Defining the Vision

A blueprint for the plan to take humans back to the moon then on to Mars and other destinations has taken shape, building on the best of Apollo and Shuttle technology and outlining a 21st century space flight system that will be safe, affordable, reliable and versatile.

In September, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin released the results of the agency’s new exploration architecture study, which made specific design recommendations for a vehicle to carry crews into space, a family of launch vehicles to take crews to the moon and beyond, and a “lunar mission architecture” for landing on the moon.

“The plan provides considerable new detail for the way ahead,” said USA President and Chief Executive Officer Mike McCulley. “In looking at the architecture, there are some clear opportunities for USA to play a central role as operators of the new systems. We’ll need to work closely with NASA and other industry partners to move forward and make the Vision for Space Exploration a reality.”

The centerpiece of the architecture is a new spacecraft designed to carry four astronauts to and from the moon, support up to six crewmembers on future missions to Mars, and deliver crew and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS).

The new crew vehicle will be shaped like an Apollo capsule, but it will be three times larger, allowing four astronauts to travel to the moon at a time.

According to NASA’s plan, the new spacecraft will have solar panels to provide power, while both the capsule and the lunar lander will use liquid methane in their engines. Methane was the propellant chosen so that as astronauts journey outward to Mars, they will be able to convert Martian atmospheric resources into fuel.

The new spacecraft will be designed to be reusable up to 10 flights. Plans are for the craft to re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and parachute to dry land so that it can be recovered. A backup option would be for it to splash down in the ocean. Once recovered, the heat shield would be replaced, and the vehicle would be ready for launch again.

Coupled with the new lunar lander, the system sends twice as many astronauts to the surface as Apollo and allows them to stay longer. And while Apollo was limited to landings along the moon’s equator, the new vehicle carries enough propellant to land anywhere on the moon’s surface.

The launch system that will get the crew off the ground builds on existing Space Shuttle propulsion elements. Astronauts will launch on a rocket made up of a single Shuttle Solid Rocket Booster (SRB), with a second stage powered by a Shuttle main engine.

“USA has unmatched experience working with the SRBs and main engines,” McCulley said. “I’m confident that experience will be critical to bringing the Crew Launch Vehicle online.”

A second, heavy-lift system uses a pair of longer SRBs and five Shuttle main engines to put up to 125 metric tons in orbit – about one and a half times the weight of a Shuttle Orbiter. This system will be used to carry cargo and to put the components needed to go to the moon and Mars into orbit.

According to the plan, the new vehicle will begin to ferry crew and supplies to the ISS in just five years with as many as six trips to the ISS per year.

While the new spacecraft is being developed, robotic missions to the moon are planned to lay the groundwork for the future human exploration.

When humans do return to the moon – currently targeted for 2018 – the mission will begin with the launch of a heavy-lift rocket, carrying a lunar lander and a “departure stage” needed to leave Earth’s orbit. The crew will launch separately, dock their capsule with the lander and departure stage, and then head for the moon.

After a three-day transit, the spacecraft will go into lunar orbit. When it is time to travel to the moon’s surface, the crew will climb into the lander and leave the capsule to wait for them in orbit.

At the end of a seven-day mission on the surface, the crew will blast off in a portion of the lander, dock with the capsule and travel back to Earth.

With a minimum of two lunar missions per year, momentum will build quickly toward a permanent outpost, according to the architecture study. Crews will stay longer and learn to exploit the moon’s resources, while landers make one-way trips to deliver cargo. Eventually, the new system could rotate crews to and from a lunar outpost every six months.

Planners are already looking at the south pole of the moon as a candidate for an outpost because of concentrations of hydrogen thought to be in the form of water ice and an abundance of sunlight to provide power.

The work on the moon will provide the groundwork for trips to Mars. By that time, the heavy-lift system needed to get there, as well as a crew and propulsion systems that can make use of Martian resources, will be in place. Additionally, the lunar outposts will provide much needed experience for remote space operations.

“Since the Vision was originally announced almost two years ago, there has been a lot of speculation about how we, as a nation, were going to accomplish it,” McCulley said. “Now, we have a plan and a roadmap. It’s a very exciting plan, but it will take the effort of a lot of people to get it done.

“As NASA has said, this won’t be your grandfather’s moon shot.”

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