NASA Propulsion Strategy Reaches Back While Looking Ahead

The initial propulsion work in support of NASA’s bid to return to the Moon and go on to Mars will focus primarily on adapting space shuttle systems and developing methane-fueled engines, a technology with which the United States has little experience.

The space shuttle main engine and solid rocket boosters are the basis for two new launchers NASA intends to develop, one for lofting an astronaut-carrying capsule known as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), and a heavy lifter for Moon-bound cargo loads. As currently envisioned, the CEV and other elements of the Moon and Mars exploration architecture would rely on engines fueled by a mixture of liquid oxygen and methane, NASA officials said.

Relying on a mix of old and new technology will help NASA limit risks in its propulsion development work, said Steve Cook, deputy director for space transportation at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. Marshall is in charge of developing the rockets NASA will need to return to the Moon by 2018 and go on to Mars.

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n0510/03lunarlander/

NASA's lunar lander development team picked

NASA NEWS RELEASE
Posted: October 3, 2005

NASA's Deputy Associate Administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate Doug Cooke has announced the selection of NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., to lead a team in the development of a lunar lander spacecraft.

The lander is tentatively planned for launch as early as 2010. It will demonstrate the ability for precision landings at targeted locations on the moon; evaluate landing zone environment; and determine if lunar resources can support a sustained human presence.

"This mission will have as a primary objective to determine whether there is water-ice in the permanently dark areas within craters in the moon's polar regions. The existence of water-ice has important implications in living off the land when we return with human explorers," Cooke said. "The lunar lander will test critical automated descent and precision landing capabilities needed for human landings, including surface hazard avoidance during landing. The discoveries from this mission and the data it collects will play a vital role in humans returning to the moon and living there for extended periods," he added.

The Robotic Lunar Exploration Program (RLEP) program is intended to provide a series of robotic missions to support human exploration. The lunar lander spacecraft is the second RLEP mission. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) is the first mission developed under the RLEP. The LRO is being built at Goddard and is scheduled for launch in 2008. The orbiter will carry six instruments that will map and photograph the lunar surface, search for surface ice deposits, and investigate space radiation.

to the south pole in '08

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