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Re: How about a Lunar Cycler?
Larry J — (archived)

Interesting notion. No matter what you decide, you still wouldn't want to launch a Shuttle towards the moon. It simply wasn't designed for the job and has too much dead weight. It'd be kind of like trying to convert a nuclear powered aircraft carrier into a submarine. In theory, it could be done at great expense but in the end you still wouldn't end up with a very good submarine. It's better to use a vehicle designed for the job.

A lunar cycler sounds like a take-off on Aldrin's Mars cycler concept. In Aldrin's concept, a vehicle in launched into an orbit around the sun that has an perihelion at 1 AU (near the Earth) and an apohelion out at Mars. The crew would take off from Earth and accelerate to rendevous with the cycler. As they approach Mars, they separate from the cycler and enter orbit for their mission. When they're ready to leave, they leave the Martian orbit and rendevous with another cycler for the trip home. When they return to Earth, they separate from the cycler and either enter Earth orbit or directly return to the surface.

Could such a cycler concept work for the moon? Probably. Would it be practical given the short transit time? I don't know. I don't have time to do an analysis on the idea but off hand, I suspect the advantages of doing that for a short lunar mission wouldn't be enough to pay off. However, only a detailed analysis could tell for sure.

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