- The Lunar Gateway is one of the most immediate and significant opportunities for Canada to “recommit to space..
- Today, in parallel to the expansion of the new economy in Low Earth Orbit, the international community has now confirmed that government space agency explorations will move into “deep space.”
- The first element of this deep space exploration will be the creation of Lunar Orbiting Platform – Gateway, often called the “Deep Space Gateway” or “Gateway”.
- This will be a new space station that will orbit the Moon, extending our engagement into Deep Space. Our current space station is 400km from Earth. This new space station will be 400,000 km from Earth. It will also be a base for lunar surface exploration, a science laboratory, a communications hub and a staging platform to explore deeper space.
- Accompanying this station will be new lunar habitation modules, where astronauts will live on the Moon surface and explore using new lunar rovers and other new scientific instruments.
- This is all planned to happen over the next 5 to 10 years, to be followed by the first human mission to Mars launching 12 to 15 years from now.
Including a commitment to participate in the Gateway as part of the upcoming space strategy would signal to the world that Canada plans to claim its place in the new space economy.