Artemis 8

On 2020-07-18 4:37 PM, JF Mezei wrote:
On 2020-07-18 10:35, David Spain wrote:

OTOH it is hard to see, unlike with Apollo 8 and in the absence of any
follow-on hardware, where this is anything more than a publicity stunt.

Forgetting propulsion, can the Dragon capsule actually do this trip
around the Moon and back?

It has the endurance. There would need to be more consumables provided
for a two-person crew.

Shields for Radiation?

In the comments section to the original article there is someone who
keeps bringing this up vis-a-vis the fact the Orion has been rad
hardened for precisely this reason and this kind of trip whereas Crew
Dragon has not. However this person provides no hard data or cites to
back up his claims Crew Dragon. Even if true, there are materials
abundantly available that can surely be added to Crew Dragon to meet the
need and likely match Orion. It isn't a structural issue, might be a
mass issue but I doubt it for a two-crew mission.

Heat Shields for Re-Entry? (Article states Dragon done to re-enter from
Mars, is that true?)

I believe that is true.

Would G-Forces during re-entry be comparable to re-entry from ISS?

No higher, obviously.

I assume ECLSS is able to sustain crew for a week.
Are the sylish SpaceX launch-entry suits usable on a Lunar
spin-around-the moon trip? Or would they need actual EVA suits?

Can Dragon support an EVA? Wondering about all all the electronics on
board will be cooled in vacuum.

Huh? Why is that relevant?


Artemis. Compared to the Apollo Program. Which did exactly that 6 months
later.

I think the point of such an endeavour would be to point out that SLS is
just not working out. If Musk can assemble a Moon expedition in a few
months while SLS is years and years late, it points to failure of SLS.

More importantly, consider that should SpaceX be able to organize a
sightseeing trip to the Moon before February 2021, its position would be
greatly strenghtened for bids to get the NASA contract to land on the
Moon. (especially if SpaceX pulls off the LEO manoeuver to join/refuel
whyatever was launched from Falcon9 with wahtever was launched witgh
Falcon Heavy.

SpaceX has so far shown zero interest in using Crew Dragon for private
purposes. It seems happy to have this technology be captive to NASA.

Dave