Space Station
Introduction
of NASA
Before the end of the next
decade, NASA astronaut will again gain their way to the surface
of the moon. And this time, we're going to stay, building
outposts and paving the way for eventual journeys to Mars
and beyond. There are echoes of the iconic images of the past,
but it won't be your grandfather's moon shot. This journey
begins soon, with growth of a new flying saucer. Building
on the best of Apollo and shuttle technology, NASA's creating
a 21st century examination system that will be reasonably
priced, reliable, flexible, and protected.
The show piece of this system
is a new spacecraft designed to carry four astronauts to and
from the moon, support up to six crew members on future missions
to Mars, and bring crew and supplies to the International
Space Station.
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. The new spacecraft has solar panels to provide power,
and both the capsule and the lunar Lander use liquid methane
in their engines. Methane is used because NASA is thinking
ahead, preparation for a day when potential astronauts can
convert Martian atmospheric resources into methane fuel.
The
new ship can be reused up to 10 times. After the craft
parachutes to dry land, NASA can easily recover it,
replace the heat shield and launch it again. Coupled
with the new lunar Lander, the system sends twice as
many astronauts to the surface as Apollo, and they can
stay longer, with the initial missions lasting four
to seven days. And while Apollo was limited to landings
along the moon's equator, the new ship carries enough
propellant to land anywhere on the moon's surface.
Once a lunar settlement is established, crews could
remain on the lunar surface for up to six months. The
spacecraft can also operate without a crew in lunar
orbit, eliminating the need for one astronaut to stay
behind while others explore the surface. |
|
Safe
and reliable
the launch system that will
get the crew off the ground builds on powerful, reliable shuttle
propulsion elements. Astronauts will launch on a rocket made
up of a single shuttle solid rocket booster, with a second
stage powered by a shuttle main engine.
A second, heavy-lift system uses a pair of longer solid rocket
boosters 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 versatile system will be used to carry
cargo and to put the components needed to go to the moon and
Mars into orbit. The heavy-lift rocket can be modified to
carry crew as well.
Best of all, these launch systems are 10 times safer than
the shuttle because of an escape rocket on top of the capsule
that can quickly blast the crew away if launch problems develop.
There's also little chance of damage from launch vehicle debris,
since the capsule sits on top of the rocket.
Sketch
In just five years, the new
ship will begin to ferry crew and supplies to the International Space Station.
Plans call for as many as six trips to the outpost a year.
In the meantime, robotic missions will lay the groundwork
for lunar exploration. In 2018, humans will return to the
moon. Here's how a mission would unfold:
A heavy-lift rocket blasts off, carrying a lunar Lander and
a "departure stage" needed to leave Earth's orbit
(below left). The crew launches separately (below, center),
then docks their capsule with the Lander and departure stage
and heads for the moon (below, right). Three days later, the
crew goes into lunar orbit (below, left). The four astronauts
climb into the Lander, leaving the capsule to wait for them
in orbit. After landing an exploring the surface for seven
days, the crew blasts off in a portion of the Lander (below,
center), docks with the capsule and travels back to Earth.
After a de-orbit burn, the service module is jettisoned, exposing
the heat shield for the first time in the mission. The parachutes
deploy, the heat shield is dropped and the capsule sets down
on dry land (below, right).
Into
the Cosmos
With a least amount of two
lunar missions per year, impetus will construct quickly toward
a permanent outpost. Crews will stay longer and be trained
to exploit the moon's resources, while Landers make one way
trips to transport cargo. Eventually, the new system could
go just about crews to and from a lunar settlement every six
months.
Planners are by now looking
at the lunar South Pole as a applicant for an settlement because
of concentrations of hydrogen thought to be in the form of
water ice, and an abundance of sunlight to provide power.
These plans give NASA a huge
head start in getting to Mars. We will already have the heavy-lift
system needed to get there, as well as a versatile crew capsule
and propulsion systems that can make use of Martian resources.
A lunar outpost just three days away from Earth
will give us needed practice of "living off the land"
away from our home planet, before making the longer trek to
Mars. As President Bush said when he announced the Vision
for Space Exploration, "Humans are headed into the cosmos."
Now we know how we'll get there.
|
