The United States has a human space-flight program that bypasses the lunar surface in favor of missions to near-Earth objects and Mars. These are laudable goals, but the moon also has much to offer. Limited budgets probably preclude a U.S. government-sponsored human lunar exploration in the coming decade; however, the possibility exists for such to be accomplished by private enterprise. It is posited that, to bring costs within a range that might make a business case close, the mission must be relatively austere and make maximum use of existing assets and capabilities. This paper reports on a study conducted to evaluate the feasibility of lunar mission architectures primarily using as much existing or in-development, commercially available hardware and technology as possible. In particular, dual Earth-orbit rendezvous-lunar-orbit rendezvous and dual launch lunar-orbit rendezvous missions are studied using existing and in-development flight systems as examples. The solutions described here are found to be feasible, to substantially reduce development requirements relative to recent post-Apollo approaches involving entirely new launchers and crew capsules, and to offer the possibility of human lunar expeditions at costs not unlike robotic flagship exploration missions.

Inflatable/deployable structures are under consideration as habitats for future Lunar surface science operations. The use of non-traditional structural materials combined with the need to maintain a safe working environment for extended periods in a harsh environment has led to the consideration of an integrated structural health management system for future habitats, to ensure their integrity. This article describes recent efforts to develop prototype sensing technologies and new self-healing materials that address the unique requirements of habitats comprised mainly of soft goods. A new approach to detecting impact damage is discussed, using addressable flexible capacitive sensing elements and thin film electronics in a matrixed array. Also, the use of passive wireless sensor tags for distributed sensing is discussed, wherein the need for on-board power through batteries or hardwired interconnects is eliminated. Finally, the development of a novel, microencapuslated self-healing elastomer with applications for inflatable/deployable habitats is reviewed.

2Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), Hawthorne, CA, 90250 Microgravity research is poised to undergo a significant resurgence in the coming years due to a dramatic increase in flight opportunities on commercial spacecraft such as the SpaceX DragonLab vehicle. In the past, microgravity experimentation and utilization have been of interest to many fields of scientific research, engineering development and commercial manufacturing. Although many such experiments have yielded highly successful and promising results, traditional modes for space access have proven too limited to encourage continued engagement. In particular, infrequent flight opportunities, irregular re-flight options, long lead-times and onerous crew-centric payload safety requirements have proven too great an impediment to permit sustained research programs or plausible commercial business models. The SpaceX DragonLab spacecraft is set to begin regular commercial flights in 2010 and will be capable of carrying thousands of kilograms of payloads, experiments, instruments and sensors into space and returning them to Earth, marking the dawn of truly commercial access to microgravity. This paper outlines the value of microgravity to key areas of research and manufacturing, summarizing results to-date. The range of capabilities and configurations of the DragonLab spacecraft and its applicability to the various research fields are described.

We describe the development, demonstration, and applications of the NASA Global Differential GPS (GDGPS) system, an effort that is funded under the Advanced Information Systems Technology (AIST) Program.