Recent advances in lunar base simulation

This article reports about the results of the latest computer runs of a lunar base simulation model. The lunar base consists of 20 facilities for lunar mining, processing and fabrication. The infrastructure includes solar and nuclear power plants, a central workshop, habitat and farm. Lunar products can be used for construction of solar power systems (SPS) or other spacecraft at several space locations. The simulation model evaluates the mass, energy and manpower flows between the elements of the system as well as system cost and cost of products on an annual basis for a given operational period. The 1983 standard model run over a fifty-years life cycle (beginning about the year 2000) was accomplished for a mean annual production volume of 78 180 Mg of hardware products for export resulting in average specific manufacturing cost of 8.4 $/kg and total annual cost of 1.25 billion dollars during the life cycle. The reference space transportation system uses LOX/LH₂ propulsion for which at the average 210 500 Mg LOX per year is produced on the moon. The sensitivity analysis indicates the importance of bootstrapping as well as the influence of market size, space transportation cost and specific resources demand on the mean lunar manufacturing cost. The option using lunar resources turns out to be quite attractive from the economical viewpoint. Systems analysis by this lunar base model and further trade-offs will be a useful tool to confirm this.     

月球基地结构形式设想

月球基地建设是载人航天、深空探测技术发展的一个重要方面。根据月面环境特点和航天工程需要,对充气式结构和硬式结构的月球基地结构形式进行了分析,讨论了两种结构形式的优势和不足,并提出了基于两种结构形式的组合型月球基地的设想,为将来月球基地的建设提供参考。     

Towards a lunar base programme

When the requisite technology exists, the US political process will inevitably include lunar surface activities as a major space objective. This article examines a manned lunar base in terms of three distinct functions: the scientific investigation of the Moon and its environment; development of the capability to use lunar resources for beneficial purposes throughout the Earth-Moon systems; and conduct of R&D leading to a self-sufficient and self-supporting manned lunar base. Three scenarios are outlined with respect to each possible function.     

大推力液体火箭发动机研究

大推力火箭发动机是航天发展的基础,是国家高科技水平和综合国力的体现。分析了运载火箭主动力发展的现状和趋势,指出大推力液氧煤油发动机和液氧液氢发动机是发展方向和最佳组合。提出了我国重型运载火箭大推力液氧煤油发动机和液氧液氢发动机的总体方案和主要参数,研究了两种发动机的关键技术及其解决途径。这两种大推力发动机的研制,将为我国载人登月、深空探测等重大航天活动和空间利用提供动力支撑。     

The future of human spaceflight.

After the Apollo Moon program, the international space station represents a further milestone of humankind in space, International follow-on programs like a manned return to the Moon and a first manned Mars Mission can be considered as the next logical step. More and more attention is also paid to the topic of future space tourism in Earth orbit, which is currently under investigation in the USA, Japan and Europe due to its multibillion dollar market potential and high acceptance in society. The wide variety of experience, gained within the space station program, should be used in order to achieve time and cost savings for future manned programs. Different strategies and roadmaps are investigated for space tourism and human missions to the Moon and Mars, based on a comprehensive systems analysis approach. By using DLR's software tool FAST (Fast Assessment of Space Technologies), different scenarios will be defined, optimised and finally evaluated with respect to mission architecture, required technologies, total costs and program duration. This includes trajectory analysis, spacecraft design on subsystem level, operations and life cycle cost analysis. For space tourism, an expected evolutionary roadmap will be described which is initiated by short suborbital tourism and ends with visionary designs like the Space Hotel Berlin and the Space Hotel Europe concept. Furthermore the potential space tourism market, its economic meaning as well as the expected range of the costs of a space ticket (e.g. $50,000 for a suborbital flight) will be analysed and quantified. For human missions to the Moon and Mars, an international 20 year program for the first decades of the next millennium is proposed, which requires about $2.5 Billion per year for a manned return to the Moon program and about $2.6 Billion per year for the first 3 manned Mars missions. This is about the annual budget, which is currently spend by the USA only for the operations of its Space Shuttle fleet which generally proofs the affordability of such ambitious programs after the build-up of the International Space Station, when corresponding budget might become again available.     

烃类推进剂航天动力技术进展与展望未来

为研究烃类推进剂航天动力技术在中国的后续发展和未来应用方向,对比分析煤油、甲烷和丙烷等典型烃类推进剂的物理化学性质和应用特性,简要介绍烃类推进剂航天动力在一次性运载火箭、可重复使用运载器、高性能上面级推进、无毒空间推进和吸气式推进领域的发展动态及应用状况。当前国内外航天动力系统的发展和应用情况表明,以液氧煤油发动机和液氧甲烷发动机为代表的烃类推进剂航天动力将引领未来高性能低成本航天推进系统的发展趋势,依照中国液氧/烃火箭发动机的研制进展和技术水平,以其为核心的新型动力体系在中国未来的天地往返、载人登月和深空探测等多任务适应性方面具有良好应用前景。     

Comparison of advanced propulsion systems in cislunar space

Chemical engines fueled by LOX/aluminium powder, oxygen-fueled ion engines, solid core nuclear reactor engines and nuclear light bulb engines are analysed for transportation purposes in cislunar space. The markets envisaged are the nuclear waste disposal on the lunar surface and/or support of SPS construction in GEO. It is shown that the most fuel efficient permanent space transportation system is not necessarily the most economical choice due to high hardware cost.     

我国载人登月重型运载火箭动力系统探讨

月球研究与利用是21世纪航天发展的重点之一。根据载人登月的需求,探讨了我国重型运载火箭及其动力系统的技术途径,提出研制大推力液氧/烃和液氧/液氢发动机的设想。重点论证了大推力下面级发动机的推进剂组合、动力循环方式及推力量级,认为该发动机推进剂应选择环保、廉价及高性能的液氧/烃组合,动力循环方式应采用先进的补燃循环或低成本的燃气发生器循环,推力应为4000kN左右。     

有人月球基地构建方案设想

有人月球基地的建设能将人类的活动区域扩展到月球,实现月球资源的深度开发和利用,服务于人类社会发展。中国开展月球基地建设,在技术上是空间站工程和载人登月工程的有效结合,也有利于其载人航天工程的可持续发展。文章针对有人月球基地的构建,将有人月球基地构建的基本途径分为刚性舱组装、柔性舱组装和月面建筑式三大类,并指出在月球基地发展的不同阶段构建途径的选择原则,再结合中国国情,提出了中国在有人月球基地发展初期的构建方案,最后对有人月球基地构建中的一些关键问题进行了分析总结。     

载人登月舱下降发动机技术研究

通过对国内外登月舱下降发动机的研究历史及最新进展的综合分析,提出了我国登月舱下降发动机初步方案:挤压式系统方案,重点考虑N₂O₄/MMH组合,也可以考虑LOX/煤油组合;泵压式系统方案,重点开展LOX/LCH₄膨胀循环变推力发动机技术研究。开展载人登月舱下降发动机的技术研究将对我国月球探测、火星探测等工程提供坚实的技术保障。     

Recovery of asteroidal metals for terrestrial utilization

A method for the economically favorable recovery of both base and precious metals from asteroids is presented. After transportation to high Earth orbit, asteroidal material would be processed into silicate glazed, 10 ton, metal cones. These cones would be dropped to remote terrestial sites from Earth orbit. It is estimated that for an investment of $23–57 billion, the first 5 × 10⁹ ton asteroid (1566 Icarus) returned to the Earth would yield a return on investment of $100 billion to $2.2 trillion. By reusing the retrieval craft subsequent missions would be even more profitable, costing around $780 million per year to sustain the program.     

登月舱用深度变推下降级发动机系统方案研究

在我国的载人登月技术方案中,为实现软着陆,登月舱需要一种大推力、高性能、多次起动,能够大范围变推力的泵压式发动机.通过研究国外登月用下降级发动机技术发展现状和趋势,基于我国氢氧发动机和低温推进剂空间贮存水平,进行了深度变推发动机的系统方案研究;通过分析比对燃气发生器循环和膨胀循环系统优缺点,确定发动机系统方案为涡轮串联闭式膨胀循环;采用空间可长时间贮存的液氧/甲烷推进剂组合,可满足任务周期要求;根据推力深度调节时对各组合件性能要求,确定喷注器燃烧稳定技术和燃烧室身部传热技术是深度变推发动机研制的核心关键技术.     

一种综合式载人月球基地总体方案及建造规划设想

构建载人月球基地是实现对月球资源深度开发和利用的重要手段之一,文章提出了刚性舱、刚性＋柔性结构以及建造式等三种典型结构的载人月球基地方案,并对三种典型方案的优缺点进行对比分析,在此基础上提出了一种综合式载人月球基地方案设想,基地内部主体创新性地采用充气式柔性连接的方式,外部主体包括月壤防护层、植物密封舱和应急救生飞船,活动系统包括月球车和月球机器人。围绕该方案并结合文章提出的载人月球基地主要技术指标,并对载人月球基地选址、结构设计和构建、空间辐射防护、热管理、能源、通信与导航、生命保障和应急救生技术等关键技术方案进行了分析,为中国未来建设载人月球基地提供了参考。     

地月循环轨道动力学建模与计算研究

根据地月循环轨道的概念,按照生成第二类周期轨道的弧段进行分类,并讨论了其共振性与对称性在轨道设计与应用中的作用。然后归纳了三种循环轨道的动力学建模与计算方法及其轨道延拓策略,最后总结了三种方法的利弊和应用轨道类型。对地月系统循环轨道的研究和分析,能够为我国未来载人登月工程提供一种新的思路与理论支持。     

Creating a UK human spaceflight capability: A modest proposal

Since the beginning of international manned activity in the early 1960s, UK governments have consistently avoided participation in human spaceflight, with its high cost and doubts over the resulting scientific gains generally cited as the reasons for opting out. This has resulted in the UK scientific community having no direct access to microgravity science experiments, while the education establishment has missed out on the gains to be had from scientific and technology inspiration for young people. It also makes realistic involvement in the future international manned exploration of the Moon and the solar system unlikely. A viable, low-cost programme could be implemented in the near future to allow for a modest UK manned access to the International Space Station. This need only cost around £50 million over five years, representing about a 5% increase in the current annual UK civil space budget, with funding sought from government departments, research councils and private industry. Making use of Soyuz commercial flights, the project would allow for two separate 10-day science missions. The small corps of three UK astronauts established for the project would form a modest ‘seed-corn’ for future international orbital, lunar and solar system manned exploration involvement for the UK. The benefits of this project would cover science research, education outreach, industrial employment and involvement in international cooperation in manned exploration of the cosmos, as well as in the microgravity research being undertaken by NASA and others.     

Space-based servicing

On-orbit servicing of spacecraft and payloads is one of the most viable economic justification for a permanent, manned space station. Services include the changeout of Orbital Replaceable Units (ORU's), the replenishment of consumables, general maintenance, on-orbit assembly and repair of failures. Among economic and operational advantages are: longer spacecraft operational lifetime; lower acquisition cost of satellites; improved spacecraft performance. A comparison is made between space station and shuttle-based servicing.     

Lunar oxygen: Economic benefit for transportation systems and in situ production by fluorination

The use of oxygen produced on the Moon—called “MOONLOX”—is considered as a propellant component for a reusable Earth-Moon transportation system consisting of an aeroassisted orbital transfer vehicle and a lunar bus for lunar descent/ascent. Conditions for economic benefit are discussed and the processing concept of a lunar oxygen plant based on fluorination is presented. It is shown that the necessary mass of supply from Earth for MOONLOX-production is an important parameter, which may not be neglected due to its strong influence on the economy. In the ideal case where no supplies from Earth are required a reduction of up to 50% in masses to be launched into low Earth orbit can be obtained for a typical lunar mission with use of MOONLOX compared to a reference scenario with Earth-derived propellant. Mass-saving decreases, however, significantly with increasing supply from Earth until a critical supply-rate is reached—measured in percentage of MOONLOX-mass produced and consumed—beyond which mass-saving and thus economically promising lunar oxygen production is no longer possible. This critical supply-rate depends on the scenario for MOONLOX-utilization and is much larger in the case of in situ use of MOONLOX on the lunar surface, e.g. as ascent propellant for the lunar bus, than in the case of export for complete refuelling of both space vehicles. The latter scenario therefore requires significantly more autonomy for MOONLOX-production. The reduction of masses to be transported into low Earth orbit and corresponding MOONLOX-consumption define for given specific Earth-to-LEO transportation costs an upper limit on MOONLOX-production costs beyond which economic benefit is not possible. Depending on the MOONLOX-utilization strategy this upper limit varies between 3000 and 55000 $/kg for current Earth-to-LEO transportation costs.     

载人深空探测任务航天医学工程问题研究

航天医学工程问题关系到载人深空探测任务中的人员生存及健康。文章从人员长期生存的生命保障、变重力生理效应及防护、地外环境效应与防护、人员生理健康监测与维护、人员心理健康等方面的问题入手,分析了问题产生的原因及解决的必要性,并提出了解决思路,为后续深入开展相关关键技术的攻关提供参考。最后,以载人月球基地任务为案例,提出了生命保障、变重力防护、辐射及月尘防护、生理及心理健康监测及维护等问题的解决方案。     

苏/俄交会对接技术研究

苏/俄交会对接技术的研发,最初是为20世纪60年代初苏联月球使命服务的,后来主要用于空间站的运输使命。因此,最初的＂联盟＂飞船逐步演变发展为联盟号载人飞船系列与进步号货运飞船系列。联盟号和进步号飞船应用＂指针＂或＂航向＂交会雷达系统,基本采用自动轨道交会方法。对应急运作,联盟号航天员可使用手控器;对于不载人的进步号使命...     

Estimating the life cycle cost of the space exploration initiative

The Space Exploration Initiative (SEI) will take mankind back to the Moon and then to Mars. Preliminary estimates of SEI life cycle cost (LCC) are central to assessing programme alternatives. SEI LCC should be estimated by identifying the additional cost to accomplish the initiative over and above the cost to sustain a ‘base’ of space activities. Results of a study of four SEI alternatives provided SEI LCC cost estimates ranging from $91 billion to $308 billion (constant 1989 US dollars) from 1992 through 2020, depending upon programme philosophy. SEI LCC will be driven by the philosophy and goals of the programme, and, given the goal of ‘permanence’, essentially indeterminate because of the open-ended time horizon.