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SpaceDev: Lunar missions for less than $10 billion SPACEDEV NEWS RELEASE Posted: November 21, 2005 SpaceDev announced the results of its International Lunar Observatories Human Servicing Mission, conducted for Lunar Enterprise Corporation. The study, which was completed in phases over the last three years and presented at the International Lunar Observatory Advisory Committee Workshop held this past weekend, concluded that safe, lower cost missions can be completed by the private sector using existing technology or innovative new technology expected to be available in time for the first mission.
Each mission, as envisioned by SpaceDev, would position a habitat module in Lunar orbit or on the moon's surface. The habitat modules would remain in place after each mission and could be re-provisioned and re-used, thus building a complex of habitats at one or more Lunar locations over time. "We are not surprised by the significant cost savings that our study concludes can be achieved without sacrificing safety and mission support. Since SpaceDev was founded, our projects and studies have consistently come in at significantly lower costs than those of the large aerospace companies and government agencies," said SpaceDev founding chairman and chief executive, Jim Benson. "If we are correct about our Lunar mission cost estimates, our type of human mission could have forty people visiting the Moon for the cost of NASA's first mission." The SpaceDev study creates a conceptual mission architecture and design for a human servicing mission to the Lunar south pole targeted for the period between 2010 and 2015 that would be low in risk and cost. The length of stay on the Moon will be seven or more days, depending on cost, practicality and other trade-offs. The study explored existing technology, technology currently under development, and proposed technology that could be developed by NASA, other countries or the private sector in time to be incorporated into the mission. The study divided the missions into segments, for example Earth launch to low Earth orbit (LEO) and to Geo Transfer Orbit (GTO), LEO and GTO to Lunar orbit, Lunar orbit to landing, takeoff to Lunar orbit, Lunar orbit to LEO, and return to Earth from LEO. The study also concluded that a combination of technology already under development or under consideration by SpaceDev and other companies could be combined to create a growing and lasting presence at the Moon again at costs significantly lower than those proposed by other organizations.
An exciting concept, borrowed from an early mission design based on sending a Mercury capsule to the Moon, is the "rocket chair" used to land each of the four Lunar visitors. The rocket chairs as envisioned by SpaceDev would be modular and dual purpose, able to land small Lunar observatories or other science experiments, and could also be used to land individuals from orbit. The rocket chairs have the additional feature of having sufficient propellant to ascend back to the command module for the return trip to Earth. On the way to the Moon, should a problem develop, the four rocket chairs, attached to the capsule, have sufficient propellant to return the capsule to Earth for a direct atmospheric reentry. SpaceDev is a high tech space development company that creates and sells affordable and innovative space products and solutions to government and commercial enterprises. SpaceDev's innovations include the design, manufacture, marketing and operation of sophisticated micro- and nano-satellites. SpaceDev designs and builds safe hybrid rocket motor propulsion systems for sub-orbital and orbital transportation systems for cargo and for human space flight. Upon founding SpaceDev in 1997, Jim Benson started the trend of successful computer entrepreneurs moving into the space development arena. |
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Expedition 12 Soyuz commander Valery Tokarev and station commander Bill McArthur temporarily leave the International Space Station. They undocked their Soyuz capsule from the Pirs module and then redocked the craft to the nearby Zarya module. The move clears Pirs for use as the airlock for an upcoming Russian-based spacewalk.
Check out NASA's Pluto-bound New Horizons spacecraft undergoing thermal blanket installation inside the cleanroom at Kennedy Space Center's Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility in preparation for launch in January from the Cape.
A new image from NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope reveals billowing mountains of dust ablaze with the fires of stellar youth. The majestic infrared view from Spitzer resembles the iconic "Pillars of Creation" picture taken of the Eagle Nebula in visible light by NASA's Hubble Space Telescope.
This week marks the anniversary of arguably the most daring and complex space shuttle mission. The astronauts successfully launched two satellites and then recovered two others during extraordinary spacewalks by astronauts using jet-propelled backpacks and pure muscle power.
Commander Bill McArthur and flight engineer Valery Tokarev conduct a 5 1/2-hour spacewalk outside the International Space Station, installing a TV camera, doing repair chores and jettisoning a failed science probe.
Return to flight space shuttle commander Eileen Collins narrates an interesting slide show featuring some favorite photographs of Earth taken during her previous shuttle missions.
NASA Administrator Mike Griffin goes before the U.S. House of Representative's Science Committee to provide an update on the moon-Mars exploration program, the future of the space shuttle and space station, possible servicing of Hubble, cost overruns on the James Webb Space Telescope and the agency's aeronautics research.
