Chris Kraft's 2 cents: build a PTV fleet

[docm]

IMO using the shuttle made sense 10-15 years ago, but resurrecting it now for another extended assembly mission is dubious.

Houston Chronicle Op-Ed....

(historical rehash)
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Our proposal is for the development of a modular, reusable Planetary Transport Vehicle (PTV) System for manned landings on the moon, Mars and asteroids. The modular components of the PTV spacecraft would be designed to fit in the cargo bay of the space shuttle to be flown to a spaceport at the International Space Station or a more efficient low Earth orbit location for assembly in Earth orbit.

Designed as an exo- atmospheric spacecraft, reusable PTV landers would operate successive missions entirely in space, traveling to the moon and Mars from the Earth orbit spaceport then returning to the spaceport to be serviced for the next mission. Shuttles and commercial spacecraft would ferry crews back and forth to the PTV spaceport in Earth orbit.
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The PTV spacecraft fleet, supported by the space shuttle assembly missions and the return to Earth of PTV modules when needed for repair, refurbishment or replacement, will also create a significant market for commercial spacecraft to ferry crews, supplies and fuel to the PTV spaceport in Earth orbit.

Given the modular simplicity of the PTV spacecraft landers, it is conceivable that our nation could mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with the resumption of lunar flights in 2019. An asteroid flight in 2025, establishing a permanent base on the moon to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday in 2026 and a mission to land on Mars by 2035 would be more feasible goals with the experience gained from utilizing the PTV spacecraft.
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[scottb50]

Given the modular simplicity of the PTV spacecraft landers, it is conceivable that our nation could mark the 50th anniversary of the Apollo 11 moon landing with the resumption of lunar flights in 2019. An asteroid flight in 2025, establishing a permanent base on the moon to celebrate our nation's 250th birthday in 2026 and a mission to land on Mars by 2035 would be more feasible goals with the experience gained from utilizing the PTV spacecraft.
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[/quote]

I would much rather go to Mars in 2026, or sooner, and bump the moon base to 2030 or so. Either way both outposts will have to be re-supplied.

 

[exoscientist]

This is similar to the spacecraft Buzz Aldrin argues for that can shuttle between the Moon and the ISS:

Spaceships Worthy of the Name.
Buzz Aldrin Astronaut, Apollo 11 mission, Best Selling Author
Posted: February 23, 2010 02:08 PM
"In storage at Marshall Spaceflight Center, and elsewhere around the country are spacecraft components from which we can build a true spaceship, one worthy of the name. I've called the Exploration Module, or XM. This vehicle, lifted up to orbit aboard the Space Shuttle in its final missions, would be a true spacecraft that lives only in space. Just like the Lunar Module Eagle that Neil Armstrong and I rode down to the moon's surface during our Apollo 11 flight. Once docked to the International Space Station, astronaut crews could practice and train for future deep space missions, to encounter asteroids say, or the moons of Mars. If the XM was shielded and connected with a spacecraft like the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle or some other return-to-Earth craft, once tested at the space station, we could take it out for a spin, say cycling between the Earth and the moon. My concept for a cycling spaceship, now universally called the Aldrin cycler, could be fashioned out of the XM. All we'd need would be a rocket to attach to it, maybe like the Centaur liquid hydrogen upper stage flown many times aboard many different launchers - and managed by Ohio's Glenn Research Center."
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/buzz-aldr ... 73452.html


Bob Clark

 

[rockett]

Either way would be a quick exit from LEO, which I would be for. One key element I see missing in both proposals is orbital refueling stations though. If you are going to invest in that kind of infrastructure, you would need that too...