The US Space Program has long needed an exploration vehicle that would take crews from low Earth orbit to many solar system destinations such as asteroids and lunar circumnavigation. Now NASA has come up with NAUTILUS-X, which stands for Non-Atmospheric Universal Transport Intended for Lengthy US space eXploration.
The suggested NASA version is a tubular-looking spacecraft that could serve as a reusable vehicle, holding a crew of six and enough supplies for a two-year expedition. This vehicle would be built in orbit and, if funded, could be ready for space missions by 2020.
It has long been suggested that the ISS might be a good base of operations for such a transporter.
However, NASA suggests it would be assembled from expandable structures, such as Bigelow's inflatable habitats.
Part of the vehicle would contain a ring centrifuge to provide partial gravity. A radiation-mitigation system would be needed to project the crew. This might be done with tanks of water or liquid hydrogen slush.
Since Nautilus is intended to be a multi-mission exploration vehicle, it could incorporate mission-specific systems such as propulsion for high delta-V missions, or extra life support for longer coasting periods.
This approach would relieve the need to carry heavy atmospheric ascent and entry systems and structures.
However, NASA still needs an uplift vehicle to ferry crews from Earth surface to low Earth orbit (LEO).
Currently, the US does not have such a vehicle beyond mid-2011, when the Shuttle will be retired. Hopefully, a replacement option will soon arrive but there are increasing concerns about that.
NASA optimistically estimate the cost to be about $3.7 billion and construction time to be at least five years.
If NASA is open to it, this could also be an exciting international collaborative program, which ESA and many other national agencies would be happy to contribute. Such a partnership should reduce NASA's cost considerably, and offer several Earth-to-orbit crew options.
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