Ideas for future NASA and SpaceX missions

[ShachonianX]

Here you can post your ideas for future NASA and SpaceX missions. Here are some of mine: Luna: Manned Moon Base, Excalibur: Manned Mars Mission, Hades: Manned Pluto Mission. Vehicles for these missions can also be posted here too.

Edited May 13, 2013 by ShachonianX

[lobsterbark]

Do you mean ideas for names of these missions?

[Tommygun]

Well based on NASA's areas of success, I would like to see NASA send a set of standardized probes and landers to most of the moons on Jupiter and Saturn.

But instead of designing a probe or lander from scratch each time, try and use standard modular parts as much as possible.

You could have say three standardized "chassis" (small, medium, large)with modular science packages mounted to it along with several engines to choose from based on need.

This approach may work a lot better on probes than landers for the moons, but I would like to see it tried.

[ShachonianX]

Do you mean ideas for names of these missions?

Ideas for missions AND their names.

[Kryten]

There's not going to be such thing as a 'SpaceX mission' as distinct from a NASA mission (or USAF or NRO or whatever); they build rockets for money, they aren't some kind of private space program.

[3_bit]

Any vehicle that doesn't have it's name start with a C (citation: Challenger and Columbia) should be fine.

[Holo]

JeB Program: Manned exploration of the Jovian moons (esp. Callisto) and beyond.

[ShachonianX]

We can also post are ideas for vehicles by NASA and SpaceX for the missions here too.

[Holo]

The JeB spacecraft consist of an advanced electric drive strapped to a hab module. This allows for short transit times and large payloads.

[tavert]

There's not going to be such thing as a 'SpaceX mission' as distinct from a NASA mission (or USAF or NRO or whatever); they build rockets for money, they aren't some kind of private space program.

Not yet anyway. Much of the engineering work they're doing lately (manned Dragon, Falcon Heavy, hovering flights with Grasshopper, plans for reusable Falcon, whatever MCT ends up being) is a heckuva lot more exciting and more promising than what's going on in old-fashioned space programs right now. NASA is politically limited to an insufficient budget to do anything truly innovative (and organizationally limited, culturally stagnant, operationally and bureaucratically stuck in large aerospace corporation mode). In all likelihood SLS will be cancelled and replaced by a private launch services contract sometime around 2016. As far as private space programs go, what would you call companies like Planetary Resources, Deep Space Industries, etc? Or scientific endeavors like the B612 Foundation?

It's pretty clear Elon Musk and the rest of SpaceX want to develop the technology to go to Mars, and they're sustaining a rate of development that will get them there faster and cheaper than NASA. It doesn't look like there's a business case yet, but that's a solvable problem.

[Scotius]

Active cooperation between SpaceX, Bigelow and Ad Astra would be pretty cool. Dragon + Inflatable Module + cluster of 200kW VASIMR engines could take astronauts places

[Horn Brain]

How about some current-generation possibilities?

The one unmanned mission I am most excited about is sending a melt probe and an autonomous submarine to Europa to get into the oceans. If you haven't already seen this, get ready to have your mind blown:

Sadly the JIMO mission was cancelled, and it never had a melt-probe-submarine planned for it. HOWEVA! We do have all of the technology for this available to us right now. The only thing I'm not sure about would be communicating through the ice to the surface (and then to an orbiter... and then home...). The obvious solution of leaving a wire behind you would be heavy (3 to 16 miles long!), as well as easily disrupted by a single icequake on Europa (we don't know how stable the ice is, but it is covered in huge cracks). If the sub is powered by a nuclear reactor instead of just RTGs, it should have plenty of power for very strong, ice-penetrating radar which could be used to communicate with the orbiter (maybe?). That, to me, is the biggest challenge. Most of the other problems are solved if we can simply use a small nuclear reactor on board.

[Rune]

Active cooperation between SpaceX, Bigelow and Ad Astra would be pretty cool. Dragon + Inflatable Module + cluster of 200kW VASIMR engines could take astronauts places

I'd say a reusable in-space upper stage running on, say methane/LOX (which is apparently what Raptor will use, but there are other engines), can get you to the same places, faster, and much cheaper. And you don't have to develop a new kind of expensive ion engine only good for unmanned missions to do that.

Rune. The only reason I don't say hypergolics is ISRU potential.

[Flixxbeatz]

Idea, summed up in two images:

[Trux]

I know Elon specifically said (One of the Youtube interviews easily found by searching) the long term goal for SpaceX is Mars and the Moon is not a high priority, although he wouldn't say no to a customer wanting to go there M

Maybe NASA could hitch a ride there.

[Alfastar]

I know Elon specifically said (One of the Youtube interviews easily found by searching) the long term goal for SpaceX is Mars and the Moon is not a high priority, although he wouldn't say no to a customer wanting to go there M

Maybe NASA could hitch a ride there.

Well, I don't take that words serious, and to be honest, I don't hope that he is totally mostly focus about the moon and mars at this moment.

How SpaceX exist at this moment, is mostly thanked by NASA funds. If there was no COTS, and CCDev2, then the whole Falcon-9 family and the Dragon not even exist!

If you serious will become a private spaceflight company, then you will focus about launch contracts with communication satellite companies, DoD and government space agencies. Its the only way to really make profit in the world of spaceflight. Look, nothing wrong with the Dragon, but you totally can't make profit from it!

There is never really serious plans to going with a Dragon to the moon. The Falcon heavy is not even man-rated, so you can't use that rocket soon. Maybe on the long term, but I don't really see that happens. Also, going to Mars with SpaceX is much more a wish of Mr Musk self (and also a bit good for some PR for SpaceX to saying things as going to Mars), but who will pay it again? Uncle NASA.

SpaceX need first to build up and make profit, and then we can a bit more serious talk about non-profit project by SpaceX.

[tavert]

How SpaceX exist at this moment, is mostly thanked by NASA funds. If there was no COTS, and CCDev2, then the whole Falcon-9 family and the Dragon not even exist!

True, but I'm fairly sure the total investment in SpaceX through COTS, CCDev2, etc has been less than the investment in Constellation/Orion/MPCV/SLS. One of these investments has produced results, the other has not.

If you serious will become a private spaceflight company, then you will focus about launch contracts with communication satellite companies, DoD and government space agencies. Its the only way to really make profit in the world of spaceflight. Look, nothing wrong with the Dragon, but you totally can't make profit from it!

Um, http://www.spacex.com/launch_manifest.php

There's several billion dollars of business here. It's going to be tough to keep up with, we'll see how they manage their launch pace. Several missions on here are DragonLab, using Dragon as a private orbital science platform, for a profit.

The Falcon heavy is not even man-rated, so you can't use that rocket soon. Maybe on the long term, but I don't really see that happens.

Why not? Technically what's different about Falcon Heavy relative to Falcon 9 that prevents the former from being man-rated if the latter can be?

Also, going to Mars with SpaceX is much more a wish of Mr Musk self (and also a bit good for some PR for SpaceX to saying things as going to Mars), but who will pay it again? Uncle NASA.

They have technical development going on for methane-powered engines and a much larger-scale reusable heavy lifter, but they're very preliminary plans and none of the details have been released yet. There will of course be NASA involvement and funding if SpaceX makes it to Mars. If that's doable, faster and cheaper than design-by-committee SLS, why wouldn't that be the right way to get there?