NASA Announces New Launch Vehicle and CEV

[Astronuc]

How We'll Get Back to the Moon -
http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/cev.html

However -

NASA Estimates Moon Rocket Will Cost $104B
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050919/ap_on_sc/moon_rocket
By MARCIA DUNN, AP Aerospace Writer

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA estimated Monday it will cost $104 billion to return astronauts to the moon by 2018 in a new rocket that combines the space shuttle with the capsule of an earlier NASA era.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, in unveiling the new lunar exploration plan announced by President Bush last year, said he is not seeking extra money and stressed that the space agency will live within its future budgets to achieve this goal.

He dismissed suggestions that reconstruction of the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina might derail the program first outlined by President Bush in 2004.

"We're talking about returning to the moon in 2018. There will be a lot more hurricanes and a lot more other natural disasters to befall the United States and the world in that time, I hope none worse than Katrina," Griffin said at a news conference.

On the other hand, NASA has Michoud (La), Stennis (MS) and Marshall (AL) centers in the three states most affected by Katrina.

 

[Rocketa]

That sounds Great!

I love Rocket...

 

[FredGarvin]

Unfortunately, it will never survive a change in the presidency. It is a nice thought that we will do it again, but I am not holding my breath on this one.

 

[rocketboy]

let's see...
graduate HS 2006
BS in Aero-engineering by 2011
MS in Aero-engineering by 2014
Industry related work experience...until 2016
Astronaut training program...

...well, looks like it will be ready just in time!

 

[rocketboy]

I just re-read the article...and I can't express how incredibly amazingly cool I think it would be to be one of the astronauts on that mission that lands on the moon! I don't think there is anything that I would rather do.

I just had to let that out.

On a more intellectual note...

What do you think of the methane fuel idea? If methane can be extracted from Mars then it would certainly provide a way of refueling the ship for the return trip, meaning that 100% of the fuel that is loaded on Earth could be used for the one-way trip to mars.

 

[Astronuc]

Unfortunately, it will never survive a change in the presidency.

Possibly several presidents! The current one, 2008, 2012.

It is a nice thought that we will do it again, but I am not holding my breath on this one.

Just look at Prometheus! Been there, done that, more than once. :grumpy: @#$^&%

 

[Astronuc]

Now that I got that our my system,

Here is a program summary of the proposed system for returning to the moon and perhaps Mars ( ) - http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/133820main_ESAS_Facts.pdf

I am bothered by what is not said.

 

[Francis M]

I can't get the link to come up. What's the gist of it and what's bothering you about it Astronuc?

What bothers me is that this seems to fall under "the more things change the more they seem to stay the same" category. We seem to have waited 30 years to go full circle back to capsules from space planes :rofl: and a good 15 years before the 70's they had this great idea of reusable space planes to build a space station in orbit for research/manufacturing/building ships dedicated to going to the moon and back. Ahhh bureaucracy and politics at its finest

 

[SkepticJ]

What bothers me is that this seems to fall under "the more things change the more they seem to stay the same" category. We seem to have waited 30 years to go full circle back to capsules from space planes :rofl: and a good 15 years before the 70's they had this great idea of reusable space planes to build a space station in orbit for research/manufacturing/building ships dedicated to going to the moon and back. Ahhh bureaucracy and politics at its finest

Well they didn't know about the fact that a tiny piece of foam hitting a wing could allow a multi billion dollar shuttle to be destroyed, along with the crew, now did they?

Note it was an idea for a shuttle. Dyson Spheres were thought up back in the 50s, wha...what's taking so long? Ideas take time to make them real.
What I wish is that lots of money would be dumped into a ribbon-type space elevator or a space fountain That's the real way to get to space cheaply and safely.

 

[Astronuc]

I can't get the link to come up. What's the gist of it and what's bothering you about it Astronuc?

If you have problems with the pdf file, then you might need to update Adobe Acrobat reader, or simply use "Save target as".

The document is high level, executive summary type statements, so its not very substantive. They are introducing a 'new' system. Perhaps some of the components, e.g. SRB's and rocket motors, have been demonstrated, but the integrated system is new and needs to be demonstrated.

As for new digital technology - hold on there! The microprocessors used in the shuttle and ISS are basically equivalent to P3's (Pentium 3's)! Yes that's right - P3's. Why you ask. Because the radiation in space zaps P4's and better. The higher the transistor density, the more likely ROM and RAM gets zapped by stray particles. BTW - astronauts get zapped as well.

A friend at NASA informed me that rebooting computers in space is not uncommon.

 

[enigma]

I split out the space elevator discussion to here