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Fwd: Air Force Outlines First Steps in RD-180 Replacement Effort

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: April 30, 2015 at 7:59:59 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Air Force Outlines First Steps in RD-180 Replacement Effort

 

 

U.S. Air Force Outlines First Steps in RD-180 Replacement Effort

by Mike Gruss — April 29, 2015

The U.S. Air Force is looking to replace the Russian-built RD-180 engine, the main powerplant on United Launch Alliance's workhorse Atlas 5 rocket, above. Credit: ULA/Pat Corkery

WASHINGTON – Facing congressional pressure to begin work on an American replacement for the Russian-built main rocket engine used today to launch most U.S. national security payloads, the U.S. Air Force quietly unveiled the initial steps in a procurement strategy that has been complicated by a key industry player's own plans.

The announcements, released late April 24, detail what Gen. John Hyten, commander of Air Force Space Command, acknowledged April 28 is a "complicated" and "difficult" acquisition strategy, one that may produce an American-made rocket engine by 2019, as Congress has directed. But speaking with reporters at a breakfast here, Hyten said it likely would take at least two more years to integrate the engine into a rocket.

Hyten is among the Air Force leaders scheduled to testify before the Senate Armed Services Committee April 29 in a hearing in which lawmakers are expected to grill witnesses about plans to replace the Russian-built RD-180 engine, the main powerplant on United Launch Alliance's workhorse Atlas 5 rocket.

Gen. John Hyten, the head of U.S. Air Force Space Command. Credit: SpaceNews/Tom Kimmell

Congress mandated last year that the Defense Department develop a kerosene-fueled main rocket engine to replace the RD-180, also kerosene fueled, by 2019. While Air Force officials have raised doubts they can meet that deadline — Hyten called it an "enormous" technological challenge — service leaders have nonetheless been working for months on an acquisition strategy.

Part of the reason for taking so long, Hyten said, is that the Air Force had to shift gears last fall after Denver-based ULA announced it would work with Blue Origin on a new engine fueled by liquid-natural-gas rather than kerosene. Following that announcement, the Air Force decided to broaden the scope of its search to include engines that, like Blue Origin's BE-4, are not necessarily designed to plug into the first stage of the Atlas 5.

One of the service's first steps under the new strategy is to award six to eight contracts with a combined value of $31 million for companies to work on booster propulsion technologies, according to a draft broad agency announcement released April 24. The individual contract awards will range between $500,000 and $8 million, the notice said. Companies will be eligible for multiple awards so long at the total value does not exceed $16 million.

The money for these contracts will be drawn from the $40 million Congress reprogrammed in 2014 and the $220 million lawmakers appropriated in 2015 for the engine development effort, Hyten said. The Air Force has spent $50 million of that money so far, Hyten said, although how that money was used is unclear.

Also unclear is how the Air Force would spend the remaining two thirds of the money, at least over the next year or so.

The Air Force is looking at two specific areas: reducing the cost of booster propulsion components and subsystems through the use of new materials and additive manufacturing; and advanced technologies such as alternative propellants and architectures. All of the technologies the Air Force will consider are expected to be within two years of maturity, the posting said.

The service is asking for white papers on the subject before May 8. After an Air Force review of those papers, selected respondents will be invited in June to bid for development contracts.

A second, but overlapping, step is to develop a design for a complete new engine, according to another draft solicitation released late April 24. The idea, is to "take us to [preliminary design review] with a prototype plan," Hyten said.

The design could be a main- or upper-stage engine, the solicitation said. The document did not detail how much the government intends to spend on this part of the effort, but did say that industry co-funding will be expected.

A formal request for proposals for the second phase is expected by the end of May, Hyten said, and the service hopes to have proposals back from industry by the end of June.

Interestingly, Kent, Washington-based Blue Origin has told the Air Force it has no interest in taking government money for its BE-4 development effort, Hyten said. SpaceX, the Hawthorne, California, company challenging ULA for a share of the national security launch market, has expressed a similar sentiment, he said.

In a third step, to take place at what was described only as "a later time," but likely before 2018, the Air Force will invest in development and "secure launch service commitments" from those companies selected during the second phase, the solicitation said.

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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Keep the shuttle flying

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Fwd: This Week in The Space Review - 2015 April 27

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Begin forwarded message:

From: jeff@thespacereview.com (Jeff Foust)
Date: April 27, 2015 at 2:14:44 PM CDT
Subject: This Week in The Space Review - 2015 April 27
Reply-To: jeff@thespacereview.com

[ If you no longer wish to receive announcements from The Space Review,
please follow the instructions at the end of this message. ]


Welcome to this week's issue of The Space Review:


On Hubble's 25th, looking at the next 25 years
---
NASA celebrated last week the 25th anniversary of the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope, looking back on the scientific accomplishments of that famous space telescope. Jeff Foust reports on what the next 25 years in space astronomy might look like beyond Hubble.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2740/1

Commercial Lunar Transportation Services: a speculation
---
There remains interest in carrying out human missions to the surface of the Moon, even though that is not an official goal of the Obama Administration. Anthony Young discusses how a commercial model for lunar transportation, based on the COTS and commercial crew programs, might be the most cost-effective, and perhaps the only, way to carry out such missions.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2739/1

Humans to Mars: further delay undermines support
---
Recent proposals have offered missions architectures to get humans to the vicinity of Mars, if not necessarily on the surface of the planet, by some time in the 2030s. Joe Webster argues that to maintain public support, those timelines need to be accelerated with a modest amount of additional funding.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2738/1

Battle of the Collossi: SLS vs Falcon Heavy
---
Many in the space community like to debate the merits of two heavy-lift vehicles under development, NASA's SLS and SpaceX's Falcon Heavy. Dale Skran offers a tale of the tape of the two heavyweights, comparing their planned capabilities and costs.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2737/1


If you missed it, here's what we published in our previous issue:


A five-year checkup
---
Last week marked the fifth anniversary of President Obama's speech at the Kennedy Space Center, outlining his vision for the future of NASA's space exploration efforts. Jeff Foust examines the progress NASA has made in various aspects of that vision, and the controversies that linger to this day.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2736/1

Phobos indeed
---
Recent studies and recommendations by advisory groups have raised interest in a mission to Phobos as a precursor to a Mars mission, perhaps in place of NASA's Asteroid Redirect Mission. Louis Friedman notes that such interest in Phobos missions is not new, and may also not be that effective for long-term human Mars exploration.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2735/1

The attraction of space social events
---
Social events like Yuri's Night are increasingly popular, but are they an effective way to increase awareness of and interest in space? Alan Steinberg goes over the results of a survey that explored that issue.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2734/1

Moon and Mars are physically and fiscally feasible
---
In recent weeks, plans for human Mars missions have been criticized for both their technical and financial feasibility. John Strickland argues that these critiques don't hold up when Mars architectures are revised to take advantage of reusable launch systems.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2733/1

Review: Terrestrial and Extraterrestrial Space Dangers
---
Space can be a dangerous place, and knowing the various risks and their odds can be vital for space exploration. Jeff Foust reviews a book that tries to do just that, but falls far short of the mark.
http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2732/1


We appreciate any feedback you may have about these articles as well as
any other questions, comments, or suggestions about The Space Review.
We're also actively soliciting articles to publish in future issues, so
if you have an article or article idea that you think would be of
interest, please email me.

