[FPSPACE] CE4 - recoverable rovers 2017-2020

[Geert Sassen]

The moondaily article is interesting as it indeed shows a craft which looks
a lot like a Soviet Y8E derived sample return probe taking off from the
moon.

As I mentioned earlier the crash of Chang'e might very well be used to track
mascons and photograph the terrain at a planned landingsite, and the most
interesting point about this landingsite is its location, which allows a
direct ascent trajectory back to earth. Landing at this position only makes
sense if you plan to fly a sample return mission.

If they indeed manage to re-fly a Y8E mission then China will be the third
country who returns moonrocks/dust to earth.

Disadvantage of all the Y8E derived missions is that they are very
restricted in their landingpoints, getting a sample from any other location
on the moon will be a lot tougher as the ascent stage will probably need to
fly to lunar orbit first prior to TEI burn. On the other hand, there are
still several spots on the backside of the moon which also allow a direct
ascent trajectory, that's one of the missions the Soviets were planning
before everything collapsed. Getting samples from the backside would
definitely be interesting, and such a mission is within reach of Y8E/M
hardware...

Regards,

Geert.

On Tue, Mar 3, 2009 at 11:24 AM, E.P. Grondine <epgrondine at hotmail.com>wrote:

>  Hi -
>
> The impact of CE1 has provided China with the opportunity to release
> statements on a number of manned space topics, from the lunar program to
> Tiangong to the launch complex.
>
> First off, a "CE4" series has now been approved for the Moon:
>
>
> http://www.moondaily.com/reports/China_To_Land_Probe_On_Moon_At_Latest_In_2013_999.html
>
> With launch from 2017-2020 most likely by CZ5's.
>
> Then there's Tiangong:
> http://english.people.com.cn/90001/90776/90881/6603285.html
>
> which clears up the naming confusion.
>
> (For some reason its tough to find the original release - anybody have a
> copy of it? There is a mention in this report of a manned Moon landing
> before 2020, but how that fits in with CAPS after 2020 is not clear. The CE4
> series seems to have been influenced by Japanese proposals to use robots as
> predecessors to and along with men in manned Moon missions.)
>
> Then there's the station:
> http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2009-03/03/content_7528607.htm
>
> In the secondary reports we still see a lot of confusion.
>
> E.P. Grondine
> Man and Impact in the Americas
>
> PS 1 - anybody broken out pad and factory utilization for all of this yet?
>
>
> PS 2 - Thiokol is now playing up Ares 1 first stage re-usability. But
> Direct's SRBs are the same as those now flown, which are already
> recoverable. I don't know how much money you save by recovering casings, but
> I don't think its that efficient, say in comparison to folding wing fly-back
> liquid first stages.
>
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-- 
Geert Sassen
weblog: http://geertsassen.web-log.nl
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