can we move the ISS to the moon?(or build one there)

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MannyPim

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The ISS's orbit decays slowly over time and it has to be periodically boosted to a higher orbit. <br /><br />Of course this discussion is purely theoretical. The ISS was not designed for anything beyond LEO and it will not work as cis-lunar transport.<br /><br />Still, something very large like the ISS or even bigger will one day be part of our cis-lunar transportation system. I actually like the Space Island Group's original concept of a rotating space hotel built by using spent shuttle external fuel tanks. <br />The rotation forces would create a 1/6G (Lunar) or 1/3G (Martian) gravity enviroment which would make daily activity much more convenient and familiar.<br /><br />You could then accelerate this large, rotating station into a a free return cis-lunar orbit which would swing back and forth between the Earth and the Moon ....<br /><br />One you established the free return orbit velocity, you would spend very little additional energy to trim your trajectory. <br /><br />Also, you could build as much heavy shielding as you wish on the crew and passanger compartments to keep radiation levels at about the same level as on Earth. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>The only way to know what is possible is to attempt the impossible.</em></font> </div>
 
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R1

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<font color="yellow">The purpose of ISS was ill defined from the start. The biggest problem with ISS is that it was mostly sold as an international project of huge scope as though being a large international project was all the justification it needed to exist. </font><br /><br />I agree, qso1, and I don't want a similar thing to happen to a moon surface base. The idea of it is easy to sell, but it's probably more cost effective to start building modules of a spaceship, which can double<br />their function by serving as a space station right away. Such spaceship envisioned would be assembled together<br />in space. While serving as lunar station, people could then use small lunar landers to work on the moon surface, for example a team lands on one site to build a radio station, a radio antenna, maybe a fuel(propellant) depo at<br />another site, a power plant at yet another site, a water and geology exploration site, and so on.<br /><br /><br /><br /><font color="yellow">I think we'd have done better money wise with a smaller station or maybe a few special purpose stations built around common core modules. This could then have been developed into whatever lunar hardware might have been required by now including a lunar orbital station. </font><br /><br />agreed. So now that we really need a spaceship (mothership), and a lunar station, and a mars station,<br />it's more cost effective to build spacetravel capable modules that can be arranged as a mothership<br />or any kind of station configuration. The same modules by their interchangeabilty would serve any pupose<br />and save a lot of time and money.<br /><br /><br /><br /><font color="yellow"><br />At this point, deferring completion of ISS just to redirect the funds to a lunar orbit station without some really good selling point would end up being a disaster IMO. <br /></font><br />one suggestion would be to require any more ISS modules built to be space ready and able to be<br />put to use in t <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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MannyPim, but can this model work for travels to mars or is it primary for earth and moon?<br /><br /><br />qso1, you asked why would I want an orbiting moon station?<br />Well it's not so much that I want an orbiting moon station, but if a major and expensive end-goal<br />is to have a spaceship capable of trips to mars, and if we want to build a station for lunar purposes anyway,<br />probably one on mars too, then it's time-wise and money-wise, it's just wiser to get all three projects<br />simultaneously underway expeditiously. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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MannyPim

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<font color="yellow"> MannyPim, but can this model work for travels to mars or is it primary for earth and moon? <br /></font><br /><br />Greetings John,<br /><br />I have heard that one of Buzz Aldrin's companies had a concept for a free return Earth-Mars cycler transport.<br />I'm not sure how feasible that is but it would be significantly more complex than an Earh-Moon free return cycler.<br /><br />The other problem is that the travel time is limited by the travel velocity. For the Earth-Moon cycler the travel velocity is roughly equal to the Appollos mission's translunar injection speed. That means it would take about one week for a complete Earth-Moon-Earth cycle. For Mars, it would be about 6 months. <br /><br />I also believe that the number of people who will be visiting the Moon in 30 years let's say will be in the thousands whereeas Mars travelers will likely be handfull for the next century or so. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>The only way to know what is possible is to attempt the impossible.</em></font> </div>
 
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MannyPim

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Bigelow is the most serious of the serious new space entreprenuers.<br /><br />I was fortunate enough to visit his space factory / complex in Las Vegas and get a tour by Bigelow himself. it is an amzing place. It is what we all wish NASA should be. We were there a couple of weeks after Genesis 1 was placed in orbit. Needless to say, Mr. Bigelow was quite happy and justifiably proud.... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>The only way to know what is possible is to attempt the impossible.</em></font> </div>
 
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hi MannyPim, I think I found the station/spaceship you were talking about.<br />I found the Space Island Group, and I found the cycling station/mothership.<br /><br />Here's the link:<br /><br />http://www.spaceislandgroup.com/wheel-stations.html<br /><br /><br />This is exactly the brilliant idea I'm talking about, where interchangeable modules are used,<br />a very large craft is assembled in space, and capable of different functions.<br /><br /> (Interesting about Bigelow. I hope he also will build or contribute some of these large modular spacecraft. <br /> I hope some kind of massive partnership can form so he wouldn't have a such a big<br />expense If he decides to build some 16+ module ships.) <br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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MannyPim

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Yes, Gene Meyers is the visionary behind this technology.<br />He is very serious about it and the only thing preventing him from moving forward is the diffculty of raising the capital required for a private project of this magnitude.<br /><br />But if he were able to raise the money needed, withiin 7 years of full funding, you and i would have been able to spend a week vacationing in a luxury orbiting hotel for about $27,000. I know that sounds like a lot of money but is is far less than the $200K that Virgin Galactic is going to charge for 5 minutes of zero G in a suborbital flight.<br /><br />However, currently Gene Meyers is working on Space Solar Power Satellites and he is making very good progress. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#0000ff"><em>The only way to know what is possible is to attempt the impossible.</em></font> </div>
 
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