Altair - Lunar Lander

The Altair lunar lander is a key component in NASA's Constellation Program, a combination of spacecraft, launch vehicles and missions that will return human explorers to the moon and ultimately will allow them to explore other destinations in the solar system.Altair lunar lander will deliver crews and lunar surface system hardware to the moon by 2020, and its first test flight is scheduled for 2018. Altair is named for the brightest star in the constellation Aquila (the Eagle), a tribute to the first Apollo lunar module that carried explorers Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the moon in 1969. The word Altair originates from an Arabic term meaning “the flying one,” and it joins Orion and Ares as the vehicles of the Constellation program.

Altair is a multi-role vehicle capable of landing crews of four astronauts anywhere on the lunar surface and supporting them for missions of up to seven days before returning them to orbit. In addition, Altair can deliver crew members to a lunar outpost facility and remain with them for up to six months, including delivery of up to 17 mt of cargo to support the buildup of the lunar outpost itself. Each vehicle uses a common descent stage, with combinations of an ascent stage, an airlock and cargo added for specific missions.

To accomplish its mission, Altair and its Earth departure stage will be launched into a low-Earth orbit using an Ares V launch vehicle, followed by a seperate launch of an Orion spacecraft lifted by an Ares I launch vehicle. Once Altair and Orion rendezvous and dock in Earth Earth orbit, the Earth departure stage ignites its engines to place the crew on a trans-lunar trajectory. After discarding the Earth departure stage, Altair takes over the duty of flying itself and Orion on the correct trajectory to the moon. Following a three-day coast, Altair's descent engine is fired to bring the Orion-Altair stack into low lunar orbit. The crew then transfers into the lander, undocks from Orion and begins its descent to the lunar surface. The Altair descent propulsion system completes the two-and-a-half hour descent to the surface with a soft landing. The crew then transitions the vehicle for surface operations.

In sortie mode, Altair can place the crew of four astronauts and up to 500 kg (1,100 punds) of science equipment anywhere on the lunar surface and provide living quarters for the crew for up to seven days. Altair features and airlock to allow crew transition from its pressurized habitat to the dusty vacuum of the lunar surface. In outpost mode, it can deliver the four crew members to the site of a permanent lunar outpost, where it can loiter on the surface for up to 210 days, waiting to return the crew to lunar orbit at the end of their outpost stay. At the conclusion of the surface mission, the crew boards the ascent modulewith their collected science samples and begin a two-and-a-half hour ascent to the Orion module waiting for them in lunar orbit.

The Altair lander can also be used to transport large cargo elements to the lunar surface. In cargo mode, the descent module is configured to autonomously land at a preselected site with up to 14,500 kg (31,900 pounds) of science equipment, lunar rovers, habitat modules, power systems, resource utilization equipment and outpost logistics. The ability to land large cargo elements is critical to the deployment of the lunar outpost.

Since 2005, more than 100 lunar lander concepts have been studied, with the best features captured in the current Altair design. The present lunar lander bears some similarities to the Apollo lunar module, a result of the physics of spaceflight reflected in the design of the vehicle. But where the physics of spaceflight has remained unchaged, technology has matured and Altair's missions are well beyond what the Apollo system was capable of performing. Altair will feature current technology advances in advanced computers, guidance and navigation systems, composite structures, precision landing ability and high efficiency propulsion systems.