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Lunar Mission Medley
MorrisJones
post Sep 16 2009, 10:40 PM
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Hi, this is Morris Jones, a long-time lurker but new poster.
I thought it would be worth exploring a few lunar missions that don't seem to be discussed much at the moment. The exact fate of some of these missions is open to question. Let's see if we can work out what's going on.
International Lunar Network: This was announced with fanfare a few years ago. Little more has been generally discussed. The whole thing seems to be going through committee meetings, with a lot of details unresolved.
LADEE: Is this still on target? There were suggestions two years ago that cost overruns in the Mars Science Laboratory could gobble funds from this and other missions. This was later dismissed. Then MSL grew more hungry, and the subject was open to discussion again.
GRAIL: Not much more talk, but apparently still actively in development.
Luna-Glob: The recent delay in Phobos-Grunt could influence its own launch timetable.
American Student Moon Orbiter: The silence is deafening.
Reports on the status of any of these missions would be appreciated.
Cheers,
Morris
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Drkskywxlt
post Jul 7 2010, 04:55 PM
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Just heard a talk by Brian Morse, APL Program Manager for ILN/Robotic Lunar Lander. Basically the news is this...ILN is awaiting the decision and prioritization of the ongoing Decadal Survey. APL and MSFC are continuing technology development through the robotic lunar lander program. The recent announcement of the (still unfunded) Exploration Precursor Robotic Program could also see a lunar network or ISRU-type lander flying in the next 5 years.

The tall tent pole from a technology standpoint is getting the lander to keep operating and manage it's internal temperature during a 28 day long day/night cycle. So, the answer is some giant/heavy/expensive batteries or ASRGs. The weight of the batteries dictates larger/more expensive launch vehicles. Similarly, launching with ASRGs limits the launch vehicle to an Atlas 5 (the only nuclear-rated launch vehicle). That increases the cost of the mission. The Atlas 5 would actually have the capacity to launch 4 (!) ILN nodes at once. Falcon 9's would launch 2 of the battery powered nodes at once.
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Posts in this topic
- MorrisJones   Lunar Mission Medley   Sep 16 2009, 10:40 PM
- - Phil Stooke   Check out the presentations here: http://lunarsci...   Sep 17 2009, 01:33 AM
- - John Moore   Not to mention Artemis ~ 2010 - 2012 (American) , ...   Sep 17 2009, 03:04 PM
- - Phil Stooke   I understood the German mission was cancelled. Ph...   Sep 17 2009, 03:07 PM
- - MorrisJones   The German LEO orbiter was cancelled, but there ar...   Sep 17 2009, 10:58 PM
- - Phil Stooke   http://themis.ssl.berkeley.edu/news.shtml ...   Sep 17 2009, 11:15 PM
- - MorrisJones   Canonical list of Upcoming Lunar Missions By Morri...   Sep 18 2009, 04:52 AM
- - kanarkusmaximus   Hello, I am another long-time lurker but new poste...   Sep 23 2009, 11:13 PM
- - PhilHorzempa   Artemis Update - It seems that the P1 Artemis l...   Dec 29 2009, 11:22 PM
|- - tedstryk   Here is another good source on this mission http:/...   Dec 30 2009, 05:28 AM
- - Paolo   Article about LADEE in this week's Aviation We...   Jan 17 2010, 04:01 PM
- - Drkskywxlt   Just heard a talk by Brian Morse, APL Program Mana...   Jul 7 2010, 04:55 PM
- - mps   European Space Agency Planning Lunar Mission   Sep 17 2010, 09:21 AM
- - ilbasso   ARTEMIS update - both probes are now orbiting Eart...   Nov 2 2010, 04:19 PM
- - JohnVV   nice vid but what i would like to know is why they...   Nov 3 2010, 09:09 AM
- - gwiz   Anyone know what the current status of the two ART...   Jun 6 2011, 01:11 PM
|- - gwiz   QUOTE (gwiz @ Jun 6 2011, 02:11 PM) Anyon...   Jun 27 2011, 09:15 AM
- - Paolo   the Surveyor 2 Centaur upper stage returns to the ...   Nov 13 2020, 09:30 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Thanks, Paolo. And looking back 9 years to the pr...   Nov 14 2020, 12:11 AM
- - Marz   Lunar Trailblazer is confirmed for final design, s...   Dec 2 2020, 06:45 PM


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