Speculative - cislunar transport infrastructure, 2054

Ok, time for Plan B:

We build an Orion, go out to Saturn, and grab a big chunk of ice from the rings. Say about 10 million tonnes. Attach a LH2/LOX plant to it. Put it on a slow transfer orbit back to Earth. Some of the on-route production can be used for course correction. Have Orion meet it a few years later, and brake it into LEO. Unless you feel like a 100 Megaton gamble with aerobraking.

Use the LH2/LOX for chemical or LH2 NTR, or just use water NTR. Simple!

One big Orion could act as the workhorse of the Solar System, making all these clean(er) technologies more effective.

How about using Saturn's moon Tethys.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moon ... ?pageID=15
It is almost pure water and has low gravity (1/60 Earth's). A fission reactor could split the water into LOX and LH2 to fuel the transport which would bring the ice back to LEO. I bet it is comparatively easy to liquefy hydrogen if you start at the temperatures common that far from the Sun, and the oxygen might liquefy all by itself if you just left it to cool, maybe behind a shade.
Wow, we have gone from cislunar transport to Mars to Saturn in only 6 pages!

Yeah, it was easy! Why has it taken NASA so long jut to get the ISS to LEO?

Realistically, to have a large scale cislunar or martian transport system, we all agree that substantial amounts of water, its constituent H2 & O2, and other materials will be needed in LEO and other places.

Absent a space elevator, the only cost efficient method of putting these resources in place will involve some sort of nuclear technology for production and/or distribution in space. Other methods are possible but debilitating expensive.

NASA seems to be shying away from the nuclear idea, sweeping Prometheus under the rug. Recent Centennial Challenge proposals suggest they want to build stock piles in LEO using Earth resources launched by conventional means.

Orion was to place 1000 tons in orbit Sea Dragon (non-nuclear) could have placed 550 tons in LEO.

A much better option.

Somehow, I feel obligated to point out here that publius is actually promoting the use of a smaller rocket.... Just in case y'all missed that.

Yeah--I need a spanking--what was I thinking.

AMLLV would have carried 3.2--3.5 million pounds to orbit--about the same or more as Orion.

I don't know this moment if it has been mentioned in this thread already but came across it reading a Blog-article under www.space.com yesterday which I avoid to refer to but provides a link to the company AdAstra and has been quoted by an artciel on the News-page of this board.

Might the developments done by AdAstra and now agreed on with a british company lead to the cislunar infratsructure this thread is about?

Under www.adastrarocket.com/ they say that .

They explicitly list as application.

Later they add that .

I didn't do no calculations yet - so what about applying towards the Moon?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)

Since the title of this thread mentions the year 2054 an plasma drives are under development already I in between think that a cislunar infrastructure based on plasma drives can be there much earlier.

This would come true in particular if prototypes of interplanetary vehicles applying plasma drives would be tested by travels to the Moon including landings.



What about it?



Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist)