The United States began the creation of a lunar station
The construction of the first module of the future near-moon station LOP-G (Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway) will be undertaken by the American company Maxar. The signing of the contract was mentioned by the head of NASA Jim Bidenstein during a teleconference with the leaders of the Artemis program, which took place the day before at the agency’s headquarters. The main topic of discussion was the implementation of the aforementioned lunar program.
Due to the fact that the United States government intends to land astronauts on our natural satellite in 2024, instead of the 2028, as previously planned, and the construction of the super-heavy Space Launch System rocket is far behind schedule, NASA is forced to postpone the launch of almost all LOP-G modules on later dates and vice versa accelerate the development of PPE - the main element of the station.
The latter is a large spaceship with a powerful 50 kW ion engine. Inside this device, 2 astronauts will be able to live for a short time. The module will be equipped with several gateways necessary for docking with Orion shuttles and other spaceships, as well as for spacewalks and landings on the lunar surface.
The creation of PPE is exactly what the private company Maxar will do. According to the Brydenstein statement, the contractor will receive an amount of $ 375 million for the construction of the main module and its sending into space.
In turn, Maxa President Michael Gold noted that the company is considering the possibility of delivering the PPE module via the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, the first launch of which is scheduled for 2021. However, in the event of any delays, the contractor may switch to other media to send the station to our natural satellite before the completion of the first stage of the Artemis lunar program.
Due to the fact that the United States government intends to land astronauts on our natural satellite in 2024, instead of the 2028, as previously planned, and the construction of the super-heavy Space Launch System rocket is far behind schedule, NASA is forced to postpone the launch of almost all LOP-G modules on later dates and vice versa accelerate the development of PPE - the main element of the station.
The latter is a large spaceship with a powerful 50 kW ion engine. Inside this device, 2 astronauts will be able to live for a short time. The module will be equipped with several gateways necessary for docking with Orion shuttles and other spaceships, as well as for spacewalks and landings on the lunar surface.
The creation of PPE is exactly what the private company Maxar will do. According to the Brydenstein statement, the contractor will receive an amount of $ 375 million for the construction of the main module and its sending into space.
In turn, Maxa President Michael Gold noted that the company is considering the possibility of delivering the PPE module via the Blue Origin New Glenn rocket, the first launch of which is scheduled for 2021. However, in the event of any delays, the contractor may switch to other media to send the station to our natural satellite before the completion of the first stage of the Artemis lunar program.
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