Until next week,

Jeff Foust
Editor, The Space Review
jeff@thespacereview.com
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For more information please visit http://www.thespacereview.com

Fwd: Celebrating 25 Years of Hubble Science

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Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: April 27, 2015 at 10:12:16 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Celebrating 25 Years of Hubble Science

 

 

AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
April 24th, 2015

Shedding New Light On the Solar System: Celebrating 25 Years of Hubble Science (Part 1)

By Leonidas Papadopoulos

A photograph of the Hubble Space Telescope. taken by the crew of the STS-109 mission, following the successful completion of the fourth Hubble servicing mission in 2002. The iconic orbiting observatory, which celebrates 25 years of successful operation this month, has completely revolutionised our view of the Cosmos. Image Credit: NASA/STScI

"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them."

Galileo Galilei (1564-1642)

 

In the words of a famous Chinese proverb, "The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step." Likewise, most of the great intellectual and spiritual revolutions and paradigm shifts that have shaped the course of human history were characterised by small and humble beginnings, the importance of which was originally seen as inconsequential at the time. Similarly, the history of physics and astronomy is also characterised by events that have forever changed the way we view the world, from Isaac Newton's formulation of the laws of motion and Galileo's first telescopic observations of the night sky in the 17th century, to Albert Einstein's development of the theories of special and general relativity and Edwin Hubble's discoveries about the scale and expansion of the Universe in the early 20th century.

A similar widening of humanity's perception of the Universe has also taken place in recent years, courtesy of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. The iconic space observatory, which celebrates 25 years in orbit this month, has made more than one million observations of the Universe to date, which have helped scientists and non-scientists alike to truly visualise the notion of the infinity of space and time, like no other instrument before it. The cutting-edge science that has been conducted by the orbiting observatory during this time has exceeded all expectations, resulting in the publication of more than 12,700 papers in the scientific literature worldwide, which have completely transformed almost every research area of cosmology astronomy and astrophysics. At the same time, Hubble has returned images of the Cosmos of unparalleled aesthetic beauty that have been the wallpapers of choice on the computer screens of millions of people around the world, helping to also change the public's view of the Universe in the process. "Hubble has in so many ways completely revolutionised our understanding of the Universe," remarked Dr. Amber Straughn, an Astrophysicist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., during a recent commemorative talk at the Museum of Flight in Washington, for Hubble's upcoming 25th anniversary. "It changed the way that we as astronomers understand space. But even more than that, I think on a more profound level it changed the way that humanity thinks about space. Before Hubble, people thought of space as [being] dark and void. After Hubble, people think of space as [being] colorful and beautiful. And I think that this very subtle shift in how people generally think about space is really profound and it speaks to the significance that Hubble has had on our culture."

An infographic showing several of the Hubble Space Telescope's impressive statistics. Image Credit: NASA/KSC/Spaceport Magazine

The full breadth of Hubble's observations of the Cosmos would require many volumes in order to be adequately presented. Even though this exceeds by far the scope of just one article, this AmericaSpace series nevertheless aims to present some of the most important cosmic discoveries ever made by the Hubble space telescope, as well as the iconic images that accompany them, in order of increasing distance from Earth.

New Views of Familiar Planetary Vistas

A composite assembled from separate images of Jupiter and comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, that were taken with the Hubble Space Telescope in July 1994, as the comet was about to impact the giant planet. The dark spot on the planet's disc is the shadow of the inner moon lo. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, H. Weaver & E. Smith (STScI) and J. Trauger & R. Evans (Jet Propulsion Laboratory)

The start of 1994 heralded a new beginning for the Hubble Space Telescope as well as for astronomy in general. Having already been repaired in orbit by the crew of the STS-61 mission in December of the previous year, which had triumphantly succeeded in correcting its originally impaired vision, the orbiting observatory had already started to send back images of deep space that had all the clarity and resolution that astronomers had hoped for. Nevertheless, during the summer of 1994 scientists and the public alike were treated to a cosmic fireworks display, the likes of which had never been observed before in human history. Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9, which had been discovered several months prior the launch of the first Hubble servicing mission, was found to be on a collision course with Jupiter, giving astronomers a first-rate chance to witness the event live as it progressed. Having been broken up into a total of 21 large fragments by the massive gravity of the gas giant planet, Shoemaker-Levy 9 finally impacted piece by piece onto the cloud tops of Jupiter's southern hemisphere between July 16 and July 22, 1994, releasing the energy equivalent of several million megatons of TNT in the process.

Hubble's Wide Field Planetary Camera-2 was able to make detailed observations of the planet-sized impact sites in optical and ultraviolet wavelengths, providing scientists with their first direct measurements of the planet's atmospheric composition below the visible cloud tops. Spectroscopic analysis of the results revealed the presence of molecules like sulfur, carbon disulfide, hydrogen sulfide, and ammonia, while also finding that Jupiter's atmospheric abundances of molecules like water and hydroxyl were much lower than expected, contrary to the predictions of planetary scientists. Furthermore, Hubble's Faint Object Spectrograph recorded dramatic changes in the planet's massive magnetosphere while the latter was penetrated by the comet's fragments, resulting in large electromagnetic disturbances along Jupiter's magnetic field lines which temporarily generated unexpectedly bright aurorae. But perhaps one of the more important lessons to be learned from Shoemaker-Levy 9's impact on Jupiter was the role that asteroids and comets play in the evolution of planetary systems, as both the carriers of life and the bringers of doom. "More than anything else, this comet taught us about the role that impacts have played in the history of the Solar System," David Levy, co-discoverer of Shoemaker-Levy 9, would later write for Sky & Telescope. "Comets have been shown to contain the building blocks of life, particularly "CHON" particles — consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen — that form the alphabet of life."

