Project Hoenir, NPA Joint Program for Martian Settlement

[Nahmeighn]

Luis Armstrong Space Center
Alcantara, Brazil State, Republic of Nahmeighn
The two launch vehicle transporters are parked next to each other, loaded with Next Generation Launch Vehicles (NGLVs). Inside the large payload fairings are the first two modules of the Nahmeighn Space Agency’s first Inter-space Transfer Station. The Inter-space Transfer Stations are being built as part of Project Hoenir, which is a multinational project by the members of the New Pacific Alliance.
In front of the two Launch Vehicle Transporters is a large stage which has been erected for a major press conference to be held by the heads of the Partner Space agencies to officially announce Project Hoenir. Amongst the dignitaries present for the announcement are Nahmeighn Space Agency chief engineer Dr. C. Lloyd Carlyle and Chief Administrator Dr. Boris Vasquez. As the press conference began Dr. Vasquez stepped to the podium and started to speak;
“In the 1960s Project Apollo took man safely to the moon, and now Project Hoenir will take man safely to mars. Along with our New Pacific Alliance partner agencies and more than 40 commercial partners we aim to first return to the moon, where we plan to establish a permanent human settlement. This lunar settlement will be used as one of the key launching points for missions to Mars. The Kingdoms of Iberia and Maddox and the Finnian Republic have committed to the Lunar Pathway portion of Project Hoenir. The second arm of Project Hoenir is the Near-Earth Transfer Pathway which is being undertaken by the Republic of Nahmeighn, the Kingdom of Nordland, and the Republic of New Anzakia. The Near-Earth Transfer will initially require the construction of three massive Inter-Space Transfer Stations in earth orbit.

[Finnian Bastada]

Michael O’Connor Research Center, Arco Idaho, Finnian republic
The Rover and Habitat teams gathered around the monitors to watch the announcement. 2 rover prototypes sat in the habitat garage, the giant airlock door closed 36 men and women of the Finnian, Madoxen, and Iberian space agencies where 3 months into their 12 month long proof of concept experiment at the craters of the moon site. The Jamestown Hab unit complete with its center greenhouse dome, nuclear power plant, various laboratories, sleep and leisure modules and the huge garage had so far passed all the tests. The Astronauts had lived in the sealed environment of the hab and rover or in their surface exploration suits. The rovers 8 wheeled vehicles composed of a large cylinder with an Attached spherical cab with large windows for superb visibility, the rovers lithium ion batteries charged by either solar panels or the habs power supply.
Tom Arnold the commander of the mission announced, “alright guys back to work got to prove our system is viable.”
The crew grumbled a bit before returning to work. 8 astronauts donned their suits and loaded into the 2 rovers for another mission. After the astronauts climbed aboard the rovers the airlock was cycled and the rovers exited the garage.

Boeing Spacecraft, Seattle Washington, Finnian Republic
The first production rover had just rolled into the packing facility where it would be broken down and picked into a launch module. 5 other modules had been shipped down to the launch facility in Brazil.

[Nahmeighn]

Lunar Payload Configuration Facility
Moraino Sanchez Space Center
Kourou, Suriguya State, Republic of Nahmeighn
The first two shipping modules containing the large Lunar Rovers for the Finnian Lunar Settlement are being packaged into the Payload Transfer Module (PTM), which can move 15,000lbs from lunar orbit to the lunar surface. The PTM is manufactured by Haroldson Aerospace in Anzakia and is fully automated and reusable. The PTM is designed to return to lunar orbit mate back to the 3rd stage which will carry back to earth orbit and will then reenter the earth’s atmosphere and land safely to be reused.
Each of the Lunar Expedition Vehicles – Large Variant (LEV-LV)s are 22.5ft long, 8ft wide, 6.5ft tall, and weigh 5,800lbs on earth (973lbs on the moon). They are amongst the largest extraplanetary vehicles ever to be launched into space. These rovers are built in the Finnian Republic by the aerospace giant Boeing.

Vehicle Integration Facility
Moraino Sanchez Space Center
The massive Vehicle Integration Facility is the building where the different stages of a launch vehicle are assembled prior to launch. The two primary integration bays are 1,000ft long, 800ft wide, and 700ft tall. The three secondary integration bays are 765ft long, 500ft wide, and 450ft tall. The Vehicle Integration Facility is the worlds largest Building by volume.
The crew currently working inside the Vehicle Integration Facility is working to mate the massive 1st stage of the Lunar Launch System rocket to the similarly massive second stage. The LLS Mk1 1st Stage is 34ft7in in diameter and 131ft tall its empty weight is 930,000lbs and when fully fueled it weighs 4,227,300lbs. the Mk1 1st stage is powered by nine Volvo Aerospace Comet I rocket engines. Each Comet I engine produces 1,118,500lbf of thrust. The second stage is 93ft tall and 34ft7in in diameter. And ways 812,000lbs empty. The massive 800ton overhead crane is currently being attached to the 2nd stage, so it can be secured to the 15ft tall interstage section.

