Re: Man-Rating Atlas V

Will,
Which is probably adequate for a LEO ferry, but not for the CEV, which
has an explicit requirement of being roomy enough for the longer lunar
mission and having enough delta-v to come back from lunar orbit.

Of course, the particular architecture ESAS settled on was far from the

only way of skinning the cat. For instance, for the ~30klb CEV weight
under discussion, you could launch one capsule, one Bigelow Sundancer
module, and one LOX/Kero or LOX/Methane propulsion module capable of
providing the delta-V.

The whole "roomy enough" argument I think is rather silly. Building or
buying a separate mission module with sleeping, eating, and bathroom
facilities for long-term missions, and then docking it with the crew
transport
would make a lot more sense.

As for the delta-V....on-orbit refueling would allow you to build a
lunar
transfer vehicle that didn't have to pansy out and make the LSAM and
CEV do most of its job.

~Jon

.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: Man-Rating Atlas V
    ... mission and having enough delta-v to come back from lunar orbit. ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Google/X-Prize Moon Contest
    ... and beam back a gigabyte of images and video to Earth, ... accomplishing their required mission of orbiting at roughly 100 km). ... lunar orbit, thereby demanding roughly half the overall applied thrust ... what would accomplish a vast amount of moon and Earth science from ...
    (sci.space.policy)
  • Re: Slow Stealth
    ... mission to complete, so the required delta-v might not be so ... there would be a minimum delta-V requirement - almost certainly enough ... worse for Earth than any other target. ... In principle, at least, a mass driver rocket can be pretty ...
    (rec.arts.sf.science)
  • SMART-1s bridge to the future exploration of the Moon (Forwarded)
    ... ESA's SMART-1 moon mission has become a bridge to the future of lunar ... again on the next generation of lunar satellites," says Bernard Foing, ESA ... SMART-1's mission lasted from launch on 27 September 2003, ...
    (sci.space.news)
  • NASA Sets Sights on Lunar Dust Exploration Mission (LADEE)
    ... NASA SETS SIGHTS ON LUNAR DUST EXPLORATION MISSION ...
    (sci.space.news)