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Lockheed Accelerates NASA’s Orion—Manned Lunar Flyby in 2016? April 26, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Constellation, New NASA Heavy Lift Vehicle (HLV), Orion (craft), United Launch Alliance , 1 comment so far

In an exclusive interview with Universe Today, Lockheed Martin’s John Karas announced today that they’ve accelerated NASA’s Orion craft to a 2013 first launch—with a potential 2016 manned lunar flyby!

One of the few pieces of NASA’s Constellation program to survive it’s cancellation, the Orion is the manned vehicle slated to replace (more or less) the Space Shuttle for ventures to the ISS and elsewhere.

Orion has been planned to launch on Lockheed’s Delta IV rocket for 2013, but Congress’ recent push to have NASA develop and launch a Heavy Lift Rocket (HLV) by 2016 has presented some interesting options:

“If we have a heavy lifter, the 2016 flight with the first human crew could be a deep space mission or a lunar fly by lasting more than a week.”- John Karas, VP of Human Space Flight programs, Lockheed Martin; “Lockheed accelerates Orion to Achieve 2013 launch and potential 2016 Manned Lunar Fly-By“, Ken Kremer, UniverseToday.com

A manned lunar fly-by in 2016 is a huge development!

For comparison, the original Constellation timeline had a manned lunar fly-by in…2019. So this would actually be three years earlier than Constellation would have been! With the first 2013 Orion flight being about a year faster.

Granted, this assumes the new NASA HLV rocket stays on track, but even if the timeline’s delayed two full years, it still beats the slated Constellation mark.

As far as a lunar landing, part of this speedier timeline is related to the Altair lander having been axed with Constellation; the program’s first Orion lunar flight would have included a landing. But it’s not out of the question a lander could be developed by private space or even within NASA before long; even multiple-year delays would still put this timeline to around Constellation’s.

At this stage, it looks like NASA might end up having hardly missed a beat on its way back to the Moon. The universe takes funny turns sometimes…who knew cancelling your program got you to your destination faster? ;)

Google Lunar X PRIZE Roundup #44 April 15, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Google Lunar X Prize, Google Lunar X Prize Roundup , 2comments

The Google Lunar X PRIZE is a $30 million competition challenging private space enterprises to land a rover on the Moon. Every two weeks, I round up the latest developments as the teams rocket forwards and upwards…


Apollo veterans are popping up left and right across the GLXP! Lots of content and some great interviews from March 15-31st, so dig right on for some of the latest developments in private space’s march to the moon…

Almost half of those were from one day—-March 31st. Phew! An epic day for GLXP goodness :) Roundup #45 should be coming along shortly (for April 1-15), so keep an eye out… :)

SpaceX Reveals New Falcon Heavy—World’s Most Powerful Rocket April 6, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : SpaceX, United Launch Alliance , add a comment

Leading private space company SpaceX has announced their newest rocket: the Falcon Heavy!

Taking aim at the United Launch Alliance‘s Delta IV, the Falcon Heavy will be not only the most powerful rocket in the world, but the most powerful since the legendary Saturn V of the Apollo missions. (That might not be for long, though, as Congress and NASA are haggling out plans for a heavy-lift rocket that could carry more.)

Set for its first launch in late 2013 or early 2014, the Falcon Heavy is designed to provide twice the carrying power of a Delta IV at “less than a third” of  the cost. SpaceX’s emphasis on its efficiency over the Delta, to me, represents something of a first salvo of direct competition within private space: one private company very specifically trying to trump the offering of another.

And SpaceX has its eyes on more than just orbit:

“‘[The Falcon Heavy's power] certainly opens up a wide range of possibilities, such as returning to the moon and conceivably going to Mars…The Falcon 9 Heavy could go much farther than low-Earth orbit.’” -Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO; “Huge Private Rocket Could Send Humans to Moon or Mars“, Clara Moskowitz, Space.com

With one Google Lunar X PRIZE team, Astrobotic, already having a ride with SpaceX lined up, SpaceX’s role as a major lunar player is starting to take shape.

And they could just be getting started…:

“SpaceX is also considering building an even more powerful rocket called a “super heavy-lift” vehicle that would have about three times the capability of a Falcon Heavy, or about 50 percent more power than the Saturn 5.” – “Huge Private Rocket Could Send Humans to Moon or Mars“, Clara Moskowitz, Space.com

It’s Luna C/I’s Third Anniversary! :) April 2, 2011

Posted by Nick Azer in : Luna C/I , add a comment

Three years ago today, I started up Luna C/I with a simple post called Magnificent Desolation.

“One small post for a blog…one giant leap for this blogger.”

Little did I know how much that would pan out. I’ve gone from a freshly-minted urban planning graduate to, now, having just started a grad certificate in web development. That little post has represented the first step on not just one, but several significant paths for me; and I’m much the better for it, with an exciting road ahead :)

As the Google Lunar X PRIZE heats up and space tourism starts breaking on the horizon, and as I pick up a whole new set of nifty skills to augment my experience, this should prove to be an awesome, interesting, and upward-and-onwards year here at Luna C/I…so strap in, keep an eye on that super Moon of ours, and get ready as the engines of the lunar frontier era take flight :)