Cosmic collisions aside, Hubble has conducted a whole list of revolutionising studies of Jupiter as well as of the entire Jovian system, even from a distance of more than 500 million km away, including the giant planet's powerful auroras, its rings and atmospheric circulation, and its trademark Great Red Spot. The latter is a gigantic high-pressure, anti-cyclonic storm three times the size of Earth that has been raging for more than 300 years at the planet's southern hemisphere. A series of observations with Hubble's Wide Field Camera 3 in recent years have provided high-resolution images of Jupiter which confirmed scientists' previous suspicions that the Great Red Spot is getting smaller and more circular with time. At the same time, a white storm that had been previously observed at the same latitudes by astronomers on Earth suddenly turned red in 2006, only to develop a similar shape and structure to the Great Red Spot, albeit smaller in size. This new anti-cyclonic feature, affectionately named "Red Spot Jr." or "the Little Red Spot," has been gaining in strength and size ever since, while its bigger counterpart is steadily shrinking, leaving astronomers perplexed as to the reason why these atmospheric features can last so long, or why their size is constantly changing. "No one is certain what gives these storms their red color," had co-written Dr. Amy Simon in 2008, a Senior Scientist for Planetary Atmospheres Research at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, MD, for the agency's Annual Hubble Year In Review. "One theory is that the storms are so powerful that they dredge up gases or particulates from deep in Jupiter's atmosphere to higher altitudes, where ultraviolet radiation disassociates the elements within their molecules. Subsequent chemical reactions may lead to the red color."

"In terms of what does that mean, is [the Great Red Spot] going to go away? Well, part of the problem is that we don't understand what is it that sustains it in the first place," commented Simon during a Google Hangout last year, following the release of Hubble's observations of the phenomenon.

A series of images of Jupiter's Great Red Spot taken by the Hubble Space Telescope over a span of 20 years, showing how the planet's trademark atmospheric feature has decreased in size over the years
Image Credit: NASA/ESA

Yet, what could possibly be described as Hubble's most exciting observations of the whole Jovian system were those regarding the planet's four Galilean satellites. Not long after the space telescope's optics had been corrected back in the 1990s, it provided fascinating views of new eruptions on the volcanic moon Io, detected ozone molecules on Ganymede—which provided evidence that more interesting oxygen-based chemical reactions could be taking place on the moon's surface—and identified the presence of an extremely tenuous atmosphere of molecular oxygen around Europa, another fascinating Jovian moon which is thought to harbor an underground global ocean of liquid water. This prospect was strengthened considerably in late 2013, when Hubble detected traces of water vapor coming off Europa's south polar regions, which scientists interpreted as evidence for the possible existence of water plumes, not unlike those seen on Saturn's moon Enceladus. As if not wanting to be outdone by its celestial sibling, Ganymede revealed tantalising hints of its own potential habitability to Hubble, when the latter uncovered evidence for the existence of a saltwater ocean below the moon's surface. Such findings only bolster the case for the presence of potentially habitable environments and even life in the cold regions of the outer Solar System, an expanse which was previously considered of being utterly hostile to biology. "NASA science activities have provided a wave of amazing findings related to water in recent years that inspire us to continue investigating our origins and the fascinating possibilities for other worlds, and life, in the Universe," says Ellen Stofan, chief scientist for the space agency. "In our lifetime, we may very well finally answer whether we are alone in the Solar System and beyond."

The Majesty of A Ringed World

We may have become accustomed nowadays on the constant stream of spectacular images of the magnificent Saturn and its moons, courtesy of NASA's Cassini spacecraft, but the Hubble space telescope definitely has its share of important observations of the sixth planet from the Sun as well. Even before the first Hubble servicing mission in 1993, the orbiting telescope was already providing scientists with detailed views of Saturn's rings and various atmospheric features, long before Cassini had reached the ringed world. Just a year after it was launched, Hubble had detected a white planet-wide storm covering Saturn's entire equatorial region, an atmospheric phenomenon which repeats itself approximately every 29 years, when the planet's northern hemisphere enters summer. This gigantic storm system, better known as the Great White Spot, was briefly imaged again in 1994 with Hubble's corrected optical system, allowing scientists to discern the storm's intricate influences in the surrounding atmospheric layers.

A breathtaking Hubble image of Saturn in ultraviolet light, showing the planet's southern hemisphere and the southern face of its rings. Image Credit: NASA/ESA and E. Karkoschka (University of Arizona)

Hubble's observations of Saturn's aurorae have proved to be of equal importance to planetary scientists, allowing them to monitor them extensively in ultraviolet wavelengths during the course of more than a half Saturnian year. These studies revealed that Saturn's aurorae share several similarities with those of other planets in the Solar System, yet are also quite unique at the same time, exhibiting features that are seen nowhere else in the Solar System. More recent observations conducted during the last couple of years returned stunning images of the auroral activity on the ringed world, allowing scientists to confirm a long-held theory which posited that Saturn's bright aurorae are mostly driven by the collapse of the planet's magneto-tail, when powerful eruptions from the Sun slam onto Saturn's magnetosphere. "These [latest] images are spectacular and dynamic, because the auroras are jumping around so quickly," said Dr Jonathan Nichols, a planetary scientist at the University of Leicester's Department of Physics and Astronomy in the UK, following the publication in 2014 of the first results of a dedicated Hubble three-year observing campaign of Saturn. "The key difference about this work is that it is the first time the Hubble has been able to see the northern auroras so clearly. Our observations show a burst of auroras that are moving very, very quickly across the polar region of the planet. We can see that the magneto-tail is undergoing huge turmoil and reconfiguration, caused by buffering from solar wind. It's the smoking gun that shows us that the tail is collapsing."

Even though NASA's unmanned Galileo and Cassini space probes have returned a treasure trove of data while orbiting Jupiter and Saturn respectively, the Hubble space telescope has nevertheless kept its rightful place as a leading observatory in the field of planetary science. During the last 25 years, it has allowed astronomers to considerably advance our knowledge and overall understanding of the Solar System, in ways never dreamed of when originally designed in the 1970s and '80s. "During the run up to the [Hubble launch] mission [in 1990], there was a sense certainly among my fellow crew members and me that Hubble was going to be something special," NASA's Administrator Charles Bolden told AmericaSpace's Emily Carney, while commemorating Hubble's 25 years of unprecedented, cutting-edge science. "We didn't know, however, how special—frankly, I'm not sure anyone did. By any measure Hubble has exceeded even our wildest expectations."

