So... Aries is sorta stalled, Falcon-9 is delayed (again), and Shuttle is nearing retirement. In frustration, I ask you...

What would YOU do? What is YOUR idea for an inexpensive (well, relatively so), safe, reliable near-term manned launch vehicle and spacecraft?

Since I'm asking I guess I should give an opinion...

Atlas V or Delta IV carrying a 6 man capsule.

First flight of capsule on Man-rated Atlas/Delta to ISS or other manned mission.

Second flight unmanned (non-man-rated booster) to deliver supplies to ISS and re-enter full of trash, but without heat shield.

Modular avionics and re-usable components removed, refurbished, and placed aboard a new capsule between launches.

Reasoning:
Atlas and Delta are proven, reliable systems with the ability to lift the required mass to LEO. Aries and Falcon may yet prove less expensive, but neither has much of a track record

ISS crews 6, so a capsule capable of carrying six would seem to be a requirement. This may seem to require a very large craft, but plans existed to use Apollo capsules for carrying up to 5 men for a Skylab rescue.

Once the seats, avionics, and life support systems are removed, there is space and weight available for a fairly robust re-supply mission. The re-use of the capsule for a single un-manned mission reduces cost - the capsule structure needs less intensive inspection and refurbishment than it would for another manned mission. Parts removed can be refurbished, and placed in new capsules to reduce recurring costs.

Just my brain storm…

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John Adams
"There is a lot of rocketry under 20ns"

I've wanted a man rated Atlas V or Delta IV all along, assuming it can handle a 6 man capsule.

We still need to design and build a new heavy lift vehicle with at least the capability of the old Saturn so that large volume and/or massive payloads can be put into orbit, or into more interesting trajectories with other heavenly bodies. (not the heavenly bodies that have entered into the TRF weenie thread)

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I love sanding.

I agree with using both the Atlas V and Delta IV to launch at first a capsule, and later a lifting body transport.

Building a heavy lift booster without purpose will be prohibitively expensive (Ares V). The only thing it could be used for that a Delta IV could not do would be lifting a nuclear reactor into orbit for a real space drive. And even then, maybe a modified Delta IV with 4 (or more)common core strap-ons might fill the bill.

I see no pressing military or civilian need to maintain ATK's ability to make large segmented solid boosters. The common core boosters of the Delta IV are more efficient.

Well if we are going down this road, I'm going to go big.

I'm going for an uprated Saturn V, so maybe a Saturn VB. It would have uprated F-1s, with 1.8 million pounds of thrust per engine and an option for strap-ons for the first stage.

As far as crew payload, I like the shuttle-style reentry vehicle. I want an Aero-Shroud around it for ascent protection and to handle abort-control modes. Just musing.

Greg

There's plenty of purpose. Scale modeling!

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I love sanding.

The Delta IV Heavy is a proven system. The Atlas V Heavy is available but has yet to launch. Both of these exceed the lift capabilities of a Saturn 1B. Making these human rated seems the most logical way to go, so the odds are it will never happen.

There is really no reason to have to make a super heavy lift booster human rated, saving cost in that regard. A human rated Atlas or Delta could rendezvous with a Heavy lifted vehicle and transfer crew for a lunar or Mars bound manned mission.

I like your idea of reusing manned capsules for unmanned cargo missions. Very efficient use of materials!

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"AND I hope they are from the planet of the "Chunk spunky Mary-Lou Retton clones". - Ironnerd

"Those who trade liberty for security have neither" - Benjamin Franklin

"Semroc is almost always the answer" - Stefanj

www.paulsavia.com

www.soundclick.com/paulsavia

...and so the Klingon says, "I didn't say your capsule should be hauling garbage; it should be hauled away as garbage."


Bill

The only mission for NASA is extreme heavy lift. There is no reason for developing another way to shoot Americans to LEO other than Congressional pork. NASA should be thinking "If we build it, they will come." Extreme Heavy Lift is not really commercially feasable so it would be left to the government to handle something like that. You could build a mighty large space station with a Saturn follow-on booster and instead of thinking LEO, how about to a station built in GEO or even HEO away from the trash and debris.

My pick is for a Saturn V follow-on: five F-1A engines, four 120 inch solid strap-ons, no fins and a 336 inch stretched S-1C, a 41 inch stretched S-II with five J-2x and then a strengthened S-IVb with a single J-2x for the transfer mission. Single launch fly-away cost would be in the $100 million range, maybe more depending on size of the production run.

Note that this is an un-manned launcher - manned launches are off NASA's plate.

So your private manned capsule needs to get to HEO or GEO. How much can a Delta IV Heavy or a Russian Atlas get there?

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NAR 79743
NARTrek Silver
I miss being SAM 062

Awaiting First Launch: Too numerous to count
Finishing: Zooch Saturn V; Alway/Nau BioArcas; Estes Expedition; TLP Standard
Repair/Rescue: Cherokee-D (2); Centuri Nike-Smoke; MX-774
On the Bench: 2650;
Dream Stage: 1/39.37 R-7

Here is some info:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Compar..._launch_systems

A Delta IV Heavy and an Atlas V heavy are both around 13,000 to GTO.

__________________
"AND I hope they are from the planet of the "Chunk spunky Mary-Lou Retton clones". - Ironnerd

"Those who trade liberty for security have neither" - Benjamin Franklin

"Semroc is almost always the answer" - Stefanj

www.paulsavia.com

www.soundclick.com/paulsavia

Simple. Soyuz.

We'll just buy some from the manufacturer. Cheaper and faster than developing one from scratch. Then reverse engineer it. That's what the Chinese did. And they'll be on the Moon before we ever get back there.

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SAM # 0011