A System Architecture for Human Lunar Return 12 Oct 2024.pdf

The history of and the present approach to U.S. human lunar landing missions are discussed, with attention to the importance of maintaining leadership in space from the perspective of U.S. global stature and influence. The NASA Artemis lunar mission architecture and plans are outlined and programmatic and technical issues contributing to the complexity and fragility of the present mission design are discussed. An alternative dual-launch architecture is offered and a point-design within that architecture is assessed. The proposed design assumes a crewed lander based on existing technology, incorporates flight proven systems for other elements, and is shown to meet NASA’s basic Artemis requirement – four crew to the lunar South Polar region for a week – with significantly reduced complexity and crew and mission risk.