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posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 15 2018, @09:13PM   Printer-friendly
from the to-infinity-and-beyond dept.

SpaceX's Falcon Heavy eyed by Europe/Japan

According to RussianSpaceWeb, SpaceX's Falcon Heavy rocket is under serious consideration for launches of major European and Japanese payloads associated with the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (formerly the Deep Space Gateway).

[...] The first payload considering Falcon Heavy for launch services is the Japanese Space Agency's (JAXA) HTV-X, and upgraded version of a spacecraft the country developed to assist in resupplying the International Space Station (ISS). HTV-X is primarily being designed with an ISS-resupply role still at the forefront, but RussianSpaceWeb recently reported that JAXA is seriously considering the development of a variant of the robotic spacecraft dedicated to resupplying the Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway (LOPG; and I truly wish I were joking about both the name and acronym).

[...] Regardless of the LOPG's existential merits, a lot of energy (and money) is currently being funneled into planning and initial hardware development for the lunar station's various modular segments. JAXA is currently analyzing ways to resupply LOPG and its crew complement with its HTV-X cargo spacecraft, currently targeting its first annual ISS resupply mission by the end of 2021. While JAXA will use its own domestic H-III rocket to launch HTV-X to the ISS, that rocket simply is not powerful enough to place a minimum of ~10,000 kg (22,000 lb) on a trans-lunar insertion (TLI) trajectory. As such, JAXA is examining SpaceX's Falcon Heavy as a prime (and affordable) option: by recovering both side boosters on SpaceX's drone ships and sacrificing the rocket's center core, a 2/3rds-reusable Falcon Heavy should be able to send as much as 20,000 kg to TLI (lunar orbit), according to comments made by CEO Elon Musk.

That impressive performance would also be needed for another LOPG payload, this time for ESA's 5-6 ton European System Providing Refueling Infrastructure and Telecommunications (ESPRIT) lunar station module. That component is unlikely to reach launch readiness before 2024, but ESA is already considering Falcon Heavy (over its own Ariane 6 rocket) in order to save some of the module's propellant. Weighing 6 metric tons at most, Falcon Heavy could most likely launch ESPRIT while still recovering all three of its booster stages.

Previously: NASA's Chief of Human Spaceflight Rules Out Use of Falcon Heavy for Lunar Station

Related: NASA and International Partners Planning Orbital Lunar Outpost
Russia Assembles Engineering Group for Lunar Activities and the Deep Space Gateway
This Week in Space Pessimism: SLS, Mars, and Lunar Gateway


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:55PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 16 2018, @04:55PM (#722325)

    Anybody, who wants efficient human spaceflight program should check out this petition

    https://www.change.org/p/save-america-s-space-program [change.org]

    and this show:

    https://thespaceshow.com/show/13-aug-2018/broadcast-3171-howard-bloom [thespaceshow.com]

  • (Score: 2) by takyon on Thursday August 16 2018, @06:25PM (1 child)

    by takyon (881) <reversethis-{gro ... s} {ta} {noykat}> on Thursday August 16 2018, @06:25PM (#722402) Journal

    I will probably check out the podcast. With the low amount of interest in that petition, it's unlikely to go anywhere, even though the amount of people who want SLS cancelled is obviously far more than 734. The /r/spacex [reddit.com] subreddit alone has more readers than that in any given moment.

    If/when BFR launches, momentum to cancel SLS should increase significantly, even if it has already flown once. It's possible that BFR will reach orbit before SLS can.

    Compare that $30 billion with the cost of developing Elon Musk’s Falcon Heavy—less than a billion dollars. In other words, for the cost of developing the Space Launch System, we could develop thirty brand new rockets if we took the Elon Musk route. Or we could develop an entire Moon and Mars program.

    Falcon Heavy had the advantage of being built on top of the Falcon 9 (which also explains Falcon Heavy's years of delays - Falcon 9 evolved too fast, increasing its capabilities over the years). Will BFR development cost a mere $1 billion? How about a BFR successor, such as the Interplanetary Transport System?

    One thing that should be done immediately: give funds to SpaceX to research or develop the Falcon Superheavy, which would attach 2 more booster cores to the Falcon Heavy. This could act as a nice niche launcher before BFR debuts, and could help it to match the capabilities of the SLS.

    And reusable rockets, like reusable busses, trucks, trains, cars, and airplanes, will lower our cost of access to space dramatically.

    Reusable buses, trucks, trains, cares, and airplanes don't do much to help us get to space. ;-)

    Then there’s the Orion capsule that the SLS will fling into space. It cannot land. It can’t land on the Moon. It can’t land on Mars. And it’s too small to carry crews to Mars. It is a boondoggle.

    An important and shocking fact.

    Lunar Orbital Platform – Gateway

    The reason LOP-G can't be crewed year-round is due to radiation risks, right? Well, while LOP-G isn't very useful and probably should be cancelled before it's too late, the concept could be improved significantly. A propellant depot could be added, allowing certain spacecraft (likely the BFR) to deposit or refuel there for Moon trips. Construction could be done with Falcon Heavy launches, and crew could be sent with Falcon 9 + Dragon, lowering costs dramatically. It could act as a second testing site for new space station technologies. A spinning gravity simulation would be nice, if possible. And I definitely want to see more aggressive testing of Bigelow Aerospace's inflatable modules. Some of these, such as the BA 2100 [wikipedia.org], would offer a greater volume than the entire current volume of the ISS.

    Another thing you could do at LOP-G is have a human assembled and serviceable space telescope either near or attached to the station. This could be one way to offer JWST/LUVOIR-tier capabilities but at a lower cost. You could assemble a gigantic space telescope using multiple launches, and you could reduce the amount of testing and just swap out parts if mistakes are made.

    Obviously, these objectives could also be accomplished at the ISS or another LEO space station, such as China's planned one [soylentnews.org]. But if the ISS is going to be disassembled or destroyed, a replacement could be warranted. The inability for crew to stay there more than a couple of months at a time is not that bad since we already know that microgravity is crap for astronaut health. If some or more of the above ideas are realized, maybe it would be worth it to install better shielding on such a station.

    I might expand on these in a journal entry.

    --
    [SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]