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If you would like to take on one of these (or another) task, I would ask that you contact <osf-admin@asi.org>. If they are not already provided in the task description, I would like an explicit statement as to what you see as the primary objective of the task, what its deliverables will be (i.e., specifically what you will provide the group when the task is complete), and what you expect the completion date to be. (It isn't a big deal if this slips--this is, after all, supposed to be fun, and you are volunteering--but it's still very useful to have a time goal for completion).
I think this task would best be handled by a small group of 4-5 people with the objective to do a good but not exact design study, just so that in the next couple weeks we have a definitive starting point. At that point we can decide what direction to go in next, be it other propulsion options, other vehicle senario options, etc.
Deliverables: (as a start, exact ones TBD) # of vehicles required, mass of each vehicle, rough layout of each type of vehicle, sensitivities of various parameters, recommendations as to what direction to go next, etc.
I envision this task as a brain-storming type exercise, where as many teams of 1-4ish people as we can convince to help out think about and come up with how they would design the interior space for carrying 50 people to and from moon. Ever wanted to design a spaceship? Here's your chance.
A word about modularity: We picked the 50 person number pretty much out of thin air. It may turn out that it makes much more sense to only take 25 people, or maybe 100 people. So as you are designing your spaceship interior, try to think about how you could or would expand or contract it if we decide that we actually need more or less people to fit. I don't want to tell you how to think, or how to design it, but the idea of modules, much as the Spacehab can be doubled or tripled to make the lunar hab, is probably something to keep in mind.
Deliverable: picture and/or layout of 50-passenger compartment
Optional: thoughts as to how it might be scaled up or down, lessons learned that should be applied to future layouts/designs.
To make these trades, we must understand the orbit mechanics involved. This task is primarily one of research, as I know the tools exist somewhere for calculating the required delta-V's, etc. However, if someone could take on this task, so that they have the knowledge required to use these tools and do the orbit calculations for us when we need to do the trade study, that would be useful. In addition, our concept calls for us to leave the earth every day, so the issue of injection windows will certainly come up. Orbit Mechanically, is this feasible? What is the penalty? Is there an ideal earth parking orbit where refueling, etc., should occur? How available is that orbit from various possible launching points?
Basically we're looking for an Orbit Mechanics Guru (or someone to become one) for the FEMTS Team. They would become the owner of the Orbit Mechanics Model (see the list of models on the Technical Group Page.)
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