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NASA is sending humans back to the moon, with an abbreviated schedule, but in addition to having boots on the lunar surface, the space agency wants to put together a lunar space station in orbit for the first time .
The bridge, which, according to NASA, will serve as a starting point for missions on the Moon, will be placed in a very elongated orbit. Not wanting to risk falling on a question at the very last moment, NASA will now launch a tiny CubeSat satellite into this same orbit, offering scientists a glimpse of how the bridge will travel once it arrives.
The planned orbit for the entrance gate, as well as this new mission approved by CubeSat, brings the satellite within 1,000 miles of the Moon before propelling it into space for a distance of more than 43,000 miles. Look at this:
By launching a tiny satellite as a guinea pig, NASA engineers can observe the characteristics of the orbit and, if necessary, solve any problem in advance. It will be an opportunity for NASA to train a probe in such a unique and extreme orbit in many ways.
NASA plans to prepare for the mission by the end of 2020, which represents a relatively fast turnaround for a mission that has just been given the go-ahead.
"This is an exciting opportunity for NASA to aggressively advance to the moon, in partnership with several small American companies, an Artemis vanguard and a sustainable human presence in the United States. orbiting low Earth orbit, "said Jim Reuter, NASA's Associate Administrator. "This mission is very ambitious in terms of cost and schedule – and taking a deliberate risk is part of the mission's goal – along with the rapid technological progress of the Cununar navigation and the possibility of verifying the orbital trajectory assumptions and to solve the unknowns for future missions. "
Once the mission is launched, NASA says it will take about three months before the tiny spacecraft reaches the desired orbit. Once this is done, the team will spend the next six months defining the main objectives before deciding on the way forward.
Image Source: Tyvak nano-satellite systems
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