When enough fuel [on moon] is being produced, and the shuttle delivery
system is tested and reliable, our plan calls for building a gas station in
space. The shuttles would deliver ice directly to the orbiting fuel depot,
where it would be processed into fuel and where rockets heading to Mars or
elsewhere could dock to top up.
The depot would have large solar arrays powering an electrolysis
module for melting the ice and then turning the water into
fuel, and large fuel tanks to store what's
made. NASA is already working on most of the technology
needed for a depot like this, including docking and fuel
transfer. We anticipate a working depot could be ready in the early 2030s, just
in time for the first human missions to Mars.
To be most useful and efficient, the depot should be located in a stable
orbit relatively near both the Earth and the moon. The Earth-moon Lagrangian Point 1 (L1)
is a point in space about 85 percent of the way from Earth to the moon, where
the force of Earth's gravity would exactly equal the force of the moon's
gravity pulling in the other direction. It's the perfect pit stop for a
spacecraft on its way to Mars or the outer planets.
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