Looks like a big Apollo.
http://tinyurl.com/8erar

edited to add: http://www.space.com/news/050919_nasa_moon.html

I'll bet you a shiny new buffalo nickel that Lockheed wins the contract, and that it goes grossly overbudget.

Well, Lock*Mart always claims to have the lowest prices in town!

Of course if they and the other contractors do go well over budget, this whole project may wind up being known as the Crew Cut.

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The more things change, the more they remain the same. The network news reports (ABC and CBS) on the CEV that I saw last night seemed to imply that NASA is now tacitly admitting that the STS was not a good idea.

Dave Mitsk

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De gustibus non est disputandum.
Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity.

I still think having a reusable crew vehicle is a very good idea - the STS was compromised from the beginning by the concept of using it as a cargo plane at the same time. A small shuttle mounted at the top of a small booster, to carry 5 or 6 people to orbit. Use Heavy Lift boosters to carry the cargo. If that had happened, we wouldn't be re-inventing the wheel now. NASA was forced to put all its eggs in one basket.
I like the look of the CEV, as long as there is some provision for actually building a base - there doesn't seem to be much.

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Who knows? Weight always translates into a cost issue. How much you wanna bet with the cost cuts U.S. and Russia will eventually combine operations instead of competing and will send a chimp and a dog to the moon.

Some interesting links:


http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/20..._consider.html


http://www.redcolony.com
http://www.redcolony.com/marsdrive/

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1066

http://www.nasa.gov/missions/solarsystem/cev.html

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasat..._Breaking.html
http://www.nasawatch.com/archives/20...t_plan_fo.html

http://www.spacemodelsystems.com/delta7.jpg
http://www.spacemodelsystems.com
rick@spacemodelsystems.com

RealSpace Models 1/48 scale Shenzhou V:
http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/model...shenzhouV.html

RealSpace Models 1/144 scale Chinese CZ-2F:
http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/model...ace/CZ-2F.html

RealSpace Models 1/144 scale Delta IV-CEV:
http://www.ninfinger.org/~sven/model...elta4-CEV.html

I was a bit surprised to see the plan for a lunar launch with the CEV is similar to what I had in mind for what ought to happen; an Earth orbit rendevous with the lander and booster for leaving Earth orbit; then proceed as an Apollo mission did. I wouldn't have thought of the liquid methene fueled engine. Good idea.
One thing I'm not sure I saw; I know the craft is solar powered, but do they have batteries or something to keep it going when in shadow? And what sort of heat shield will it have?
Also, is their a site that explains the design of the lunar lander? Thanks

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And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
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To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah