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NASA's director Jim Bridenstine said the United States already had a permanent human presence on the moon in the next 10 years, which would lay the groundwork for expanding space exploration on Mars. A Moon Direct plan could have lunar bases permanently inhabited in two years.
It's better than nothing, but NASA's approach is a waste of money. However, this is part of promoting the useless program of the Lunar Gateway. The moon gate will cost more than $ 100 billion. It uses International Space Station (ISS) style technology to build a space station in orbit around the moon. It is better to waste money on space and get more space capabilities than on the military.
About 30 space shuttle launches were used to add components and modules to bademble the ISS. The lunar bridge seems to have been built from a dozen modules.
We could do a lot better in the space, spend less money and get results faster. We could use some SpaceX Falcon Heavies and land directly on the moon with about 20 to 30 tons of moonbase at a time. The SpaceX Falcon Heavy is flying now.
The lunar bridge plan will currently use the space launch system. Space Launch System and the human capsule Orion waste between $ 4 billion and $ 5 billion a year. The Lunar Bridge is a costly justification for the expensive space launch system.
Moon Direct Program
The Trump administration said that America should return to the moon and build permanent bases. Robert Zubrin points out (in a New Atlantis article) that this stated goal has not received any significant funding. Robert Zubrin's article on New Atlantis contains an update of his Moon Direct program proposal.
The lunar orbital platform gateway (formerly called deep space gateway) receives money. The bridge will be a loss.
The Gateway is a planned space station that will orbit the Moon, supposed to serve as an outpost for human explorations of the Moon, Mars and deep space.
According to NASA, Orion would make its first crew around the moon by 2023. Vice President Pence recently stated the goal of placing astronauts on the bridge by the end of 2024.
The idea of the Moon Bridge is stupid. It is not necessary to have a space station encircling the moon to be able to go to the moon, on Mars or elsewhere. And there is not much research to be done in lunar orbit that can not already be done on the International Space Station, in Earth orbit or with probes and lunar robots.
NASA says gateway would create opportunity
* test advanced propulsion, communication and other technologies further away from Earth
* Teleoperated rovers could be sent from the bridge to the Moon
* planets and stars could be viewed from a different angle than that of the ISS or current telescopes.
None of these activities require human presence in lunar orbit. These are not reasons to have a gateway, but rationalizations.
We do not need a space station in lunar orbit, but we could use a base on the Moon itself. A lunar base would be much more than a point of arrest; it could also be a hydrogen-oxygen propellant propellant production site from water on the moon. It is a powerful propellant used for decades for rockets, used by Saturn V and Space Shuttle.
In some areas of the moon, the ice of the water has a concentration of 30% by weight in the highest surface layer of the soil.
PNAS – Direct Evidence of Surface Water Ice in Lunar Polar Regions
The moon is a world whose surface is greater than that of the African continent. Its terrain is hilly, with no roads and no river, so astronauts can not explore it effectively with the help of surface vehicles. Lunar explorers will have to fly.
It is theoretically possible to visit multitudes of places on the Moon by launching dozens of missions directly from the Earth. The cost of this operation would be astronomical. We must create a base capable of producing propellant on the Moon. Moon missions must be powered and operated on the moon. Only occasional missions from Earth are needed to replenish consumables and replace crews.
Where should such a base be? The lunar poles are ideal not only because they have permanently shaded water-filled craters, but also because they are characterized by permanently illuminated highlands, providing reliable access to energy. solar. The poles are therefore the clear favorites for a base, as they provide both the raw material and the energy source needed to make the hydrogen-oxygen rocket propellant.
Produce water and fuel on the moon
The absolute priority is the production of propellant. Each Moon Direct mission requires 6 tons of propellant on the Moon for the return flight of the LEV to the Earth's orbit. It also takes 6 tons of propellant for each long distance output from the base to a distant location on the moon and vice versa. For the purpose of badysis, we will badume that once the base is operational, every four months, a round-trip mission will be organized between the Moon and the Earth to exchange the crews, then a flight of 39, long-range exploration. The propellant manufacturing requirements will be 6 tons per month or 200 kilograms per day.
Engines operating with liquid hydrogen and oxygen use a higher hydrogen / oxygen ratio than that contained in water. To get our 200 kilograms of propellant, we would need to electrolyze about 260 kilograms of water (about 70 gallons) a day. The happy side effect is that it would leave about 60 kg of residual oxygen each day, which could be used for breathing the crew.
The dominant power required will be the vaporization and electrolysis of the water. Electrolysing 260 kg of water a day will require 56 kilowatts of power. It can be estimated that the water could be vaporized at the same rate using microwaves with a beam of about 26 kilowatts. The cryogenic liquefaction of hydrogen and oxygen products, aided by the extremely cold temperatures of the Moon, will add about 25 kilowatts and the maintenance of life, among others, will increase by 13 kilowatts the need for energy. The estimate is 120 kilowatts for our total energy needs. This could be provided by a solar panel or a nuclear reactor. Solar or nuclear can be built with 4 tons using the proposed technologies.
Moon Direct
Moon Direct requires relatively little launch mbad and makes extensive use of existing technologies.
Assuming that launch costs and non-launch costs are about equal, we could run our configuration missions (two flights for Phase 1 and two Phase 2 missions) for about $ 1.5 billion. . Recurring missions will cost $ 420 million a year. This represents 2% of NASA's current budget. This is very inexpensive compared to the standards of manned space programs. The total budget for NASA's manned space flight program is currently about $ 10 billion a year and has no specific target.
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