VP Pence gives his Kennedy speech: "humans on the moon in 5 years"

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Started by Legend, Mar 26, 2019, 08:42 PM

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Legend

What about designing a lunar lander that's rocket agnostic?

Scenario 1: lander is launched into orbit around the moon by SLS. A second SLS delivers Orion with humans to the lander. They transfer over, do the landing, and then come back. The lander is disposed of and the humans return on Orion.

Scenario 1b: lander is launched into orbit around the moon by Falcon Heavy, New Glenn, Vulcan, or Starship. As long as the lander fits within the Falcon Heavy then it could launch on any rocket. Mission continues in the same fashion as scenario 1.

Scenario 2: lander is launched into lunar orbit inside a cargo Starship. Orion is launched on SLS to the Starship. Lander is released and does the lunar landing. Lander comes back and both starship and orion return, making the lander reusable.

Scenario 3: crew Starship launches with both humans and lander. Starship reaches lunar orbit, lander is used for landing, and then humans return on Starship. Requires significantly less refuel launches. In this case lander would be limited by the size of the door on crew starship or it would need to fit in the trunk.