[Nord Lander]

Project Hoenir – Nordland
Niels Boer Space Test and Launch Center
SpinLaunch Test Site
Esrange-Kiruna, Sweden State
Jens Kleiger the project manager for the Royal Space Burau’s Small Platform Orbital Injection Program, is walking the jobsite where construction crews are building a pair of Centrifugal Orbital Launchers designed by the Finnian company SpinLaunch. The two launchers being built are 58m subscale demonstrators of SpinLaunch’s concept which calls for a launcher with launch arm 105m long.
Currently construction crew are busy building the massive pedestal which the first launch chamber will mount to. The pedestal is pyramidal in shape and stands 43m tall and has a 23m square base. The top of the pedestal is angled at 67o and the sides of the pedestal are angled at 50o and the top of the pedestal 16m square. The pedestal is being constructed of steel reinforced concrete.

Engine Development Test Site
Andrea Stieglemyer is the lead propulsion systems engineer for Volvo Aerospace’s Comet rocket engine program, she is currently overseeing the installation of a brand new Comet 2T rocket engine into a test stand. The Comet 2T is a second generation subvariant of the Comet rocket engine. The Comet is a large rocket engine designed to power massive Lunar and Deep-space class rockets. It uses methane and liquid oxygen as propellants to power a full flow staged combustion power cycle, to hopefully produce more than 1.7Million pounds of thrust. As the Comet 2S was in development the engineering team at Volvo started to encounter problems with combustion instability in the massive single combustion chamber of the 2S. these problems were similar to the problems faced by the engineers at Rocketdyne in the 1960s during the development of the F1 engine for the Saturn V moon rocket.
A special design team was assembled to start the design process for a twin combustion chamber variant of the Comet 2. Andrea and her team have been hard at work for more than 3yrs now and they finally have fully functioning engines on the test stand.

[New Anzakia]

Haroldson Aerospace Headquarters
Melbourne, Victoria State, Republic of New Anakia
Haroldson Aerospace is one of the largest aerospace firms in Anzakia and has won the contract to design and build the Second Stage of the Nahmeighn Space Agency’s Lunar Launch System rocket. The Mk1 version of the Lunar Launch System second stage is the largest rocket stage/ spacecraft Haroldson has yet been involved in building.
The company has set up a brand new business unit called the Space Systems Americas Division, which is headquartered in the city of Maraba in Amazonas state in Nahmeighn. The large complex Haroldson, has built in Maraba includes a large administrative headquarters building, a railhead, a marine freight handling facility, a large airfield, and a massive spacecraft manufacturing facility. The company has already invested more than G2.5B guilders into these new facilities and there is still multiple large construction projects underway within the complex.

Haroldson Aerospace – Space Systems Americas Division
Space Craft manufacturing Facility
Maraba, Amazonas State, Republic of Nahmeighn
The men and women of Haroldson Aerospace are diligently working to build the Second Stage Modules (SSM/ 2SM) for the new Lunar Launch System rockets. The Mk1 Version of the SSM is massive at 34ft7in in diameter and 93ft long/tall. The SSM is also designed to be fully reusable. Since the SSM reaches the very edge of space the SSM faces all the challenges of atmosphere reentry.
At the base end of the module you find the seven Space Propulsion Systems Sabre rocket engines; each Sabre engine produces 285,350lbf of thrust. The engines are mounted to a monolithic thrust structure which is machined from a high strength titanium-aluminum billet. Around the engines there is a large heat shield to protect the turbomachinery of the engines from the heat produced by the running engines. The oxidizer tank is the single largest component of the SSM apart from the airframe itself. The oxidizer tank is34ft2in (10.4m ) in diameter and 23ft8in tall, and holds 1,048,720lbs of Liquid Oxygen. The fuel tank is 34ft2in (10.4m ) in diameter and 44ft4in (13.5m) tall and holds 211,970lbs of Liquid hydrogen.
At the headend of the SSM is the regeneratively cooled vehicle heat shield. The heat shield is 34ft7in diameter and 5ft6in tall. The shield is made from a special stainless steel alloy that has a high copper and titanium content. At its thickest point the heat shield is 5.5in thick and had has an average thickness of 3in. 156 .75in x .33in channels are machined into the heat shield using electro-discharge machining. It is through these channels that the liquid hydrogen which is used to keep the shield cool flows.
Garret Michaelson is the program manager for the SSM for Haroldson Aerospace. Garret has been an aerospace engineer at Haroldson for more than 25yrs. Garret is of the old school having started at Harolson at the age of eighteen as a material handler in shipping and receiving warehouse. Now at the age of 57 he is the person in charge of the largest development and manufacturing program in the company’s history.

