On 23 Oct 2005 03:56:21 -0700, "Alex Terrell"
wrote, in part:

But how can you get a descent lunar lander, capable of landing ~10 tons
on the lunar surface, into the 5.2m dimater faring offered by SpaceX
(or Boeing, LM, or the Stick)?

A lunar lander with 8,650 pounds empty weight and 32,500 pounds weight
of crew and propellant (that is, pounds of mass, or weight in Earth's
gravity) or a mass of 10,149 kilograms in the descent stage, and 4,547
kilograms in the ascent stage...

is alleged to have been sent to the Moon within a fairing 21 feet and 8
inches in diameter.

Ah, but that is 6.6 meters, so indeed a narrower fairing is being
proposed. And the mission is proposed to put four astronauts on the
lunar surface, so something bigger than the Apollo Lunar Module is
required - and the pictures being presented do show something which is
clearly quite a bit larger than the LM.

I don't see this as an insuperable obstacle, since a spaceship can be
made tall and narrow; it doesn't have to look like the Lunar Module,
having a round crew module, and a short base.

John Savard
http://home.ecn.ab.ca/~jsavard/index.html
http://www.quadibloc.com/index.html
_________________________________________
Usenet Zone Free Binaries Usenet Server
More than 140,000 groups
Unlimited download
http://www.usenetzone.com to open account