Make Your Own Constellation Program!

[fredinno]

Premise: The year is 2005. The Shuttle Program will be retired in a year, after the completion of the ISS in 2006 (just pretend). A new program has been proposed to take humans back to the Moon by 2019 (later evolving into a base), and to ferry humans back and forth to and fro Low Earth Orbit (ISS) by 2016.

Rules:

1. Your first LEO mission must take place BEFORE or by 2016.

2. Your first Lunar mission must take place BEFORE or by 2019.

3. You may or may not use existing rockets, however, they must be from the USA.

4. You must NOT use commercial crew or commercial cargo to achieve the aforementioned tasks (aka. no SpaceX).

5. You must develop a BLEO capsule and lunar lander, both capable of carrying 4.

6. You may have separate LEO and BLEO spacecraft.

7. The rocket and its payloads MAY be based off of existing things.

8. KEEP COSTS DOWN!

You may criticize other people's designs, or come up with your own. Enjoy!

Edited July 22, 2015 by fredinno

[HoloYolo]

Err, how do we know what year we are in?

[waterlubber]

Set in-game time to human, I guess? And subtract to start at 2006?

[fredinno]

2005 was the beginning of the real constellation program, so that's the beginning of this, imaginary, program.

[Kryten]

Is this required to be entirely US-made, or does congress allow e.g. russian engines?

[fredinno]

Yes, foreign parts are allowed.

Edited July 22, 2015 by fredinno

[Nothalogh]

Premise: The year is 2005. The Shuttle Program will be retired in a year, after the completion of the ISS in 2006 (just pretend). A new program has been proposed to take humans back to the Moon by 2019 (later evolving into a base), and to ferry humans back and forth to and fro Low Earth Orbit (ISS) by 2016.

Rules:

1. Your first LEO mission must take place BEFORE or by 2016.

2. Your first Lunar mission must take place BEFORE or by 2019.

3. You must develop NEW rockets to achieve the aforementioned tasks (example: No Delta IV Heavy).

4. You must NOT use commercial crew or commercial cargo to achieve the aforementioned tasks (aka. no SpaceX).

5. You must develop a BLEO capsule and lunar lander, both capable of carrying 4.

6. You may have separate LEO and BLEO spacecraft.

7. The rocket and its payloads MAY be based off of existing things.

8. KEEP COSTS DOWN!

You may criticize other people's designs, or come up with your own. Enjoy!

7. The rocket and its payloads MAY be based off of existing things.

Project Orion, and tell the bleeding hearts to take a long walk off a short dock.

To expand upon my proposal:

2005 Secure heavy shipbuilding facilities and divert all US nuclear waste to reprocessing for propulsion unit construction

2006 begin construction of the full scale vehicle, and subscale test vehicles

2007 Proceed with testing and development of the feed system and pusher plate until 2010

2010 Roll development findings into partially completed Vehicle #1

2011 Move Vehicle #1 to Kwajalein for final outfitting and shakedown flight, also begin construction of Vehicles #2 through #10

2012 perform lunar flyby, and delivery of supply depot to lunar orbit

2013 and onward, launch manned flybys of all major solar system bodies from Mercury to Jupiter, landings on Mars by 2015

Any nations that object to the program will be given one option, join and contribute, or be ignored

Edited July 22, 2015 by Nothalogh

[AngelLestat]

2005: I find a good team of 200 specialist, we start with 2 month of brainstorming ideas to make the most cost efficient program.

After 1 month, I notice that the ideas so far are trash, so I ignore them all and I make my own (which it took me 1 month).

Then the team works for 3 extra months refining my ideas and trying to find weak points (which.. let's be honest, they will not find any).

It needs 4 deltaIV heavy launches. (rule number 4 is dumb)

First launch will be for the transfer booster "engine and tank, using methane" (go and back)

Second and Third launch for the 2 inflatable landers, using h2-o2 engine.

Four launch for the transfer capsule + solar panels + side docking ports and extra stuff.

................................lander 1

transfer booster --> truss ports --> capsule

................................lander 2

All using the most lighest materials.

The crew will be composed by 4 females, 2 in each lander (they weight less, they eat less, plus its their turn on the moon)

Light landers = less fuel needed = less transfer booster fuel needed.

-No need for previous LEO missions (boring and pointless), we have vaccum chambers or other way to test it, also.. is not the first time humans go to the space or moon..

Then we spent the next 7 months developing the vehicles and all the cargo. Astronauts starts the trainning.

2006: all new contractors are selected and the construction begins.

