credit NASA / caption: will the latest lunar surface systems architecture use inflatable habitats?
Go here for presentations from the US Chamber of Commerce programmatic workshop on NASA lunar surface systems concepts held today and the last two days at the Chamber's offices in Washington, DC
It's interesting that the new Altair project office manager Kathy Laurini is giving a talk on international standards. Either Laurini is there to cover a topic that falls into the gaps between everything else or it is an indication that the lunar lander is to have a more international dimension
Interesting bits of information from the presentations include Altair wiring being 56% of its avionics mass and check out this cool video from Boeing about an inflatable upper room and...Boeing has just announced that it has submitted its proposal for the Altair concept design contract. The company has previously told Flight about its lunar lander designs.
Boeing also announced its submission for NASA's Ares V cargo launch vehicle phase one design support earlier this month
Aviation Week's Frank Morring has run this report from the workshop about the recovery and reinvestment act's extra $400 million for exploration paying for an extra Ares test flight but this was mooted before Obama's election and I think if you look at the article's NASA ESMD AA Doug Cooke's reported comments it is clear that the reality is that the monies are being used to counter budgetary problems
Boeing also announced its submission for NASA's Ares V cargo launch vehicle phase one design support earlier this month
Aviation Week's Frank Morring has run this report from the workshop about the recovery and reinvestment act's extra $400 million for exploration paying for an extra Ares test flight but this was mooted before Obama's election and I think if you look at the article's NASA ESMD AA Doug Cooke's reported comments it is clear that the reality is that the monies are being used to counter budgetary problems
on February 28, 2009 4:45 AM | Reply
I hope NASA ends up using Bigelow's inflatables. Last I heard those guys were testing out some method they hoped would allow two or so individuals to quickly and easily cover up the inflatables with regolith. They were doing testing at or near their Las Vegas office. Haven't heard any update on that but it would be nice for NASA to be as "encouraging" to BA as they have been to SpaceX.