What will be the purpose of the gateway which is planned to be in orbit around the Moon?

What will be the purpose of the gateway which is planned to be in orbit around the Moon?

About Gateway The Gateway, a vital component of NASA’s Artemis program, will serve as a multi-purpose outpost orbiting the Moon that provides essential support for long-term human return to the lunar surface and serves as a staging points for deep space exploration.

Why was Clementine in lunar orbit?

Clementine was the first U.S. spacecraft launched to the Moon in over 20 years. It was designed to test spacecraft components during extended exposure to space and to study the Moon and an asteroid. The mission succeeded in its lunar objectives, but a malfunction forced the asteroid flyby to be canceled.

Is lunar orbit possible?

No. At first it seems possible. Even NASA thought it would be feasible in the 1960s to orbit as low as 50 km. However, the moon does not have perfectly symmetric mass distribution (in fact it is quite “lumpy” with mass concentrations called “mascons”), so its gravity varies significantly around its surface.

Why do we need lunar gateway?

Gateway supports the acceleration of landing Americans on the surface of the Moon in 2024 by providing a reusable command module and integration capabilities; the initial configuration of the Gateway acts as a waystation for the lunar surface mission, allowing the docking of Orion and checkout of lunar lander systems.

What is the goal of the lunar gateway?

The Lunar Gateway, or simply Gateway, is a planned small space station in lunar orbit intended to serve as a solar-powered communication hub, science laboratory, short-term habitation module for government-agency astronauts, as well as a holding area for rovers and other robots.

What was the purpose of Clementine?

Clementine was a joint project between the Strategic Defense Initiative Organization and NASA. The objective of the mission was to test sensors and spacecraft components under extended exposure to the space environment and to make scientific observations of the Moon and the near-Earth asteroid 1620 Geographos.

What was the purpose of the Clementine spacecraft and what was unique about it?

Clementine was the first of a new class of small spacecraft to enable long-duration deep space missions at low cost using lightweight satellite technology. Along with its primary mission to test this new technology, it returned valuable lunar data to the scientific community.

How long did it take Apollo 11 to orbit the moon?

2.5 days
Altogether, Apollo 11 spent 2.5 days in lunar orbit, circling the Moon 31 times.

What is the lowest possible moon orbit?

The lowest orbit achieved would probably be PFS-2, a small satellite deployed from Apollo 16’s service module. It was intended to go into a 55×76-mile orbit (88.5×122 km), but due to variations in the Moon’s gravity field, it made passes of six miles (9.6 km) or less before crashing into the Moon’s surface.