Hi,

I just got done reading one of your posts from shortly after Obama announced his new plan. I understand Constellation’s problems and so agree with you that it needed to be replaced with a better plan. But if water ice from the Moon could be returned to LEO (lower earth orbit), then this would completely open up the solar system. Constellation wasn’t going to do this but neither will Obama’s plan. But I think that there is a way to achieve this while still achieving the inspiring first act of sending humans to an asteroid. The key is to not send humans to the moon (initially) but to develop and bring back lunar resources using only medium-lift rockets and telerobotics.

What I am talking about here can be called “sustainable space development”. This means developing in-space resources and so reduce the cost of fuel in LEO thereby reducing the quantity of mass you need to get to LEO and from LEO to everywhere else.

The new plan should heavily emphasize extending the COTS/CRS/CCT concept to beyond LEO. It is a concept that seems to be working; seems to keep development costs down; and seems to have resulted in a commercial rocket that beat the Ares I to orbit even though they had less money to work with. If this approach is already showing early success, why not expand it beyond LEO in those areas where there are potential markets to be developed. Why should commercial space development only get less than 2% of NASAs budget? The budget should reflect a greater balance especially when it comes to sustainable development which can facilitate the other goals. I think that the amount should be about 15% of the budget. Initially, these funds should be drawn from the heavy lift vehicle (HLV) development and operations. After lunar water ice is being brought to LEO then we can examine whether an expensive HLV is needed after all.

Regarding robots, robonauts can repair other robots and set up a worksite. The way that I see it is that teleoperated robots will precede a human return to the Moon because they can launch on smaller craft, can go on one way trips, require less massive life support, can survive better when exposed to the elements, and their “deaths” don’t launch multi-year investigations. They set up power and ISRU (in-situ resource utilization) systems, start basic mining operations, prepare habitats, and maybe prepare (sinter?) landing sites. They do most of the industrial labor but also prepare the things for a low-mass delivery of humans. We still eventually need humans in commercial operations if only for hotels. I would add that establishing a self-sustaining manned base should be an important goal recognizing that we’ll likely see the development of self-replicating and accelerating technology in a number of fields by about mid-century.

I would like to suggest that there may be a way of returning to the Moon for far, far less cost than Apollo. A rendez-vous of two Falcon 9 Heavy LEO payloads would mass to about 64,000 kg. I believe that this would allow the delivery of about 3,000 to 5,000 kg to the lunar surface. With a proper plan, we could funnel any number of things to the lunar surface with this mass of payload. Project M shows a robonaut being delivered to the lunar surface on something that looks to be within this range. Solar panels would fit as would modest-sized regolith extractors, ISRU equipment, and small earth movers. None of these things would need to come with an ascender and fuel. If fuel could be extracted from the lunar water ice or regolith in quantities sufficient to provide enough fuel for ascension then this would mean that fuel wouldn’t need to be delivered to the lunar surface. At that point, I believe, one could begin to return lunar resources to the Earth or to LEO using aerocapture.

Obama’s plan for a manned mission to an asteroid could still continue. The Orion capsule is far less massive than the Altair lunar lander and so the amount of fuel needed for earth departure should not require a HLV. A couple of Falcon 9 Heavies should be able to provide enough fuel.

Thanks for your time and I hope to hear back from you,

John

NASA describes STS-132 insignia as follows: “The crew patch features Atlantis flying off into the sunset as the end of the Space Shuttle Program approaches. However the sun also is heralding the promise of a new day as it rises for the first time on a new space station module, the MRM-1.”

Atlantis will deliver one of the last Russian components to the station, MRM-1 (Mini Research Module 1, also known as Rassvet). It will provide yet another docking port for the Russian Soyuz and Progress spacecraft. As the Space Shuttles retire, the station will only be accessible via Soyuz capsules. A radiator, and airlock and a European robotic arm will be attached to Rassvet’s exterior. The new module’s refueling system will also enable docked Progess cargo vehicles to transfer their fuel to the Zarya module’s tank.

The crew is exclusively composed of veterans. Commander Kenneth T. Ham explains “Probably one of our biggest saving graces is that we don’t have any rookies on our crew. They’ve all flown before. In fact, [mission specialist] Piers Sellers has flown twice before. So that’s a lot of experience. They’ve been through this whole training flow before and when it comes down to our compressed schedule it makes it really easy for me to make positive argument deals, if you will, with the training side saying, ‘Hey, we don’t need to do this particular training here. We’ve all flown before,’ and typically I’ll be allowed to win those arguments.”

Three spacewalks are planned to be acheived by Garrett Reisman, Steve Bowen, and Michael Good (each performing twice). They will attach spare parts outside the station (including six spare batteries, a microwave antenna and spare parts for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm). “We have to get the MRM1 out of the payload bay with the [European] robotic arm and get it installed,” Michael Good explains. ” We have a lot of transfer to do so it’s just going to be a busy time and I think that’ll add to the complexity of each of the tasks that we don’t have as much time when we’re up there on station”

If the weather is clear, Atlantis will take off from pad 39A on 14 May,18:20 UTC / 2:20 p.m. EDT.

When asked how he thought the space shuttle was going to be remembered in the future, Piers Sellers answered “[The Space] Shuttle has some delicacies, as you know, but it’s been a very successful vehicle and has done an awful lot for the U.S. space program – built the station basically – and I think that’s what’ll go down in history, that it built space station.”

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If you liked this, don’t forget to watch Ron Howard’s breathtaking “Apollo 13″ starring Tom Hanks. Happy anniversary, Apollo 13!

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