December 2007: The mission is launch.

They land and start to make all kind of ISRU experiments.

Then, they play soccer on the moon because is cool. (the moon suits will be these)

After all that, they go back to the earth, and we forget about the moon because is boring.

You may criticize other people's designs, or come up with your own. Enjoy!

Not sure how my dear forum fellows will surprice me with other constellation ideas.. but, it seems that it will be a waste of their time.. because mine will be the best

[fredinno]

"Rule #4 is dumb" I should refrase: You need to come up with YOUR OWN mission plan, and not just say (I'll just commission SpaceX to do it!) because that's being lazy.

- - - Updated - - -

I made the rules to try to make a realistic alternate Constellation Program.

I have a few problems with your plan. What will perform the Lunar injection Burn? Also, 2007 is really fast to plan out something as big as a lunar landing, and actually build everything and do it.

BTW

[ChrisSpace]

I'm gonna go a bit further than a moon landing with this thought experiment.

2005 - Begin new NASA regime.

2005 onwards - Invest heavily in rocket reusability. If this is done the way SpaceX plans to do it, launch costs can go down by a factor of 10.

2008 - Elect a different president so the programme can continue.

2009 - Begin unmanned testing of a 4-crew Command pod system resembling a cross between Orion and Dragonv2 in our timeline.

2010s

2010 - Begin unmanned ISS cargo resupply missions using new Command pod system.

2011 - Perform first manned mission to LEO with 4-crew command pod. Launch MSL with a heavy focus on assessing the environment of mars for human explorers.

2012 - Begin to restart NERVA nuclear thermal propulsion programme. Also begin to research VASIMR and Ion propulsion. MSL arrives at mars.

2013 - Begin testing of Super heavy launch system capable of lifting 150mT to LEO. Begin testing of all the lunar lander's systems.

2014 - Begin regular ISS manned ferrying. Send a lander to the moon to scan for minerals. Also send a small swarm of cubesat-like probes to investigate mineral-rich asteroids.

2015 - Perform manned test of super-heavy launch system, sending a crew of 4 around the moon Apollo-8 style. Get results back from probe swarm and immediately fast-track developing spacecraft for asteroid mining.

2016 - Unmanned test of the lunar lander in LEO. Fast-track nuclear fusion research so the moon's He-3 can be exploited. Finalize design for manned mission to Mars using NERVA propulsion.

2017 - First manned landing on the moon. 4 astronauts spend 7 days on the lunar surface. Begin launching spacecraft to mine mineral-rich Asteroids.

2018 - Second manned mission to the moon. Begin unmanned lunar mining. Launch first module of lunar outpost, landing in an area of overlapping He-3 and Platinum deposits.

2019 - Launch Third mission to the moon. Launch several more outpost modules, including a greenhouse and ISRU unit. Begin making heaps of money off asteroid mining. Politicians are pleased because of this.

2020s

2020 - Launch fourth mission to the moon. Finish lunar outpost. Launch first module of mars spacecraft ARES-1. Launch another large rover at mars to find the best spot for a manned landing.

2021 - Launch several more modules of ARES-1. New rover arrives at Mars. Finish nuclear fusion research programme and begin to shuttle He-3 to Earth.

2022 - Finish buiding and then launch ARES-1, carrying 6 astronauts, 3 americans and 3 non-americans. Make even more money from He-3 in addition to asteroid minerals.

2023 - ARES-1 lands on mars. Begin testing of new 400mT space launch vehicle. Test new high-power fusion-powered VASIMR system on the ISS, boosting it into a higher orbit.

2024 - ARES-1 returns to Earth. ARES-2 begins construction using more advanced systems and a fusion-powered VASIMR. Announce plans to build self-sufficient colonies on the moon and Mars.

2025 - Begin regular shuttling of crews to and from the lunar outpost. Build new gigantic space station in geostationary orbit using 400mT launch vehicle. Launch huge telescope to search for Earth-like planets around nearby stars.

2026 - ARES-2 leaves Earth, carrying 12 astronauts this time. Begin using lunar regolith to construct first Dome Colony on the moon.

2027 - ARES-2 land on Mars.

Not sure where to go from here.

[Kibble]

A: Human-rate the RS-68 rocket engine

B: Develope Orion spacecraft

C: Launch Orion LEO missions on newly human-rated Delta IV Heavy

D: Develope Shuttle-derived rocket inspired by Jupiter DIRECT

The rocket consists of flown 4-segment Shuttle SRBs, Shuttle core stage with 2x RS-68, and 5m DCSS. It can deliver around 30 Mg to Lunar orbit - enough to send Orion on Lunar orbital missions. Eventually begin developement of a lander designed to be inserted onto LLO for rendezvous with Orion. Two launches, rendezvous at Moon for a landing!

