NASA has already stated that the space agency will be retiring the Shuttle program sometime in 2010 and will be working on a next-gen spacecraft, which they call Orion. This spacecraft will be able to taxi crew from and too the Moon.
Some months ago this decision of NASA developed some fear among the Russians as they thought that their highly honored space craft, Soyuz will be playing the role of a space cabbie till the time NASA makes their new spacecraft and after Orion is complete, no one will want to launch in a Soyuz as everyone will prefer the latest technology to take them to the ISS or even beyond.
Now some industrial groups in Europe are thinking of some new ideas to develop a launch system that can compete with NASA’s Orion and make them a strong contender in space travel. Some meetings have also been held by the ESA under a development study that also involves brains from Russia and Japan. The discussions at the industrial level will commence this month.
ESA wants to develop a crew transport system that is totally independent of the Orion and will replace the shuttles and Soyuz in the next decade. However, experts still feel that this new CSTS or Crew Space Transport System can be an updated and enhanced version of the trusted Soyuz and can also be an entirely different system.
ESA also stated that the space agency is keen on developing two systems instead on one so that if any one system suffers a failure then the space program can continue with the other system without any delays.
Talking about the industrial partners on the project in Europe include EADS-Astrium and Thales Alenia Space. For Russia, Soyuz manufacturer RKK Energia will be involved.
The space agency also hopes that firm decisions on the same can be taken before the meeting of Europe’s space ministers which meet in 2008. ESA has also released a grant of about 18 million Euros for the project. If the project is approved then the space ministers will have to release some hundreds of million of Euros for the completion of the project.
The American Orion project is based on the Apollo platform. However, ESA is planning a completely different approach. They will depend on the type of missions which flies in low-earth orbit to the space station or to the Moon and even Mars.
ESA’s project will also employ an ATV that is an Automated Transfer Vehicle in its project. This machine is a 20-tonne cargo ship that employs advanced automated rendezvous and docking systems. ESA has also stated that the system will be integrated with different components and they have a modular design in their minds.
With all the space majors eyeing Moon and Mars as their targets we will definitely get to see some machines which are the best till now. Lets see who wins this battle by developing the best system till date.
Via: BBC
