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> SpaceX won a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of NASA's Artemis moon program So four people woul
by dividedbyzero 2y ago
> SpaceX won a multibillion-dollar contract from the agency to use Starship as a crewed lunar lander as part of NASA's Artemis moon program
So four people would arrive at Lunar orbit in an Orion, board a huge prepositioned Starship, and fly that down to the surface?
- nyokodo 2y ago> So four people would arrive at Lunar orbit in an Orion, board a huge prepositioned Starship, and fly that down to the surface? That's the idea, yes. [1] 1. https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/2021_Artemis_Banner_-_HLS_Starship_%28936168596045%29.pdf/page1-809px-2021_Artemis_Banner_-_HLS_Starship_%28936168596045%29.pdf.jpg https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/13/20...
- shmoe 2y agoBecause the SLS can't do anything close to what the Saturn V did, yup.
- dotnet00 2y agoUnfortunately Orion is stupidly heavy.
- Rebelgecko 2y agoIs that in addition to taking a pit stop at the lunar gateway?
- nyokodo 2y agoThat's where they transition from one to the other, yeah.
- jlmorton 2y agoThe eventual plan is to build an orbiting space station, the Lunar Gateway. Astronauts will then launch on SLS/Orion, which will perform a Trans Lunar Injection. However, before that, a Starship will be launched into LEO. There will then be something like 17 (the actual number is not clear, but it is a lot) Starship tankers that will launch to re-fuel the original Starship. The Starship then does a Trans Lunar Injection. The Orion docks with the Lunar Gateway, Starship docks with the Lunar Gateway, the astronauts transition to Starship, which does a propulsive landing on the moon.
- cubefox 2y agoMore precisely, those ~17 ships will fill a propellant depot ship, and once that is done, they can launch the HLS ship, that will then be filled with propellant from the propellant depot.