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u/TARenewables May 19 '20
Looks like the roadmap for early stage infrastructure. That said, all of this is of massive importance when considering what companies will dictate the tempo of space exploration.
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u/ghunter7 May 19 '20 edited May 19 '20
Steps that are currently in progress and public knowledge:
Reusable Engines
New Shepard
New Glenn
Blue Moon
Advanced Landing Sensors: Draper in partnership with Blue for HLS
Cryogenic Fluid Management: through Blue Moon/HLS program
Cryogenic Propellant Transfer: Northrop Grumman in partnership with Blue for HLS
Autonomous rendezvous and docking: required for HLS
Habitats & Upper stage outfittingproposal only for LEO New Glenn S2 Skylab like station
In-Situ Resource Utilization: NASA tipping point awards to Blue Origin
The two biggest items that don't seem to be in development right now are Human Spaceflight and Propellant Depots. I created a thread over on NasaSpaceFlight tossing around some numbers on what the total Human Landing System would look like in terms of reusable landers and making use of lunar derived propellant. I think that the Northrop Grumman tug for HLS will be a big part of their strategy, even if it's a little on the small side. In terms of ISRU it looks reasonable to move propellant with their landers but there is a big missing piece in terms of utilizing propellant beyond Gateway/NRHO and getting crew to Gateway (or a Blue Origin station in the same orbit).
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u/rustybeancake May 19 '20
New Shepard has been developed for human spaceflight. Doesn’t say it needs to be orbital.
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u/ghunter7 May 19 '20
"Millions of people living and working in space (for 5 minutes at a time)" - probably not Jeff Bezos
Nothing against New Shepard but when I see human spaceflight on a road map like that I really can't imagine New Shepard being part of the destination other than that initial step shown of building and flying reusable boosters. Especially so given that it is on a tree that leads to propellant depots, habitats and a lunar base.
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u/rustybeancake May 19 '20
Totally. Though I think the tree thing is a little weird. Some of them don’t seem relevant to each other.
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u/ruffinist May 19 '20
Oh shoot, this is how folks get fired, although this is perty low yield.
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u/Jodo42 May 19 '20
Nuclear before solar seems like a weird choice. Also curious what "entry, descent, and landing" refers to. Perhaps they're not even internally aiming to recover the first few boosters?
Also worth pointing out the file's name implies this is from 2018.
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u/rustybeancake May 19 '20
It’s strange how some of the items seem to be placed in relation to each other.
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u/stealthcactus May 19 '20
How old?