords are a set of principles and norms for those who want to participate in the NASA-led Artemis lunar exploration program.

Bleddyn Bowen, a lecturer in international relations at the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom, told SpaceNews that the development is not such a surprise, given that Russia has always been lukewarm to the Lunar Gateway, part of the Artemis program, and this will have been factored in. However the project will still suffer from the loss of Russian expertise.

Bowen sees the move from Russia as an ISS partner to working more closely with China in lunar exploration rather than ISS partners is part of wider space-related and geopolitical shifts, particularly since the outbreak of the Ukranian conflict.

“This MoU fits the larger trend, which is Russia moving into a closer orbit with China,” says Bowen, adding that this more formal agreement builds on existing cooperation in material science, data sharing, purchase agreements and lunar exploration.

Bowen cautions however that this is “just a memorandum of understanding, so we’ll have to wait and what, if anything, comes from this”.

Zhang Ming, a researcher on international security and space issues at the Shanghai Academy of Social Sciences, told SpaceNews both China and Russia, who have long cooperated in space, have difficulties in working with the U.S. for different reasons. Zhang notes that Russia had expressed concerns that Artemis was too “U.S.-centric” and she would expect “more and more space and lunar cooperation between Russia and China” if the “United State continues its space policies and practices without any change.”

“The U.S. advances its space agenda aggressively and sometimes unilaterally in recent years despite the concerns of the rest [of the] world, which made China and Russia very worried. The mistrust and skepticism towards U.S. motives will promote China and Russia to further their space cooperation,” Zhang said.

Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin last year told Russian media China and Russia had agreed they will “probably” build a moon research base together, following talks with Director of the China National Space Administration Zhang Kejian.

Brian Weeden of the Secure World Foundation also believes the split has been coming for sometime, citing the Ukraine invasion and 2016 election interference. “I think we’re at a much different US-Russia space relationship than we had for the past few decades.”

“I don’t think it’s going to have a serious impact on Artemis. Russia indeed has some experience in robotic lunar landers but no human spaceflight experience and their space sector has been declining for some time,” says Weeden. “The space partnership with Russia in the ISS was driven more by national security and foreign policy reasons than a need to have Russian expertise. It’s useful, but not critical.”

The European Space Agency has also been involved in discussions, while recently having signed an MoU with NASA on the Gateway. “At ESA we are following the Chinese lunar exploration plans very closely in order to see where our respective programmatic interest could meet, primarily the CE-6, -7 and -8 missions but also the ILRS initiative”, Karl Bergquist, ESA’s international relations administrator, told SpaceNews last year.
 
for my part is Lunar Gateway a waste of hardware and money

Just park the Lunar lander with it's refuel Tanker and Orion capsule in L1-orbit at Moon
and land from there direct on moon...

Seems like it's a place to go to without any compelling reason to do so. It adds complications and support costs/missions for next to no return.

That said, NASA will have done the sums and decided that this is worthwhile.

I'm really not seeing it though.
 
That's the slightly annoying thing with that huge HLS vehicle: it makes Orion and Gateway looks quite ridiculous in size. In fact that thing is so huge, it wouldn't even need them in the first place.

Hey cool, another Hazegrayart CGI artwork ! That guy truly is of the hyperactive kind. Or maybe they are actually many people under the same pseudo .
 
That's the slightly annoying thing with that huge HLS vehicle: it makes Orion and Gateway looks quite ridiculous in size. In fact that thing is so huge, it wouldn't even need them in the first place.

Hey cool, another Hazegrayart CGI artwork ! That guy truly is of the hyperactive kind. Or maybe they are actually many people under the same pseudo .

They look like spacecraft from two different eras as well.
 
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TheSpaceBucket has just put out a video about the progress on the first two core modules of the Gateway the PPE and Halo modules:


After half a century, humans are returning to the Moon once again and this time to stay. Only months ago we watched one of the most significant developments apart of NASA’s Artemis program with the successful maiden launch of SLS. However, while exciting, NASA and other agencies know that an immense amount of space infrastructure is needed for these future Moon missions to be possible.

That is why the first lunar space station named Gateway is being developed as we speak. In the last few weeks, new updates have been released regarding this process and some of the progress Gateway is making. This includes work on delivering mockups for astronaut testing and work to complete the project’s preliminary design review.

The Gateway Program is working to build a small, human-tended space station orbiting the Moon that will provide extensive capabilities to support NASA’s Artemis campaign. Currently, NASA has focused Gateway development on the first two elements of Gateway, the PPE and HALO, which will launch together on a commercially procured launch vehicle. Here I will go more in-depth into some of the recent progress this station has made, why it’s necessary for future operations on the Moon, what to expect in the future, and more.

It would appear that it's making solid if quiet progress with launch by a Falcon Heavy HLV still a year or so off.
 

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