NASA’s ambitious Lunar Gateway project has a significant challenge with regards to visiting autonomous spacecraft.

As NASA continues to push forward with its ambitious plans for a lunar base, the Lunar Gateway takes center stage as a crucial component of this effort. While uncertainties persist about the ultimate purpose of the lunar house station, one might conceivably excuse NASA’s ongoing tinkering with the concept, given the ongoing lack of clarity surrounding its intended objective.

The Gateway, a compact space station designed for a halo orbit around the Moon, was previously scheduled to take off in 2022, with an estimated cost of $5.3 billion.

NASA’s plans are currently considering leveraging the Gateway as a key component in its Artemis IV mission, slated to launch in September 2028. Regrettably, the Gateway’s current target launch date now lags three months behind its original schedule, further delaying its crucial role in supporting Artemis IV, the ambitious mission aimed at successfully landing humans on the lunar surface for the second time. However that is OK. While various shifting factors impact the mission’s timeline, a successful launch anytime this decade could still be considered a triumph.

The report effectively employs a cartoon to illustrate the complex sequence of events required for Gateway’s involvement in the Artemis IV mission.

• The successful deployment of preliminary components – an Influence and Propulsion Module (IPM) and a Habitation Module (HM) – marks a critical milestone in the journey towards establishing a sustainable presence at a halo orbit around the Moon.
• SpaceX prepares for the historic launch of its Dragon XL spacecraft, designed to transport vital supplies to the Gateway, a lunar-orbiting space station.
• The launch of multiple SpaceX Starships will propel a Lunar Starship into orbit, poised to travel to and securely dock with the Gateway.
• The launch of NASA’s powerful House Launch System (HLS) rocket successfully transported four astronauts aboard the state-of-the-art Orion spacecraft, accompanied by the Gateway module.
• As Orion separates from the rocket, it rendezvous with the Worldwide Habitat module.
• As the Orion spacecraft skillfully maneuvers into position, it gently grasps the Worldwide Habitat module in its cargo bay and carefully transports it to the Gateway’s docking station. With a soft hiss of pressurization, the modules couple together, and the hatch swings open, allowing the crew to step out onto the Gateway’s surface.
• Two astronauts embark on a six-day odyssey aboard the lunar starship, descending to the Moon’s surface.
• The starship soared back to the Gateway as the four astronauts prepared for their triumphant return to Earth aboard the reliable Orion spacecraft.

While presenting its findings in a subdued tone, the report candidly acknowledges that the proposed plan exhibits considerable complexity and harbours significant risks to meeting its timeline constraints.

The proposed mission is likely to be complex due to the necessity of coordinating across seven NASA applications, various contractors supporting those applications, and international partners to successfully execute the endeavour, according to the report. Will NASA’s powerful House Launch System rocket have its debut this year?

Developmental difficulties

The report reveals that the Gateway programme is encountering significant technical hurdles. The malfunctioning communal chip enables inadequate communication throughout the entire lunar habitation complex. The potential failure of this component could precipitate a multitude of problems throughout the Gateway’s systems.

“For example, these flaws could cause the flight computer systems to spontaneously reboot,” “If a dysfunctional community fails to manage the Gateway effectively?” Program officers may further identify issues within the communications network by extrapolating from existing findings.

One potential hazard arises from the concept of “stack controllability.” This refers to the issue that, due to SpaceX’s Lunar Starship being significantly larger than the Gateway, when docked to the space station, the Gateway’s Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) will be unable to maintain a stable orientation for the entire stack.

According to the report, program officers approximate that the lunar lander’s mass, estimated at 18 times greater than NASA’s original value, significantly deviates from the agency’s established PPE controllability parameters. “To mitigate potential issues, NASA’s system engineering guidance emphasizes the importance of early communication to manage late changes and design modifications, thereby avoiding unnecessary cost increases and schedule setbacks.”

The report also draws some cautionary implications regarding the feasibility of utilizing the Lunar Gateway as a stepping stone for Mars-bound endeavors. (Prior to this, NASA officials emphasized the Gateway’s role as a hub for spacecraft and propellant replenishment en route to Martian surface expeditions. However, “stack controllability” concerns pose a significant hurdle to hosting massive Mars transit vehicles.) The Gateway’s designed 15-year lifespan may not be sufficient to sustainably support ongoing Mars missions, raising concerns about the longevity of this crucial infrastructure.

By 2042, the Gateway may have already surpassed its intended 15-year lifespan while crewed missions to Mars were just beginning to take flight, according to the report.

Despite its initial intentions, the report ultimately concludes that the Gateway’s development is lagging behind schedule, thereby limiting its potential utility for lunar and Mars landing missions. Will the Gateway’s development likely be hindered by NASA’s concurrent efforts to establish a lunar surface program, potentially complicating this undertaking? Despite some reservations, the overall ensemble performs well.