NASA is about to take another funding cut and will probably kill some Mars missions slated for later in the decade, but this little bit of news restored a tiny bit of hope that the agency is still able to think outside the box.
NASA Eyes Plan for Deep-Space Outpost Near the Moon
Part of the reasoning for the studies is to develop avenues for an uses of the SLS, assuming it is built, other than what has already been covered by the Constellation studies.. The EML-2 station depicted looks like it would
require a HLV to launch it. NASA is spending
billions on a HLV that for which they don't currently have payloads or missions other than Orion around the Moon.
Hmm, the Science that could be done from there... I notice they're still casting things in terms of the SoonTM to be developed shuttle replacement Orion rather than contracted civilian flights.
See above and more on this in my overall critique.
Also thinking that the crew of any station situated at the Earth-Moon L2 would have some tough psychological going. No pretty Earth to look at... just the bleak lunar surface at their backs and the stars in front of them.
Sounds like a great reason to establish the base with a 6 month rotation (about the time it takes to get to Mars). Understanding that psychological concern is very worthwhile, although it may prove similar to someone leaving any home they have stayed at for a long time.
Your thoughts/critiques?
Such missions would validate the Orion spacecraft's life-support systems for shorter durations, could demonstrate the high-speed re-entry capability needed for return to Earth from deep space, and could help scientists gauge astronauts’ radiation dose from cosmic rays and solar flares. Doing so would help verify that Orion provides sufficient radiation protection, as it is designed to do, researchers said.
NASA will not use Orion for this mission until those very capabilities are proven via some means, either analytically with margin or through unmanned missions. Any EML-2 station, really should focus on near-real time exploration/utilization/exploitation of the far side of the moon and operate as a proving ground for systems second.
EML-1 puts people beyond the protection of the Van Allen belts as well for example and is "closer" to the Earth and can be a proving ground just as well as EML-2, without a concern of having to rely on other spacecraft to act as a relay between the station and Earth. Bigelow has his eyes set on EML-1 already (
link) to support a near-side Lunar base.
Boeing actually did a
study for NASA about building a BEO exploration platform using largely existing hardware and with options that are not reliant on the SLS for construction. These concepts have been orbiting for a while.
So, paraphrasing Newt Gingrich*, stop doing expensive studies and execute some of these ideas.
*Don't get me wrong, there are plenty of ideas that Newt Gingrich has put out there that terrify me. Most of those ideas are the ones in-line with the Republican party's core. The ideas I like from him are the ones that get trashed by other Republicans.
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Topic: Lagrangian Point Station? (Read 863 times)