R
rcsplinters
Guest
I haven't seen this referenced on space.com, but it seems to be a very interesting read. To give credit where its due, I found the link in a thread on http://www.nasaspaceflight.comThe link to the PDF file can be found on http://nasawatch.com/archives/2010/09/human-explorati.html. There's a lot of information in that deck of slides. I hope you enjoy the read. Wayne, my apologies if I haven't properly attributed the other sites. This just seemed very relevent to the readership here.
While I haven't fully read it, let me offer some thoughts. First, this is NOT approved, funded or or actionable by NASA. This is truely a PDF fueled plan at this time. I think it does give some insight as to what NASA's planners are thinking in the current political climate and I've been eager to understand that. I think the proposal has things in it to make all of us both happy and disappointed. Some one liners I got from the first pass:
Commercial Crew - Yes, sort'a. Federal seed money dries up in 2015. NASA Orion derivation will be the BEO crew launch capsule preferably but not necessarily with commercial launch.
No NASA developed ISS crew vehicle. Reading between the lines, I bet "Orion" makes a visit at some point for testing and shake down. However, ISS transport will become the domain where commercial operations cuts its teeth. Best of luck to them in that mission and they must succeed or this plan has a huge hole.
NASA is exiting the HSF in LEO mission profile except for testing. This is a bitter pill for me to swallow but I'll get over it.
HLV is a certainty if BEO is ever to take place. HLV design starts next year. There was never any reason to wait, but we knew that already. My thought is GO! Now!
Solids will be a key part of the HLV.
In space electrically powered propulsion seems to be a very desirable component.
The deck does a good job of outlining high level logistics of BEO operations.
This program is MASSIVE, complex and profoundly expensive. Its also flexible, doesn't lock itself into a single mission profile (my favorite part) and appears to be comprehensive and logical. I think NASA leading many partners is the ONLY way something like this could ever work. No other organization on the planet could pull this off.
In summary, I personally think this plan or something like it is the only viable path to BEO crewed exploraton. There are other options to do it on the "cheap" but they are pretty much dead end missions. Something similar to this could carry us forward for decades in terms of hardware capability and logistics. Ultimately I think we as a nation must decide to do this, do something very similar or do nothing at all. For myself, I'm all in and for this and this alone, you can raise my taxes.
While I haven't fully read it, let me offer some thoughts. First, this is NOT approved, funded or or actionable by NASA. This is truely a PDF fueled plan at this time. I think it does give some insight as to what NASA's planners are thinking in the current political climate and I've been eager to understand that. I think the proposal has things in it to make all of us both happy and disappointed. Some one liners I got from the first pass:
Commercial Crew - Yes, sort'a. Federal seed money dries up in 2015. NASA Orion derivation will be the BEO crew launch capsule preferably but not necessarily with commercial launch.
No NASA developed ISS crew vehicle. Reading between the lines, I bet "Orion" makes a visit at some point for testing and shake down. However, ISS transport will become the domain where commercial operations cuts its teeth. Best of luck to them in that mission and they must succeed or this plan has a huge hole.
NASA is exiting the HSF in LEO mission profile except for testing. This is a bitter pill for me to swallow but I'll get over it.
HLV is a certainty if BEO is ever to take place. HLV design starts next year. There was never any reason to wait, but we knew that already. My thought is GO! Now!
Solids will be a key part of the HLV.
In space electrically powered propulsion seems to be a very desirable component.
The deck does a good job of outlining high level logistics of BEO operations.
This program is MASSIVE, complex and profoundly expensive. Its also flexible, doesn't lock itself into a single mission profile (my favorite part) and appears to be comprehensive and logical. I think NASA leading many partners is the ONLY way something like this could ever work. No other organization on the planet could pull this off.
In summary, I personally think this plan or something like it is the only viable path to BEO crewed exploraton. There are other options to do it on the "cheap" but they are pretty much dead end missions. Something similar to this could carry us forward for decades in terms of hardware capability and logistics. Ultimately I think we as a nation must decide to do this, do something very similar or do nothing at all. For myself, I'm all in and for this and this alone, you can raise my taxes.