LSAM

Don't know if this has been discussed before, but I noticed some time ago
that the LSAM will be discarded after it performs its duties. What are some
thoughts on a less wasteful approach:

1) An LSAM that travels between lunar orbit and lunar surface in one piece
(reusable),
2) A CEV that goes from ground-to-earth-orbit-and-back ONLY (crew taxi),
3) An Earth/Moon transfer vehicle that ONLY goes between earth orbit and
lunar orbit (reusable; stationed at ISS),
4) A fuel/cargo/resupply transfer vehicle that takes stuff anywhere.

Maybe this is too complicated, but it seems wasteful to me to throw away one
LSAM for each access to the lunar surface.

Jon




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Relevant Pages

  • LSAM
    ... An LSAM that travels between lunar orbit and lunar surface in one piece ... A fuel/cargo/resupply transfer vehicle that takes stuff anywhere. ... LSAM for each access to the lunar surface. ...
    (sci.space.moderated)
  • Re: LSAM
    ... An LSAM that travels between lunar orbit and lunar surface in one ... or it requires a substantial heatshield for single-pass aerobraking. ... but it seems wasteful to me to throw ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: LSAM
    ... An LSAM that travels between lunar orbit and lunar surface in one ... LSAM ascent stage in orbit at the end of a lunar stay. ... Apollo CSM was able to serve as both a lunar vehicle and as a LEO space ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: LSAM
    ... An LSAM that travels between lunar orbit and lunar surface in one ... Since there is an ascent stage in lunar orbit, ... vehicles that are single purpose, or a single vehicle for a few purposes? ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: LSAM
    ... An LSAM that travels between lunar orbit and lunar surface in one piece ... A CEV that also serves as an LSAM. ... to discard hardware, let it be drop tanks or semi-dumb tankers. ...
    (sci.space.policy)