This fact became readily evident with Hubble's exploration of the vast expanses of the outer Solar System beyond the orbit of Saturn.

 

Copyright © 2015 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

 

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AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
April 25th, 2015 

'Somebody Get a Camera': 25 Years Since the Launch of Hubble (Part 2)

By Ben Evans

Twenty-five years after its April 1990 launch, the iconic Hubble Space Telescope remains functional. Photo Credit: NASA

Twenty-five years ago, yesterday, on 24 April 1990, one of the most important missions in the annals of scientific discovery got underway, with the launch of NASA's Hubble Space Telescope. As described in yesterday's AmericaSpace history article, this $1.5 billion observatory—with its five instruments and finely ground mirrors—promised to revolutionize astronomy. It would peer deeper into the cosmos than ever before, unhindered by the distorting effects of Earth's atmosphere. In time, it would examine "nurseries" of young stars and "graveyards" of ancient ones, would study galaxies in unprecedented depth, would watch as a comet smashed into Jupiter, would trace violent storms on Uranus and Neptune, and would create maps of far-off Pluto. And 25 years ago, today, on 25 April 1990, the telescope was released from the payload bay of Shuttle Discovery by the crew of STS-31. However, its childhood was marred by technical difficulty, which made it the butt of cruel humor and an object of criticism from NASA's opponents.

None of this could have been further from anyone's mind on 10 April 1990, as controllers counted down toward the launch of the telescope on STS-31. Aboard Shuttle Discovery were five astronauts—Commander Loren Shriver, Bruce McCandless, Steve Hawley, Kathy Sullivan, and the man who would one day become NASA's first African-American Administrator, Charlie Bolden—who were tasked with the enormous responsibility of getting this gigantic icon of astronomy into the highest orbit ever attained by the shuttle, some 380 miles (610 km) above Earth. However, the 10th was not to be their day. The countdown clock stopped at T-4 minutes, when abnormal pressures and turbine speeds were detected in one of Discovery's Auxiliary Power Units. Two weeks later, on the 24th, they were back for another try. This time, the clock halted at T-31 seconds, just before the on-board computers assumed primary control, due to glitch with a liquid oxygen fill and drain valve. When this had been rectified, STS-31 roared into space. "Our window on the Universe!" came the call from the launch commentator, as Discovery speared toward orbit, atop a pillar of golden flame.

Within hours, the shuttle's payload bay doors were open, revealing the monster telescope in all its splendour. More than 43 feet (13 meters) long, glistening with shiny insulation and weighing an impressive 24,250 pounds (11,000 kg), Hubble filled the bay and left the astronauts awestruck. In fact, its aluminum coating was so reflective that it blazed brightly in the harsh, unfiltered sunlight … so brightly that Steve Hawley would later recommend that future servicing missions should rendezvous with the telescope during orbital darkness to avoid momentarily blinding the astronauts or their cameras.

With the grandeur of Earth, from the highest orbit yet attained by the shuttle, providing a spectacular backdrop, the crew of STS-31 prepares to deploy Hubble on 25 April 1990. Photo Credit: NASA

Deployment was slated to occur on the second day of the mission, 25 April 1990, and the STS-31 crew received special wake-up music in the form of the song "Space Is Our World," written by a Houston-based band, Private Numbers.

Later that morning, Hawley gingerly grappled the massive payload and positioned it above the bay, with its large aperture door facing forward. Its two high-gain antennas were released, springing "downward" and "outward," and the next step was to open British Aerospace's solar arrays, which would unfurl like kitchen roller blinds. The first array came out perfectly, and Shriver reflected that it was incredible to behold. The second array was more problematic. It began to unroll for a few centimetres, then abruptly stopped. Everyone's heart skipped a beat. Time was of the essence. After cutting umbilical power to the telescope, the astronauts had just two hours on internal batteries to get the arrays open and enable Hubble to draw its own electricity. If that did not happen, the batteries would die … and so would the telescope. The worry went up in notches with the realization that Hubble might be in severe difficulty.

An EVA repair seemed the only solution. Having reduced Discovery's cabin pressure the previous night, McCandless and Sullivan were already downstairs, clad in their space suits, in the airlock, with tools, ready to go outside. McCandless was convinced that he knew the source of the problem: a glitch with a tension monitoring module. This was a unit of software to detect any excessive strain on the array and prevent it from tearing or binding. It would stop the array-deployment process and the spacewalkers would then have to fix it manually. To give them more time, they had partially completed their pre-EVA procedures before Hubble was grappled. "What's left," Sullivan told the NASA oral historian, "is to button up the suit, breathe 40 minutes of pure oxygen, close the hatch, depress and get outside."

It was a double-edged sword, for despite having a spacewalk it also meant that Sullivan's other task of photographing the deployment would be missed. Before launch, she had resolved to literally "wallpaper the telescope with photos" … in fact, she wanted a cover shot on Aviation Week. Now, after working for five years on Hubble, she was locked up in the airlock and might not even see the instant of its release. With only minutes remaining before she and McCandless would have been directed to fully depressurize the airlock, Mission Control told them that the problem was an erroneous software indication … from the tension monitoring module. An engineer requested permission to command the module to "No-Op" ("No Operation", effectively taking it "out of the loop") and was certain that this would enable the stubborn second array to unfurl. STS-31 Flight Director Bill Reeves concurred and Capcom Story Musgrave radioed up the news: Hawley was to orient Hubble in a ready-to-deploy attitude and if the attempt to "No-Op" worked, the array would likely start unfurling immediately and they would have to release the telescope as quickly as possible.

Hubble's solar arrays, in the process of deployment. Photo Credit: NASA

It worked.

Charlie Bolden was astounded, but McCandless offered a wizened grin. He had worked on Hubble for so long that he knew, instinctively, what had caused the problem.

Steve Hawley's primary concern during the deployment, aside from the array, was the very remote chance that Discovery's Canadian-built Remote Manipulator System (RMS) mechanical arm might fail. The joints of the arm were intentionally limited in terms of their speed, thereby offering him some margin to respond to contingencies, and that meant that the motion he could command was restricted. As he lifted Hubble, it "wobbled"—a lot more than the simulator had taught him that it should—and not until after landing did he realize that the signal "noise" in the joints contributed to random imparted motions. In his post-mission debriefings, he recommended that future simulations should take joint noise into account … a recommendation which would prove hugely beneficial for Swiss astronaut Claude Nicollier, who would grapple Hubble on the first servicing mission in December 1993 and for Hawley himself, who would fly the second in February 1997.

