CEV SAIC

American manned spacecraft. Study 2012. SAIC's notional CEV was a Soyuz-shaped aeroshell, enclosing a common pressurized module, and accommodating a crew of four.

SAIC developed a baseline lunar exploration scenario of assembly of modules in low-earth orbit that were launched by EELV-derived launch vehicles made up of three, five, or seven EELV booster modules according to payload requirements. The assembled spacecraft would join up in lunar orbit, with the CEV remaining in lunar orbit while the lunar lander took the crew to the surface base and back. In its CEV study SAIC went through a rigorous series of iterations to identify economies throughout a lunar base infrastructure through use of common subsystems and modules. In the final iteration, the CEV itself was a notional design, a Soyuz-shaped four-crew re-entry vehicle using the common pressure vessel with a mass of 10.4 metric tons. The CEV's Service Module would have a dry mass of 3.5 metric tons and use an RL10 Lox/LH2 engine. This would be used only for the trans-earth injection maneuver back from lunar orbit.

The final SAIC mission sequence was spread over 18 years and would require 76 launches of EELV-derived vehicles using 334 EELV common-core stages. A common pressure module design would be used in the cargo module, the two-module lunar surface habitat, and lunar module, and the CEV crew capsule. Liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen and RL10 engines would be used in all propulsion units (SAIC considered storable propellants and liquid oxygen/methane, but rejected the less-efficient propellants for driving up total mission mass requirements). The mission sequence was as follows:

Mission 1 2008 Robotic Lunar Orbiter (RLO)

Mission 2 2008 Uncrewed Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) to ISS

Mission 3 2009 Uncrewed CEV test at Lunar Reentry Velocities

Mission 4 2010 Robotic Lunar Sample Return Mission

Mission 5 2014 Crewed CEV to ISS

Mission 6 2015 CEV Prototype Lunar Flyby and Earth Return

Mission 7 2016 Crewed Checkout of LM in Low Earth Orbit

Mission 8 2016 LM checkout in Low Lunar Orbit, including LM/LL descent/ascent

Mission 9 2017 Full-Scale Habitat landed on Lunar Surface

Mission 10 2018 Crewed CEV to Low Lunar Orbit and Return

Mission 11 2019 Extended Duration (7-day) Stay on the Lunar Surface - Open Rover

Mission 12 2020 Crewed Lunar Visit, Extended Duration (12-day) Stay, Delivery of Experimental Nuclear Surface Power (NSP), 2nd Open Rover

Mission 13 2021 Second Full-Scale Habitat to Lunar Surface

Mission 14 2021 Crewed Lunar Visit, Long Duration (30-day) Stay, Third Open Rover

Mission 15 2022 Crewed Lunar Visit, Long Duration (30-day) Stay - pressurized rover

Mission 16 2023 Crewed Lunar Visit, Long Duration Stay (60-day); Third Full-Scale Mission Habitat to Lunar Surface

Mission 17 2024 Infrastructure, Fourth Full-Scale Habitat, Upgraded Nuclear Surface Power, Second Pressurized Rover, Potential for Second location or off ramp

Mission 18 2025 Crewed Lunar Visit, Long Duration (90-day) Stay, Cargo Module

Mission 19 2026 Crewed Lunar Visit, Long Duration (120-day) Stay, Cargo Module

SAIC, at NASA's urging, considered an alternative scenario with use of Shuttle-derived heavy-lift vehicles, which reduced the number of launches required from 76 to 63, but nearly double the cost and would, SAIC said, "undermine the American commercial launch market".

Crew Size: 4.