32 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
32 lines
5.0 KiB
Markdown
---
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title: "Constellation program"
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chunk: 5/6
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source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Constellation_program"
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category: "reference"
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tags: "science, encyclopedia"
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date_saved: "2026-05-05T12:41:43.933180+00:00"
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instance: "kb-cron"
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---
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=== Orion Mars mission ===
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The ultimate goal of NASA's Constellation program was a crewed mission landing humans on Mars in the 2030s as a spiritual successor to the Apollo Applications Program in the 1960s. The mission would utilize the hardware of the Constellation Project, primarily the Orion spacecraft (or a variation based on the Orion), and the Ares V cargo-launch vehicle.
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A design study utilizing Constellation launch vehicles, known as Design Reference Architecture 5.0, was completed in 2009. In DRA 5.0, a Mars mission would have involved multiple launches of an Ares V rocket, as well as an Ares I to launch the crew. In the first Mars launch window, two cargo payloads would be launched into Earth orbit, as well as a nuclear thermal rocket stage for each payload, in order to boost them to Mars. Alternatively, chemical (specifically liquid hydrogen/liquid oxygen) propellant stages could have been used, although this would have required more launches. One cargo payload would include a Mars Ascent Vehicle (MAV), as well as In-situ resource utilization equipment to generate propellant for the MAV. The second cargo payload would be a habitat that the astronauts would live in during the stay on the surface. In the next launch window, 26 months after the first, the crew would go to Mars in an interplanetary transfer vehicle with nuclear thermal rocket and propellant modules assembled in Earth orbit. Once at Mars, the crew would rendezvous with the Mars habitat in orbit, land on Mars, and explore for 500 days. The crew would use the MAV to return to their interplanetary vehicle in Mars orbit, which would then be used to return to Earth. The mission would conclude with the re-entry and landing of the Orion capsule.
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=== Justification for a return to the Moon ===
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NASA lists a number of reasons for a human return to the Moon on its website:
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to extend human colonization,
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to further pursue scientific activities intrinsic to the Moon,
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to test new technologies, systems, flight operations and techniques to serve future space exploration missions,
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to provide a challenging, shared and peaceful activity to unite nations in pursuit of common objectives,
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to expand the economic sphere while conducting research activities that benefit our home planet,
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to engage the public and students to help develop the high-technology workforce that will be required to address the challenges of tomorrow.
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In the words of former NASA Administrator, Michael D. Griffin, "The goal isn't just scientific exploration.... It's also about extending the range of human habitat out from Earth into the Solar System as we go forward in time.... In the long run a single-planet species will not survive.... If we humans want to survive for hundreds of thousands or millions of years, we must ultimately populate other planets ... colonize the Solar System and one day go beyond."
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A report published in June 2014 by the US National Academy of Sciences called for clear long-term space goals at NASA. The report said that the agency's current course invited "failure, disillusionment, and [loss of] the longstanding international perception that human space-flight is something that the United States does best." The report recommended that Mars be the next major goal of human space flight. Several possible paths for reaching the planet by 2037 were explored in the report, which noted that returning to the Moon would offer "significant advantages" as an intermediate step in the process.
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The National Space Society (NSS), a private nonprofit, regards a return to the Moon as a high priority for the US space program, in order to develop the body of scientific knowledge of the Moon, particularly in regards to its potential for the creation of new industries, in order to provide further funding for further space exploration.
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== Budget and cancellation ==
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=== Bush administration ===
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On January 14, 2004 President George W. Bush requested that NASA develop a proposal for continued crewed space exploration after the completion of the International Space Station and the planned retirement of the Space Shuttle program in 2010. This proposal was to be a way to "establish an extended human presence on the Moon" to "vastly reduce the costs of further space exploration." Included in this would be the "harvesting and processing of lunar soil into rocket fuel or breathable air." According to Bush, experience gained could help "develop and test new approaches and technologies and systems" to begin a "sustainable course of long-term exploration."
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NASA estimated that the original policy would cost $230 billion (in 2004 dollars) through 2025, including the Commercial Crew and Cargo program, which is separate from the Constellation program. However, unsolved technical and design challenges made it impossible for NASA to provide a conclusive estimate. |