Charlie Bolden was not immune to the irony that the crew had actually practiced a solar array deployment failure during their last integrated simulation, shortly before launch. In that instance, McCandless and Sullivan had manually wound out the array, although they knew that doing such an action for real had the potential to severely damage the telescope. "Once you did that," Bolden said, "it took it out of its automatic mode and it would no longer be able to take care of itself … sort of like taking a baby from the womb, putting it on a respirator and putting it in a position where the rest of its life it would need something. That was what that would have meant for Hubble … until you send another crew up and put on another set of solar arrays and reset the clock."

Disappointment at being unable to perform an EVA extended a little further when McCandless and Sullivan were unable to see the moment of deployment. Bolden certainly felt for them, still cooped up in the airlock. "So we deploy Hubble, coming off the Pacific Ocean, across the west coast of South America," he told the NASA oral historian, "and it's just the most beautiful thing you can imagine. It comes off the end of the arm and down. We're looking at the Andes Mountains and it goes right across the coast between Bolivia and Venezuela." Shortly afterward, he and Shriver pulsed Discovery's thrusters, twice, to raise their orbit slightly, causing them to fall steadily "behind" the telescope. As Hubble drifted serenely away, the three men on the flight deck gaped at what they were seeing. Then, all of a sudden, and in unison, they all barked: "Camera! Somebody get a camera!"

The STS-31 crew (from left) consisted of Charlie Bolden, Steve Hawley, Loren Shriver, Bruce McCandless, and Kathy Sullivan. Photo Credit: NASA

Bolden helped to save the day in terms of the photography. An IMAX large-format camera was already filming the deployment from the rear of the payload bay, and Bolden also acquired some spectacular footage from the cabin, with the hand-held IMAX. Having sealed McCandless and Sullivan in the airlock, he shot a length of film as he floated upstairs to the flight deck, focusing firstly on Shriver at the orbiter's controls, then on Hawley at the RMS controls, and then through the windows to reveal the Hubble Space Telescope in all its magnificence. It was not like a "normal" camera, where it was possible to see what was occurring through the lens; rather, Bolden had nothing to gauge whether he was doing the right thing. After the flight, his biggest surprise was not just that the camera worked, but that it also stayed in focus. Later, IMAX would include Bolden's imagery as part of its Blue Planet and Destiny in Space documentaries.

Four days later, on 29 April 1990, Shriver and Bolden brought Discovery smoothly onto the concrete runway at Edwards Air Force Base in California's Mojave Desert, capping a mission which promised to open a new set of eyes on the Universe. In the first few weeks, Hubble's early problems seemed benign: a few communications glitches, drifting star trackers, and snagged coaxial cables were part and parcel in the process of wringing out a new spacecraft. More serious concerns arose when temperature changes bent materials in the solar arrays' booms, the effect of which was magnified by the orientation mechanism in such a way that it physically "bounced" the whole telescope. The result was a "jittering" in Hubble's images and, since the booms only stabilized in the final few minutes of orbital daylight, the pointing system was only able to meet its design specifications for a fraction of each orbit. NASA engineers worked with their counterparts at Lockheed to change the control program in Hubble's computer and successfully counteracted the vibrations. On 21 May 1990, the telescope returned its first images of a double star in the Carina system, and these were lauded as being much clearer than were achievable with ground-based instruments.

Four weeks later, calamity befell the mission. On 24 June Hubble failed a focusing test. Its secondary mirror had been adjusted to focus the incoming light from a celestial source, but a fuzzy ring—like a halo—encircled even its best images, creating a blur. Additional tests revealed that the telescope was suffering from a condition known as a "spherical aberration" in its primary mirror. In essence, Perkin-Elmer, had ground it to the wrong specification, removing too much glass and polishing it too flat … by a mere fiftieth of the width of a human hair. The consequence was that Hubble was unable to acquire sharp images. With mounting horror, NASA realized that its attempts to sell its scientific showpiece on the basis of its ability to see further into the cosmos than ever before, with unprecedented clarity, now became increasingly hollow. The promised white knight of astronomy was turning instead into a white elephant.

The STS-31 crew patch highlighted the expectation of astronomical discovery from Hubble. Image Credit: NASA

Even Hubble's chief scientist, Ed Weiler, admitted that its capabilities were comparable only to "a very good ground telescope on a very good night." The politicians were quick to vent their fury. Senator Barbara Mikulski from Maryland, exploded that Hubble was "a techno-turkey" and wasted taxpayers' money. Meanwhile, Senator Al Gore of Tennessee—later vice president during the Clinton administration—observed that, for the second time in less than half a decade, NASA's quality control shortcomings had been exposed. The press had a field day. Particular venom was leveled at the fact that NASA had accepted Perkin-Elmer's $64.2 million bid to build the mirror and rejected a more expensive, though more thorough, $99.8 million proposal from Eastman Kodak and defence contractor Itek. On 28 July, the New York Times reported that Kodak-Itek's bid would have subjected the mirror to two independent checks of its grinding and polishing accuracy. Almost certainly, this would have caught the error before launch.

NASA responded that, with 20-20 hindsight, it would have cost $100 million to incorporate additional tests and independent checks of the telescope optics into the Perkin-Elmer contract, but the effect upon the general public was the same. The space agency was rendered a laughing-stock on late-night TV talk shows. David Letterman compiled a pejorative list of "Top Ten Hubble Excuses," whilst others criticized NASA for its mismanagement of both the Hubble development and the Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) which doomed Challenger. Several space policy analysts, including John Logsdon, noted that attitudes had changed from the 1960s, in which problems were anticipated and incorporated into planning, to the late 1970s and 1980s when little effort was made to prepare for unforeseen obstacles.

In early July 1990, NASA established an investigating committee, chaired by Lew Allen, the head of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His report—published the following November—harshly criticized the incorrect assembly of the "reflective null corrector," an optical device used to determine the figure of Hubble's mirror. The location of a lens in the device was improperly measured and the null corrector guided the polisher to shape a perfectly smooth mirror … with the wrong curvature. Analysis revealed that the curvature flaw in the primary mirror exactly matched the flaw in the null corrector. A second null corrector, made only with lenses, was also built to measure the vertex radius of the finished mirror. It, too, clearly identified an error in the primary mirror. However, neither warning sign was heeded and Allen's report noted that "both indicators of error were discounted at the time as being themselves flawed." During the fabrication process, technicians simply assumed the perfection of the mirror and of the reflective null corrector and rejected information from other independent tests, convincing themselves that no problems existed.

