Lunar Millennium

1
Lunar Millennium

• A Simple, Light, and Aggressive Nearterm Manned
  Lunar Architecture

2
Let me show you how

• To return to the moon without a new launch
  vehicle
• To return to the moon without new upper stages
• To return to the moon only developing one ton of
  new hardware
• and without any Orbital Rendezvous / Docking
  necessary

3
Set a high goal

• We believe that the objectives of human Lunar
  exploration should be to land men and women on
  the Lunar surface before this decade is out, and
  return them safely to Earth.
• Ok, so weve roughly been here before

4
How does it work?

• Lunar Millennium stack consists of
• Lunar Centaur (Single Engine Centaur with
  Extended Mission Kit and additional health
  monitoring)
• Lander Return Vehicle
• About 3 tons gross w/Capsule
• Baseline Hydrazine/Tetroxide
• Looking into LOX/Methane and other options (Xcor)
• Lunar Millennium Capsule
• 450 kg gross, 1 crew

5
Whats it look like?

• 2 configurations under study, this shows the A
  model
• Lander Return Vehicle with 4 1m propellant tanks,
  fixed landing legs under each one (almost all the
  landed weight is in the tanks)
• Motor(s) in center, RCS at corners
• LM Capsule on top

6
Whats it Look Like (B)

• Alternate geometry folding legs, but easier
  escape path (forwards) and smaller shroud
• Tradeoffs and detail design in progress

7
How it Works

• Launch stack with fully fueled Centaur on
  EELV-Heavy
• Centaur performs TLI burn, LOI burn, Lunar
  Descent to about 1 km
• Staging Lander Return Vehicle takes it the rest
  of the way down, lands.
• Surface Ops
• To return, Lander Return vehicle takes back off
  again and performs transfer buns back to Earth

8
Flags and Footprints First

• Fly two together, so that theres a second person
  in case of EVA emergency on Lunar surface
• Need two EELV-H pads, but thats coming already
  we hope
• Apollo 11, 12, 14 like missions

9
Getting Serious Soon

• Minimal unmanned lander just enough to go from
  Centaur staging to soft landing
• Payload 2.5 tons or more
• Mini-Base Module living space for Lunar day (10
  day or so intermittent occupation)
• Heavy Pressurized Rover 10 day traverses, ending
  back at the base / landing site
• Permanent Base Module dig in, chose one of the
  options for Lunar night power, go from man tended
  installation to permanently manned

10
Getting Cheap

• Basic Lunar Millennium doesnt need any
  rendezvous or docking.
• But with a 10 ton to LEO launcher which costs
  only 25mil (SpaceX Falcon-V RL-10), we can
  launch a full Lunar Millennium in 3 parts (LOX
  tank, LOX tank, otherwise fueled and integrated
  LM stack)
• Or, with a 5 ton to LEO cheap launcher (basic
  Falcon-V) can launch in six parts (and do a lot
  more rendezvous/assembly)
• Only have to do 2 orbital rendezvous and LOX
  transfer, launch cost goes from 230 million to
  75 million.
• LOX stores well in space. Dock the LOX tanks to
  a tank farm somewhere?
• Maybe not to start with but eventually, this
  will win big. The key is figuring out when the
  benefits outweigh the additional complexity and
  operational issues.
• Which were working on.

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How do you develop it?

• NASA Office of Exploration Technology BAA 04-01
  response
• Develop the capsule. Capsule and minimal OMS fit
  on a 6M SpaceX Falcon-I. Bunch of drop tests,
  some TPS/Reentry tests with dummy capsules
• Develop the Lander Return Vehicle. LRV plus LM
  Capsule fits on a 12M SpaceX Falcon-V
• Develop the Lunar Centaur. Stack it all up on a
  HLV, fly it
• Complexities of through-shroud abort, etc with
  full stack. Needs work. The B model LRV/Capsule
  geometry (not shown) may improve that, but still
  in early definition.

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Where next?

• Bigger, better 6 person, 4 ton capsule in same
  general geometry and systems.
• This larger capsule is Space Station CEV and
  logistics
• And space tourism capsule
• With 4x larger LOX/LH2 upper stage, begin serious
  largescale landings on the Moon
• And potential Mars mission component
• But Mars will need a whole lot more systems
  development

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Contact Information

• Retro Aerospace
• www.retro.com
• 24652 Santa Clara St, Hayward CA 94544
• George Herbert
• gherbert_at_retro.com