GODMOTHER selected SpaceX to deliver on Wednesday the first two segments of the lunar orbiting space station Lunar Gateway, the second high-quality contract the government agency awarded to the private aerospace manufacturer this week.
During the newly announced flight, which is currently scheduled to take place “no earlier than” May 2024, SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket will launch the first two elements of the planned outpost as a single integrated payload that will include the gateway power and propulsion element (PPE) and its logistics and logistics outpost (HALO).
The Gateway space station, which will be about a sixth the size of the International Space Station, is planned as an extension of NASA’s Artemis program, which aims to “support research investigations, crews and lunar expeditions.”
Although NASA had originally intended to launch the PPE and HALO segments separately on two separate missiles, the agency’s inspector general wrote in a report published last year that it had decided to launch the two segments together in an effort to reduce costs. Although initially worried that the combined payload might be too heavy for commercially available missiles, a NASA spokeswoman confirmed that The Verge that Falcon Heavy met all of the agency’s performance requirements.
Tit is said that the mission is set to cost NASA $ 331.8 million – more than three times the price of a separate contract the agency awarded SpaceX earlier this week launched itSPHEREx astrophysics mission.
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Once the Gateway is established, a service module that contains key elements of life support – including oxygen, water, electricity and temperature control – will be launched during the year NASA’s second planned flight of its new megarocket, Space launch system (SLS). This mission, known as Artemis 2 will be the first manned mission among the Artemis programs.