Deep Space Gateway (DSG) is a planned space station in lunar orbit. The U.S. and Russia signed an agreement last year to work on the station's development. Now Russia has created an engineering department inside the RKK Energia space corporation in order to plan the nation's lunar exploration, including a possible manned landing:
Officially, Moscow has been on a path to put a human on the Moon since 2013, when President Putin approved a general direction for human space flight in the coming decade. The program had been stalling for several years due to falling prices for oil, the main source of revenue for the Russian budget. Last year, however, the Russian lunar exploration effort was given a new impetus when the Kremlin made a strategic decision to cooperate with NASA on the construction of a habitable outpost in the orbit around the Moon, known as Deep Space Gateway, DSG.
Although the US saw the primary goal of the DSG as a springboard for missions to Mars, NASA's international partners, including Russia, have been pushing the idea of exploring the Moon first. On the Russian side, RKK Energia led key engineering studies into the design of the DSG and participated in negotiations with NASA on sharing responsibilities for the project.
To coordinate various technical aspects of lunar exploration, the head of RKK Energia Vladimir Solntsev signed an order late last year to form Center No. 23Ts, which would report directly to him. According to a document seen by Ars Technica, the group will be responsible for developing long-term plans for human missions to the vicinity of the Moon and to its surface, as well as for implementing proposals for international cooperation in lunar missions. This is a clear signal that NASA might soon have a new liaison in Russia for all things related to the DSG. The same group will also take care of all the relevant domestic interactions between RKK Energia and its subcontractors.
Unlike the ISS, the DSG should not require any orbital boost burns and could reach any altitude above the Moon using ion thrusters.
Here are two op-eds from last year about the Deep Space Gateway:
Terry Virts: The Deep Space Gateway would shackle human exploration, not enable it
John Thornton: The Deep Space Gateway as a cislunar port
Related articles:
Previously: NASA Eyeing Mini Space Station in Lunar Orbit as Stepping Stone to Mars
Lockheed Martin Repurposing Shuttle Cargo Module to Use for Lunar Orbiting Base
Bigelow and ULA to Put Inflatable Module in Orbit Around the Moon by 2022
President Trump Signs Space Policy Directive 1Related: Space Habitats Beyond LEO: A Short Step Towards the Stars
Should We Skip Mars for Now and Go to the Moon Again?
Japan Planning to Put a Man on the Moon Around 2030
Space Race: 6 Manned Moon Missions With the Best Chances of Success
ESA Expert Envisions "Moon Village" by 2030-2050
Bigelow Expandable Activity Module to Continue Stay at the International Space Station
Enter the Moon Cave
India and Japan to Collaborate on Lunar Lander and Sample Return Mission
(Score: 3, Interesting) by takyon on Wednesday January 10 2018, @12:38AM
We could make future space stations much more spacious than the ISS with the B330 [wikipedia.org] inflatable module (a bigger version of BEAM which is currently used for storage on the ISS [soylentnews.org]). They have also talked about landing B330 modules on the lunar surface.
If radiation risks aren't adequately reduced by the Deep Space Gateway, landing it won't make much difference. Instead, we have to do something like "enter the moon cave" [soylentnews.org] to ensure that long-term stays on the Moon are possible. I could imagine an astronaut spending a whole year on the Moon would be possible since people have spent more than a year in microgravity conditions.
The Space Shuttle's [wikipedia.org] payload to LEO/ISS was much lower than Falcon Heavy [wikipedia.org] will be and a bit more than Falcon 9 [wikipedia.org] (Block 5 will narrow the gap slightly). If SpaceX can build the BFR as designed, that will have an immense maximum payload while apparently being cheaper to launch than Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy (because the whole BFR is reusable but the second stage of those rockets is not). Things are definitely looking up for getting large payloads into LEO or on the Moon at a cheaper price.
Now I thought this post about using the BFR to colonize the Moon [nextbigfuture.com] was way too optimistic (it can deliver 150 tons to LEO, not the lunar surface) until I remembered that the BFR is intended to refuel in orbit using a second "tanker" BFR:
The guest poster calculates $117,000 per kg landed on the Moon by Saturn V, versus $93 per kg for SpaceX's Big F***** Rocket. Wow.
We haven't realized the true power of reusability yet.
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]