A Blueprint For Cis-Lunar Exploration: A Cost-Effective, Building-Block Approach For Human Lunar Return

Abstract

Orbital Sciences Corporation has been a leader and innovator in low cost commercial access to space. In keeping with its tradition, Orbital is proposing a Cislunar exploration strategy developed via a building block approach as part of NASA’s near term space exploration activities. With the recent success of the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter and the LCROSS impactor mission, significant additional information on the Moon has been gained that indicates valuable resources exist that could be exploited in an eventual robotic/human surface exploration enterprise. With Space Agency budgets flat or declining, exploration plans need to emphasize an evolutionary strategy that emphasizes modification of existing systems, where capabilities, cost, and schedule can be better estimated for budgeting purposes. This Cislunar Strategy would emphasize a human-tended space station around the Moon or at an Earth-Moon Libration point that would be capable of operating a number of mobile robots on the lunar surface as they explore and prepare the way for human return later in the century.