"Cislunar" refers to the space or region between the Earth and the Moon. It describes the area where all the space missions to the Moon take place.
Full definition
NASA's Deep Space Gateway would serve as an international hub in orbit around the Moon; available to partner agencies from around the world as well as commercial ventures active in
cislunar space.
The MBC space station would consist of multiple separate components, some of which would be launched straight from Earth, while others might undergo some construction
in cislunar space.
But first Congress wants a station or infrastructure in Lunar orbit to support / enhance Orion
cislunar operations.
Greg Williams, NASA's deputy associate administrator for policy and plans in the human exploration and operations division, discussed the agency's
cislunar plans at the 2017 Humans to Mars Summit in Washington, D.C.
The Cislunar Explorers —
cislunar means «between the Earth and the moon» — are in phase 3 of the four - phase Ground Tournament portion of the Cube Quest Challenge, sponsored by NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate Centennial Challenge Program.
Four years later, a manned Orion spacecraft is scheduled to approach and dock with the previously captured asteroid in
cislunar space, as part of EM - 2.
The timeline shown on the company's website has little time for activities
in cislunar space.
Furthermore, access to
cislunar operations will be significantly cheaper with commercial vehicles compared to Orion / SLS.
To prepare for our future in low - Earth orbit,
cislunar space, on the Moon, and on Mars, we need to foster a diverse pool of qualified, enthusiastic young people who are inspired to further the off - Earth dream.
In the «Proving Ground» stage that follows, the space agency will not only conduct experiments and operations in
the cislunar space — the space around the moon — it will also develop and test technologies required for human exploration of Mars.
Breaking News: A public debate on the merits of NASA's plan for
a cislunar space station will be held at the 2017 International Mars Society Convention this September at the University of California Irvine.
The core of the VSE was to add the Moon and
cislunar space to our existing economic sphere of influence.
Phase 1 is scheduled to be carried out between 2018 and 2026, and would include four crewed flights to
cislunar space to deliver four key pieces of infrastructure: a power and propulsion bus, a crew habitat, a logistics module (for science research) and an airlock for other visiting vehicles.
Williams said NASA would like to see some of its vehicles not only occupy a single orbit around the moon, but make trips to various locations in
cislunar space.)
Phase 2, which would begin in 2027, would start with an uncrewed mission to deliver the Deep Space Transport vehicle to
cislunar space, followed by a flight to deliver the one - year crew to thefacility.
Currently, the lunar stages of the plan to get humans to Mars rely heavily on NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket to send the necessary payloads and crews to
cislunar space.
«If we could conduct a yearlong crewed mission on this Deep Space Transport in
cislunar space, we believe we will know enough that we could then send this thing, crewed, on a 1,000 - day mission to the Mars system and back,» Williams said.