Posted on 10/03/2008 5:37:46 PM PDT by jmcenanly
Space Exploration Technologies has proposed to NASA a robotic cargo lunar lander service that would be priced at $80 million per mission.
SpaceX proposed the lander at a meeting with the US space agency because it is a member of Odyssey Space Research's team for NASA's Altair project office lander evaluation study that began in March. The SpaceX lander would deliver 1,000kg (2,200lb) to the Moon's surface in support of NASA's Altair missions. The unmanned Altair cargo version could deliver 14,000kg to the Moon.
The SpaceX lander is launched by the company's heavy version of its Falcon 9 rocket. The standard version will make its maiden flight in 2009 with a first stage powered by nine Merlin 1C engines. The heavy version would use 27 engines with two Falcon 9 first stages as strap-on boosters.
SpaceX senior mission manager Max Vozoff says: "We presented to the Altair team the idea of a $500 million lunar lander COTS [Commercial Orbital Transportation Services] competition that could bring about vehicles with cargo capabilities of 1,000-3,000kg."
SpaceX is competing in COTS to develop a resupply capability for the International Space Station. NASA's commercial crew and cargo office has examined options for the extension of procurement beyond ISS resupply to lunar services. The options include lunar navigation and communications, sample return and "micro-landers".
Separately, SpaceX achieved a successful orbital launch of its Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Atoll on 29 September. Three earlier launch attempts failed to reach orbit.
Chief executive Elon Musk says preliminary data indicates that Falcon 1 achieved an elliptical orbit of 500 x 700km (310 x 435 miles), 9.2° inclination, exactly as targeted.
Falcon 1 carried into orbit a dummy payload of around 165kg to simulate the mass of the US government satellites lost on 2 August, when the third launch ended in a stage separation failure.
SpaceX has said that a launch success would be followed by a NASA lobbying push to secure funding for crew transport capabilities under COTS.
Falcon 9 is scheduled to fly first Q of 2009. Here’s hoping they succeed!
Ping!
I think it’s awesome, and (unless I’m mistaken) a good idea compared to using the Ruskies.
Bravo!
Payload to earth orbit is the first major milestone for commercial space transport....then comes.
Manned orbital
Payload to the moon
Payload to moon and return
Manned mission to the moon and return
Mars payload mission
Mars payload and return
Manned mission to mars and return
More than anything else, future operations on the Moon should be done by first sending a robotic horizontal tunnel borer.
Most likely nuclear powered, it would not be fast, just an inch or two a day, cutting through rock, inserting reinforcing rod, and spraying sealant against cracks. By creating a tunnel habitation, we get all kinds of benefits.
To start with, lots of living space instead of living and working in a cramped Earth made habitat. Second, far less cosmic and surface radiation, heat and cold, vacuum and the extremely abrasive Lunar dust.
Third, since the robot is on a one-way mission, its lander can be designed and cannibalized for use as pressure doors, structural supports, ceiling, walls and flooring, any extra fuel on board, etc. The tunnel might even be pressure tested before humans leave Earth.
And once the tunnel is dug, it can either keep digging, or its nuclear engine can be used for electricity, and to purify water from Lunar ice.
The best part is that it can work before humans arrive, while they are there, and after they are gone. Slow and methodical. Just an inch a day is more than 30 feet in a year.
I’m a Musk supporter, but he needs a few more successful launches before he expects the government to whip out a checkbook, no matter what the price.
I wish him great success, but he needs to target other customers besides the government, if he wants to avoid getting screwed by the strings that always come with taking government money.
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