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Old December 7th 03, 12:16 AM
Brian Thorn
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Default Back to the Moon on what? Saturn V, Magnum, Ares launcher, Shuttle Z

On 06 Dec 2003 20:51:51 GMT, (TKalbfus) wrote:

So what will it be. Do we build new Saturn Vs, Magnum rockets, Ares launchers,
or Shuttle Zs?


There's no need for such a large booster, at least not for lunar
missions.

Most of the weight lofted into orbit for Apollo was propellant, which
can fairly easily be launched by a number of smaller launch vehicles,
particularly if storable propellants are chosen for the mission.

I suspect we'll see a combination of existing or derivative launch
vehicles used for the mission, assuming its approved. Probably an
EELV-Heavy (or Super Heavy) to launch the lunar spacecraft and a
second EELV to launch the OSP.

The propellant delivery mission could be turned completely over to
private industry, fostering true RLV development. If that falls apart,
the fallback option would be EELV or Shuttle-C in Low Value Cargo
mode.

Brian