This article discusses the NASA Gateway program. It has some interesting graphics. The satellite will serve as a lunar orbiting space station.

 

It is planned for several uses. It will be used for staging for transport to and from the lunar south pole. Astronauts will be able to rotate between a Lunar South Pole base (named Lunar LSP in my novel) and the orbiting base. It will also be used to simulate and train crew for an eventual trip to Mars. In this mode astronauts will live in the Gateway satellite for the months long journey to the red planet.

 

Here’s what I see as an operational flaw. On a long journey to Mars the prospect of an orbit and return mission would not be the same as was experienced in the first Apollo mission to the Moon. The time spent in microgravity would be much longer than the Lunar trip. This long period in microgravity would have deleterious effects on human health.

 

If instead of and orbit and return mission a landing is proposed, the astronauts would arrive in a weakened condition, sustain the stresses of entry (I almost said re-entry) through the thin atmosphere. They then would exist on the surface for months before a planetary alignment was favorable for a return to Earth.

 

What I see as lacking in the Gateway program and NASAs future Mars mission is the absence of rotating spacecraft designed to produce up to standard gravity for protracted missions. It’s a technology that is presently possible an should be a part of mission planning.

 

Of course, in my novel, “Outbound: Islands in the Void” the technology is widely used. Things are so simple in science fiction novels.