>Under the original plan set years ago, Boeing’s Space Launch System rocket would have launched a crew of four riding inside the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion crew capsule to the moon, with the spacecraft then putting itself in the moon’s orbit. A Starship lander would then meet up and dock with the capsule around the moon, before taking astronauts down to the lunar surface.
>With the new proposal, SLS would no longer be used to boost Orion close to the moon — previously a key task for the rocket. Instead, Starship and Orion would dock in Earth orbit, giving Starship the pivotal role of propelling the capsule to the moon’s orbit, before taking astronauts down to the surface.
>NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman plans to meet on Tuesday with the companies working on Artemis and human landing system program (HLS), including Blue Origin, Boeing and SpaceX, to discuss their progress and the latest plans at the agency. Any changes to the mission could face Congressional scrutiny, and the agency could reverse and alter its plans, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the matter is confidential.
Mr_Greystone on
I would say that Boeing did it to themselves. What options does NASA have?
AWildDragon on
If you can’t read the article, new conops:
Starship HLS launches to LEO, gets refueledÂ
SLS launches Orion to LEO
Orion docks with starship
Starship takes both to LLOÂ
Starship continues landing as originally envisionedÂ
Starship back up to LLO
Orion returns
Article isnt fully clear on what happens to starship then.Â
Batbuckleyourpants on
Yeah, that tracks. Boeing’s reputation has been pretty atrocious the last decade or so. I wouldn’t trust them either.
sewand717 on
This seems dumb. According to my quick search, an Orion with service module weighs 57k lbs.
– SLS is overkill for an LEO Orion launch.
– HLS loses 57k payload to the lunar surface.
– What will Blue Origin do? Mk 2 can’t push Orion through TLI.
This seems like a one-off Artemis 4 architecture, at best.
sojuz151 on
I can think of two reasons for this. Either there is something wrong with upper stages they have left or (more likely)Â they are making sure senate launch system is easy to replace
bob4apples on
So we now have a $10B/launch vehicle doing exactly the same job as a Crew Dragon. My read on this is that NASA has internally concluded that Boeing et al aren’t going to deliver the goods but also that Congress isn’t going to stop giving that $5B/year of taxpayer dollars to Old Space any time soon.
7 Comments
>Under the original plan set years ago, Boeing’s Space Launch System rocket would have launched a crew of four riding inside the Lockheed Martin Corp.-built Orion crew capsule to the moon, with the spacecraft then putting itself in the moon’s orbit. A Starship lander would then meet up and dock with the capsule around the moon, before taking astronauts down to the lunar surface.
>With the new proposal, SLS would no longer be used to boost Orion close to the moon — previously a key task for the rocket. Instead, Starship and Orion would dock in Earth orbit, giving Starship the pivotal role of propelling the capsule to the moon’s orbit, before taking astronauts down to the surface.
>NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman plans to meet on Tuesday with the companies working on Artemis and human landing system program (HLS), including Blue Origin, Boeing and SpaceX, to discuss their progress and the latest plans at the agency. Any changes to the mission could face Congressional scrutiny, and the agency could reverse and alter its plans, said the people, who asked not to be identified as the matter is confidential.
I would say that Boeing did it to themselves. What options does NASA have?
If you can’t read the article, new conops:
Starship HLS launches to LEO, gets refueledÂ
SLS launches Orion to LEO
Orion docks with starship
Starship takes both to LLOÂ
Starship continues landing as originally envisionedÂ
Starship back up to LLO
Orion returns
Article isnt fully clear on what happens to starship then.Â
Yeah, that tracks. Boeing’s reputation has been pretty atrocious the last decade or so. I wouldn’t trust them either.
This seems dumb. According to my quick search, an Orion with service module weighs 57k lbs.
– SLS is overkill for an LEO Orion launch.
– HLS loses 57k payload to the lunar surface.
– What will Blue Origin do? Mk 2 can’t push Orion through TLI.
This seems like a one-off Artemis 4 architecture, at best.
I can think of two reasons for this. Either there is something wrong with upper stages they have left or (more likely)Â they are making sure senate launch system is easy to replace
So we now have a $10B/launch vehicle doing exactly the same job as a Crew Dragon. My read on this is that NASA has internally concluded that Boeing et al aren’t going to deliver the goods but also that Congress isn’t going to stop giving that $5B/year of taxpayer dollars to Old Space any time soon.