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Speculative - cislunar transport infrastructure, 2054
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Space Station Member ![]() ![]()
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:12 am
Posts: 321 Location: Melbourne, Australia ![]() |
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. |
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Moon Mission Member ![]() ![]()
Joined: Tue Oct 05, 2004 5:38 pm
Posts: 1361 Location: Austin, Texas ![]() |
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! |
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Space Station Member ![]() ![]()
Joined: Wed Nov 10, 2004 6:12 am
Posts: 321 Location: Melbourne, Australia ![]() |
campbelp2002 wrote: 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. |
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Space Station Commander ![]() ![]()
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:25 am
Posts: 891 ![]() |
Orion was to place 1000 tons in orbit Sea Dragon (non-nuclear) could have placed 550 tons in LEO.
A much better option. |
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Moon Mission Member ![]() ![]()
Joined: Tue Feb 10, 2004 2:56 am
Posts: 1104 Location: Georgia Tech, Atlanta, GA ![]() |
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.
_________________ American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering In Memoriam... Apollo I - Soyuz I - Soyuz XI - STS-51L - STS-107 |
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Space Station Commander ![]() ![]()
Joined: Wed Mar 09, 2005 1:25 am
Posts: 891 ![]() |
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. |
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Moderator ![]() ![]()
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:23 am
Posts: 3745 Location: Hamburg, Germany ![]() |
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 Quote: Plasma rockets such as VASIMR enable a very high specific impulse (greater than 10,000 seconds.) For these missions VASIMR will operate with hydrogen or deuterium propellant, both are abundant throughout the known universe. They explicitly list Quote: 2) lunar cargo Later they add that Quote: For humans to travel safely to Mars and beyond, it will be important to make the trip as quickly as possible and thereby reduce the crew's exposure to weightlessness and space radiation. With today's chemical rockets, a round-trip to Mars would take over two years, with much of that time spent waiting for the right planetary alignment to return. More rapid transits are possible with a VASIMR propulsion system powered by a nuclear-electric generator. With 12 megawatts of electrical power, a ship could reach Mars in less than four months and with 200 megawatts of power the outbound trip could be as short as 39 days. I didn't do no calculations yet - so what about applying towards the Moon? Dipl.-Volkswirt (bdvb) Augustin (Political Economist) |
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Moderator ![]() ![]()
Joined: Thu Jun 03, 2004 11:23 am
Posts: 3745 Location: Hamburg, Germany ![]() |
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) |
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