12, Feb, 2012

New NASA Spacecraft for Manned Moon Flights

Written by spacetravel.org

Saturday, 29 October 2005 23:16

NASA is developing a new spacecraft, shaped like the Apollo capsule but three times larger, allowing four astronauts to travel to the moon at a time. The spacecraft will be able to deliver crew and supplies to the International Space Station, and support up to six members on future missions to Mars. It can be reused up to ten times. Solar panels on the spacecraft will provide power. The capsule and the lunar lander will use liquid methane in their engines. NASA hopes that in the future, astronauts will be able to create methane fuel from resources in Mars atmosphere. The launch system will contain an escape rocket on top of the capsule, which can quickly blast the crew away if launch problems develop.

The spacecraft can operate without a crew in lunar orbit, eliminating the need for one astronaut to stay behind in the craft while the others explore the lunar surface. If a lunar outpost is established, as NASA plans, crews will be able to remain on the lunar surface for up to six months.

NASA expects the new ship to begin ferrying crew and supplies to the International Space Station within five years, with as many as six trips to the outpost a year. At the same time, lunar exploration will begin, with robotic missions. NASA plans to have humans return to the moon in 2018.

NASA is planning at least two lunar missions a year after that, and expects to eventually build a lunar outpost. Planners think the lunar south pole might be a good place for an outpost, because there is an abundance of sunlight to provide power, and concentrations of hydrogen are believed to be in the form of water ice.

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