t/Space (or Transformational Space Corporation) is an American aerospace company which tried to compete for NASA's Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) contract. The company's CEO is David Gump of LunaCorp . Some notable members of the company include Burt Rutan of Scaled Composites, Gary Hudson of AirLaunch LLC [1], Elon Musk of SpaceX, and Red Whittaker of the Carnegie Mellon Robotics Institute. The company is headquartered in Reston, Virginia.

In September 2004 t/Space was one of eleven companies selected by NASA to conduct preliminary concept studies for the Crew Exploration Vehicle and human lunar exploration, for which it received a US$3 million contract. [2] The company was competing with larger and more established companies such as Lockheed Martin, Boeing, and Northrop Grumman to become prime contractor for the VSE.

Some news reports in mid-March 2005, stemming from an interview with New Scientist, have reported that t/Space intends to withdraw from the competition, citing a high paperwork burden; however, no announcement of a withdrawal has yet been made by t/Space.

t/Space's VSE proposal

t/Space's proposed architecture for the Vision for Space Exploration emphasized market-based competition, with initial government funding intended to spawn a self-sustaining commercial infrastructure. In their proposal, NASA would have acted as a general goal-setter and consumer, t/Space would have developped an open overall architecture, and other companies would have competed to construct components of that architecture.

As of their December 2004 midterm architecture briefing to NASA, their proposed transportation architecture included three types of elements: Spiral 1 (Earth-to-orbit), Spiral 2 (Earth-to-Moon), and launch elements. In general, their plan for a lunar expedition involved the use of a flotilla of small, simple, and inexpensive vehicles, rather than a single elaborate vehicle.

Spiral 1 (Earth-to-orbit)

Initially this would have consisted only of a S1 CXV, a small craft designed to transport a crew of up to six between the Earth's surface and low Earth orbit.

In preparation for a lunar mission a series of S1 Tankers would have been designed and launched, to transport propellant to orbit.

Spiral 2 (Earth-to-Moon)

The S2 CEV was designed to transport up to six crew between low Earth orbit and the Moon. These vehicles would have been launched uncrewed, with crew being launched on a S1 CXV and transferring in-orbit to the larger craft via docking. For each S2 CEV, eight S1 Tanker flights were needed to supply fuel in orbit. After a mission the S2 CEV wouldn't have reentered the atmosphere, but would have instead transferred crew back to an S1 CXV.

The S2 Tanker was designed to supply fuel to S2 CEVs en route to the Moon. Filling an individual S2 Tanker would have required sixteen S1 Tanker flights.

The plan for a lunar mission involved two S2 CEVs departing from Earth orbit with crews of 2-3 (half the maximum) and large amounts of cargo (much of which was to be deposited at the Moon). The S2 CEVs were refueled en route by the S2 Tankers. If one of the S2 CEVs were damaged, the crew from both vehicles could empty excess cargo from the remaining vehicle and use a single S2 CEV to return to Earth orbit. If both vehicles were operational, additional lunar samples may have been returned.

Launch elements

The architecture was intended to be modular, with Spiral 1 and 2 elements to be launched on commercially produced rockets. The company was outlining a couple of options: an airplane-launched rocket system to be developed by Scaled Composites and AirLaunch LLC, and ground launch systems developed by companies such as SpaceX and Kistler Aerospace .

External links

• Mid-term architecture briefing to NASA
• Official site
• Initial concept presentation
• NASA page on preliminary VSE concept studies