Building a ship in the desert: Just say No to the proposed Earth-

I have no objection to possibly using the L1 point as a rendezvous point
for some lunar-landing architecture, if that proves beneficial towards the
immediate and tightly-controlled purpose of landing on the Moon. I am
vehemently opposed to building a crewed space station there any time in
the near future. We've got to keep our focus on getting to the Moon, and
utilizing the vast resources it has (such as radiation shielding, as a
source of oxygen, and the like) to bootstrap our further efforts. If we
need to temporarily rendezvous in LEO or at L1 in order to get to the
Moon, then so be it. But let's not make L1 a destination of its own.

I'm deathly afraid that NASA would want a permanently-crewed L1 station
--- assembled entirely from Earth-launched components --- that would then
become a monster of its own a la ISS, consuming vast financial resources
and further delaying our return to the Moon. Let's avoid scope creep.
Get to the Moon, and start living off the land rather than launching
everything from Earth.

Ron

"Combs, Mike" mikecombs@...
12/12/02 12:03 PM

proposed Earth-Moon L1 station

The proposals
I have seen argue for an L1 station as it can also be
used for launching missions to Mars in the far future
as well as serve as a platform for servicing GEO
satellites.
Seems like it would be awfully far from GEO for the servicing of
satellites there. (If we were refueling GEO satellites with lunar-derived
propellants, I might could see a case for using Gateway Station for that.)
As big a lover of HEO as I am, I think I'd still advocate LEO: There
would be launch windows to a specific GEO slot every hundred minutes or
so, it would be below the magnetic field (reducing radiation shielding
requirements), aerobraking can reduce the fuel requirements for the return
leg, and it's the orbit most easily reached from Earth.
Perhaps someone more well versed in orbital dynamics
can explain better lunar transfer orbits but you get
the gyst that it is something which must be
considered.
My understanding is that there's only one real advantage of staging at
L-1, and that is if you're transferring from an Earth-to-L1 shuttle with
an aerobraking shield to a L1-to-lunar surface shuttle equipped with
landing gear, and back again. The advantage being that you don't have to
haul the dead weight of the heat shield at the lunar end, nor the landing
gear at the Earthward end.

I'm generally favorably disposed toward the building of Gateway Station.
It almost seems like NASA proposing anything beyond LEO is a good thing.
But Ron makes some valid points.

Regards,

Mike Combs