Exploration Systems Architecture Study - Lunar Mission Profile

Lunar Mission Profile

The lunar mission profile will be a combination of earth orbit rendezvous and lunar orbit rendezvous (LOR) approach. First, the LSAM and the EDS will be launched atop the heavy-lift, Shuttle-derived vehicle. The EDS would be a derivative of the S-IVB upper stage used on the Saturn V rocket and will use a single J-2X engine similar to that used on the SRB-derived booster (originally two J-2X engines were to be used, but the RS-68 engines for the core stage will allow NASA to only use one). The crew will then be launched in the CEV on the SRB-derived booster, and the CEV and LSAM will dock in Earth orbit. The EDS will then send the complex to the Moon. The LSAM will brake the complex into lunar orbit (similar to the Block D rocket on the failed Soviet moonshot attempt in the 1960s and 1970s), where four astronauts will board the LSAM for descent to the lunar surface for a week of exploration. Part of the LSAM could be left behind with cargo to begin establishment of a long-term outpost.

The article says that both the LSAM and the lunar CEV would carry a crew of four. Griffin has subsequently stated that the entire crew would descend to the lunar surface, leaving the CEV unoccupied. After the time on the lunar surface has been spent, the crew would return to lunar orbit in the ascent stage of the LSAM. The LSAM would dock with the CEV. The crew would return to the CEV and jettison the LSAM, and then the CEV's engine would put the crew on a course for Earth. Then, much like Apollo, the service module would be jettisoned and the CEV would descend for a landing via a system of three parachutes. Two parachutes are enough for landing (although in the western United States rather than the Ocean). The article says that the ESAS contains a recommendation for at least two missions to the moon each year, starting no later than 2018.

Ultimately a base would be built, possibly near the Moon's south pole. But this decision has not yet been taken and might depend on potential international and commercial participation to the exploration project.