Why a space gateway? – POLITICO

Space

A major space industry advocates for NASA's planned truck stop around the moon.

A major component of NASA's new technologies roadmap of human exploration is the gateway, which she describes as "a platform in lunar orbit to accommodate astronauts farther away from Earth than ever before and to forge American leadership and presence in the region between the Moon and the Earth".

However, the need for such a space station around the Moon is causing an uproar. The opposition comes from the Mars Society, Buzz Aldrin, Apollo 11 astronaut, members of Congress and advisers to President Donald Trump, many of whom advocate going directly to the surface of the moon, as we had done during the Apollo program.

History continues below

The arguments against the bridge are as varied as those who oppose it: it would be better to spend money for other spatial development activities. The gateway will delay or prohibit our ability to go to Mars. The assembly of Mars mission vehicles should be in low Earth orbit and not around the Moon. The bridge will become an albatross a bit like the International Space Station.

Could the opposition to NASA's gateway also be due to the fact that our history of space transport is full of unsustainable systems? For example, nothing in the Saturn V stack that launched Apollo astronauts on the moon was used in a second mission.

SpaceX reuses its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy boosters. Blue Origin rediscovers its New Shepard suborbital rocket and plans to reuse its New Glenn first floor. Boeing, under a contract with DARPA, is currently developing a reusable first stage called Phantom Express. Reusable space tugs and the Moon and Mars landing gear should also be pursued.

Jim Bridenstine, director of NASA, recently said, "We want all the architecture between here and the moon to be reusable."

Gateways, or transport nodes, are essential in a reusable space transport architecture.

Gateways abound on Earth. We use them every day. These are intermodal facilities, airports, seaports, metro stations, train stations, bus stations, transhipment facilities and truck stops. Nobody argues that these bridges are not necessary.

These are places where people and cargo move from one vehicle to another and from one environment to another. Cars to buses. Cars and trains for aircraft or ships. On the ground or at sea. Why should the space be different?

Space missions also meet different environments: launch, entry into the atmosphere, space, landing and ascent. The bridges provide a transition point between these environments.

Spatial gateways can provide the following functions: docking ports, housing, power, propulsion, system assembly site and scientific laboratory. Other gateway functions may include a propellant depot, rest stop, goods warehouse and service station.

Gateways can also provide services to vehicles moored between missions, such as attitude control and in-orbit maintenance. They can also provide power and communication links, allowing vehicles to go into standby mode. Unloading these functions from spacecraft to gateways reduces design requirements and vehicle mass, which reduces mission propellant requirements and operational costs.

In the end, the gateway is a transport node. It is a place where people, cargo and propeller can move from one space vehicle to another. The gateway will facilitate reusable Moon shuttles, keeping them between missions and refueling before missions. Reusable Moon shuttles eliminate the need to produce, launch and transfer a new lunar lander for each surface mission.

Gateways are an evolutionary step in a culture of space missions that can be consumed by a robust reusable transport architecture. They are necessary for a space civilization.

Bienhoff is the founder of the space development company Cislunar, which is developing a reusable cilunary transport architecture including propellant deposits in Earth orbit and near the moon.