InterPlanetary Ventures

December 1, 2008

Halfway To Anywhere...

Once you get to Earth orbit, you're halfway to anywhere in the solar system. ( Robert Heinlein)

Getting into orbit cheaply has been the stumbling block for space exploration since the start of the first space age in the 20th century. The cost calculations of getting to the moon, mars and the asteroids has always assumed that every molecule needed for the roundtrip and any base development had to be shipped up from earth, with the exception of the Mars Direct plan, which would send an automated lander to mars in advance, capable of generating fuel for the return trip. The current back to the moon plans rely on the development of heavy lift rockets to launch large payloads into orbit. NASA has always been a one trick pony, but now we need more options available than NASA is willing to develop. The Ares I and V are NASA’s ponies, Ares-I for the CEV capsule, and Ares-V as the heavy lifter to launch cargo and vehicles like the lunar lander.

There is another proposal, called the Shuttle Derived Launch Vehicle (later called Direct v1.0) that uses shuttle technology to create a launch vehicle that can serve both needs. This is an option that has been peer reviewed and found wanting. They took it back to the drawing board and came up with Direct v2.0, which has also been peer reviewed and appears to be a workable plan. Direct v2.0 will never be developed by NASA, but it uses hardware and technology that are built by existing US companies (NASA is a buyer, not a manufacturer of space hardware). So it is possible for another group or consortium to pursue this development option. The question is, how to make that happen?

If we want NASA to be the only American presence in space exploration and development, then we don’t need to do anything, but if we want to get people into space to stay, start building a future for humanity in space beyond what NASA has planned, then we need more options for getting people and materials to LEO, which is Halfway to Anywhere…