A Comparison of Astronaut Near-Earth Object Missions

Space Elevators are not a new idea, the original concept dating back to Tsilokovsky, but are not commonly considered in near-term plans for space exploration. While a Terrestrial elevator would require substantial improvements in tether material, a Martian Space Elevator (MSE) or a Lunar Space Elevator (LSE) would not, and there are currently possible elevator missions that would enhance the exploration of the solar system. This paper considers two proposed missions leading to a infrastructure capable of supporting human exploration, shortening the time and lowering the cost required for exploration and enhancing the capabilities of robotic and human explorers. Both missions use planetary scale tethers, strings many thousands of kilometers long stabilized either by rotation or by gravitational gradients.

2005

The strategy for a major exploration initiative leading to permanent human presence beyond earth orbit described by President George Bush July 20, 1989 is still being developed; however enough is known to begin defining the role of nuclear technologies. Three broad areas will be discussed: low power (<I0 kWe) rover/vehicle power systems, integrated, evolutionary base power systems (25-100 kW) and nuclear energy for electric propulsion (2-i00 MWe) and direct thermal propulsion (1000s MW). A phased, evolutionary approach will be described for both the moon and Mars, and the benefits of nuclear technologies relative to solar and their integration will be described. INTRODUCTION The President of the United States has established a long term course for the human exploration of space. Beginning with the Space Station Freedom in the 1990s and, in the next century, returning to the moon, establishing a permanent presence, and using the experience and technologies gained from these missions to move on to the exploration and habitation of Mars. Following the Presidents' speech of July 20, 1989, the NASA performed detailed studies of a variety of mission scenarios and architectures to accomplish these missions and identified the key technologies needed to bring these missions to fruition. In this paper, we will discuss the various mission scenarios and approaches, the key technological requirements for power and propulsion and the potential benefits of nuclear technology for meeting these requirements. MISSION SCENARIOS A variety of Exploration Options were considered during the 90-day study. These options considered various approaches such as vigorous deployment and early landing on the moon, the earliest possible landing on Mars, reduced logistics from earth, delayed program start, and paced deployment. The Exploration Option that received the most study and that will serve as the reference for this paper is depicted in figure i. In this approach, we build upon our past and present investments in space such as Apollo, Shuttle and the Space Station Freedom, employ robotic and manned craft and emphasize science. The key point is, however, that we build a lunar outpost first and learn to live on planetary surfaces before moving on to Mars. The lunar/Mars exploration strategy will be implemented in three phases: Emplacement, Consolidation and Utilization. The key elements and Unclassified-Unlimited Subject Category 44 19. Security Classif.

The human exploration program, at least in NASA, has been directed to move beyond the Moon and travel on a flexible path into the solar system. Reaching a Near-Earth Asteroid (NEA) is a major interim goal – but such missions have flight times and life support requirements that are a huge step from current known capabilities. An objective between the Moon and a NEA is needed. Example interim objectives are the Lagrangian points in either the Sun-Earth or Earth-Moon (EM) system. The nearest of these points beyond the Moon is E-M L2. The Lagrangian points are empty (as far as we know). As objectives for human flight they suffer from a lack of public interest and are void of meaningful objectives for astronaut operations. To provide a physical target a robotic spacecraft could retrieve a small NEA and bring it to a Lagrangian or other nearer-Earth point to be utilized for human mission objectives. This paper reports on the results of a recently completed study of an asteroid retrieval m...

AIAA SPACE and Astronautics Forum and Exposition

A new concept study was initiated to examine the architecture needed to gradually develop an economical, evolvable and sustainable lunar infrastructure using a public/private partnerships approach. This approach would establish partnership agreements between NASA and industry teams to develop a lunar infrastructure system that would be mutually beneficial. This approach would also require NASA and its industry partners to share costs in the development phase and then transfer operation of these infrastructure services back to its industry owners in the execution phase. These infrastructure services may include but are not limited to the following: lunar cargo transportation, power stations, communication towers and satellites, autonomous rover operations, landing pads and resource extraction operations. The public/private partnerships approach used in this study leveraged best practices from NASA's Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program which introduced an innovative and economical approach for partnering with industry to develop commercial cargo services to the International Space Station. This program was planned together with the ISS Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contracts which was responsible for initiating commercial cargo delivery services to the ISS for the first time. The public/private partnerships approach undertaken in the COTS program proved to be very successful in dramatically reducing development costs for these ISS cargo delivery services as well as substantially reducing operational costs. To continue on this successful path towards installing economical infrastructure services for LEO and beyond, this new study, named Lunar COTS (Commercial Operations and Transport Services), was conducted to examine extending the NASA COTS model to cis-lunar space and the lunar surface. The goals of the Lunar COTS concept are to: 1) develop and demonstrate affordable and commercial cis-lunar and surface capabilities, such as lunar cargo delivery and surface power generation, in partnership with industry; 2) incentivize industry to establish economical and sustainable lunar infrastructure services to support NASA missions and initiate lunar commerce; and 3) encourage creation of new space markets for economic growth and benefit. A phased-development approach was also studied to allow for incremental development and demonstration of capabilities needed to build a lunar infrastructure. This paper will describe the Lunar COTS concept goals, objectives and approach for building an economical and sustainable lunar infrastructure. It will also describe the technical challenges and advantages of developing and operating each infrastructure element. It will also describe the potential benefits and progress that can be accomplished in the initial phase of this Lunar COTS approach. Finally, the paper will also look forward to the potential of a robust lunar industrialization environment and its potential effect on the next 50 years of space exploration.