Discovery touches down at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on 29 April 1990. Photo Credit: NASA

The errors went back to 1981-82, when Perkin-Elmer and NASA were both distracted by cost and schedule difficulties. Allen's report particularly condemned Perkin-Elmer's quality control and communications failures, as well as NASA's own failure to correct them. In orbit, the spherical aberration was particularly obvious in its effect on Hubble's wide-field planetary camera and faint object camera, both of which suffered in terms of their spatial resolution and their ability to acquire images of distant sources. Having said this, the aberration was well characterised and stable and, over time, enabled astronomers to optimize the results obtained by Hubble with sophisticated techniques, such as "deconvolution," whereby software algorithms and image processing methods removed many of the blurring effects of optical distortion. Spectroscopy was less severely affected, because the instruments required less focused light and by increasing the exposure times it became possible to gather valuable images. However, the jittering of the solar arrays left Hubble's high-speed photometer virtually useless. Nevertheless, by the end of 1991, the telescope had made almost 2,000 quality observations of hundreds of astronomical objects, including storms on Saturn and images of Pluto's moon, Charon.

At the start of the following year, 1992, a quarter of all the papers presented before the American Astronomical Society drew on Hubble data. A repair mission, to be conducted no earlier than the fall of 1993, was critical in order to restore the telescope to its pre-flight billing and, although the primary mirror could not be replaced, a new device—the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR)—was built to restore its vision. COSTAR was manifested onto the first shuttle servicing mission to Hubble. Many senior administrators had little faith that the repair would work, but its success contributed greatly to a changing attitude toward the shuttle. As for Hubble itself, hardly anyone remembers the circumstances surrounding the spherical aberration today; far more detail abounds about its astounding scientific discoveries, its contributions to physics and astronomy and cosmology, and its importance to humanity as a species. The mirror problem is now little more than a footnote in history … and it should be, for Hubble has overcome the torment of its early childhood and performed grandly.

When the crew of the final shuttle servicing mission departed the telescope in May 2009, they left an observatory far more powerful and considerably more capable than even the magnificent showpiece which STS-31 had launched, almost two decades earlier. In the words of John Grunsfeld, who visited the telescope in space more times than any other human being, the honor and the privilege of being involved with such an icon made it worthy of the risk to his own life. Doubtless the other astronauts associated with Hubble feel the same way. "Hubble is worth risking my life," he once said. "It's that important. It's teaching us so much about our world, the Universe, who we are and our place in the cosmos."

And today, in 2015, after 25 wonderful and illuminating years, Hubble remains important and its teaching goes on.

 

Copyright © 2015 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

 

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Fwd: Launch Date Set for X-37B Spaceplane’s 4th Flight

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: April 27, 2015 at 10:03:09 AM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: Launch Date Set for X-37B Spaceplane's 4th Flight

 

 

 

Launch Date Set for X-37B Spaceplane's 4th Flight

by Mike Gruss — April 24, 2015

An X-37B undergoes inspection after landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California. Credit: USAF

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Air Force says it will launch an unmanned X-37B spaceplane for a fourth mission no earlier than May 20.

Built by Boeing Space & Intelligence Systems of El Segundo, California, the X-37Bs are reusable unmanned orbital maneuvering vehicles that launch atop an expendable rocket and return to Earth much like NASA's now-retired space shuttle and glides in for a runway landing.

The Air Force declined to say which of the two X-37B spaceplanes the service will use for the mission.

"The program selects the orbital test vehicle for each activity based upon the experiment objectives,"  Air Force spokesman Capt. Chris Hoyler said.

The spaceplane is the primary payload for the AFSPC-5 mission and will launch aboard United Launch Alliance's Atlas 5 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. All three previous X-37B missions launched from the Cape and landed at Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

The Air Force did not say where the upcoming X-37B mission would land, or how long it would remain in orbit. The last X-37B launched into space logged 674 days in orbit before landing last October.

"We are excited about our fourth X-37B mission," Randy Walden, the director of the Air Force's Rapid Capabilities Office, said in an April 24 statement.  "With the demonstrated success of the first three missions, we're able to shift our focus from initial checkouts of the vehicle to testing of experimental payloads."

This flight is aimed at evaluating improvements to the spaceplane's performance and will also include an experimental propulsion system developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center, the release said.

"We're honored to host these collaborative experiments that will help advance the state-of-the-art for space technology," Walden said.

The Air Force has been tight-lipped about the X-37B program's purpose, only saying the flights are used for "risk reduction, experimentation and concept of operations development for reusable space vehicle technologies."

 

 © 2015 SpaceNews, Inc. All rights reserved.

 

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Mysterious X-37B Military Space Plane to Fly Again Next Month

by Mike Wall, Space.com Senior Writer   |   April 24, 2015 06:47pm ET

 

Artist's illustration of the U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane in orbit. The mysterious spacecraft is scheduled to launch on its fourth mission on May 20, 2015. Credit: NASA Marshall Space Flight Center View full size image

The United States Air Force's X-37B space plane will launch on its fourth mystery mission next month.

The unmanned X-37B space plane, which looks like a miniature version of NASA's now-retired space shuttle orbiter, is scheduled to blast off atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket from Florida's Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on May 20.

"We are excited about our fourth X-37B mission," Randy Walden, director of the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office, said in a statement. "With the demonstrated success of the first three missions, we're able to shift our focus from initial checkouts of the vehicle to testing of experimental payloads." [See photos of the X-37B's third mission]

The X-37B's payloads and specific activities are classified, so it's unclear exactly what the spacecraft does while zipping around the Earth. But Air Force officials have revealed a few clues about the upcoming mission.

"The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) and the Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office (AFRCO) are investigating an experimental propulsion system on the X-37B on Mission 4," Capt. Chris Hoyler, an Air Force spokesman, told Space.com via email.  

"AFRCO will also host a number of advance materials onboard the X-37B for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to study the durability of various materials in the space environment," Hoyler added.

The Air Force owns two X-37B space planes, both of which were built by Boeing's Phantom Works division. The solar-powered spacecraft are about 29 feet long by 9.5 feet tall (8.8 by 2.9 meters), with a wingspan of 15 feet (4.6 m) and a payload bay the size of a pickup-truck bed. The X-37B launches vertically atop a rocket and lands horizontally on a runway, like the space shuttle did.

One of the two X-37B vehicles flew the program's first and third missions, which were known as OTV-1 and OTV-3, respectively. ("OTV" is short for "Orbital Test Vehicle.") The other spacecraft flew OTV-2. Air Force officials have not revealed which space plane will be going to orbit on the upcoming mission.

