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From: mlindroos@abo.fi
Newsgroups: sci.space,sci.space.shuttle
Subject: Re: Translunar/interplanetary shuttle?
Message-ID: <7089.275a4245@abo.fi>
Date: 3 Dec 90 12:17:09 GMT
References: <3550@orbit.cts.com>
Organization: Abo Akademi University, Finland
Lines: 29

In article <3550@orbit.cts.com>, rambler@pnet51.orb.mn.org (Dan Meyer) writes:
> AEGQC@CUNYVM (Audra G.) writes:
>>The latest issue of _Analog_ has an article describing how the shuttle
>>could be adapted as a moon ship.  Apparently if the ship either carried
>>two extra boosters or was refueled in orbit, it would be able to reach
>>and return from lunar orbit, using a LEM-like craft carried in the cargo
>>bay to get people to the surface of the Moon and back.  If this is indeed
>>doable (and the article had a lot of mathematics), I would like to ask if,
>>if still more tanks were added in orbit, the shuttle could be used to reach
>>further celestial bodies as well.  Any thoughts? --Shangti
> 
> What about 1/2 the cargo bay for fuel, and half the cargo bay for an LEM ?
> or maybe pick the LEM up in earth orbit, and drag it along behind as sort of a
> "Space Trailer", using all of the cargo bay for fuel. maybe even send the LEM
> to a Lunar Orbit, then making an EVA to it from the shuttle.
> 
> Just some dangerous random thoughts

As for the problem with the main engines (we've been told here that they are
not restartable), would it be possible to use the extra fuel for the OMS 
engines instead...? (my guess is it won't be, anyway).
BTW, do you think the shuttle would survive the atmospheric re-entry: a
spacecraft returning from the moon is after all moving at higher velocities (11
km/s?) when it hits the upper atmosphere than the shuttle was designed for 
(6-7 km/s). Or would it be possible to avoid the problem by first performing an
aerobraking maneuver, the re-enter and land? The soviet Zond 5-8 lunar probes 
used this technique in the late sixties.

MARCU$


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