The CEV command module looks like the Apollo command module....but DAMN that thing is big! It is sized to carry six astronauts as opposed to Apollos 3
Note the captions which indicate that the design is intended to have sufficient margin for a MARSshot.....indicating that they don't intend stop at the moon. Given that capability, NEOs could easily be targets as could Cruithne, the tiny, hard to see second moon/companion of earth.
More important than simply visiting bodies between Earth and the asteroid belt though is that this architecture is optimised for things like bases and other infrastructure in the long run. Despite the throwaway rockets, this program is aiming at a permanent presence in space. and by avoiding the developmemt of a reuseable launcher the Govt. is actually staying out of the private sectors way in that area for the first time.....
Oh happy day! :)
The future is here!
1 comment:
I have to admit that it is rather retro-cool, but really, we could have built that in seventies. I'd really like to see the clever rocket scientists at NASA do something that isn't forty years old.
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