science

Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander

Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander rather than just read about it. In short: The Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander is a series of design concepts by Lockheed Martin for a crewed lunar lander. The first proposal, Mars-Precursor Lunar Lander is a reusable crewed lunar lander first unveiled in October 2018, and it is being proposed to NASA for funding and fabrication.

Key takeaways

Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander is a series of design concepts by Lockheed Martin for a crewed lunar lander. The first proposal, Mars-Precursor Lunar Lander is a reusable crewed lunar lander first unveiled in October 2018, and it is being proposed to NASA for funding and fabrication. NASA specified that it would wait until 2024 to decide the date and method for a crewed lunar lander, and have hinted at seeking a crewed lander no heavier than 6 t (13,000 lb). The reusable lander would enable sustainable lunar surface exploration. The second proposal, revealed on 10 April 2019, is a 2-stage lander proposed to meet Vice President Mike Pence's challenge to return humans to the Moon by 2024, which became the Artemis Program. Both proposals are based on Orion spacecraft's hardware, and are designed to take astronauts from the Lunar Gateway — a proposed habitat that NASA plans to build in orbit around the Moon — to the lunar surface and advance technology needed to explore Mars. NASA did not select this design for the Human Landing System component, but Lockheed Martin is providing the ascent portion of the Integrated Lander Vehicle, which was selected as a second HLS provider.

Overview In 2016, Lockheed Martin announced their architecture concepts for a crewed Mars mission and related vehicles that include the Mars Base Camp (a crewed orbiting Mars station), the Orion spacecraft, and the Mars Ascent/Descent Vehicle (MADV). Lockheed Martin hopes that the lunar activities will help develop precursor infrastructure and experience for a Mars expedition. The crewed lunar lander, if built, would be used to develop the Mars MADV lander. The lunar lander concept was presented in October 2018, and it envisions a single-stage, fully reusable lander system capable of taking off to return to the orbiting Lunar Gateway. The initial concept would accommodate a crew of four and approximately 1,000 kg (2,200 lb) of cargo payload on the surface for up to two weeks before returning to the Gateway without refueling on the surface. After a surface mission, it would return to the Gateway, where it can be refueled, serviced, and then kept docked to the orbiting Gateway until the next surface mission. Because the Moon lacks an atmosphere, the lander would not have to endure the heat and ablation during atmospheric re-entry, which expands its service time and reduces significantly the labor and costs of refurbishment. Many of its key systems, including the crew pressure vessel, avionics, life support, communications, controls, and navigation systems, were already developed for the new Orion spacecraft.

Concept of operations The Mars-Precursor Lunar Lander would be a single-stage reusable vehicle able to transport a crew of 4, up to one ton (1,000 kg or 2,200 lb) of usable cargo, and operate for up to 2 weeks on the lunar surface before returning to the lunar orbiting Gateway for refuelling and service. The lander would be able to land anywhere on the Moon, including the lunar poles as well as lower latitude sites on the lunar far side. The vehicle's operational lifetime would be between 4 and 10 flights.

Preliminary specifications The Mars-Precursor Lunar Lander would be 14 m (46 ft) tall, making it twice as tall as the Apollo Lunar Module used during the Apollo missions. It would have an elevator to get the crew down from the cabin to the surface. The lander concept envisions the use of the pressure vessel of the Orion spacecraft, and some of Orion's existing systems such as life support, controls, and some avionics, so Lockheed Martin officials think that construction time would be relatively short. Its proposed four engines are a variant of the RL10 that uses the bi-propellant liquid oxygen / liquid hydrogen, generating an estimated impulse (delta-v) of 5 km/s (3.1 mi/s).

See also Boeing Lunar Lander List of crewed lunar lander designs

References

External links Lander animation Lander illustrations Mars Base Camp homepage at Lockheed Martin

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander

In research: Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Crewed spacecraft, Lockheed Martin spacecraft, Lunar Gateway, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander in simple terms?

Why does Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Lockheed Martin Lunar Lander.