The Saturn Capture Project Proposal - or - Bringing an Old Workhorse Home
http://www.quantumfoamy.com/articles/2/1/The-Saturn-Capture-Project-Proposal---or---Bringing-an-Old-Workhorse-Home/Page1.html
Jason Donahue
By Jason Donahue
Published on 08/23/2007
The Saturn Capture Project proposal or bringing an old workhorse home
In 2032, an old workhorse will be coming home. That's when the "asteroid" J002E3, believed to be the Saturn IV-B third stage from the Apollo 12 mission, is expected to return to Earth orbit. Originally launched in November 1969, Apollo 12's third stage didn't have quite enough velocity to escape Earth orbit right away, eventually disappearing from the Earth-Moon system after a pass by the Moon.
Why not make sure it comes back to stay in 2032?
There are actually a lot of benefits to pushing J002E3 into a stable orbit when it comes back in 2032. For starters, by the time it returns, it will have been in space for more than six decades, all of it beyond Earth's Van Allen Belts. What better opportunity do we have to see the long-term effects of the enviroment of space on man-made structures?
Second, remember Skylab...well, before it burned up and littered Australia? Skylab was a converted Saturn IV-B (aka "S-IVB). The station put in orbit lacked some of the things that J002E3 will still have, like the J-2 rocket engine, but that was because of the unexpected availability of bigger boosters originally meant for Apollo missions to the Moon. However, most of the planning for Skylab had operated under the assumption that the S-IVB stage put into orbit would need to "pull its own weight", and then be modified once it was in orbit. Why not do the same again? Even ignoring the possibility of using one of the big Ares boosters being developed currently, current commercial boosters can be used to deliver the different sections that would be needed, such as a new airlock module - Skylab's original solar telescope was around 11 tons, while its airlock was a weightier 22 tons. From the looks of it, the equipment to add life support and internal lab space to the Saturn IV-B massed around 20 tons, too.
If it's still in good shape, J002E3 could potentially form the basis for a low-cost commercial station. The hard part, putting a habitable volume and basic structure to build on, has already been done. Nudge it in the right direction to make sure it's going to stay around this time, check to see what kind of shape it's in, and if it's still in good shape, turn J002E3 into a new space station.
Why not make sure it comes back to stay in 2032?
There are actually a lot of benefits to pushing J002E3 into a stable orbit when it comes back in 2032. For starters, by the time it returns, it will have been in space for more than six decades, all of it beyond Earth's Van Allen Belts. What better opportunity do we have to see the long-term effects of the enviroment of space on man-made structures?
Second, remember Skylab...well, before it burned up and littered Australia? Skylab was a converted Saturn IV-B (aka "S-IVB). The station put in orbit lacked some of the things that J002E3 will still have, like the J-2 rocket engine, but that was because of the unexpected availability of bigger boosters originally meant for Apollo missions to the Moon. However, most of the planning for Skylab had operated under the assumption that the S-IVB stage put into orbit would need to "pull its own weight", and then be modified once it was in orbit. Why not do the same again? Even ignoring the possibility of using one of the big Ares boosters being developed currently, current commercial boosters can be used to deliver the different sections that would be needed, such as a new airlock module - Skylab's original solar telescope was around 11 tons, while its airlock was a weightier 22 tons. From the looks of it, the equipment to add life support and internal lab space to the Saturn IV-B massed around 20 tons, too.
If it's still in good shape, J002E3 could potentially form the basis for a low-cost commercial station. The hard part, putting a habitable volume and basic structure to build on, has already been done. Nudge it in the right direction to make sure it's going to stay around this time, check to see what kind of shape it's in, and if it's still in good shape, turn J002E3 into a new space station.