Former NASA administrator says Lunar Gateway is "stupid architecture"

In recent weeks, NASA officials have launched a charm offensive on their "Gateway" project in the lunar space, which would serve as a space station in a distant orbit around the moon. The agency proposed this intermediate step instead of returning directly to the lunar surface with humans. The agency has even started talking about the bridge as a "spaceship", probably because it sounds more exciting than a "station".

Public criticism of the proposal has been limited to date, in part because of so much of the aerospace community. has the potential to win contracts by helping to build the Lunar Space Station or by supplying it with consumables once it becomes operational in the mid-2020s. (We've been talking to some public critics about an article published in September. )

However, at a meeting of the National Space Council 's User Advisory Group on Thursday, some of the criticisms of which we have been deprived have been disclosed in public. view. One of the committee members, Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, said: "I am quite opposed to the gateway".

Other members, including the first woman to command a space shuttle, Eileen Collins, feared that the timeline of NASA bringing humans back to the surface of the Moon seemed really "off". As part of its bridge development project in the mid-2020s, NASA acknowledged that humans would not return to the moon's surface until the end of the 2020s or 2030s. being put on the lunar space station, NASA has no specific project as to how it will place humans on the lunar surface or how much it will cost.

One of the meeting's guests, Mike Griffin, was asked about his vision of such a timeline. Former NASA director under the presidency of George W. Bush and current Under Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, Griffin did not mince his words when he was question of the current plan to delay the return of the United States to the moon for at least a decade. [19659008] "Stupid Architecture"

Preferring his comments to those of his personal convictions, Griffin said: "I think 2028 is so late that it does not even have to be on the table Such a date This does not prove that the United States is a leader in anything, we are in 2018. It took us eight years to go to the moon the first time and you will tell me that 39, it takes 10 to 12 to 14 to redo it.When we know how? I just want to drop a flag on the piece. "

Griffin also had some harsh words for the Gateway concept, saying that he It was not logical to build a lunar station before there was a need for engineering for

"The architecture that was put in place, putting a Gat before going back on the Moon is a stupid architecture from the point of view of a space systems engineer, "he said. "Gateway is useful when, but not before, we build a propeller on the Moon and send it to a lunar orbit deposit, and we should be able to fly back to the moon and learn how to use the resources of our Earth object. Orbiter closer. "

In his other comments, Griffin warned against the conflicting uses of space by American enemies, notably China and Russia. Beyond military satellites, he said that China could strike a geopolitical blow by landing humans on the moon before the return of the United States, a significant and visible achievement that would signal Chinese descent in the eyes of countries non-aligned.

Griffin no He has a long-standing supervisory role at NASA, but he remains an influential voice in US space policy and has considerable access to key decision makers in the vice-president's office. His comments on Thursday represent the first real criticism of the Gateway concept emanating from a senior manager of the administration.