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Tuesday, January 13, 2004
 

Future CEV launch?

From Billmon, a highly interesting bit of news from the February 2001 issue of Petroleum News that could explain NASA’s inexplicable timorousness over the “Martian mud”, the seeming death of robotic exploration and the on-the-cheap look of the recycled human exploration technology:

Dr. Geoffrey Briggs, director, Center for Mars Exploration at the NASA Ames Center, told “Meet Alaska”… NASA has been working with Halliburton, Shell, Baker-Hughes and the Los Alamos National Laboratory to identify drilling technologies that might work on Mars…The earliest drilling opportunity would be 2007…a 2014 Mars mission…would put astronauts on the planet to assist [drilling]… Halliburton and Baker-Hughes are working on some very advanced systems, Briggs said, some so advanced they aren’t willing to talk much about them.

From a January 10th posting on MarsNews.com:

The Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), will take the shape of a capsule, and become the central component of future Moon/Mars exploration hardware. The first test flights of the CEV may occur as soon as 2007.
The CEV will initially be launched aboard a man-rated version of one of the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, the Boeing Delta 4 or Lockheed Martin Atlas 5.

Regarding NASA’s highly successful robotic planetary explorations, the MarsNews.com story continues:

NASA will also be directed to fold in any robotic exploration programs to the new efforts.

Look for Halliburton to advance the idea of low paid Bangladeshi crewed exploration in the closet-sized vehicles!

Image: John Frassanito & Associates

- posted by Sean @ 9:46 PM
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