Is The Gateway Really The Key To The Moon?
Is the Lunar Gateway really the key to returning to the Moon to stay, as NASA claims? What, if any, utility is offered by another space station, this time around the Moon instead? Lunar Orbital Platform - Gateway ( src ) The LOP-G aka Lunar Gateway aka Deep Space Gateway has definitely been controversial. NASA touts it as a means of making human return to the Moon sustainable , and to make it an international endeavor, to do more than plant flags and footprints on the surface. But how? What NASA Says NASA calls it a spaceship , rather than a space station. In the picture above, the foil-covered cube at the right with the solar panels on it is the Propulsion Module, using solar electric propulsion to move the whole thing. The idea is that this leads into what used to be called the Deep Space Transport, a similar version designed to actually carry astronauts to Mars in about 9 months. However, this one will probably just stay around the Moon and move only a little bit. It's m...