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In December 2017, President Donald Trump signed the Space Policy Directive 1 in which the President directed NASA "to conduct an innovative and sustainable exploration program with commercial and international partners to enable the development of the new space policy. human expansion on the solar system new knowledge and opportunities. "
In response to this bold call, and in accordance with NASA's 2017 Transition Authorization Act, NASA recently submitted to Congress a plan to revitalize and guide NASA's enduring goal. The National Space Exploration Campaign provides for human and robotic exploration missions to expand the boundaries of human experience and the scientific discovery of the natural phenomena of Earth, other worlds and the cosmos.
The exploration campaign is based on 18 continuous years of Americans and our international partners living and working together on the International Space Station. It builds on advances in commercial space, robotics and other technologies and accelerates in the coming years with the launch of the Orion rocket and the Space Launch System (SLS) of the NASA.
The exploration campaign has five strategic objectives:
- Transition of US human space flight activities into low Earth orbit into commercial operations that support NASA and the needs of an emerging private sector market.
- Lead the establishment of capabilities that support lunar surface operations and facilitate missions beyond the secret space.
- Promote scientific discovery and characterization of lunar resources through a series of robotic missions.
- Bring American astronauts back to the moon's surface for a campaign of exploration and sustained use.
- Demonstrate the capabilities required for human missions on Mars and other destinations.
Low Earth Orbit Transition Activities
NASA intends to move from the current model of human space activities into low Earth orbit to a model where the government is only a customer for commercial services.
On the basis of contributions from current partners, commercial and other stakeholders, NASA will form the transition plan for in-orbit activities from direct public funding to commercial services and partnerships with new independent commercial platforms or non-NASA operational model. some forms or elements of the International Space Station by 2025. In addition, NASA will expand public-private partnerships to develop and demonstrate technologies and capabilities for new commercial space products and services.
The International Space Station will continue to serve as a long-lived space flight platform for at least 2024, marking nearly 25 years of continued human occupation and successful international cooperation in space.
NASA is taking advantage of the space station to learn how to keep teams healthy and productive during deep space missions and as a test bed for the development of technologies for these missions. It is an experiential testing ground that allows the discovery and development of advanced robotics, communications, medicine, agriculture and environmental science.
The space station can also assist with the transition to commercial activities in low Earth orbit. NASA recently awarded 12 contracts to the industry to study the best way to use the space station to engage the US commercial industry to play a leading role in the low Earth orbit. . The portfolio of selected studies will include specific industrial concepts detailing the business plans and viability of habitable platforms, using the space station or separate flying structures.
Towards the Moon
The Moon is a fundamental part of Earth's past and future – an off-world continent that could hold valuable resources to support space activity and scientific treasures that could tell us more about our planet. Although Americans first walked on its surface nearly 50 years ago, our explorers left footprints on six sites in total, totaling 16 days. The next wave of lunar exploration will be fundamentally different.
NASA is developing a plan for Americans to gravitate around the moon starting in 2023 and astronauts to land on the surface no later than the end of the 2020s. This will be the first chance for the majority of people alive today. It's a moment when, stunned and amazed, the world holds its breath. However, America will not stop there.
The Gateway, a lunar orbital platform designed to accommodate astronauts further away from Earth, is a key element of the first permanent US presence and infrastructure on and around the Moon.
On the bridge, the United States and its partners will prepare to transit deep space, test new technologies and systems while building the infrastructure to support missions on the moon's surface and prepare for their mission on Mars. NASA will also study the effects of the deep space environment of the bridge, learning how living organisms respond to the radiation and microgravity of a deep space environment over long periods of time.
The gateway will also be evaluated as a platform for assembling payloads and systems; a reusable control module for lunar and surface exploration; and a waypoint for the development of refueling depots, service platforms and a return system for samples.
Some elements of the bridge are already under construction in NASA centers across the United States, including facilities in Ohio, Texas and Alabama, as well as in commercial partner facilities. The bridge will be assembled in space, gradually, using the Orion spacecraft and the SLS, as well as commercial launchers. The first element, providing power and propulsion, will be launched in Florida in 2022.
The lunar surface will serve as a crucial testing ground and technological demonstration center where we will prepare future human missions on Mars and other destinations. Through an innovative combination of missions involving commercial and international partners, lunar surface robotic missions will begin in 2020, focus on the scientific exploration of lunar resources and prepare the lunar surface for a sustained human presence.
In the late 2020s, a lunar lander capable of carrying crews and cargoes will travel to the surface of the Moon. The long-term sustainable lunar surface activities made possible by these efforts, parallel to the gateway, will expand and diversify over time, taking advantage of the Moon and nearby space for scientific exploration at the same time. broadest sense.
On Mars
The first human landing on Mars – of a daring complexity – will be a feat that will be remembered a lot in the future of humanity. The main elements of the exploration campaign are already underway and include the long-term space flight on the space station, the development of advanced life-support systems and the pursuit and progress of the world in space science missions.
Overall, the exploration campaign focuses on a transformative approach that includes the development of technologies and systems for a series of human and robotic lunar missions extendable on Mars.
NASA continues to maintain its leadership in robotic exploration on and around Mars. The agency's InSight mission is en route to Mars and will land in November to study inside the red planet. The development of NASA's next Mars rover continues to make excellent progress and is scheduled for launch in July 2020.
The March 2020 rover will help our search for past life and demonstrate the production of fuel and other resources for human exploration. We will also use this mission as a basic element for a forthcoming robotic mission with the first launch of a historic rocket on another planet and a return of samples. This mission will serve as a critical precursor to a series of crewed missions on Mars, which should begin in the 2030s and culminate in a surface landing, which will be supported by the work we will do on the Moon in the years to come.
The priorities set out in the national space exploration campaign ensure that the United States will maintain its leadership in space science and exploration. To read the full exploration campaign, visit here
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Russia could help India launch the country's first inhabited space mission
New Delhi (Sputnik) September 25, 2018
Russia and India can conclude an agreement on the exchange of experiences and interactions for the launch of India's first space mission, Indian media reported Sunday.
The Indian agency PTI reported, quoting official sources, that the parties could sign the contract during the next official visit of Vladimir Putin to New Delhi early next month.
In late August, the head of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), Kailasavadivoo Sivan, said that members of the first … read more
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