The Gateway Lunar Space Station: Its Status, Design and Safety

The Gateway Lunar Space Station: Its Status, Design and Safety

This latest book from Pelton and Marshall explores the Gateway Lunar Space Station that NASA is to launch in 2025. It represents an international partnership between NASA and the European, Canadian, Japanese and United Arab Emirates space agencies. This space station will be in a special Near-Rectilinear HALO Orbit defined by Lagrange Points where the Earth and Moons gravity cancel each other out. This lunar space station will begin with two modules supplied by NASA commercial partners under NASA Space Act Agreements - the MAXAR Corporation and Northrop Grumman Corporation. This innovative module is designed to operate autonomously when astronauts are not there. There are a host of space firsts with this lunar space station that will orbit the Moon with a closest approach of 3000 miles and a perilune of 40,000 miles. As well as design, operational, and telecommunications issues there are also safety concerns associated with this unique lunar space station that is the first of its kind. It will support Artemis astronauts on the lunar surface and it is also planned to support astronauts going to Mars over a decade from now. Meanwhile, China and Russia are planning to team with other countries to place their own space station in lunar orbit in the 2030s. This book explores the what, where, how and when of the Gateway Lunar Space Station and explores the safety, purpose and special features of this daring, US-led space project.