ADVANCED CONCEPTS FOR MOON EXPLOITATION - A PRELIMINARY STUDY ON LUNAR MASSIVE IN-SITU RESOURCE UTILIZATION TO FUTURE SPACE MISSIONS COSTS REDUCTION

摘要

In the framework of the Global Exploration Roadmap (GER), the Moon is no longer perceived as a target to reach, but as a starting point and platform to be exploited as a step towards greater objectives. In this context, the European Space Agency proposed the ESA Moon Challenge, an international student contest to design a mission scenario for ESA's HERACLES concept study. This paper focuses on the main results and original aspects of the solution proposed by the Advanced Concepts for Moon Exploitation (ACME) team: a combination of large-scale lunar surface and trans-lunar space architectures is proposed, to produce and assemble key spacecraft components directly in space, enabling currently unfeasible deep space missions and more efficient Earth servicing space systems building up. The cost effectiveness of the proposed scenario is analyzed to assess the validity of the proposed concept.