NASA names lunar lander (LSAM) + pics

[Dr Mordrid]

NASA finally got around to naming the lunar lander for the Constellation program; ALTAIR, from an Arabic phrase al-nasr al-ta'ir which means "the Flying Eagle".

Ascent Stage: Dry mass 4,000 kg, inert mass 5,600 kg, return cargo 800 kg, propellant 4,500 kg. Total 10,200 kg.
Descent stage: Dry mass 5,100 kg, inert mass 7,000 kg, propellant 27,500 kg. Total 35,000 kg.

Total ALTAIR mass: 45,200 kg.

Constellation symbols/patches


All four insignias, including the Constellation and Altair logos, were designed for NASA by Michael Okuda, who is best known for his work on the Star Trek series.

Baseline design


Rumored re-design (Starship Troopers anyone?)


Lunar base baseline design

[Fat Tone]

Strikes me there a lot of the landing vehicle that could/should be designed with a dual use in mind. Maybe those fuel tanks can become storage tanks for example, or the framework be re-used to support something else on later trips etc.

[Dr Mordrid]

Lockheed-Martin has proposed landers with wheels whose descent stages could be towed by the rover into a 'parking lot' where its excess liquid hydrogen could be recycled for use as rocket or fuel cell fuel and its O2 for life support. In fact I posted some of their ideas here a while back because more than one looked very much like the Eagle lunar shuttle from "Space 1999".

This makes sense because in rocket engine tanks there is always at least 15%-20% more fuel than needed for the mission. This provides both a safety margin (difficulty finding a landing zone as with Apollo 11) and stops the engine from suddenly running out of fuel, which can cause a nasty BOOM. No reason for all that fuel to go to waste.

Just happened to find one of those Lockheed "Eagle" concepts.

Note the diagonal line called "ascender sep plane". This divides the lander in half; the fore portion separates and returns to the Orion or whatever other spaceship it's to rendezvous with while the wheeled aft portion stays behind for use in the 'parking lot' providing electrical power from its solar arrays and its consumables as noted above.



In this one the inflatable air lock can be seen to the right of the nose.

Personally I think it's a brilliant design.