{"id":21529,"date":"2020-03-31T16:57:04","date_gmt":"2020-03-31T20:57:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=21529"},"modified":"2020-03-31T18:52:17","modified_gmt":"2020-03-31T22:52:17","slug":"space-transport-roundup-march-31-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hobbyspace.com\/Blog\/?p=21529","title":{"rendered":"Space transport roundup – March.31.2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

A sampling of recent articles, videos, and images dealing with space transport (find previous roundups here<\/a>):<\/p>\n

** SpaceX contracted by NASA for cargo delivery services to lunar orbit station<\/strong>: NASA Awards Artemis Contract for Gateway Logistics Services | NASA<\/a><\/p>\n

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Illustration of the SpaceX Dragon XL as it is deployed from the Falcon Heavy’s second stage in high Earth orbit on its way to the Gateway in lunar orbit. Credits: SpaceX<\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

NASA has selected SpaceX of Hawthorne, California, as the first U.S. commercial provider under the Gateway Logistics Services contract to deliver cargo, experiments and other supplies to the agency\u2019s Gateway<\/a> in lunar orbit. The award is a significant step forward for NASA\u2019s Artemis program that will land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024 and build a sustainable human lunar presence.<\/em><\/p>\n

At the Moon, NASA and its partners will gain the experience necessary to mount a historic human mission to Mars.<\/em><\/p>\n

SpaceX will deliver critical pressurized and unpressurized cargo, science experiments and supplies to the Gateway, such as sample collection materials and other items the crew may need on the Gateway and during their expeditions on the lunar surface. <\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cThis contract award is another critical piece of our plan to return to the Moon sustainably,\u201d said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine. \u201cThe Gateway is the cornerstone of the long-term Artemis architecture and this deep space commercial cargo capability integrates yet another American industry partner into our plans for human exploration at the Moon in preparation for a future mission to Mars.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

NASA is planning multiple supply missions in which the cargo spacecraft will stay at the Gateway for six to 12 months at a time. These firm-fixed price, indefinite delivery\/indefinite quantity contracts for logistics services guarantee two missions per logistics services provider with a maximum total value of $7 billion across all contracts as additional missions are needed.<\/em><\/p>\n

Eric Berger talks with two NASA Artemis program managers about the benefits of the Dragon XL services for the Gateway: NASA officials outline plans for building a Lunar Gateway in the mid-2020s | Ars Technica<\/a><\/p>\n

Ars<\/strong>: It seems to me that Dragon has some capability to really add some volume to Gateway. Can you talk a little bit about its capabilities?<\/em><\/p>\n

[Mark Wiese, Deep Space Logistics manager]<\/strong>: We went back and looked at some of the lessons learned from Commercial Resupply Services (CRS), and the early missions of CRS really didn’t have the capability within the modules to support research. If you look at SpaceX’s first two or three missions and look at where we are on SpaceX’s 20th mission, the capabilities that Dragon offers for research are significantly improved, and so we took that into account.<\/em><\/p>\n

[Dan Hartman, Gateway program manager]<\/strong>: We’re going to put payloads on the inside, and we’ve got quite a bit of power allocated from the Dragon XL for that. We’ve got upmass allocated for payloads inside and then we can also fly payloads on the outside with power and tied into their communication systems so we can get some research back down, real time on the way to the Moon, and while attached at the Moon. And then quite honestly, we don’t need the logistics mission up there for six months or a year just to support a lunar mission. But we wanted to take advantage of the extra volume, the extra research accommodations, where we could keep it attached, and we could run science. Dragon also has got the automated rendezvous and docking system that they will be using on their CRS-2 vehicles, very similar to their Crew Dragon. And so, the docking system, you can come and go. We were planning to do that remotely without crew in there. And so, we think we’re set up for a really good platform to conduct research for the long haul.<\/em><\/p>\n

See also<\/p>\n