GLEX2012

“GLEX” gives the tale of four ZPFC'ers and their quest to present technical papers at an international conference on pursuits in spaceflight. Two such ZPFC'ers, Timothy Monk and Bryan Hampton, describe a technical paper on the “Space Launch System Mission Flexibility Assessment.” This paper discusses:
The Space Launch System (SLS) and options for Upper/In-Space Stages
Ability of SLS to lift multiple existing stages
Mission design using multiple stages & staging options vs. a variable dropoff orbit option
Ability of the SLS & existing stages to lower the cost of a Europa landing mission
Two other ZPFC'ers, Erica Hampton and Keithe Baggett, describe their journey into the land of space exploration roadmaps. This paper gives an exciting foray into:
Wernher Magnus Maximilian, Freiherr von Braun’s 1969 Space Exploration roadmap in which he laid out a clear mission-driven approach (and required technological pursuits) to enable a Mars landing mission
Roc