Dec 3, 18 / Cap 01, 02 16:55 UTC
General News: December 3rd ¶
Craig Davidson (presented by Zubrin) authored a paper on why a lunar base is better than the proposed Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOP-G) for the advancement of human space exploration.
The Lunar Gateway is suggested to be a Mir sized space station in orbit around the moon. If one would be required to go to the Gateway before heading to the moon, then it would add a 30% cargo penalty for those sending missions to the surface of the moon.
The not yet built Space Launch System or the unbuilt SpaceX Super Heavy Starship would need to be launched four times to build the Lunar Gateway. It could also be constructed with 20 Falcon 9 launches or the equivalent of twenty space shuttle launches.
Therefore, the opportunity cost of the Lunar Gateway is twenty different interplanetary missions.
And actually a Russian base is slated to be built on the surface of the Moon, and now robots will perform the bulk of the work. After which, people will visit the base to set up equipment, according to Lev Zelyony, Deputy Chairman of the Council on Space Research of the Russian Academy of Sciences, Director of the RAS’s Space Research Institute.
Russia intends to construct two strategic observatories on the Moon for radio astronomy studies, cosmic ray research, and other applications noted Zelyony.
He added that the majority of operations would be carried out by robots and the observatories should function in a semi-automatic mode where human intervention is rare.
In other news, tomorrow, Dec 4, 36,000 worms will launch into space. If all goes according to plan, 2 to 3 million worms will come back to Earth.
The worms which will be sent into space in pouches of 5,000, will reproduce on the International Space Station as part of a study on how muscles are affected by spaceflight.
They’ll be hitching a ride with SpaceX's next cargo launch to the station. CRS-16, lifting off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station tomorrow at 1:38 p.m. EST (1838 GMT). The spacecraft will also contain tree-seeking lasers, a liquid-methane fueling station, and ingredients for "perfect crystals" among other things.
SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft, riding on a Falcon 9 rocket, will hold over 5,600 lbs. (2,500 kilograms) of instruments, supplies, and equipment for the space station crew, such as over 2,200 lbs. (1,000 kg) of science investigations. The launch will be streaming live on Space.com, thanks to NASA TV.
Will you be watching the launch live? Are you excited for the results of these experiments? Why?
Let's discuss in the comments below!
