Fifty years ago, the world's two most important space agencies ran an impressive race to reach the Moon. Today, it seems they will return there together. NASA and Roscosmos have just announced that they will join forces in developing strategies and new technologies to extend human presence into cislunar space. That includes the construction of a space station in lunar orbit as part of the Deep Space Gateway concept, a starting point for future missions to Mars.
Mars or the Moon? A very difficult question to answer, even for experts in space exploration. Either way, humanity must return to deep space and regain the ground it has lost over the past five decades. So why not both? The Moon, transformed into a kind of 'spaceport' that allows us to launch missions to Mars and perhaps other planets from there. Of course, we first need a very good plan, and NASA has been working on the Deep Space Gateway concept. It is a titanic effort, but the good news is that NASA will not be alone.
The US space agency and Roscosmos announced a new cooperation agreement that will include the development of technical standards, and in the not-too-distant future, the construction of a space station orbiting the Moon. A new trip to our satellite and the transport of materials will require advanced solutions like the Space Launch System and the Orion capsule, without forgetting the participation of direct partners (Canada, Japan, and the European Space Agency), and the private space industry, which is also working on its own systems. Deep Space Gateway is just one of several missions the agencies will carry out. The agreement highlights the desire to work on identifying "common exploration goals", targeting the entire decade of the 2020s.
Some sources suggest that the agreement brings economic benefits as well as scientific ones. For example, it is said that Roscosmos was looking to place cosmonauts on the lunar surface and build a new space station in Earth orbit, but the Russian TsNIIMash concluded that both programs cannot be financed at the same time. NASA has already anticipated that the space station will be available to launch expeditions to the lunar surface, and in all cases, Russian experience is definitely welcome. Personally, I hope the agreement reaches a good conclusion and does not end up 'cut' in a budget caprice. We have seen too much of that.
NASA
