A second space station?

That's what the lunar gateway looks like, if it's ever completed.

I wrote last week about the Artemis program, which, barring any setbacks, will put men on the Moon for the first time since 1972. Part of the original plan was to launch a space station in orbit around the Moon to support Artemis 3, the target mission for a manned lunar landing.

Last year that plan was scrapped. But the space station, or gateway, is still in the works to support later Moon missions. NASA just awarded the contract for the habitable part of the gateway to Northrup Grumman.

While the space geek in me gets heart palpitations over the prospect of space colonization, the realist in me taps the breaks. The Moon is a 3 days' ride from Earth. Given the extent of contingency planning on these missions, there's little reason to support lunar surface operations from lunar orbit. Support can more easily be run from the International Space Station or even from Earth directly.

The gateway only makes economic sense if lunar operations become so commonplace that vehicles come and go from the surface every day. Given the cost and time interval of each Artemis mission, that will not be the case.

At the end of the day, to justify the time and resource investment in a lunar gateway, NASA has to commit to a well-stocked, continuously manned main operating base in lunar orbit, in support of several forward operating sites on the Moon. Its main function would be physical maintenence and replenishment of lunar landing vehicles. I'm not sure the drive for such an involved posture is there, not with Mars beckoning.

As always, let me know what you think in the comments. Speaking of the Moon, I have written a hard science fiction book about the first commercial expedition to colonize the Moon. You can find an extended preview for it here.