NASA Plans to Build Moon-Orbiting Spaceport

NASA is planning to establish a crewed spaceport near the Moon that could serve as a gateway to the lunar surface and deep space destinations including Mars. The area of space near the Moon offers a true deep space environment to gain experience for human missions that push farther into the solar system, access the lunar surface for robotic missions but with the ability to return to Earth if needed in days rather than weeks or months, NASA said.

The period of exploration in the vicinity of the Moon will begin with the first integrated mission of the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket and the Orion spacecraft, it said. The agency is looking to build a crew tended spaceport in lunar orbit within the first few missions that would serve as a gateway to deep space and the lunar surface.

This deep space gateway would have a power bus, a small habitat to extend crew time, docking capability, an airlock, and serviced by logistics modules to enable research. The propulsion system on the gateway mainly uses high power electric propulsion for station keeping and the ability to transfer among a family of orbits in the lunar vicinity.

The three primary elements of the gateway, the power and propulsion bus and habitat module, and a small logistics module(s), would take advantage of the cargo capacity of SLS and crewed deep space capability of Orion. An airlock can further augment the capabilities of the gateway and can fly on a subsequent exploration mission.

„The gateway could move to support robotic or partner missions to the surface of the Moon, or to a high lunar orbit to support missions departing from the gateway to other destinations in the solar system,“ said William Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations at NASA.

The second phase of missions will confirm that the agency’s capabilities built for humans can perform long duration missions beyond the Moon.

For those destinations farther into the solar system, including Mars, NASA envisions a deep space transport spacecraft. This spacecraft would be a reusable vehicle that uses electric and chemical propulsion and would be specifically designed for crewed missions to destinations such as Mars.

The transport would take crew out to their destination, return them back to the gateway, where it can be serviced and sent out again.

Russia Seeks New Cosmonauts for Manned Mission to Moon in 2031

Russia’s space agency on Tuesday announced a recruitment drive for young would-be cosmonauts who it hopes will become the country’s first on the Moon. And women are welcome, an official stressed.

In the first such drive for five years, Roscosmos space agency said it is looking for 6 to 8 cosmonauts who will operate a new-generation spaceship now in development and „will become the first Russians to fly to the Moon“.

Russia is keen to rekindle the space triumphs of the Soviet era after a series of embarrassing glitches in recent years.

It has announced plans for its first manned Moon landing by 2031.

„There will be no discrimination based on skin colour or gender,“ the executive director of manned programmes Sergei Krikalyov said at a news conference, quoted by RIA Novosti news agency.

Applications are welcome for the next four months, said the first deputy director of Roscosmos Alexander Ivanov, cited by RIA Novosti.

Ivanov said the new recruits will pilot the first launches of the new-generation Federatsiya manned transport ship and „continue the lunar programme“.
The Federatsiya is designed to fly to the Moon with four people on board. The first manned test launch is planned in 2023 from Russia’s new Vostochny cosmodrome in the country’s far east.

The criteria for applicants include an age limit of 35, height between 1 metre 50 centimetres and 1 metre 90 (4 foot, 11 inches to 6 foot, 2 inches) and weight of no more than 90 kilograms (14 stone, 2 pounds), according to Roscosmos.

IT skills and knowledge of a foreign language are required as well as an engineering degree or pilot training or experience in the aviation or space industries.

A high standard of fitness is a must and would-be astronauts have to cross-country ski for 5 kilometres. They undergo a barrage of psychological and physical tests including gynaecological examinations for women.

Applicants can apply by post or in person to Star City astronaut training centre outside Moscow, remembering to enclose three passport-sized photographs.

Russia currently has 30 cosmonauts, 14 of whom have never been in space. The oldest is 58-year-old Gennady Padalka, who holds the world record for total time spent in space, while the youngest is 31-year-old Ivan Vagner, according to TASS state news agency.

The first such open recruitment drive – not just for military pilots and those working in the space industry – was held in 2012.

The Sun’s Got Waves — Like Earth’s Atmosphere

Most of the time, the sun and the Earth couldn’t be more different: One is a star, the other a planet; the sun is made of plasma and fuses hydrogen to helium, while the Earth is a solid body heated by radioactive decay (and the sun’s rays). But the two bodies’ atmospheres share something in common: A type of wave that undulates through Earth’s skies may have an analogue in the body of the sun, according to a new study.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) and Solar TErrestrial RElations Observatory (STEREO) mission, which included two spacecraft orbiting the sun, spotted a type of wave called a Rossby wave on the sun’s surface. This type of wave occurs in rotating fluids, such as atmospheres and oceans. The findings could help link several phenomena tied to the sun’s magnetic field, such as the source of sunspots, the length of time those spots last and the origin of the 11-year solar-activity cycle.

Rossby waves also occur in Earth’s atmosphere and oceans, and they help to dictate the planet’s weather, researchers said in a statement.