04/12/2019 – Ephemeris – The proposed Deep Space Gateway

Ephemeris for Friday, April 12th. Today the Sun will be up for 13 hours and 19 minutes, setting at 8:23, and it will rise tomorrow at 7:02. The Moon, at first quarter today, will set at 3:55 tomorrow morning.

With international cooperation NASA is hoping it and its partners, the European Space Agency, The Japanese JAXA, The Canadian Space Agency and the Russian Roscosmos will a build the Deep Space Gateway, a way station between the Earth and Moon to exchange crews and vehicles traveling between the two bodies. This plan is an integral part of the returning to the Moon by around 2028. The gateway will also be a way station for the eventual exploration of Mars. How President Trump’s new demand to have the United States return to the Moon by the last year of his second term, if he has one, will affect current plans and international cooperation remains to be seen.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Deep Space Gateway configuration concept. This would orbit the moon is a long elliptical orbit. Click on the image to enlarge. Credit: NASA.

05/08/2017 – Ephemeris – Europe and the Chinese are talking about a joint Moon village

Ephemeris for Monday, May 8th.  The Sun rises at 6:22.  It’ll be up for 14 hours and 33 minutes, setting at 8:55.  The Moon, 2 days before full, will set at 6:07 tomorrow morning.

NASA, so far has no plans to return to the Moon to set up a base in preparation to heading out to Mars or an asteroid.  That could change.  The United States has a problem with long-term goals and planning with a change in administration every 4 or 8 years.  The European Space Agency, and the China National Space Administration have no such problem.  And it seems that these two entities are talking about together creating a Moon Village.  The raw resource that they may hope to mine is Helium 3, which can be used in earthly fusion reactors to produce power.  Helium 3 comes via the solar wind from the Sun.  A base could be setup at the south pole of the Moon, which has virtually no axial tilt to receive perpetual sunlight for power and water from eternally shadowed crater bottoms.

The times given are for the Traverse City/Interlochen area of Michigan. They may be different for your location.

Addendum

Artist visualization of a near polar moon base. Credits: ESA/Foster + Partners via Universe Today

I got this story from Universe Today:  https://www.universetoday.com/135270/europe-china-discuss-moonbase-partnership/