After NASA put out a call for concepts to travel to deep space last year, one proposal from Boeing landed on Tuesday.
One of six companies selected to pitch their concepts to the space agency, Boeing unveiled it’s Deep Space Gateway, a proposed lunar outpost serving as a habitat for the astronauts before they embark on a voyage to Mars. A space station orbiting the moon would allow researchers to build and test critical technology required to reach the Red Planet.
The gateway would also be home to the Deep Space Transport spacecraft designed by Boeing to send astronauts to Mars. It which could dock with the gateway in a similar fashion to the ISS, Engadget reports.
Both the Deep Space Transport and the Deep Space Gateway are powered by solar energy, with the former including a detachable craft that can conduct manned or unmanned missions on Mars’ surface.
Boeing plans have a timeline to start assembling the lunar station in the next decade. It would use NASA’s SLS rockets to send the gateway into space in four parts.
Read more about the Boeing project at Engadget.
—RealClearLife
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