Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to A roadmap

I wish it were so but I'm skeptical
Gary — (archived)

I think this is certainly a roadmap to the Moon. I suspect a few flags will get planted on the moon and some foot prints made. Then the program will be terminated before going to Mars.

The basis for my skepticism is the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV). All the designs that I have seen are scaled up versions of the Apollo Command Module (CM). The CM is obviously acceptable as a lunar return vehicle but doesn't work for Mars return. The Lift-over-Drag ratio (L/D) for a manned Mars return vehicle must be above a certain limit for a practical entry corridor. If the L/D is too small then the vehicle will either skip off the atmosphere or the decelleration loading will kill the crew. Since the mid-1960s it was recognized that the Apollo CM did not have a high enough L/D for Mars return. This leads me to two possible conclusions:

1) The people proposing an Apollo CM deriviate for the CEV are incompetent.
2) The proposals to use the CEV for Mars return are not genuine.

I know the people studying the CEV are competent. Therefore I am lead to conclusion 2).

Gary

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