Mission Profile - Updated 8/8/05

Here's an idea for a mission plan. It needs significant refinement and change, but it's a starting point for discussion.

Stage 1: Hot-air balloon launch platform gets you to upper atmosphere circumventing a lot of friction and a little bit of gravity.

Stage 2: Spacecraft piggy backs on a "Space plane" which takes off from the floating launch platform.

Stage 3: Space plane releases spacecraft which uses rockets to reach earth orbit.

Stage 4: Once in earth orbit, the spacecraft sheds a section and leaves it in orbit. This section is dubbed SS1 (Space Station One).

Stage 5: Spacecraft minus SS1 leaves earth orbit for the moon.

Stage 6: Once in lunar orbit, the spacecraft would shed SS2 and the return fuel module.

Stage 7: A command module and a habitation module land on the lunar surface.

Stage 8: The "hab" module is left behind and the command module leaves the surface and enters lunar orbit.

Stage 9: Once in orbit, the command module links with return fuel module and returns to earth orbit.

Stage 10: fuel module is docked with SS1, and command module returns to earth (or the Russians come and pick us up?).

The concept of modularity is central to this design. The idea is to establish permanent living and working facilities in orbit around the earth, around the moon, and on the surface of the moon. Each successive trip to the moon would add a new module to each of these facilities. This would provide the necessary infrastructure to allow regular travel to and from earth orbit, lunar orbit, and the lunar surface, and create a permanent human presence in each of these places.

Another key idea is to avoid any kind of waste. It costs a lot of fuel to lift mass into space, so anything we do lift should be used. Nothing should return to earth that can be used to establish the three facilities I mentioned.

Here's another proposed mission profile:

Stage 1: Robot delivers SS1, return vehicle, and fuel into earth orbit.

Stage 2: Robot delivers SS2 and return fuel into lunar orbit.

Stage 3: Robot delivers Hab module to lunar landing site.

Stage 4: Crew vehicle (taxi and lander) launches from Earth, and rendezvous with SS1 to fuel.

Stage 5: Crew vehicle rendezvous with SS1, dropping off and refueling "taxi".

Stage 6: Lander rendezvous with Hab module on lunar surface.

Stage 7: Lander returns to SS1. Crew transfers to taxi.

Stage 8: Taxi returns to SS1. Crew transfers to return vehicle.

Stage 9: Return vehicle returns to Earth's surface.