Crew module of NASA’s Gateway Lunar Orbiting Outpost finalised
Part of: GS-Prelims and GS-III – Space
In News:
NASA recently finalised the contract for the initial crew module of the agency’s Gateway lunar orbiting outpost.
NASA has issued this contract to design the habitation and logistics (HALO) support for the Gateway.
Important value additions
Gateway lunar orbiting outpost
It is a part of NASA’s Artemis program.
The Gateway is a small spaceship that will orbit the Moon.
It is meant for astronaut missions to the Moon and for expeditions to Mars.
It will act as a temporary office for astronauts, distanced at about 250,000 miles from Earth.
It will have living quarters, laboratories for science and research and docking ports for visiting spacecraft.
Astronauts will use the Gateway at least once per year and not stay around the year like they do on the International Space Station (ISS).
Compared to the ISS, the Gateway is much smaller,
NASA has targeted the completion of the Gateway for 2026, while work on the spaceship is already underway.
By 2022, NASA plans to ready the power and propulsion for the spaceship, which will be launched on a partner-provided commercial rocket.
Artemis program
It is an on-going government-funded crewed spaceflight program of USA.
It has the goal of landing the first woman and the next man on the Moon, specifically at the lunar South Pole region by 2024.
The program is carried out by:
NASA (
U.S. commercial spaceflight companies contracted by NASA
European Space Agency (ESA)
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA)
Canadian Space Agency (CSA)
Australian Space Agency (ASA).
It is expected to advance Artemis as the next step towards the long-term goal of establishing a sustainable presence on the Moon, laying the foundation for private companies to build a lunar economy, and eventually sending humans to Mars.
