posted 10-03-2018 08:42 AM               

Ahead of the Curve

As the fascination with deep space exploration grows, commercial opportunities will follow. Companies are developing commercial lunar concepts and business plans.

NASA's lunar Gateway can be a cornerstone to the development of a new commercial lunar economy. Like the transcontinental railroad or commercial airports, government developed infrastructure will be critical to the viability of a commercial market based in cis-lunar space. Early commercial applications will be privatized services to NASA, such as current commercial cargo and crew to the International Space Station. Other purely commercial activities may follow and could turn in to a true production-based economy around the Moon.

The Infrastructure: Gateway

The Gateway is the proving ground to take humans farther than ever before. It is essentially a "space port" where astronauts will be able to perform revolutionary science, establish a lunar commercial economy, and build and test the system elements to get us to other destinations such as the surface of the Moon, asteroids and Mars.

NASA's Gateway concept has been adopted by the international community and is the space port to promote sustainable lunar operations and develop extended international partnerships. Serving as the main hub, the Gateway will provide a place to both live and work and is flexible to support multiple missions. First, this orbiting port will be the communications hub for explorers because they will need high-speed communications relays, imagery and mapping, and navigation help from lunar orbit. The Gateway can perform all of those functions from the high-ground vantage point and by utilizing low-cost hosted payloads rather than a full network of lunar satellites.

In addition to communications, the Gateway will be a future fuel depot that will provide the springboard needed to get tomorrow's space economy off the ground. Rockets, satellites and spacecraft can fuel-up for missions between the Earth and the Moon without having to land on the surface – and ultimately longer-duration missions to destinations like Mars.

The Workhorse: Orion

NASA's Orion is the world's only exploration-class spacecraft, designed and built to protect astronauts from the dangers of deep space. Orion will support an incremental buildup of the entire Gateway and is a highly capable vehicle with unique features designed to meet deep space environments and keep crew members safe even given dangerous emergency scenarios.

Other human spaceflight vehicles aren't designed for the challenges beyond low-Earth orbit. They also lack the capability to fly long duration missions and are ground dependent. Orion is designed with advanced technology needed for the extremes of deep space, such as long-duration life support, deep space navigation, radiation protection, deep space communications and a robust heat shield capable of Mars-return velocities.

Orion will also serve as the exploration command deck for when the Gateway is crewed. Built on a robust fault tolerant design and capable avionics system, Orion provides the safe control and necessary interfaces for crew to perform a variety of missions. Should an anomaly occur while in lunar orbit, the crew can also use Orion as a safe haven while they continue to work to resolve the issue or safely return to Earth. The investments already made in Orion can be leveraged to reduce the cost, complexity and development timeline for the Gateway.

The Surface: Landers

From the orbital platform of the lunar Gateway, we can begin to explore the surface of the Moon with a reusable crewed lunar lander (White Paper: Concept for a Crewed Lunar Lander). After a surface mission, it would return to the Gateway, where it can be refueled, serviced, and then kept in orbit until the next surface sortie mission.

With help of the Gateway, astronauts will scan the lunar surface to determine the best landing spot that will be rich with resources and ideal for a potential lunar colony. Scouting allows us to find the optimal landing spot to sustain the first city on the Moon.

Using the orbiting Gateway as a departure base makes a reusable crewed lander simpler and safer as opposed to an Apollo-style direct-to-surface mission. The lander only needs enough capability to bring a crew and some cargo to the surface, and not large pieces of infrastructure to bring people back and forth from Earth. Our crewed lunar lander concept is a single stage, fully reusable system that incorporates many of Orion's flight-proven technology including its avionics and a light-weight version of its crew module pressure vessel.

After a surface mission, the lander would return to the Gateway, where it can be refueled, serviced, and then kept in orbit until the next surface sortie mission. Keeping the reusable lander at the Gateway while having Orion return the crew home to Earth simplifies the design and cost of the lander by removing the need for complex entry, descent and landing systems, which is the most dangerous phase of the mission.

posted 10-03-2018 11:47 AM               

Lockheed Martin Reveals New Human Lunar Lander Concept

Reusable lander could take astronauts from the lunar Gateway to the surface of the Moon and advance technology needed to explore Mars

Today, at the International Astronautical Congress (IAC) in Bremen, Germany, Lockheed Martin experts revealed the company's crewed lunar lander concept and showed how the reusable lander aligns with NASA's lunar Gateway and future Mars missions.

The crewed lunar lander is a single stage, fully reusable system that incorporates flight-proven technologies and systems from NASA's Orion spacecraft. In its initial configuration, the lander would accommodate a crew of four and 2,000 lbs. of cargo payload on the surface for up to two weeks before returning to the Gateway without refueling on the surface.

"NASA asked industry for innovative and new approaches to advance America's goal of returning humans to the Moon, and establishing a sustainable, enduring presence there," said Lisa Callahan, vice president and general manager of Commercial Civil Space at Lockheed Martin Space. "This is a concept that takes full advantage of both the Gateway and existing technologies to create a versatile, powerful lander that can be built quickly and affordably. This lander could be used to establish a surface base, deliver scientific or commercial cargo, and conduct extraordinary exploration of the Moon."

The unique orbit of the lunar Gateway provides global lunar access for a lander. Having the ability to visit multiple sites with a reusable lander supports many international, commercial, and scientific communities, in addition to NASA's sustainable exploration of the Moon. After a surface mission, it would return to the Gateway, where it can be refueled, serviced, and then kept in orbit until the next surface sortie mission.

"The Gateway is key to full, frequent and fast reusability of this lander," said Tim Cichan, space exploration architect at Lockheed Martin Space, who presented the lander concept at IAC. "Because this lander doesn't have to endure the punishment of re-entering Earth's atmosphere, it can be re-flown many times over without needing significant and costly refurbishment. That's a major advantage of the Gateway and of a modular, flexible, reusable approach to deep space exploration."

The investments made in technology developed for Orion can be re-used to reduce the cost, complexity and development timeline. Some of the human-rated, flight-proven systems used in the design include avionics, life support, communications and navigation systems, and a light-weight version of its crew module pressure vessel.

Reusable landers are enabled by the lunar Gateway and are important for sustainable exploration. Additionally, landed human lunar missions and a lunar orbiting outpost are valuable to prepare for sending humans to Mars. While the Moon doesn't have an atmosphere, there are still many lessons that apply to a future crewed Mars lander, such as: operations experience in a challenging and dynamic environment, operating and refueling out of orbit, long-duration cryogenic propulsion, and terminal descent navigation, guidance and control.