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Artistic representation of Gateway, a proposed lunar space station, under construction.
Credit: NASA
NASA is asking for help to ship to a future lunar space station at 240,000 miles (nearly 400,000 kilometers). The agency issued a call for tenders this week asking businesses to determine what they would need to deliver goods; US companies have until November 2 to give their opinion.
The agency is currently designing its lunar orbital bridge platform, a space station that is expected to orbit the moon and host astronauts from the mid-2020s. But the design work is now starting, for sure. ensure that the agency is ready and that business partners are available.
At the present time, NASA is looking for companies likely to be interested in transporting pressurized and non-pressurized cargoes, as does the SpaceX Dragon for cargo missions to the International Space Station. NASA indicated that it planned to buy at least three freight delivery missions; The first, tentatively scheduled for 2024, would likely include "a robotic arm provided by an international partner," the agency said in a statement. [Look Inside Lockheed Martin’s Proposed Lunar Gateway Habitat]
NASA is not yet ready to call on a contractor, as it is simply seeking more information about people who may be interested and about the factors likely to influence its will and its prices, hence the short lead time for this request.
The bridge will still be under construction during the first two cargo missions, which means that NASA is looking for a module capable of operating in duplicate: once docked at the station, this module will serve as a convenient storage space and, possibly, trash. NASA is also looking for cargo ships that can launch on both commercial rockets, for the first two deliveries and on its own huge lunar rocket under construction, the Space Launch System – which will be tested in 2020 at a time. moon tour. .
"As the agency takes humans deeper into the solar system with its partners, a spacecraft in lunar orbit is needed to meet the ambitious exploration goals set by President Donald Trump and to prepare for the future." 39, humanity to missions on the Moon and Mars, "added NASA. the same statement.
Follow us on twitter @Spacedotcom and on Facebook. Original article on Space.com.
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