My idea for a lunar program

I’m not really a fan of the Artemis Program.  The main reason is the SLS.  I want a permanently crewed lunar base, and a billion-dollar rocket that launches once a year (maybe) isn’t how you do that.  And I seriously doubt Starship will meet expectations.  So recently, while waiting for Artemis II, I started wondering how I would have designed the lunar program if I had control of it.  And this is what I came up with.  Now, I’m sure a real space engineer will be able to point out, “You can’t do X for this reason,” but this is basically the idea a space fan came up with some night while at work.

The number one point of this plan is that everything will be designed to launch on existing rockets, such as the Falcon 9.  No need to spend untold billions and years and years of work to build some super-duper rocket that can do it all in one launch.  Each mission would require components launched on multiple rockets spaced out over a few months, and some of these could be components could be launched on European, Japanese, or Indian rockets. 

A big element of my plan would be two “space stations,” one in Earth orbit and one in lunar orbit.  I say “space stations” because on the less expensive – and quicker – end they could just be satellites, while on the more expensive – and longer – end they could be permanently crewed space stations.  The option I lean towards is where they are basically satellites, but they have a module where a crew can dock for a week or so to do maintenance or repairs.

These stations would consist of three modules.  There would be a command module that would have all the computers, and communication equipment, and solar panels.  On one end of this would be the crew module, which would have two or three docking ports and an airlock.  On the other end of the command module would be a module with the thrusters for station keeping, as well as the fuel tanks.  There would also be a docking port for a refueling craft.  These refueling craft would likely be some version of the X-37.  It would launch, dock with the station, transfer fuel, then return to Earth to be relaunched. 

Now the possibly bigger part of my plan would be a ferry craft.  Ideally, this would be reusable, with part of the reason for the stations to be a place to store fuel for this ferry.  But if that was too complicated, then the alternative would be to have a reusable command ferry with all the computers, communication equipment, and solar panels, that would dock with the Earth Station and wait for an expendable rocket stage that would send it to the moon. 

How I see this working, is you’d have this ferry craft docked to the Earth Station.  Then a rocket would launch the cargo, which – with the help of a robotic arm or two – would be attached to the ferry.  This ferry stack would then undock and set off for the moon.  If it’s just plain cargo, then it would take the most fuel-efficient way to get to the moon, taking a month or more.  When it reached the moon, it would go into orbit and dock to the Lunar Station. 

In the case of human cargo, it would take a shorter, more fuel intense trip.  One possibility, is that instead of taking whatever craft carried the crew to orbit, they’d dock to the Earth Station, and transfer over to a travel habitat, or whatever.  This would have more room for the astronauts, but the downside would be that these travel habitats would only be for traveling between Earth and Lunar orbits.  They could not reenter and land, meaning if something happened to the craft docked to the Earth Station, they’d be stranded.  This sounds bad, but what would the difference be if something happened to the craft docked to the Lunar Station while the crew was on the surface?

The lunar landing system, at first, would consist of two components.  One would be an expendable descent stage.  The other would be a reusable habitat with an ascent stage.  Eventually, this could be replaced by an entirely reusable system, but I expect that to be more complicated.  That’s the eventual goal, but it’s tough to start there.

All of this sounds like a lot, and it is, but part of the point of this is you can spend a year or more launching the various parts and getting everything in place before you start landing on the moon.  And I figure the way to start the lunar landings would be with cargo that would land on the descent stages.  This way we can get multiple landings to make sure everything works long before we risk humans.  Probably one of the first landings would be of a RTG rover that could scout out future landing sites and take samples.  Later landings would have experiments, and could start landing cargo for a future base.  Then you could do a dress rehearsal with an ascent stage.  But instead of people, it would land some cargo, then be filled with a few hundred kilograms of rocks and samples.  This would take off and eventually get to the Earth Station.  Then a crew capsule could launch, but instead of four crew members, maybe only two go up.  They would transfer the samples over to their craft, and then return home.

Once deemed safe, we’d start flying people.  At first for short stays of a week or two, but eventually – once there’s enough equipment and supplies – for months.  Eventually, a permanently crewed base would take shape.  And by that time, a new system would probably be developed.  Because the goal of all of this would be to find a safe, efficient way to get to the moon with existing technology.  And hopefully in the years it would take to design, test, and launch all this, maybe we could finally crack the super-duper rocket issues and do all this with a single launch.  Or maybe we’d just scale everything up.  Or maybe we’d discover issues and have to figure out a different approach.  In the end, I want humans on the moon in a safe, efficient, sustainable way.  I don’t care how it’s done, but I’m pretty sure the current program won’t be it.