"Henk Boonsma" wrote in message
news:1103705741.afb815c5f01358ea878db6b682439df9@t eranews...

But it still falls far short of Saturn V (100 tons or so in LEO). Maybe a
new booster should be considered.

The method of returning to the Moon would determine the LV requirements.
Remember that there was a short-lived concept called LSR (Lunar Surface
Rendezvous) where an automated lander would transport return propellant for
the next, 'manned' vehicle. This would have allowed a vehicle with an LEO
payload of about 37 tonnes to be used - Saturn C3 from memory.

D-IV can be scaled up to over 50 tonnes LEO payload with only a few changes
to the current design (engines, avionics would be the same, but a new core
would be needed with two engines and twice the propellant load, plus four
CBC's - I have been working on an idea which would have needed an
aproximately 8 metre diameter core, Boeing has 'confirmed' [indirectly] that
the New Booster Core would be 7.7 metres diameter). It could be done in
less than five years and total program costs would be in the order of $25
billion (five billion a year for five years), not the $170 billion NASA says
the 'Bush Plan' will cost.

--
Alan Erskine
We can get people to the Moon in five years,
not the fifteen GWB proposes.
Give NASA a real challenge