Reusable Lunar Transportation Architecture Utilizing Orbital Propellant Depots

To support a permanent human settlement on the Lunar surface, improvements to the current Lunar outpost architecture are investigated. A detailed analysis of architectures utilizing an orbital propellant depot and reusable vehicles is presented. Comparisons focus on cost, extensibility, performance, heritage, and reliability. An architecture utilizing a two stage reusable transit vehicle, a reusable Lunar lander, and a integrated orbital propellant depot is proposed. A 30% reduction in cost for payload delivered to the lunar surface is achieved with the proposed architecture when compared to the ESAS architecture. A detailed breakdown of the architecture is presented and recommendations are made regarding the direction of technology investments needed to enable permanent human settlement on the Lunar surface.