Project Arcturus Lunar Lander

[fausto]

Arcturus is the name of the latest Lunar lander, designed by Forum Orbiter Italia to widen the spectrum of operability of the well-known Antares exploration vehicle (http://www.orbithangar.com/search_quick.php?text=antares&submit.x=0&submit.y=0)

The lander is equipped with both a descent and an ascent module, hosting living space for a crew of 6 (max) astronauts.

Directly originating from the Antares capsule, Arcturus is designed to perform unmanned launches aboard the Quasar 452 Super-Heavy class launcher, targeting a lunar parking orbit. Later in the mission, a manned Antares LR vehicle will rendez-vous with it in lunar orbit. The astronauts will be transferred, then the descent to the lunar surface will follow.

Arcturus will have two main mission profiles:

- "short stay" profile: in this profile it will be able to carry 4 crew (max) to the Moon with 4 tonnes (max) of equipment, including a pressurized lunar rover. The duration of the stay will not exceed 2 weeks. This profile is similar to Apollo missions, but with a largely improved capability of exploration, search and collection of rock samples. This profile is currently in development.

- "Taxi" profile: in this profile Arcturus will "ferry" 6 astronauts and it will land on the Moon, near a previously landed inflatable-habitable lunar lander capable of providing up to 6 months (max) life support. The habitable lander will be launched by a Jarvis M rocket and it will land autonomously near one of the poles, an ideal place for a long duration stay.

Here the lander concept:

Arcturus Ascent Module:

Arcturus crew cabin:

Soon more images and details!

 

[Mantis]

Nice! You guys are doing some amazing work over at Forum Orbiter Italia.

 

[Therius]

This is exciting. I'm looking forward to it.

 

[Interceptor]

Very cool stuff.

 

[fausto]

Concept is under hard development. We are considering a small 2 people lunar rover with an inflatable pressurized section. We have to consider mass impact on the entire lander.. we cannot exclude a more classic rover with no pressurised areas..
However work on ascent module is going on and this is a little rendering of it in lunar orbit:

This is the current state of the descent module:

 

[Pipcard]

It's the Super-LEM!

 

[Matrix Aran]

That accent-module seems a bit overkill for something that only needs to land on the moon and return to lunar orbit.

 

[fausto]

The ascent module is designed both for lunar surface - lunar orbit taxi service and 2 weeks stay. This is the reason why the vehicle is so big. And it is designed to carry a 4-5 tons of payload on the moon (including the rover)

 

[fausto]

Arcturus development video - work in progress!

 

[Felipi1205]

WOOOOW! Really impressive!
Can't wait to fly with it...

 

[fausto]

Lunar rover concept. Scale is in meters. This proposal can support a 3 day lunar exploration excursion for a crew of 2. It can move in a range of 20 km from lunar lander. The innovative aspect of this concept is the inflatable habitable section. It's 1.9 meters wide and 2.5 meters high, and it is connected with a small equilibrium chamber. This configuration can help saving total mass, which is beetween 900 and 1100 kg.
This rover can collect up to 800 kg of lunar rocks

---------- Post added 08-10-12 at 10:34 AM ---------- Previous post was 08-09-12 at 03:56 PM ----------

Concept improved. Equilibrium chamber is gone, now we have a bigger semi-inflatable habitat section and no more middle wheels.. In the right down corner we have a scaled original Lunar Roving Vehicle, just to see proportions..

 

[fausto]

 

[fausto]

The rover concept is taking shape. A two crewed, all presurized veihcle with a mass of 3 - 3.2 tons and designed to fit inside the Arcturus descent stage. Meanwhile, the inflatable lunar habitation module Artemis - a six crewed permanent lunar outpost, is more than an idea. Here some screenshots about last project development

 

[boogabooga]

Looks a little Pat Rawlingsish. Cool!

 

[romanasul]

If you guys need help testing this, I'd be more than happy to do it.

 

[fausto]

More images.
Current Antares-Arcturus space train (the entire structure is heavier than Skylab):

And two screenshot showing how the rover should look like inside and outside the descent stage:

 

[MaverickSawyer]

That's a BIG lander!

Glad to see the commonality between the lander cabin and the Antares capsule. Could we expect to see something similar with a Mars Ascent Vehicle, should you take on a Mars lander?

 

[fausto]

That's a BIG lander!

Glad to see the commonality between the lander cabin and the Antares capsule. Could we expect to see something similar with a Mars Ascent Vehicle, should you take on a Mars lander?

A Mars lander is not in our mind at the moment. But someday away in the future we could start from this lander in order to design a Mars descent complex!:thumbup:

 

[sitha241]

Good work

 

[Pipcard]

A Mars lander is not in our mind at the moment. But someday away in the future we could start from this lander in order to design a Mars descent complex!:thumbup:

I wonder how many launches (of the Quasar 452 and the Jarvis) would it take to do a Mars mission.