What would you do with Leonardo and Donatello?

[orienteer]

The Shuttles are about to be retired, and Donatello has yet to be used. Rafaello is being retrofitted for long duration as a new ISS storage module, but I have not heard of any plans for the other two.

I am told the main reason that we do not have an orbiter around Uranus or Neptune is because the speed needed to get there in a reasonable time would be far too fast to maintain a stable orbit.

My fantasy would be to retro fit an MPLM similar to Rafaello on the outside and as a fuel tank on the inside. Mate the MPLM to the orbiter in LEO, and then use the fuel to reduce speed when the orbiter arrives at the Giant in question. I have heard that hydrogen would not be stable for a trip that long, so I wonder if we could use water in a water pistol set-up that would be fired into the orbiters path for about a week or so. I believe this would first create reverse thrust, second create resistance as we flew through the ice crystals, and finally reduce momentum by reducing mass.

Fly-bys are nice, but Cassini and Galileo are where the real science has been.

 

[Boris_Badenov]

Fascinating concept. I wonder if it's in the right forum though. You might get more conversation & speculation in Missions & Launches.

 

[EarthlingX]

What about following Rafaelo's example ? Can they be plugged in ? Would they need extra berthing port ? What would it take to fly them ? How much would that cost ? Options ?

 

[Polishguy]

What about following Rafaelo's example ? Can they be plugged in ? Would they need extra berthing port ? What would it take to fly them ? How much would that cost ? Options ?

In fact, Donatello was designed specifically to be plugged in to the space station for power. But unless we can pack a lot of science gear in that can go no where else (i.e. centrifuge or other equipment), I don't see a point. Destiny, Columbus, Kibo, and the Russian modules provide enough space. Is it possible to cram a centrifuge in one of them?

The MPLM is pressurized, so I think the best use for them, even after we use one for the aforementioned centrifuge, might be to send one to the moon and just sit there at the north pole, waiting for a crew to show up. There, it can last for decades until someone makes use of it. I mean, 60 tonnes of fuel is necessary to send a fully-loaded logistics module to the lunar surface. If we attach some landing legs from an unused Apollo, maybe we can launch the last MPLM off.

 

[EarthlingX]

Wouldn't it be better to expand ISS, fill it with standard experiment racks and modules, add whatever is needed to make to make it function, open it to the scientific, educational and business community with tele-operation, remote cameras, .. ?

Standard racks enable you to change functionality, as need arises, as well as cargo transfer capabilities.

Remote operating experiments on the station is also a way to refine skills, needed for a very similar use on the Moon.

Moon is only a little more than a sec away, no biggie, Net lags can be worse.

To put it on one of the 20t LEO launchers, it would probably just need adjusted fairing, a bit of tweaking, or is there so much more ? Even extra inclination shouldn't be such a problem - there are at least a couple of upper stages capable of doing the job.

If it's plugged to ISS, it's already in the space, and if it's later needed for Moon travel, no problem, plug it to propulsion/fuel and habitat module, and off you go. Rent a lander in the Moon orbit.

How much costs, on average, a minute of a microgravity research, btw ?
http://microgravityuniversity.jsc.nasa.gov/
http://microgravity.grc.nasa.gov/

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QI-XQaLd-es[/youtube]

 

[MarkStanaway]

The Shuttles are about to be retired, and Donatello has yet to be used. Rafaello is being retrofitted for long duration as a new ISS storage module, but I have not heard of any plans for the other two.

According to a recent 'Spaceflight' article this is the current status of the three MPLM's:
After flying the upcoming Shuttle mission Leonardo will be beefed up on the outside by installing some Kevlar blankets under the outer debris panels to provide extra mico-meteroid protection. It will then fly on the current last mission, STS-133, and will be left attached to the Harmony node as a Permanent Multipurpose Module (PMM).
Raffaello is being held in readiness for a possible additional Shuttle mission but it needs more money and work modifications to get up to speed.
Donatello is no longer flightworthy as it has been cannabilsed for spare parts.

 

[tanstaafl76]

What do we do with Leonardo and Donatello? We build Rafael and Michaelangelo so they all can take on Shredder, obviously.

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen: