Where to send the first Orion lunar mission

[willpittenger]

<ol><li>What type of terrain would you look for?&nbsp; Something that makes a safe landing easy?&nbsp; That was used for Apollo 11.&nbsp; Or would you be more adventurous?</li><li>Unmanned or manned?</li><li>Any candidates that make sense?&nbsp; Would you go straight for a polar landing? </li></ol> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Will Pittenger<hr style="margin-top:0.5em;margin-bottom:0.5em" />Add this user box to your Wikipedia User Page to show your support for the SDC forums: <div style="margin-left:1em">{{User:Will Pittenger/User Boxes/Space.com Account}}</div> </div>

 

[samkent]

<p style="margin:0in0in0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">That presupposes there will be a lunar landing. With no near term solution for the oil situation, our economy may not be strong enough to support what the &ldquo;boomers&rdquo; would call a &ldquo;do over&rdquo;. By 2020 most of the boomers will be retired. That seems to be a point where they switch back to the democratic party in an effort to get &ldquo;more&rdquo; from the &ldquo;system&rdquo;. Less money for the &ldquo;space stunts&rdquo;. You can forget about any lunar base paid for by the citizens. </font></p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></font> <p style="margin:0in0in0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">But if we take the leap of faith, I would say pick up where Apollo left off. Land at A18&rsquo;s site. But the new generation may chose a &ldquo;safer&rdquo; site for the first one.</font></p><font size="3"><font face="Times New Roman">&nbsp;</font></font> <p style="margin:0in0in0pt" class="MsoNormal"><font face="Times New Roman" size="3">What I think will actually happen is we will do a &ldquo;face saving&rdquo; mission. Just to say we didn&rsquo;t waste the billions in development. Then we will do an asteroid mission to prove &ldquo;we still got it&rdquo;. After that we will get to the part of the &ldquo;cycle&rdquo; where people say &ldquo;we need a shuttle to lower the cost&rdquo;. Round and round we go with each new generation.</font></p>

 

[shuttle_guy]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>What type of terrain would you look for?&nbsp; Something that makes a safe landing easy?&nbsp; That was used for Apollo 11.&nbsp; Or would you be more adventurous?Unmanned or manned?Any candidates that make sense?&nbsp; Would you go straight for a polar landing? <br />Posted by willpittenger</DIV></p><p>Orion can not land on the Moon.</p><p>As for the lander, Altair,&nbsp;I say go for the polar site first with a manned vehicle. </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>