Manned Lunar Missions

cdxbow

Well-Known Member
I couldn't find an appropriate thread for this, but it seems like it's a good time to start a NASA lunar mission thread, as things are really starting to happen.

NASA said that it has selected SpaceX and its Starship vehicle to serve as the lunar lander for its Artemis Program. NASA selects SpaceX as its sole provider for a lunar lander | Ars Technica

This is NASA's plan to return humans to the Moon later this decade. I think the astronauts are going to ride on the SLS and then dock with 'Luna starship' to land. It's a bit of a dog's breakfast, but the quickest way to get to the moon. Congress had refused to fund the landing part of Artemis, this way NASA can pay 2.9 billion out of it's general funding without needing extra dosh from Congress.

BTW the still unfinished SLS has cost more than 2 billion dollars a years for a number of years.

I expect if the SLS is delayed further then there would be the option of launching the Astronauts on Starship then docking with 'Luna starship' for a landing.

The Ars technica comments are often good, thought this was the best:

Obi Wan Shelby - "I felt a great disturbance in the pork....."
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Arse Technica....cool name...

But maybe we can change this thread into "Lunar Missions " or "Manned Lunar Missions ", so we do not need to make separate threads for Space X, Blue Origin, Luna-Glob/Luna 25 and other lunar projects.
 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
Northrop Grumman conducted the Flight Support Booster 2 test at its Promontory, Utah facility on July 21, 2022. This test involved a full duration static fire of a 5 segment solid rocket booster of the same type that will be used on the upcoming Space Launch System rocket and the Artemis Program. This is the largest solid fuel rocket in existence at the moment.

 

ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
A couple of NASA videos on Artemis / SLS. The first is on the stacking of the vehicle in the Main Vehicle Assembly Building at Cape Canaveral.


The second is the test firing of the SLS launch vehicle.


The rollout is on 18/8/2022 and launch on 29/8/2022.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
As NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon under Artemis, the agency has announced 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole. Each region contains multiple potential landing sites for Artemis III, which will be the first of the Artemis missions to bring crew to the lunar surface.

NASA plans to launch the first crewed mission, Artemis 2, in two years from now: in 2024. And NASA hopes that the first landing, Artemis 3, will be in 2025.
 
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ngatimozart

Super Moderator
Staff member
Verified Defense Pro
As NASA prepares to send astronauts back to the Moon under Artemis, the agency has announced 13 candidate landing regions near the lunar South Pole. Each region contains multiple potential landing sites for Artemis III, which will be the first of the Artemis missions to bring crew to the lunar surface.

NASA plans to launch the first crewed mission, Artemis 2, in two years from now: in 2024. And NASA hopes that the first landing, Artemis 3, will be in 2025.
Artemis 1 goes at the end of this month. 29th August - 5th September 2022 is the first launch period.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Artemis 1 goes at the end of this month. 29th August - 5th September 2022 is the first launch period.
The Space Launch System moon rocket was planned for a blastoff Monday on NASA’s long-overdue Artemis 1 test flight, but stormy weather, brief indications of a hydrogen leak, trouble cooling one of the four main engines and then a valve glitch forced managers to call off the countdown again.

This list of multiple problems will undoubtly make the delay longer than just some days.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group
Pretty interesting that most of the RS-25 engines all already been in space. These engines were used in the Shuttle. The SLS uses 4 per launch then they are dumped upon reaching orbit. Seems like a step backwards.
 

Ananda

The Bunker Group

Some market assesment so far on the progress and development performance of the Rocket that supposedly bring back NASA to the moon. I believe this assesment more directed to Boeing, and seems he has better oppinion for Elon Musk company then Boeing Aerospace overall.
 

John Fedup

The Bunker Group

Some market assesment so far on the progress and development performance of the Rocket that supposedly bring back NASA to the moon. I believe this assesment more directed to Boeing, and seems he has better oppinion for Elon Musk company then Boeing Aerospace overall.
Cooing and fuelling rocket engines is a demanding task and problems with these procedures isn’t exactly unheard of. I am not a fan of Boeing for several reasons but in this case it is important to note the liquid rocket engines are already space tested as most of the inventory has already been to space via the Shuttle launches. The RS-25 engines were built by Rocketdyne which I believe is part of the Raytheon family of companies. There have been Boeing space mis-steps on other space programs.
 

Ananda

The Bunker Group
There have been Boeing space mis-steps on other space programs.
Yeah, this's more showings how Boeing credibility on the market is getting hammered. Market credibility is important as this is where Boeing can get more and raise Investment fund needed. For me it's just shown indication in future that upstart players like Ellon Musk seems getting more traction credibility by market. This will more or less influence how market will sides for new investment in future.
 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
Its time for some Artemis updates.
The Orion spacecraft inserted itself on friday 25 November into a distant retrograde orbit by firing the orbital maneuvering system engine for 1 minutes and 28 seconds at 4:52 p.m. CST, The orbit is distant in that Orion will fly about 40.000 miles above the Moon.

Orion surpassed the distance record for a mission with a spacecraft designed to carry humans to deep space and back to Earth on Saturday 26 November. The record was set during the Apollo 13 mission at 248.655 miles from our home planet. At its maximum distance from the Moon, Orion will be more than 400.171 km / 270.000 miles from Earth on Monday 28 Nov.

 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
The Moon, which is regarded as the gateway to Mars, contains a lot of valuable resources needed for modern technology.

The Bangor team, works with partners such as Rolls Royce, the UK Space Agency, Nasa and the Los Alamos National Laboratory in the US, to develop a reliable energy source to be used on the Moon.

Prof Middleburgh from the Nuclear Futures Institute said the team hoped to fully test the nuclear fuel design "over the next few months".


 

Sandhi Yudha

Well-Known Member
During a media teleconference yesterday (9 Jan 2024), NASA leadership stated that its flagship Artemis 2 mission will be delayed from November 2024 until September 2025. And the Artemis 3 moon-landing mission, originally targeted for late 2025, will now aim for September 2026.
Delays like this one are predictable for such complicated, expensive and risky programs, and i expect more will follow.



But NASA believes that the chinese will not beat them in the new race to the Moon.
 
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