Posted on 12/30/2015 4:20:32 PM PST by BenLurkin
An omnibus spending bill passed by Congress this month directs NASA to accelerate work on a habitation module that could be used for future deep space missions, although how NASA will implement that direction is unclear.
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"NASA shall develop a prototype deep space habitation module within the advanced exploration systems program no later than 2018,"
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Over the last several months, NASA has increasingly emphasized development of a habitation module that could be tested in cislunar space in the 2020s. That module could then be used for human missions to Mars that NASA hopes to carry out some time in the 2030s. Scimemi said he envisions testing out the habitation module and other key technologies in a year-long “shakedown cruise†in cislunar space by the late 2020s, demonstrating that they are able to support a long-duration human Mars mission.
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NASA has resisted providing details about how it will develop that habitation module, or even its requirements....
The agency has instead funded several industry studies of habitation module concepts. Under its Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships, or NextSTEP, program, NASA awarded study contracts in March to Bigelow Aerospace, Boeing, Lockheed Martin and Orbital ATK to study habitat designs. It also awarded contracts to Dynetics, Hamilton Sundstrand and Orbital Technologies Corp. for specific module technologies, such as life support systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at spacenews.com ...
I still think the Bigelow inflatables are the way to go.
Got to pay back all those contractors, who’s lobbyists filled those Congressional re-election campaign coffers.
Mars or bust.
When completed it will be given to the Muslims, per Obama’s orders, to become the first Mosque in space.
Lots of advantages with the B330 with simplicity being a big one. Superior ballistic and radiation shielding plus considerably larger space.
http://bigelowaerospace.com/b330/
Just exactly what is cislunar space?
Was wondering that myself.
I think it’s kinda like Cisapline Gaul
Circum lunar space - not on the moon but near it. “Cislunar space (alternatively, cis-lunar space) is the volume within the Moon’s orbit, or a sphere formed by rotating that orbit.”
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