| Story Views | |
| Now: | |
| Last Hour: | |
| Last 24 Hours: | |
| Total: | |
Will NASA Really Build a “Gateway” L-2 Moon Base?
In this artist’s concept, the Orion MPCV is docked to a habitat; an astronaut exits the spacecraft to conduct an EVA. Credit: NASA
Over the weekend, The Orlando Sentinel reported that NASA is considering building a hovering outpost beyond the Moon at L-2 (Lagrangian point 2) that will be a ‘gateway’ to serve as a point for launching human missions to Mars and asteroids. The buzz among the space-related social medias ranged from “this is the greatest idea ever” to “this is make-work for the Space Launch System, (NASA’s new rocket.)” The newspaper’s report cited a White House briefing given in September by NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, but said “it’s unclear whether it has the administration’s support. Of critical importance is the price tag, which would certainly run into the billions of dollars.”
As always, money is the real issue with any grand ideas that anyone at NASA may have.
And NASA has now officially responded to the The Sentinel’s report and said… well, actually they didn’t really say much at all. Here’s the NASA statement:
(…)
Read the rest of Will NASA Really Build a “Gateway” L-2 Moon Base? (645 words)
© nancy for Universe Today, 2012. | Permalink | 6 comments |
Post tags: Cis-lunar space, Gateway, Lagrangian points, Moon, NASA
Feed enhanced by Better Feed from Ozh
2012-09-26 00:28:45
Source: http://www.universetoday.com/97569/will-nasa-really-build-a-gateway-l-2-moon-base/
Source:
