Part 3 of the series discussed how to get People LLO to the Moon's Surface.
This series looks at the 6 key things needed to achieve such a mission.
The 6 Key Needs for Continuous Moon Mission
What does an ongoing Moon mission need?
- People need to be ferried between Earth and LEO
- People need to be ferried between LEO and Low Lunar Orbit (LLO)
- People need to shuttle between LLO and Moon's surface
- There needs to be a transfer point in LLO
- Supplies and equipment need to be ferried to the Moon surface from Earth
- A Moonbase on the surface needs to be established and continuously expanded (at least for a number of years)
This post looks at need 4.
4. There needs to be a transfer point in LLO
There are two main ways to do the Moon mission:
Lunar Direct Missions: From LEO to LLO to landing with the same ship. Then launch to LLO and transit to LEO. This is one ship, no docking or transfers.
LLO Transfer Missions: From LEO to LLO. Transfer either to an orbital station or another ship, then to the Moon's surface and back after mission complete. Then to the returning ship back to LEO. This requires either two ships or a space station.
While one profile does not need a transfer point or orbital station, having them does have some advantages for crew missions.
A LLO orbital station allows for staging of people to and from the Moon. Several surface shuttle missions could occur before a flight back to Earth. People arriving can prepare for the landing missions independently or their arrival from Earth.
Transfer in LLO, be it ship-to-ship or ship-to-station, does require refueling mission at some point for the moon lander.
HLS Starships are the logical option to be used as orbital stations in the initial phases of continuous Moon missions, with more dedicated modules deployed as they come online.
The crew capacity is large, being similar in pressurized size to the International Space Station. This makes it a comfortable and useful space.
Being the same design as the first Moon mission Starships means it can simply be the next one to roll off the production line.
Having an LLO Starship Station may introduce the first true non-astronaut space job - the Space Station Logistics Crew - people who maintain the stations and perform zero-G cargo transfers via EVA.
Any volunteers for that job?
Next . . .
Part 5 The Continuous Moon Mission looks at key need 5, Supplies and equipment need to be ferried to the Moon surface from Earth