Landing on Mars is the biggest dream, the Mars plan is becoming clear, and the lunar space station is very important.

I have to admit that there are too many scientific dreams for human beings. They want to achieve nuclear fusion and unlimited clean energy, and they also want to rush to the universe and emigrate to other planets. However, science in reality always needs to be done step by step. In the field of space exploration, what mankind hopes most at present is to land on Mars and return to the moon. It is not so easy to achieve this goal. Compared with the moon, Mars is far away from us. What should scientists do?

The nearest distance between the Earth and Mars is 54.6 million kilometers, which sounds really far away, but we need to pay attention to the fact that there is still a moon between the Earth and Mars, so scientists plan to use the moon as a "springboard" and then go to Mars. This "springboard" is actually a series of lunar plans, among which the realization of lunar surface base and lunar orbit space station is the focus of the lunar plan. Any frontier science needs to be considered in terms of budget and scientific value. Scientists are very careful. If the budget directly from the earth is higher than that from the moon, and we can't directly carry out manned missions from the earth to Mars at present. So today we will focus on the lunar orbit space station. The sustainable ecology of the lunar surface and lunar orbit space station in the future can help people reach Mars faster.

Want to land on Mars? We need to be prepared. Over the past half century, mankind has sent nearly 50 probes to Mars, and our understanding of Mars has gradually deepened. This can be said to be the initial stage of understanding Mars, just like before the Apollo moon landing program, astronauts need to know the moon, the spacecraft and how to walk in space. Lunar orbit space station and lunar surface base are concrete plans for human beings to March into Mars, so how should this be carried out? The scientists made a detailed plan.

Specifically, NASA scientists will prepare lunar orbit space station modules before humans return to the moon in 2024, and at least two space station modules are needed. Like other earth-orbiting space stations, the modules are spliced together. In the meantime, SLS rockets and Orion spacecraft also need to be prepared, because this is an essential element for carrying astronauts or carrying lunar orbit space station modules in the future. In 2024, mankind will return to the moon and start the construction of the lunar surface, which will take up to ten years. In this decade, aerospace enterprises or institutions around the world will transport many necessary structures to the moon, and even build rocket launch pads on the surface of the moon. Ten years later, mankind will set off for Mars again, which will be a new chapter in human planetary migration.

Although it is still in the early stage of planning, many plans are already under way. In the long run, the lunar space station can not only support astronauts to go to Mars, but also serve as a bridge to communicate with the earth. But how to build a space station near the moon is a problem. In fact, what we need is a very powerful rocket. Space Exploration Technologies' starship has accepted a contract from NASA to deliver modules or lunar landers to the lunar orbiting space station. In addition, NASA has its own SLS rocket. Next, we can copy the construction mode of the earth orbit space station. Fundamentally speaking, the construction process of the lunar orbit space station module is the same as that of the earth orbit space station, and it is also a method of superposition of multiple modules.

Although the construction process is the same, the lunar orbit space station is more advanced and modern than the space station near the earth, and it will also combine artificial intelligence and other robotics. In addition, even if there are no astronauts, the future lunar orbit space station can operate independently as a deep space outpost and conduct scientific experiments independently. The initial structure of the space station will include power and propulsion modules and a residential cargo module named HALO, which can receive astronauts or cargo from the earth.

In the future, scientists also plan to add a gas station module on the lunar orbit space station, which will be supplied by the sustainable resources on the lunar surface. This refueling module can refuel the passing spacecraft or other space station structures. It can also be used as a maintenance module. If there is a problem in the process of landing on the moon, astronauts can repair it after docking with the lunar orbit space station.

Different space station modules have different functions and are contracted by different companies. It is very important to understand the structure of the space station, because it is related to the specific functions of the future lunar orbit space station. In fact, we just mentioned two initial structures, namely, the power propulsion module and the residential cargo module. These two modules are very important. The power propulsion module, developed by Maxar, will be responsible for the attitude control and power source of the future space station. The living quarters will be the astronauts' initial living quarters, and we can also regard this cabin as a control cabin, which means that future astronauts can control the environment of the whole space station here, such as temperature, pressure, communication, power distribution among modules, etc. The module was developed by Northrop Grumman.

In the future, these two initial modules are not the whole of the space station. In the future, the pressurized space of the entire lunar orbit space station will reach 1.25 cubic meters, and only two modules are not enough to undertake the task of deep space science outpost. So, in addition to the initial module, let's look at other modules, which are all in Europe's charge. It is hard to imagine that humans really built a space station in the orbit of another celestial body.

At the two-day ministerial meeting held in Seville, Spain, the member States of the European Space Agency approved a funding plan of nearly 654.38+025 billion euros to help promote the development of European space exploration technology in the future. David parker, director of exploration of the European Space Agency, said: "About 25% of the exploration budget will be used for lunar activities, including providing iHAB and ESPRIT modules for the lunar orbiting space station, lunar robot missions and providing European service modules for NASA's Orion spacecraft." In fact, COMEX signed a cooperation agreement with Airbus on 20 18 and 10/24 October to develop the ESPRIT module, which is the European module structure of the future lunar orbit space station. The iHAB module of the international residence module will be another residence module jointly built by the European Space Agency and the Japan Space Agency. Together with the residential cargo module, iHAB will provide a habitable volume of 65,438+0.25 cubic meters for the lunar orbit space station.

For the space station, the booster cabin and the energy cabin that provide power are not all. The lunar orbiting space station also needs other structures to support the mission of its deep space outpost science station. In order to better help the space station dock or repair the spacecraft, the International Space Station needs other structures, and the modular manipulator is a good choice. The manipulator plays an important role in the daily operation, maintenance and docking of the space station. The lunar orbiting space station will also have an important mechanical arm structure, which is the intelligent mechanical arm system Canadarm3. Compared with Canadarm2 on the International Space Station, Canadarm3 uses more advanced artificial intelligence software, which can complete some repair tasks without the manual intervention of astronauts.

Compared with the 400-kilometer Earth-orbiting International Space Station, the Lunar Orbiting Space Station is much farther away. Nasa plans to run the lunar orbiting space station in a nearly linear halo orbit. If operated here, the lunar orbiting space station is about 1500 km away from the lunar surface, and the farthest orbit can reach 70,000 km. The director of NASA said: "It takes six days for this orbit to go around the moon. The near-linear halo orbit can make the space station orbiting the moon always run outside the shadow of the moon and will not affect the communication with the earth. "

In addition, the lunar orbit space station can support up to four astronauts to work here at a time, and astronauts have a lot to do in the space station. For example, they can control the detectors on the surface of the moon, which are not on the earth, so there is almost no delay. Astronauts in the lunar orbit space station still need to carry out a lot of scientific experiments. At this time, doctors and mission planners will carefully observe the astronauts' living conditions in the deep space environment and what will happen to the astronauts' psychology and physiology. However, in the early days, the lunar orbit space station may be uninhabited most of the time.

In the next decade, the field of space exploration will undergo earth-shaking changes. It is in this decade that it is possible for human beings to land on Mars and live on Mars for a long time, and all this needs the help of the sustainable ecology of the moon. Astronauts can build residential areas on the surface of the moon, and use the soil on the surface of the moon and 3D printing technology to build some houses with radiation protection and temperature control systems. Looking to the future, the space station around the moon may be the first lunar space station, but it must not be the last. We need to look at the future space exploration technology from a longer-term perspective. The future is expected. I'm a little excited to think that humans will go to Mars in the future. This will be a great event in this century.