Description:

To explore strange new worlds, and to live on this one, humans must characterize the environment into which they will live and travel, and must provide conditions in which they can thrive. Currently NASA/ESA/JAXA/CSA plan to establish in orbit around the Moon, a space station called Gateway, no earlier than 2025. Initially with no crew, Gateway will have instruments on board to monitor the radiation environment and gather data about the solar wind and space weather. Interestingly, Gateway will spend about 20% of its orbit inside Earth’s magnetotail, helping to answer questions about how that environment reacts to solar drivers. Combined together, data from Gateway instrumentation will help provide security for the human explorers who will spend time on board that space station. Also planned for 2025 is a human return to the lunar surface. While on the surface of the Moon and while in transit between Earth and Moon, astronauts will face conditions that will be similar to those between Earth and Mars, albeit on a shorter time scale. As we plan for future missions to the Moon and Mars, understanding the impacts of space weather on humans and their technology requires understanding the environment, how it changes with solar cycle (2025 is a possible date for solar maximum), and a plan for safe operations.