[X] My Assistant

[RedSky]

The latest entry for the CEV is out, and it includes a *Mars-Ready* configuration.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/te...3_cev_nasa.html

Seems a bit skimpy for such a mission.

Compare that with Von Braun's 1969 detailed Mars mission plan... to have had multiple missions throughout the 1980's. All the hardware was already under development (I remember seeing articles on test firing the NERVA rocket engine in the mid 60's). Only the MEM (Mars Excursion Module) would have to be developed new. It included a convoy of two ships travelling in tandem... (complete redundency) plus multiple surface sample-return probes in addition to the two manned landers.

http://www.astronautix.com/craft/vonn1969.htm

As a Narn once said... "the future isn't what it used to be".

Redsky

[RedSky]

Yes, Lyford....

It did remind me of a real DynaSoar... (pun intended).


RedSky

P.S. its also somewhat similar to Russia's new proposed Kliper lifting body based
Soyuz replacement., but with wings.

[dvandorn]

It's sort of interesting to see a 21st century replay of the "mode decision" taking place today.

The tSpace proposal looks an awful lot like the various EOR proposals that were being developed in the early 60s. Although I don't see how their S1 vehicle is supposed to enter Earth's atmosphere -- the crew configuration makes it look like it would enter belly-in or back-in, and it doesn't look like it has a significant TPS in either area. (tSpace *does* know that, for example, SS1 didn't have to deal with the levels of heating you get coming back from orbit, right...? And that you really *do* need a real TPS for the job?)

The tSpace operational proposal also sounds a lot like a diagram I once saw -- "To The Moon with Saturn I's or Bust!" It imagined an LOR-type Apollo mission flown entirely on multiple Saturn I configurations, with something like six to eight flights to deliver the actual spacecraft into LEO and 12 to 16 flights to deliver TLI and TEI fuel.

The Lock-Mart proposal looks nice, but I seriously question the need to carry wings and an airframe all the way to the Moon or Mars, when you're not going to use them until the very end of the mission. It seems silly to make the lunar and planetary versions of the vehicle bear the weight of a design that only really makes sense for a ground-to-LEO shuttle.

But, back to the mode decision -- the Lock-Mart version looks more like an EOR/LOR blend in its lunar configuration -- they're obviously not going to land that kewl-looking Hermes-like vehicle, with its heavy wings, on the Moon. In EOR mode, they'll put together the base CEV, a TLI stage, a landing module and a TEI stage via multiple launches to LEO. After this whole thing is assembled, they'll proceed with a classic LOR-style landing mission.

Another question about the Lock-Mart concept -- with a thin-shell titanium airframe, what do they plan to do for solar flare protection? They've discovereed that just putting the back end towards the sun doesn't really protect you, you need shielding all around you during such events... and it doesn't look like the Lock-Mart vehicle could easily accomodate a shielded area for the crew.

-the other Doug