[fredinno]

I'm gonna go a bit further than a moon landing with this thought experiment.

2005 - Begin new NASA regime.

2005 onwards - Invest heavily in rocket reusability. If this is done the way SpaceX plans to do it, launch costs can go down by a factor of 10.

2008 - Elect a different president so the programme can continue.

2009 - Begin unmanned testing of a 4-crew Command pod system resembling a cross between Orion and Dragonv2 in our timeline.

2010s

2010 - Begin unmanned ISS cargo resupply missions using new Command pod system.

2011 - Perform first manned mission to LEO with 4-crew command pod. Launch MSL with a heavy focus on assessing the environment of mars for human explorers.

2012 - Begin to restart NERVA nuclear thermal propulsion programme. Also begin to research VASIMR and Ion propulsion. MSL arrives at mars.

2013 - Begin testing of Super heavy launch system capable of lifting 150mT to LEO. Begin testing of all the lunar lander's systems.

2014 - Begin regular ISS manned ferrying. Send a lander to the moon to scan for minerals. Also send a small swarm of cubesat-like probes to investigate mineral-rich asteroids.

2015 - Perform manned test of super-heavy launch system, sending a crew of 4 around the moon Apollo-8 style. Get results back from probe swarm and immediately fast-track developing spacecraft for asteroid mining.

2016 - Unmanned test of the lunar lander in LEO. Fast-track nuclear fusion research so the moon's He-3 can be exploited. Finalize design for manned mission to Mars using NERVA propulsion.

2017 - First manned landing on the moon. 4 astronauts spend 7 days on the lunar surface. Begin launching spacecraft to mine mineral-rich Asteroids.

2018 - Second manned mission to the moon. Begin unmanned lunar mining. Launch first module of lunar outpost, landing in an area of overlapping He-3 and Platinum deposits.

2019 - Launch Third mission to the moon. Launch several more outpost modules, including a greenhouse and ISRU unit. Begin making heaps of money off asteroid mining. Politicians are pleased because of this.

2020s

2020 - Launch fourth mission to the moon. Finish lunar outpost. Launch first module of mars spacecraft ARES-1. Launch another large rover at mars to find the best spot for a manned landing.

2021 - Launch several more modules of ARES-1. New rover arrives at Mars. Finish nuclear fusion research programme and begin to shuttle He-3 to Earth.

2022 - Finish buiding and then launch ARES-1, carrying 6 astronauts, 3 americans and 3 non-americans. Make even more money from He-3 in addition to asteroid minerals.

2023 - ARES-1 lands on mars. Begin testing of new 400mT space launch vehicle. Test new high-power fusion-powered VASIMR system on the ISS, boosting it into a higher orbit.

2024 - ARES-1 returns to Earth. ARES-2 begins construction using more advanced systems and a fusion-powered VASIMR. Announce plans to build self-sufficient colonies on the moon and Mars.

2025 - Begin regular shuttling of crews to and from the lunar outpost. Build new gigantic space station in geostationary orbit using 400mT launch vehicle. Launch huge telescope to search for Earth-like planets around nearby stars.

2026 - ARES-2 leaves Earth, carrying 12 astronauts this time. Begin using lunar regolith to construct first Dome Colony on the moon.

2027 - ARES-2 land on Mars.

Not sure where to go from here.

What rocket is used for LEO Missions? What would the super-heavy launch system look like? 400T launch vehicles are...a little excessive for a mars mission. It's also really ambitious. I like it though.

[UmbralRaptor]

3. You may or may not use existing rockets, however, they must be from the USA.

So no Proton or Ariane-5?

4. You must NOT use commercial crew or commercial cargo to achieve the aforementioned tasks (aka. no SpaceX).

Doesn't this also preclude Boeing (Delta IV) and Lockheed-Martin (Atlas V)?

5. You must develop a BLEO capsule and lunar lander, both capable of carrying 4.

7. The rocket and its payloads MAY be based off of existing things.

8. KEEP COSTS DOWN!

39. (alternate formulation) The three keys to keeping a new manned space program affordable and on schedule:

1) No new launch vehicles.

2) No new launch vehicles.

3) Whatever you do, don't develop any new launch vehicles.

