Optical and Radio Telescopes On The Lunar Surface Using LASSO

The Earth's atmosphere interferes with the operation of both radio and optical astro nomical telescopes. Conversely, the moon with its large mass and no atmosphere offers many advantages to the astronomer compared to Earth-based or Earth-orbital operations. This paper presents mission and vehicle concepts which utilize the LASSO vehicle system to place two unmanned Lunar Modules (LM) in orbit for subsequent landings on the lunar surface of radio and optical telescope payloads, investigated here is the feasibility of employing standard S-IC and S-11 stages and the modified S-IVB/IU (LASSO) to place 74,210 pounds of payload into a lunar orbit.