OTV-1 launched in April 2010 and landed in December of that year, staying in orbit for 225 days. OTV-2 blasted off in March 2011 and circled Earth for 469 days, coming down in June 2012. OTV-3 launched in December 2012 and stayed aloft for a record-breaking 675 days, finally landing in October 2014.

A recovery team processes the U.S. Air Force's X-37B space plane after the robotic spacecraft's successful landing at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California on Oct. 17, 2014. The touchdown marked the end of the X-37B's third space mission.
Credit: Boeing

View full size image

If Air Force officials know how long OTV-4 is going to last, they're not saying.

"The X-37B is designed for an on-orbit duration of 270 days," Hoyler said. "Longer missions have been demonstrated. As with previous missions, the actual duration will depend on test objectives, on-orbit vehicle performance and conditions at the landing facility."

The secrecy surrounding the X-37B and its payloads has fueled speculation in some quarters that the vehicle could be a space weapon of some sort. But Air Force officials have repeatedly refuted that notion.

"The primary objectives of the X-37B are twofold: reusable spacecraft technologies for America's future in space, and operating experiments which can be returned to, and examined, on Earth," Air Force officials wrote in on online X-37B fact sheet. "Technologies being tested in the program include advanced guidance, navigation and control; thermal protection systems; avionics; high-temperature structures and seals; conformal reusable insulation, lightweight electromechanical flight systems; and autonomous orbital flight, re-entry and landing."

 

 

Copyright © 2015 TechMediaNetwork.com All rights reserved. 

 

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We s/b conducting EO operations NOW!

Fly shuttle / improved versions indefinitely !

Keep flying improved shuttle indefinitely !

Abbey-- don't go back to capsules---Russia can't believe the USA retired shuttle!

Shuttle retirement Surprised Russians----Abbey---DON'T go back to CAPSULES!!

Abbey is right—keep flying shuttle indefinitely
THURSDAY, JUNE 7, 2012
Don't start a whole new type of architecture that causes you to go back and start flying capsules, which gave up many years ago."
Keep flying shuttle/shuttle concept indefinitely —George Abbey
BAIKONUR, Kazakhstan (KTRK) — If the shuttle Discovery launches this month, that will leave just two shuttle launches left before the American space shuttle program comes to an end.

Many space experts say Americans will be shocked next spring when they finally realize that we will have to rely on Russia to get to space for years to come. So what does that mean to the US space program, and those who work for NASA?

Eyewitness News Anchor Tom Koch just returned from Russia and Kazakhstan and got an unprecedented behind-the-scenes look at the future of America's space travel.
We were the first American news crew in 15 years to cover a Russian space launch. We traveled first to Moscow and then to Kazakhstan, where Russia launched astronaut Scott Kelly and two cosmonauts on the Soyuz rocket.
After next spring, the Soyuz will be our only way to get to space, and some space experts think America is making a big mistake.
For nearly 30 years, the shuttles have been America's primary space transportation system. But when the final shuttle is retired next June, the only way for Americans to get into space will be on board the Soyuz rocket.
After nearly three decades of watching the sleek, modern shuttle launch, Americans must get used to the idea that NASA's near-term future will rely on Russia.
It was President George W. Bush who decided six years ago to retire the shuttle fleet next year and build another mode of transportation into space. That was a move Russian space officials told us in an exclusive interview that surprised even them.
"It was a surprise for the overall community, and of course to us," said Alexey Krasnov with the Russian Space Agency. "Of course, shuttle is unique as a system; no one can match the capability of the space shuttle."
The plan was for the US to build another space vehicle, one that could eventually carry Americans to the moon and Mars. But NASA didn't have enough time or money to get it done.
Despite that fact, President Barack Obama and congress have decided not to extend the life of the shuttles until a new spaceship is built.
"I m not sure so many Americans actually know that we're not going to have a human space flight program for a while," shuttle commander Mark Kelly said.
Kelly was there to watch his twin brother, Scott, launch on the Soyuz to the International Space Station. He admits relying on Russia is not an ideal situation but one that's been in the plan for a long time.
"But the good news is we're gonna continue, we're gonna build something new, and we'll be flying again here in hopefully five or six years," Kelly said.
NASA officials point out America has been relying on Russia for years, launching many astronauts on board the Soyuz. And they say America will still lead the International Space Station.
"It's a misnomer to say that we're not a leader in space," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator. "We still are leading in space; we're doing it a different way."
"When the shuttle goes away, we're not gonna be the lead on transportation, but we're the lead across the board on many other things," Joel Montablano, NASA's Russia manager, said. "Together we make it happen; no one country can do this."
"I think the United States by giving up the shuttle is making a serious mistake because technologically, it's the most advanced space vehicle in the world, and really there is no reason not to continue to fly it," former Johnson Space Center Director George Abbey said.
In Moscow, Abbey told us NASA should keep flying the shuttle indefinitely and in the meantime build a new space vehicle based on the technology it knows — winged shuttles. He insists the new rockets that NASA has planned are a step backwards.
"Here we've got really the greatest vehicle in the world, and we are giving it up," Abbey said. "Don't start a whole new type of architecture that causes you to go back and start flying capsules, which gave up many years ago."
Abbey says without the shuttle, NASA has no way to get large cargos into space and that will make it more difficult to operate the space station. And he predicts more big layoffs in Houston and Florida when the shuttle program ends.
"For the United States to be in this situation is poor planning, and it doesn't really exhibit very good vision for the future," Abbey said.
Many space experts say the fault lies with members of congress who are more interested in saving jobs in their districts than funding a long-range, comprehensive plan for America's space future.
Monday on Eyewitness News at 6pm, we will take you inside the Russian space program in both Moscow and Kazakhstan, a place few American reporters have been since the fall of the Soviet Union.

Sent from my iPad

Needed capability!

Fwd: SpaceX targets May 5 for Dragon pad abort test

Sent from my iPad

Begin forwarded message:

From: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Date: April 22, 2015 at 11:00:03 PM CDT
To: "Gary Johnson" <gjohnson144@comcast.net>
Subject: FW: SpaceX targets May 5 for Dragon pad abort test

 

 

SpaceX targets May 5 for Dragon pad abort test

James Dean, FLORIDA TODAY 7:01 a.m. EDT April 22, 2015

The test will simulate a Dragon's ability to fly astronauts to safety in an emergency.

(Photo: SpaceX)

 

SpaceX as soon as May 5 will shoot a Dragon capsule from a Cape Canaveral in a test of a key safety system needed for astronaut launches in the next two or three years.