There will be a limit on capsule mass being low enough to fit on a Delta IV heavy. If this is problematic, I'd be flexible on allowing the Atlas V heavy, and Delta IV superheavy (3 CCBs and 3 SRB) configurations, but developing a wholly new launch vehicle is verboten. Ideally something smaller than any of those would be used, and I will violate rule 5 if it is needed to prevent the development of a new launch vehicle.. It's slightly annoying to not be able to get commercial cargo/crew going a few years earlier, but again restricting the launch vehicle options should keep costs down. Orbital assembly will be acceptable, given the increased knowledge that will be gained with the ISS.

I'd rather not get deep into the design, because I am not engineer.

[fredinno]

So no Proton or Ariane-5?

Doesn't this also preclude Boeing (Delta IV) and Lockheed-Martin (Atlas V)?

No Proton or Ariane, I wanted to make this a non-international rocket endevour (hopefully to simplify things a little.) I meant commercial spacecraft (Dragon, CST-100) as they did not exist back then.

There will be a limit on capsule mass being low enough to fit on a Delta IV heavy. If this is problematic, I'd be flexible on allowing the Atlas V heavy, and Delta IV superheavy (3 CCBs and 3 SRB) configurations, but developing a wholly new launch vehicle is verboten. Ideally something smaller than any of those would be used, and I will violate rule 5 if it is needed to prevent the development of a new launch vehicle.. It's slightly annoying to not be able to get commercial cargo/crew going a few years earlier, but again restricting the launch vehicle options should keep costs down. Orbital assembly will be acceptable, given the increased knowledge that will be gained with the ISS.

I'd rather not get deep into the design, because I am not engineer.

BTW, the rules were intended to be guidelines to keep note of while making your plan, and are not in stone.

Edited July 22, 2015 by fredinno

[AngelLestat]

"Rule #4 is dumb" I should refrase: You need to come up with YOUR OWN mission plan, and not just say (I'll just commission SpaceX to do it!) because that's being lazy.

I made the rules to try to make a realistic alternate Constellation Program.

I did it on purpose to show that the nasa way is not the only way...

You dont need to develope a new type of launcher for each new mission you want to do.

You use everything you have at your disposal. Nasa way is the most inefficient and expensive way to do it.

They start to develope things without know their goals, that is a very bad way to do it because they dont know what to include or not. Another big error is start to design the lander, and then design a new launcher capable to carry that lander including the transfer vehicle.. Instead the other way around.

Also they tend to always choose the oldest technology avariable when in fact, they should be leading on the technology edge.

Nasa way = very expesive and time-consuming which ends in program cancellation due lack of funds.

The people also lose interest when programs takes decades to complete.

My way: find the best alternative, focus in that alternative, and do it. Nasa never has a clue in what to focus their energy.

So if you said that any other way that differs from NASA is not realistic, then I am disagree.

I have a few problems with your plan. What will perform the Lunar injection Burn? Also, 2007 is really fast to plan out something as big as a lunar landing, and actually build everything and do it.

As you can notice in my post, my objective was not to be 100% serious. Also I was writing at the same time that I was thinking.

But now that I did the math, it will need some changes..

In fact 3 delta4 heavy will be enoght to put 4 womens in the moon surface with some kind of isru experiments. But they will need some kind of fuel transfer, which is not nice.

If I take into account what is the minimun mass for each vehicle, it gives me that each lander will need at least 5 tons, which 3 tons are fuel, and only take off 1 ton leaving all equipment and legs behind 450 isp.

The transfer capsule will be 4 tons..

engine + tanks + solar panels, truss + docking ports, etc, 8 tons (does not need much thrust 380 isp). It can have stages so it goes back lighter.

If we use 1 delta4 heavy launch to just allow the half of the moon transfer deltav, and then we complete the transfer with an equal booster, then we have 2 extra delta4 heavy launchs to include the transfer vehicle and landers, and we can also increase the landers mass.

[fredinno]

I did it on purpose to show that the nasa way is not the only way...

You dont need to develope a new type of launcher for each new mission you want to do.

You use everything you have at your disposal. Nasa way is the most inefficient and expensive way to do it.

They start to develope things without know their goals, that is a very bad way to do it because they dont know what to include or not. Another big error is start to design the lander, and then design a new launcher capable to carry that lander including the transfer vehicle.. Instead the other way around.

Also they tend to always choose the oldest technology avariable when in fact, they should be leading on the technology edge.

Nasa way = very expesive and time-consuming which ends in program cancellation due lack of funds.

The people also lose interest when programs takes decades to complete.

