NASA planning to launch an integrated Lunar Gateway in 2023

"Last week NASA announced awards to three companies to develop Lunar Landers as
part of the Artemis Program. But the space agency did not say much about its
"other" major program near the Moon, a Lunar Gateway that will serve as a small
space station that will be used to conduct scientific experiments. It will also
function as a stop for potentially stashing fuel and a temporary habitat for
humans.

NASA's primary mandate from the White House is to land humans on the Moon by
2024, and for now the space agency is working through the details of how that
will happen. One aspect of the lunar lander awards worth noting is that NASA and
its contractors will spend the next 10 months finalizing their plans, and from
this process they will collectively determine the fastest, best path to the Moon
by 2024.

That may involve staging the first human landing from the Gateway, in high lunar
orbit, or it may not. But in an interview with Ars, both NASA Administrator Jim
Bridenstine and the space agency's chief of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro,
said the Gateway was an essential part of NASA's long-term plans to not only to
return humans to the Moon but to do so in a sustainable manner.

The agency's current timeline entails launching the nucleus of the Gateway in
2023, Loverro said. He also confirmed that the first two elements of the Gateway
will be launched as an integrated unit. This means that the Power and Propulsion
Element built by Maxar and the pressurized Habitation and Logistics Outpost
built by Northrop Grumman will be assembled together on the ground and then
launched on a commercial rocket."

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...teway-in-2023/

In article ,
says...

"Last week NASA announced awards to three companies to develop Lunar Landers as
part of the Artemis Program. But the space agency did not say much about its
"other" major program near the Moon, a Lunar Gateway that will serve as a small
space station that will be used to conduct scientific experiments. It will also
function as a stop for potentially stashing fuel and a temporary habitat for
humans.

NASA's primary mandate from the White House is to land humans on the Moon by
2024, and for now the space agency is working through the details of how that
will happen. One aspect of the lunar lander awards worth noting is that NASA and
its contractors will spend the next 10 months finalizing their plans, and from
this process they will collectively determine the fastest, best path to the Moon
by 2024.

That may involve staging the first human landing from the Gateway, in high lunar
orbit, or it may not. But in an interview with Ars, both NASA Administrator Jim
Bridenstine and the space agency's chief of human spaceflight, Doug Loverro,
said the Gateway was an essential part of NASA's long-term plans to not only to
return humans to the Moon but to do so in a sustainable manner.

The agency's current timeline entails launching the nucleus of the Gateway in
2023, Loverro said. He also confirmed that the first two elements of the Gateway
will be launched as an integrated unit. This means that the Power and Propulsion
Element built by Maxar and the pressurized Habitation and Logistics Outpost
built by Northrop Grumman will be assembled together on the ground and then
launched on a commercial rocket."

See:

https://arstechnica.com/science/2020...teway-in-2023/

From what I understand, SpaceX is developing a larger fairing for Falcon
Heavy (mostly for DOD flights), so that might be an enabler for this.

Jeff
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