back to article NASA, Roscosmos: We're building a lunar space station!

Crewed deep space exploration is back on the agenda, after NASA and its Russian counterpart Roscosmos announced they will co-operate on efforts to create a cislunar space station. The joint statement between the two agencies was signed yesterday at the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide, Australia. The two …

  1. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    CyberIntelAIgents R Us

    Mars welcomes space cadets with more than just roubles and dollars to launder.

  2. Gene Cash Silver badge

    This means just as much as when Bush announced we were going back to the Moon, and you can see how that turned out. China was the only one to actually go.

    1. Captain DaFt

      This means just as much as when Bush announced we were going back to the Moon, and you can see how that turned out. China was the only one to actually go.

      Yep. No budget, no plans, but they're talking about it!! (Again)

      <sarc> Can you feel the excitement?</sarc>

      1. defiler

        Well, if we're just talking...

        ...with no commitments at all, I propose Citadel Station. It'd operate as a mining facility orbiting Saturn.

        Quick bit of AI to keep everything ticking over, and we're done.

        Cheers,

        Ed.

  3. frank ly

    Profit ?

    "NASA hopes the gateway would provide what private Mars missions cannot: ..."

    Then maybe NASA could lease docking facilities and associated support services to private Mars missions.

  4. John Savard

    We'll Meet Again

    Your headline reminded me of a song, but I had to remember the lyric before I could usefully employ Google to find it.

    Well, so there will be a lunar space station... some sunny day.

  5. Lysenko

    NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

    ... because Democrats are knee deep in a "Third Red Scare" and aren't going to be receptive to anything involving RUSSIANS!!! Certain sites I could mention will probably already have this down as a RUSSIANS/Republican plot to establish an off world labour camp for interning BLM activists and genuflecting football players.

    1. phuzz Silver badge

      Re: NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

      I know we shouldn't engage with the trolls, (especially with a username like that!), but I'm intrigued. Usually the 'red scare' would be the McCarthy witch hunts in the 1950's, so what's the second one?

      Of course, the current Russian government is so far from being socialist I can only assume that calling them 'reds' is just old age showing, or perhaps your translations need updating?

      1. Lysenko

        Re: NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

        Usually the 'red scare' would be the McCarthy witch hunts in the 1950's, so what's the second one?

        That was the second one. The First Red Scare was earlier and triggered by the 1917 revolution.

        Of course, the current Russian government is so far from being socialist I can only assume that calling them 'reds' is just old age showing

        I used "Reds" because the hysterical tone is similar. The evil Rooskies plotting the overthrow of American democracy, inquisitions into whether people met any Rooskies, flinging accusations of "Traitor" at anyone who suggests that just maybe the likes of the Koch Brothers have far greater pernicious effects than anything a few FB trolls could manage etc.

        The Presidency has been bought and paid for with corrupt corporate/plutocrat cash for years. Unfortunately both sides are up to their necks in that so we get "Russian plotting" on one side and "millions of illegals voted" on the other. See the common thread? Blame it all on "foreigners" so we don't have do deal with the real (exclusively domestic) issues.

        1. John Savard

          Re: NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

          Yes, in the 1920s there was a phenomenon which was originally referred to as the "Red Scare".

        2. phuzz Silver badge

          Re: NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

          "The First Red Scare was earlier and triggered by the 1917 revolution."

          Huh, I didn't know that, thanks.

          As for that evil Russian Plotting, my take is that it wasn't so much an attempt to 'take over the US', more that someone in the FSB saw a relatively cheap and risk-free way to mess around with the last election, and make America look stupid (more than normal).

          I suspect they were as surprised as anyone else at the results, and probably rather chagrined. Clinton, or any other career politician, would have been much easier to predict, and instead they ended up with someone who's likely to nuke a country just to make himself feel big.

        3. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

          Yup. It's hardly opaque. For example:

          https://medium.com/@caityjohnstone/donna-brazile-just-called-russians-the-communists-and-it-wasnt-an-accident-b7455b48278

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: NASA must hope Trump gets a second term...

        The second Red Scare was when 'Bama was hiding Rooshan solders in the secret tunnels under the Denver Airport in preparation for taking over the US, confiscating everyone's guns, and putting us all in FEMA camps to ensure his third term. Look it up! It's on the Internetz. Good think I stocked up on .22 ammo when I could.

  6. nevstah

    Deep Space Gateway

    Sounds like a gateway to the stars to me, or, Stargate for short, has a certain ring to it

    1. VinceH
      Thumb Up

      Re: Deep Space Gateway

      "has a certain ring to it"

      I see what you did there.

  7. graeme leggett Silver badge

    It's a start

    Someone's got to build the first one.

    Perhaps one day they'll be several large stations (at the Lagrange points)

    And we should expect they'll reflect different Sides of the international setup.

  8. DropBear

    I'm a bit confused about how exactly this would facilitate anything Mars-related. Unless we start _producing_ something on or around the Moon from local resources, wouldn't anything headed to Mars still need to be launched off Earth first...?

    1. AndyS

      I guess you can use as many rockets as you like to stock the station up there, and then one rocket can make it from there to Mars and back. So the rocket that carries the life support system, the crew, the vehicles etc doesn't also need to carry enough fuel to get it all from Earth to Mars and back.

      A bit like how an aerial tanker can extend the range of a mission. In extreme cases, you can have fleets of tankers to refuel the tankers which provide fuel to the tankers which refuel the mission aircraft multiple times along its path - Operation Black Buck illustrates this nicely, along with a handy diagram showing how the fuel flowed between the aircraft in flight.

      1. DropBear

        Okay, as staging support point, sure. But dang - that refuelling diagram broke my brain...

        1. AndyS

          > that refuelling diagram broke my brain...

          Yes, slightly crazy mission. It was clearly a show of strength, designed to demonstrate that the UK could penetrate the Argentinian air defenses and reach the Argentine mainland if required. Each mission used a million litres of fuel, for a single effective 450 kg unguided bomb to actually hit the target (21 bombs carried, and dropped in a line across the target each time).

          I guess it helped that Argentina probably didn't know, at the time, just how unreliable the aircraft being used actually were.

    2. Elmer Phud

      Trucks are cheaper to move cargo.

      No need for meat at the control.

      AI landing has been proved to work well

  9. This post has been deleted by its author

  10. Pete4000uk

    I want..

    ...children to look up to the moon and be inspired by the fact that people are up there.

    Maybe one day

    1. Pedigree-Pete
      Pint

      Re: I want..

      @Pete4000uk

      I'm too old to be classified a child but I still look up in awe when the ISS goes by. Always toast them with one of these >PP

      Have an upvote Pete.

  11. Pedigree-Pete
    Happy

    Moon....

    that's no moon, it's a space station.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EVekNsgUqn4

    PP

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