CLLARE Proposal/Single Craft
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[edit] Proposal Name
The name of this CLLARE Proposal is "Single Craft".
[edit] Brief Summary
This proposal is characterised by replacing the "standard" division of a lunar landing mission into two spacecraft (one for travel from LEO to lunar orbit, another for travel from lunar orbit to the lunar surface - as seen in Apollo and the Soviet manned moon landing projects) with a "single craft" system, in which a single spacecraft is inhabited all the way from LEO to the lunar surface. Various subsystems attached to the craft associated with lunar landing (such as landing legs and engines) are discarded as soon as possible in the flight plan. The proposal differs from a classic Direct Ascent lunar landing, however, in that the propulsive hardware used to return from lunar orbit to the Earth is not carried down to the lunar surface and then back up. Instead, this hardware remains in orbit, and is docked with by the inhabited craft after lunar ascent, just like a classic Lunar Orbit Rendezvous landing. The general gist of the proposal can be taken in by imagining a variant of the Apollo missions in which the Command Module is completely removed, the Lunar Module docks directly to the Service Module, and the ascent stage of the LM is inhabited throughout the entire flight.
[edit] Core Hardware Items
- Command Module (CM)
- Propulsion Module
[edit] Basic Flight Plan
Launch vehicle: SpaceX Falcon 9
Flight profile: Lunar Orbit Rendezvous (LOR)
Reentry mechanism: Ablative heat shielding of reentry vehicle and parachute or ballute deceleration.
Short description: Use this space to briefly (one paragraph) summarise the flight plan.
Abort options: Use this space to outline the proposal's possible abort options at every stage of the flight plan.
[edit] Basic Feasibility Analysis
Use this space to provide a basic feasibility analysis for the proposal. The analysis must include realistic mass estimates for the Core Hardware Items, realistic delta v estimates for all major propulsive maneuvers, and an application of the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation to show that the total, fueled mass of the hardware is within the maximum payload limits of the proposed launch vehicle, using a figure for specific impulse which is a realistic estimate for the proposed propellants.
If the analysis is long and tedious or has been achieved using, e.g, a spreadsheet file, then a link may be placed in this space to a separate Wiki page or an external file containing the analysis.
[edit] Selling Points
- Use of a single craft removes a lot of hardware duplication: no need for two life support systems, two communication systems, two navigation systems, etc.
- Use of a single craft removes the need for transfer from orbital craft to landing craft, which either eliminates a massive transfer tunnel and airlock structure or eliminates a potentially risky EVA.
[edit] Major Challenges or Obstacles
- The single inhabited craft must be designed to survive both the environment of deep space and the lunar surface, which are different, especially from a thermal control perspective.
- Lunar dust on EVA suit is carried into the craft which will be inhabited all the way back to Earth.
[edit] Supporting Material
An arbitrary amount of material relevant to making the case for the proposal may be included in this space.
