SPACE BILLETS: How to Fund Manned Lunar Missions with Current NASA Budget

摘要

This is a companion paper to a series' of papers by the Space Propulsion Synergy Team that are entitled, "Affordability Advantages in Integrating the Aircraft and Space Launch Operations~(ii)." In that companion paper, we show how 20,000 1b payloads or 3 astronauts may be delivered to Low Earth Orbit (LEO) at a marginal cost of less than $2M at a very high flight rate of 250 flights per year. Herein a method is provided to establish commercial space markets that will provide extremely low cost access to Low Earth Orbits as well as lunar missions and beyond. The world-wide commercial space industry is only a $2B market that consists of only 26 launches per year by several launch service providers. The desire for a high success rate in a low frequency market all but eliminates major innovations. Such a tiny market and limited opportunity also all but eliminates a good business case for an entrepreneur to pitch to investors for a new launch vehicle. To make matters worse, non-commercial (government) space programs are funded by Cost Plus 9% Fixed Fee, which encourages greater spending and discourages innovations. To cultivate a robust space industry that will eventually reduce the dependence upon government funding, we propose the US government establish a guarantee flight rate system we refer to as Space Billets. The Space Billets would not alter the Supply-Demand curve with an artificial price ceiling, but merely guarantee a large flight rate (250 to 750 flights per year) if ANY launch service providers could meet the price target of $20M per 10 tons (or 3 astronauts) to LEO. We expand the definition of Space Billets to fund manned missions to the moon and beyond. We show that the investment of $3.6B per year for 10 years in Space Billets would not only provide 200 astronauts on the moon, but remove all large space debris from earth's orbit. It is hoped that once a launch service provider can meet the price targets, commercial customers (space tourists, solar satellites, etc.) would utilize the bulk of the guarantee flight rate; (why should NASA send a dozen astronauts to the moon if space tourism is sending five dozen?). Space Billets not utilized by commercial users could be utilized by NASA to deliver propellants and spacecraft into orbit for manned missions to the Moon and beyond. Congressional support for NASA should increase because ANY American company located in any state could find investors and develop their own launch vehicle and secure any number of space billets for themselves. This is a no risk proposal to our leaders, if no company is willing and able to fulfill the price targets, nothing is spent.