My way: find the best alternative, focus in that alternative, and do it. Nasa never has a clue in what to focus their energy.

So if you said that any other way that differs from NASA is not realistic, then I am disagree.

Your way is realistic, I just wanted to keep it as an alternate NASA program initially. I then realized hbow dumb that was, and changed the rules to allow commercial launchers. I'm still not allowing commercial spacecraft, as most did not exist in 2005.

As you can notice in my post, my objective was not to be 100% serious. Also I was writing at the same time that I was thinking.

But now that I did the math, it will need some changes..

In fact 3 delta4 heavy will be enoght to put 4 womens in the moon surface with some kind of isru experiments. But they will need some kind of fuel transfer, which is not nice.

If I take into account what is the minimun mass for each vehicle, it gives me that each lander will need at least 5 tons, which 3 tons are fuel, and only take off 1 ton leaving all equipment and legs behind 450 isp.

The transfer capsule will be 4 tons..

engine + tanks + solar panels, truss + docking ports, etc, 8 tons (does not need much thrust 380 isp). It can have stages so it goes back lighter.

If we use 1 delta4 heavy launch to just allow the half of the moon transfer deltav, and then we complete the transfer with an equal booster, then we have 2 extra delta4 heavy launchs to include the transfer vehicle and landers, and we can also increase the landers mass.

Ok.

[Kaos]

First of all I have plenty more ideas what to do and all within the given budget. But I tried to keep it simple in here and reduce the number of developements. Furthermore I have calculated some numbers but leave a lot out here for sake of shortness of description.

Here I use only two rockets, that already existed back then.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_orbital_launchers_families

Name LEO TLI Cost

Delta II 6000kg 1508kg 151M$

Titan 21900kg 8600kg 350M$

Furthermore I use only

space logistic boxes (SLB), an own concept

Nautilus-X ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nautilus-X )

Moon Hopper, an own concept

Lunar space station (LSS), an own concept

Moon communication satellites (I would not call this a concept)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budget_of_NASA

2014 constant dollars. Take 25% of budget for manned space exploration. Allocate a huge reserve for failed starts or miscalculation of costs or bad numbers in converting $ of different sources, so only 15% of the numbers there: So I have a budget of 3000M$ (Million dollar per year).

I will not include transport of astronauts from earth to ISS or back in my planning, as I take only 25% of the budget and do not change more than 6 Astronauts per year at the ISS.

Each SLB is a cube with a sidelength of 1.5m. On each side are connectors to attach it androgyn to other SLB. SLB mass may not succed 4t. Each SLB has small solar panels on each side for emergency power.

On each side are connectors at defined possitions for

data: Some data adapter. In the capability range of USB or Ethernet

power: small: 10A, 12V DC; big: 50A, 500V DC

water, hydrazine, bipropellant, xenon: with a flow rate of 12g/s (or 1t/day)

(Not every SLB has all connectors)

While all SLB are of same size and maximal weight, they can contain different interiors, which helps logistics.

There are SLB for automatic construction of robot stations out of SLB.

With the SLB a network of slow transports from LEO to LLO with the help of ion thrusters is realized (resulting in 120M$ for a five year transport from earth ground to LLO) or direct transport to moon with bipropellant (380M$ for a SLB within some days to LLO).

Moon hopper is a transfer vehicle that can go from LLO to the moon surface and back without refueling and leave some payload there.

It can be equipped with 4 astronauts but has to be tanked at the ground then.

The lunar space station (LSS) can dock with up to two Nautilus-X and two moon hoppers at the same time. Furthermore it can dock with a gigantic number of SLB, as a SLB does not use up docking ports. In fact they normaly provide more than they use.

Communication satellites have a mass of 800kg each. Beside communication they can take images. A network of 10 can already provide a good communication on the moon. 6 start within a single Titan.

My programm:

2006:

1000M$ SLB developement

1000M$ Nautilus-X developement

500M$ Moon hopper developement

500M$ Developement of: communication satellite, ISRU units, modules for LSS, ...

2007:

1000M$ SLB developement

1000M$ Nautilus-X developement

500M$ Moon hopper developement

500M$ Developement of: communication satellite, ISRU units, modules for LSS, ...

2008:

1000M$ multiple SLB starts with fuel

1000M$ Nautilus-X developement

500M$ Moon hopper developement

500M$ Developement of: communication satellite, ISRU units, modules for LSS, ...

2009:

1000M$ multiple SLB starts with fuel

700M$ Nautilus-X developement

500M$ First moon hopper construction

300M$ Developement of: communication satellite, ISRU units, modules for LSS, ...

