Gateway Moon station: Canada joins Nasa space project
Canada will contribute US$1.4bn to a proposed Nasa space station that will orbit the Moon and act as a base to land astronauts on its surface.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the step would "push the boundaries of innovation".
The space station, called Gateway, is a key element in Nasa's plan to return to the Moon with humans in the 2020s.
As part of the 24-year commitment, Canada will build a next-generation robotic arm for the new lunar outpost.
"Canada is going to the Moon," Mr Trudeau told a news conference at Canadian Space Agency's headquarters near Montreal, according to AFP.
*Canada is going near the Moon.
Also at CBC and Popular Mechanics.
Previously: Russia Assembles Engineering Group for Lunar Activities and the Deep Space Gateway
China Will Focus on a Lunar Surface Station Rather than a Lunar Orbiting Station
SpaceX's Falcon Heavy Could Launch Japanese and European Payloads to Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway
Head of Russian Space Agency Roscosmos Wavers on Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway
Is the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway the Right Way to the Moon?
Related: Future of U.S.-Russian Space Cooperation in Doubt
ESA Plans to Send Mining Equipment to the Moon
(Score: 2) by takyon on Sunday March 03 2019, @05:20PM
Radiation risks appear to be greatly overestimated.
It's nothing good for astronauts, but NASA's definition of an unacceptable radiation risk is basically a more than 3% risk of exposure-induced death. Which could happen many years later.
https://spaceradiation.jsc.nasa.gov/irModels/TP-2013-217375.pdf [nasa.gov]
Apparently astronauts aboard LOP-G will be limited to stays of one month, or possibly longer [planetary.org]. Compare to ISS stays of beyond 1 year.
If some country actually reaches the surface of the Moon to build a Moon base, they could use lunar soil for shielding or go into a pre-existing "cave" [soylentnews.org].
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]