[Finnian Bastada]

Aire Manufacturing, Meridian Idaho, Finnin Republic
Patrick Moss greeted the board members of the NPA project Hoenir, “Ladies Gentleman, many of you are aware of Aire Manufacturings history of producing top of the line inflatables. While the general public knows Aire as a manufacturer of whitewater rafts those of you with military experience will have been exposed to our various inflatable hangers and housing units. Using these products as a starting point we have created a prototype Martian Habitat. A new proprietary fabric has been developed for this project, this fabric is lighter than any metal option available and with our AireBeam support system the Aire Hab unit is the lightest design submitted to the selection board. I invite you to explore our working model with me.”

The 12 board members followed Patrick. “We will have to cycle through the airlock I assume 3-4 of us can pass at a time, the Airlock system is the heaviest structural component of the entire system and designed to allow 2 astronauts to enter or exit the habitat.” Patrick cycled the airlock 4 times each time explaining the system and how it was secured to the habitat fabric.
“Our design allows for modular construction and custom sized units, each unit is attached via airlock or a tunnel with airtight door preventing complete decompression of the hab in the unlikely scenario of a wall failure. This first unit is a 24’x24’ octagonal unit we have set up for storage of space suits, and equipment used for surface exploration. Now if you’ll follow me we will enter the shared crew space, this unit is 60’x40’ and is designed to serve as a mess room, kitchen and shared entertainment space. 3 tunnels lead from this unit to the laboratory wing of 3 different lab units, 4 greenhouse units and 8 sleeping units, each of these provides space for 2 private staterooms complete with private bathrooms.”
The group spent an hour and half touring the hab complex prior to exiting, Ryan Murphy head of the Hab selection board approached Patrick “I am probably not supposed to share this, but the board has selected Aire’s design, the Maddoxen design has proven to be to heavy. Congratulations. The announcement will be made at the next press conference.”

[Nahmeighn]

Lunar Capsule-Lander Manufacturing Facility
Finnian General Space Technologies Group
Apache Junction, Arizona, Finnian Republic
Astronaut Mariana Sanchez and aerospace engineer Rudalpho Marquez are the resident representatives of the Nahmeighn Space Agency at the Finnian General Facility which is manufacturing the Lunar Capsule-Lander. Rudalpho Marquez and Finnian General engineer James Shay are the primary designers of the Lunar Capsule-Lander (LCL). The LCL has been giving the Finnian General design team some trouble with the manufacturing of the propulsion section.
The propulsion section holds the four Nebula V rocket engines which power the lander, and also holds the retractable landing legs. The design team at Finnian General has faced many packaging challenges with the propulsion section.


Command and Service Module Manufacturing Facility
Finnian General Space Technologies Group
Santa Cruz, California, Finnian Republic
The Lunar Expedition System (LES) is made up of two primary parts, the Command and Service Module, and the Lunar Capsule-Lander. Finnian aerospace giant Finnian General has been awarded the contracts to build both parts of the LES. The CSM is responsible providing electrical power and environmental control for the entire LES. The power and environmental control systems for the CSM has been subcontracted to Ballard Power System’s Space Systems Division based in Gresham, Oregon in the Finnian Republic.


Luis Armstrong Space Center
Alcantara, Brazil State, Republic of Nahmeighn
Hoenir-Atlas 1 and 2.
Launch Complex 41
The Program to build the interspace transfer station has been named Hoenir-Atlas. The two Next Generation Launch Vehicles loaded with the first two Modules of the service section of the 1st Interspace transfer station, are on launch pads 41A and 41B.
Launch complex 41 is a newly constructed cluster of five launch pads and the associated support facilities. Each of the launch pads are 174ft square. At the center of each launch pad is a large steel and concrete blast deflector that is 43ft tall, 37ft long, and 15ft wide. The massive supports for the mobile launch platform loom over the launch pad. The mobile launch platform is 142ft square and 27ft high. In the center of the mobile launch platform is a 50ft by 20ft hole which sits above the blast deflector. The mobile launch platform rests on four large support columns that are 30ft square and 50ft tall. The supports house the nozzles for the water deluge system. Each support houses holds six deluge nozzles which can each flow 11,800 gallons per minute. The water deluge system is used to protect the launch pad from the heat and blast effects of the rocket exhaust during launch.
The Crews are busy fueling the two launch vehicles and finishing their final checks ahead of the near simultaneous launches of Hoenir-Atlas 1 and 2.