500M$ Construction of the core module of LSS

2010:

600M$ multiple SLB starts with fuel

1000M$ First Nautilus-X into orbit

200M$ Developement of: communication satellite, ISRU units, modules for LSS, ...

400M$ Send moon hopper to the moon (arrives nearly empty there)

800M$ Construction of the core module of LSS

2011:

100M$ construction of unmanned ISRU test unit for at least water extraction on the moon. Flys with Nautilus-X.

500M$ multiple SLB starts with fuel

400M$ Start of the core module of the LSS

1000M$ Nautilus-X flight to the moon, 3 Astronauts. Carries the core module of the LSS. Uses multiple fuel SLB in earth orbit and moon orbit. 3 Month stay in moon orbit. Docking with moon hopper. Unmanned moon hopper test with ISRU deployment on the moon. Moon hopper docks back with LSS before Nautilus-X departure.

800M$ start of 6 communication satellites

200M$ Developement of: communication satellite, ISRU units, modules for LSS, ...

2012:

1500M$ multiple SLB starts with fuel

500M$ first moon housing unit. Can be transported as payload in the moon hopper. Enough for 2 People.

1000M$ Nautilus-X flight to the moon, 2 Astronauts. Moon hopper lands the housing unit there. Afterwards astronauts take moon hopper to land there. Construct housing, check water ISRU. Mission time on the moon: 2 weeks, if ISRU is not working, 3 Month if ISRU is working. Flight back to earth then.

From then with less detail: Every year one Nautilus-X transfer to the moon and back. Take modules there sometimes. Construct a solid moon base with ISRU capabilities for at least water, fuel, concrete, iron. Expand moon base with stuff from there and from earth. Especially ISRU capabilities. Eventually increase the number of people in the Nautilus-X and per moon hopper. Further milestones:

2014: First greenhouse experiments on the moon

2015: Moon base starts to deliver fuel to LSS. SLB send more tools and stuff and no fuel any more

2016: From now on Nautilus-X is docked round the clock and a second one docks for short periods of time

2017: Permanent moon base with 4 Astronauts. Delivery of second moon hopper.

2018: Different things can be manufactured on the moon by now. From now on the base is expanded by 1 Astronaut per year. This is possible, as the neccessary supply per Astronaut decreases by this.

2019: Fuel production on the moon has increased to a degree that two flights to the moon are possible per year.

Now the moon program budget is decreased to 2000M$ per year and the mars till 2029 program begins. Construction rate of the moon base is keeped and eventually increased by local workforce for this decreased costs.

[ChrisSpace]

What rocket is used for LEO Missions? What would the super-heavy launch system look like? 400T launch vehicles are...a little excessive for a mars mission. It's also really ambitious. I like it though.

LEO missions are done with a currently-used rocket, perhaps one that has been modified for complete reusability

The 150mT launcher will resemble the SLS, the 400mT launcher will be based off this: http://www.projectrho.com/public_html/rocket/surfaceorbit.php#seadragon

Good to hear that you like my plan, although I do think it would need a lot of reworking. Overall I enjoyed this thought experiment.

[Kibble]

A: Human-rate the RS-68 rocket engine

B: Develope Orion spacecraft

C: Launch Orion LEO missions on newly human-rated Delta IV Heavy

D: Develope Shuttle-derived rocket inspired by Jupiter DIRECT

The rocket consists of flown 4-segment Shuttle SRBs, Shuttle core stage with 2x RS-68, and 5m DCSS. It can deliver around 30 Mg to Lunar orbit - enough to send Orion on Lunar orbital missions. Eventually begin developement of a lander designed to be inserted onto LLO for rendezvous with Orion. Two launches, rendezvous at Moon for a landing!

Grr actually some modifications due to incompetance:

A detanked "LEO version" of Orion can actually be launched on Delta IV Medium+ (5,4) to Space Station. Which is good because it costs half as much per launch! In the future, DIVH could launch a modified version of Orion - unpiloted and optimized for cargo, like an American ATV.

Also what I meant to say was how much payload the SDHLLV could deliver to Trans Lunar Injection - Orion and Lander would have to perform their own LOI, but that shouldn't be a problem!

Honestly this two-launch scenario seems pretty favourable to me, as long as Lander could be made to have an extended life-span dormant while waiting for Orion. It would use storable fuels anyway! Maybe if NASA committed to a piloted Moon landing program it would be worth it to delay EUS, human-rate SLS Block I, and focus developement on a lander?