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from the bang...zoom...straight...to-the-moon dept.
Submitted via IRC for Bytram
NASA chief says a Falcon Heavy rocket could fly humans to the Moon
[...] Until now, it was thought that only NASA's Space Launch System could directly inject the Orion spacecraft into a lunar orbit, which made it the preferred option for getting astronauts to the Moon for any potential landing by 2024. However, [NASA Administrator Jim] Bridenstine said there was another option: a Falcon Heavy rocket with an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage built by United Launch Alliance.
[...] This plan has the ability to put humans on the Moon by 2024, Bridenstine said. He then emphasized—twice—that NASA's chief of human spaceflight, William Gerstenmaier, has yet to bless this approach due to a number of technical details. His reservations include the challenge of integrating the Falcon Heavy rocket in a horizontal position and then loading Orion with fuel in a vertical configuration on the launchpad. The Falcon Heavy would also require a larger payload fairing than it normally flies with. This would place uncertain stress on the rocket's side-mounted boosters.
"It would require time [and] cost, and there is risk involved," Bridenstine said. "But guess what—if we're going to land boots on the Moon in 2024, we have time, and we have the ability to accept some risk and make some modifications. All of that is on the table. There is nothing sacred here that is off the table. And that is a potential capability that could help us land boots on the Moon in 2024."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @12:45PM (3 children)
This horizontal versus vertical stuff needs to be sorted out.
There are probably good technical reasons for either, but one must choose.
Assembly on the pad seems less that optimal.
Perhaps X could figure out what it takes to deliver a booster vertical in the VAB and then get the whole stack to a pad.
Me thinks with this many different folks coordinating, some early test launches would be wise to focus everybody on the right page.
The overall recalibration seems refreshing, but this mix of suppliers, will require NASA to be able to manage integration. (make day to day incremental choices for what to do)
Will be interesting to see a new generation of NASA folks step up to provide this old school NASA capability.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by DannyB on Tuesday April 02 2019, @04:38PM (2 children)
SpaceX's horizontal integration eliminates the need for a big expensive VAB. I took a tour in 2017 learned facts . . . and um . . . stuff. Biggest building in the world. The stripes on the flag are as big as the road to the building. Weather happens inside building. I also saw the construction on the SLS pork launching pad and the Orion. In short: tour was, as Londo Mollari says: a thousand monuments to past glory.
Oh, wait . . . !!! Here's an idea . . .
What about using SpaceX's Dragon 2 capsule instead of Orion? Or use Boeing's Starliner capsule, which as I understand, CAN mate to a Falcon Heavy.
Now we get rid of both SLS AND Orion in one go!
Some people need assistants to hire some assistance.
Other people need assistance to hire some assistants.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday April 02 2019, @07:28PM
"SpaceX's horizontal integration eliminates the need for a big expensive VAB."
But don''t we already have the VAB with 4 bays sitting mostly idle?
Did the NASA Chief say this on April 1st?
(Score: 3, Informative) by takyon on Tuesday April 02 2019, @10:16PM
It may be possible to deliver astronauts to the Moon using Falcon Heavy, but SpaceX would prefer to use BFR (Starship). That's why their recent and upcoming tests are so important.
In a pinch, Falcon Heavy could probably deliver astronauts and LOP-G payloads to lunar orbit, but lunar surface is much more uncertain. BFR would be the right tool for that job.
Hopefully we see orbital testing of BFR this year, because it would be excellent to see articles like TFA (and many others that you read about SLS) forced to mention BFR and not just Falcon Heavy.
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