2012

Cis-lunar space offers affordable near-term opportunities to help pave the way for future global human exploration of deep space, acting as a bridge between present missions and future deep space missions. While missions in cis-lunar space have value unto themselves, they can also play an important role in enabling and reducing risk for future human missions to the Moon, Near-Earth Asteroids (NEAs), Mars, and other deep space destinations. The Cis-Lunar Destination Team of NASA&#39;s Human Spaceflight Architecture Team (HAT) has been analyzing cis-lunar destination activities and developing notional missions (or &quot;destination Design Reference Missions&quot; [DRMs]) for cis-lunar locations to inform roadmap and architecture development, transportation and destination elements definition, operations, and strategic knowledge gaps. The cis-lunar domain is defined as that area of deep space under the gravitational influence of the earth-moon system. This includes a set of earth-cente...

2009

Premise: Lunar resources can be used to make space exploration beyond LEO more affordable and to bring direct benefits back to Earth. Discussions will include "on-ramps" for inserting lunar resources into the lunar architecture, resource prospecting, technologies and technology demonstrations, and lunar resource products and applications.

2016

This paper presents the preliminary design of the international space mission HECATE (Human Exploration of Cis-lunar space via Assets Tele-operated from EML-2), aimed at exploring the far side of the Moon via tele-robotic activities during the 2020s. The exploration is realized by astronauts from HOPE (Human Orbiting Protected Environment), a space habitat in a halo orbit around the Earth-Moon Lagrange Point 2, a critical staging location for future robotic and human deep space missions. Inside the habitat, astronauts have access to tele-robotic hardware and instruments, used to tele-operate rovers and scientific equipment on the surface of the Moon. Plans to resupply and maintain HOPE for future missions, using a solar electric tug, are given. Ultimately, HOPE represents an energetically favorable intermediate locations for missions to Mars, Near-Earth Asteroids, and beyond.

SpaceOps 2010 Conference&lt;br&gt; &lt;b&gt;&lt;i&gt;Delivering on the Dream&lt;/b&gt;&lt;/i&gt;&lt;br&gt; &lt;i&gt;Hosted by NASA Marshall Space Flight Center and Organized by AIAA&lt;/i&gt;, 2010

The 2009 Augustine Committee review of U.S. human spaceflight plans cited Near-Earth Objects (NEOs) as promising, practical astronaut destinations. As NASA regroups from the 2010 cancellation of the Constellation program, NEOs provide the agency an attractive focus for future deep-space exploration. Human expeditions to Near-Earth Objects will reinforce the scientific, economic, programmatic, operations, planetary defense, and public outreach elements of NASA's human exploration program.

Lunar Bases and …, 1992

Advocates for lunar bases, pmfe&nals ~l m~g tkJinntiers of astronomy, and entlnahsts for scienhm investigation of the unknown all have lost a champion with t h e p ' n g of H h n J Smith. As Director of McDonald Observatory for 26 years and as at the U n i d t y of Texas at Austin for 15 years, Harlan's lar. Howeva, h k ilzexhaustfble energy and boundless en qqn~aches to astronomical research set him W m the mainstream. My only opportunity to &personally with Harlan came about during my studies of apemwnent lunar base as a goal for the US. spaceprogram in the$rst decade of the twenty-$at century. At the Johnson Space Center in the early 1980s, Mike Duke and I came to urukstand that any lunar base program needed a legitimate scienhm cswlgonent. (By the term "legitimate," we meant t h e pgram science could be advocated success~ly on scienhp grounds by s&tlj.ts in s&h@ fmms.) M&e fomzed an advisory g m q to he@ us think through theprobkmq, and he asked Harlan to ngnwent astronomy. Harlan's reaction to the request was a healthy skepticism as to whether any w e , manned space project could be seen by astronomm as aprudent inuestment in science. Nez,wtthelss, he aagreed to parhrtzc@te in order to ensure a knowledgeable npvsentation of the uiews of astronomers. Harlan worked with us at his usual high energy level and helped organize the Lunar Base Working Group, which met at Los Ahmos in April 1984. l;be Report of the W H n g Group includes a thoughtful &cussion of the advantages to making astronomical obseroatiom~m the the lunar sur$ace. In pad&, the seismhdly stable lunar sur$acepemzits optical interfmmetry with me-econd angular resolution in the observational data. Bernie Burke developed the concept of the lunar optical inte@imeter. As Harhn began to appmckzte the un* quaCities of the lunar envimnment for higbresolution, highsensitivity optical observations and for wide-spectrum radio observations on the radioquiet farside, & became not only an advocate but a champion of lunar-based astronomy.