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MOBIUS�An Evolutionary Strategy for Lunar Tourism

Mehdi Lali

Graduate Student, ASTE Department, Viterbi School of Engineering

University of Southern California

Instructor: Prof. Madhu Thangavelu

ASTE 527 Space Studio Architecting

Fall 2015

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Background

  • Manned Commercial Space age has just begun.
  • A number of startup companies in recent years
    • Virgin Galactic
    • XCOR Aerospace
    • Bigelow Aerospace
    • Blue Origin
    • Stratolaunch
  • They are jumpstarting space tourism industry.
  • Orbital space tourism opportunities have been limited and expensive so far.
  • After STS retirement, only the Russian Space Agency has provided transport to ISS date.
  • Private sector is playing a crucial role in paving the way.
    • Affordable commercial lunar flights.

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  • Perpetuate a Cislunar shuttle cycler in Earth orbit to transfer tourists to lunar orbit and land them on the lunar surface.
  • “super-synchronous” orbit and patched with some other trajectories.
  • Get ISS involved.
  • The commercial potential of ISS after 2024 is immense!

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Context

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Rationale

  • The future of humanity is in space, and it will start by evolving critical systems on the Moon.
  • It’s still in the burgeoning stage.
  • Lunar tourism is promising.
  • It will become a lucrative business.
  • High Net Worth Individuals willing to pay big $$$ for a trip to the moon.
    • “Honey moon” on the moon!
  • Huge business potential, new job opportunities, and economical growth.

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Rationale

  • $ 250 million dollars per ticket !
  • 1.5 billion dollars for each trip for 6 tourists!!!

B1,5$$,$$$,$$$ in one week!

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  • The main element is the Cislunar transit orbit and how the spacecraft commutes between the Earth and the Moon.
  • The nominal trajectory for such a mission is specific "super-synchronous" orbit:
    • Moon is at 363,104 km at the perigee and 405,696 km at apogee
    • differential range is 42,592 km
    • very low radius of perigee (Rp = 15,000 km)
    • very high radius of apogee (Ra = 300,000 km)
    • extending up to the vicinity of moon
    • The Ra however should not fall in the Sphere of Influence of the moon (66100 km) nor Rp should cross van Allen Belt.
    • The Cislunar Orbital Vehicle (COV) should almost cross the L1 Lagrange point within 6000 km distance.

Concept

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Concept – Astrodynamics

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Concept – Astrodynamics

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Concept – Tour Bus-Earth Rendezvous

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Concept – Tour Bus-L1 Lounge Rendezvous

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Concept – Lunar Transit Lounge (LTL)

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Concept – Edge-on schematic

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  • Show detailed graphic of vehicle exterior here
  • Highlight features

Concept – COV exterior design

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Concept – COV interior cutaway

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Capsule departs the ISS

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Capsule departs the ISS …

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Capsule departs the ISS …

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Capsule is about to dock with COV …

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Capsule is docked with COV …

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Ready for Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI)

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Ready to go …

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Transferring passengers to the Lunar Transit Lounge (LTL)

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Weight analysis

  • The total amount of crew accommodation mass required for this mission is 1400.18 kg for all passengers per day and 1504.46 kg for the entire mission.
  • Similarly, The total amount of crew accommodation volume required for this mission is 7.7033 m^3 for all passengers per day and 8.2037 m^3 for the entire mission.

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Weight analysis

  • Initial structural mass estimate: 15 tons
  • Propellant mass estimate to inject the Bus into the final orbit:

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  • For Delta V = 2.6 km/s and Isp = 470 s, propellant mass would be 7300 kg.
  • Total mass = 22300 kg.

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  • Optimal
  • Affordable
  • Feasible with current technologies
  • Viable
  • If there is an injection anomaly, the vehicle stack will return to Earth orbit without help for abort.

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Merits & limitations

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  • Evolutionary, Phased Approach-maximize revenue operating budget
  • Requires station-keeping due moon's gravitational force.
  • Landing phase would be limited to launch-windows and intervals. It would happen every 4 weeks.
  • Docking at perigee will be challenging.
  • Earth’s Van Allen Belt could be challenging so proper shielding is essential.

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Merits & limitations

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References

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Questions, comments?

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LSS estimation & analysis

  • Three LSS approaches can be used in the Bus module:
    • Supply
    • Bio-regenerative
    • Physical-chemical

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LSS estimation & analysis

  • “Supply” is the primary technique for a 7-day mission and for 6 people.
  • Other two techniques can be integrated into the mission later on (evolutionary approach).

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LSS estimation & analysis

Name

Mass

Volume

Food

2.3 kg/p/d

0.008 m^3/p/d

Freezers Conventional ovens

0 kg

0 m^3

Conventional ovens

50 kg

0.25 m^3

Microwave ovens

70 kg

0.3 m^3

Kitchen/oven cleaning supplies

0.25 kg/d

0.0018 m^3/d

Sink, spigot for hydration of food & drinking water

15 kg

0.0135 m^3

Dishwasher

0 kg

0 m^3

Cooking/eating supplies

0.5 kg/p

0.5 m^3/p

Gallery & food system

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LSS estimation & analysis

Name

Mass

Volume

System

45 kg

0.0014 m^3

WCS supplies

0.05 kg/p/d

0.0013 m^3/p/d

Contingency fecal & urine collection mittens/bags

0.23 kg/p/d

0.0008 m^3/p/d

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Waste collection system

Name

Mass

Volume

Shower

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0 kg

0 m^3

Handwash/mouthwash faucet

8 kg

0.01 m^3

personal hygiene kit

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1.8 kg/p

0.005 m^3/p

Hygiene supplies (consumables)

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0.075 kg/p/d

0.0015 m^3/p/d

Personal hygiene

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LSS estimation & analysis

Name

Mass

Volume

Clothing

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69 kg/p

0.224 m^3/p

Washing machine

0 kg

0 m^3

Clothes dryer

0 kg

0 m^3

Clothing

Name

Mass

Volume

Personal stowage

10 kg/p

0.19 m^3

Recreational equipment & personal stowage

Name

Mass

Volume

Vacuum

13 kg

0.07 m^3

Disposable wipes for housecleaning

0.15 kg/p/d

0.001 m^3/p/d

Trash compactor/trash lock

0 kg

0 m^3

Trash bags

0.05 kg/p/d

0.001 m^3/p/d

Housekeeping

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LSS estimation & analysis

Name

Mass

Volume

Operational supplies (diskettes etc)

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10 kg/p

0.001 m^3/p

Restraints

25 kg

0.135 m^3/kg

Operational supplies & restraints

Name

Mass

Volume

Hand tools and accessories

100 kg

0.33 m^3

Test equipment

50 kg

0.15 m^3

Fixtures, large machine tools etc

50 kg

0.25 m^3

Maintenance

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LSS estimation & analysis

Name

Mass

Volume

Sleep provisions

9 kg/p

0.1 m^3/p

Sleep accommodation

Name

Mass

Volume

Exercise equipment

145 kg

0.19 m^3

Medical/surgical/dental suite

15 kg

0.25 m^3

Medical/surgical/dental consumables

0 kg

0 m^3

Crew health care

Name

Mass

Volume

Equipment

120 kg

0.5 m^3

Film

0 kg

0 m^3

Photography