Crewed Lunar Missions and Architectures Enabled by the NASA Space Launch System

Abstract

The NASA Space Launch Systems (SLS) outstanding capabilities for launching heavy, large diameter payloads will enable robust lunar architectures where the Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit (NRHO) is used as an aggregation node for lander and Orion elements. SLS capabilities and production status is discussed, as is the new large Exploration Upper Stage, currently in development, which will optimize the SLS Core and Booster Stages. A simplified lunar architecture is presented that takes advantage of the SLS launch capabilities. An overview of lander engine options is given and a propulsion trade study is performed and conclusions are drawn.