The so-called "pad abort" test will launch a prototype crew spacecraft from a stand at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 40, simulating a launch pad emergency.

The Dragon will fire SuperDraco thrusters designed to enable the capsule and its crew to escape from a rocket failing on the pad or during flight.

"The ability to abort from a launch or pad emergency and safely carry crew members out of harm's way is a critical element for NASA's next generation of crew spacecraft," NASA said in a statement.

The brief test plans to loft the unmanned capsule upward until it deploys parachutes and splashes down in the Atlantic Ocean.

 

Watch a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station en route to the International Space Station. Posted April 14, 2015.

The Dragon will fly during a four-window opening around 9:30 a.m.

As a development test, NASA cautioned that "the likelihood of encountering an issue is higher than with operational missions."

The test being performed in partnership with NASA's Commercial Crew Program is now scheduled for no earlier than May 5, with May 6 also available.

SpaceX plans to follow up this summer with an "in-flight abort" test, launched from California, in which the Dragon will attempt to escape from a Falcon 9 rocket after launch.

NASA last year awarded SpaceX and Boeing contracts, worth up to $2.6 billion and $4.2 billion, respectively, to fly four-person crews from Cape Canaveral to the International Space Station by late 2017.

Each company plans to launch people on an orbital test flight earlier that year.

Boeing is developing the CST-100 capsule, which the company plans to assemble in a former shuttle hangar and engine shop at Kennedy Space Center.

SpaceX last Tuesday launched a cargo version of the Dragon to the space station for the seventh time. The spacecraft and its more than 4,300 pounds of supplies reached the ISS safely on Friday.

Contact Dean at 321-242-3668 or jdean@floridatoday.com. 

Copyright © 2015 www.floridatoday.com. All rights reserved. 

 

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Dragon pad abort test set for early May

April 21, 2015 by Stephen Clark

SpaceX's Crew Dragon pad abort vehicle during a ground test. Credit: SpaceX

A major test of the system that would shoot SpaceX astronaut crews away from a failing rocket is scheduled for no earlier than May 5 from a specially-built mount at Cape Canaveral's Complex 40 launch pad, NASA announced Tuesday.

The four-hour window for the test opens at 9:30 a.m. EDT (1330 GMT). A backup opportunity is available May 6, NASA officials said.

The Dragon capsule test unit will fire SuperDraco thrusters to blast off from a truss mimicking a Falcon 9 rocket on the launch pad, then deploy three main parachutes and splash down in the Atlantic Ocean approximately one mile offshore in the Atlantic Ocean.

The test rig includes a capsule with hundreds of sensors to measure pressures, loads, temperatures and other data during the flight test, which is expected to last about one minute.

SpaceX officials have said a crash test dummy is inside the capsule for the pad abort flight.

"As a development test, it has a higher likelihood of encountering an issue than an operational mission does," NASA said in a statement.

"The ability to abort from a launch or pad emergency and safely carry crew members out of harm's way is a critical element for NASA's next generation of crew spacecraft," the statement said.

The human-rated Dragon capsule — a redesigned version of of SpaceX's Dragon cargo craft — will ferry astronauts to and from the International Space Station beginning in 2017. NASA awarded SpaceX a contract worth up to $2.6 billion in September to complete development of the Crew Dragon spaceship and fly up to six operational crew rotation missions to the space station.

NASA also tapped Boeing to finish testing of its CST-100 space capsule, giving the space agency redundant means to transport astronauts into low Earth orbit and end U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz capsules for the job.

The Crew Dragon spacecraft's eight side-mounted SuperDraco thrusters each generate about 16,000 pounds of thrust to carry crews away from danger during launch. SpaceX says the engines can also slow down the capsule during landing, eventually allowing the craft to accomplish propulsive pinpoint touchdowns like a helicopter.

A SuperDraco rocket thruster fires during a ground test. Credit: SpaceX

The Crew Dragon's initial missions — like the pad abort in May — will end with parachute-assisted splashdowns in the ocean.

SpaceX plans another abort demonstration later this year from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California to verify the Crew Dragon capsule's ability to escape from an exploding rocket booster in flight.

The company receives payments from NASA after achieving predetermined developmental milestones.

SpaceX is slated to get $30 million after the successful completion of the pad abort test, and another $30 million after the in-flight abort demo.

NASA recently extended the deadline for SpaceX to complete the abort tests — plus a qualification test of the Crew Dragon's primary structure — until the end of the year after the milestones ran into delays.

 

© 2015 Spaceflight Now Inc.

 

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AmericaSpace

For a nation that explores
April 21st, 2015 

 

SpaceX Aiming for Crew-Dragon Pad Abort Test on May 5

By Mike Killian

SpaceX's Crew Dragon spacecraft is prepared for critical pad abort test that will take place at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla., in May. Photo Credit: SpaceX

SpaceX and NASA today announced no-earlier-than (NET) Tuesday, May 5, for conducting the company's highly-anticipated, and critically important, Dragon Pad Abort Test (PAT) at the company's primary launch site on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. SpaceX is already well into the development of their crewed space systems for low-Earth orbit transport, having secured a multi-billion dollar NASA contract last year to fly astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) starting in the next couple years, but before any astronaut straps themselves inside a Dragon capsule, SpaceX must successfully demonstrate the spacecraft's ability to abort from a launch or pad emergency and safely carry crew members out of harm's way.

On May 5 the company will conduct their first pad abort test of a prototype Crew Dragon (also known as the Dragon 2) to demonstrate precisely that, simulating an emergency abort from a test stand at SpaceX's Space Launch Complex-40 (SLC-40). The test is currently scheduled to take place at around 9:30 a.m. EDT, with a four-hour window available to conduct the PAT. Should the May 5 attempt be scrubbed, SpaceX does have May 6 secured on the range to try again.

SuperDraco engines will power a revolutionary launch escape system that will make SpaceX's Dragon the safest spacecraft in the world. Photo Credit: SpaceX

"The whole test is less than two minutes from pad to splashdown," said SpaceX in comments to AmericaSpace, "and most of that distance is covered in the first 25-30 seconds of the test."

For the test the Dragon PAT vehicle will be mounted atop a custom-made truss to simulate the spacecraft atop a Falcon-9 rocket, and will be outfitted with hundreds of instruments and sensors for data collection. An instrumented mannequin will be the sole passenger, providing SpaceX with important information regarding the stresses put on the mannequin, information that will be be critical in ensuring development an abort system that prevents serious injury to the crew.

A series of eight SpaceX-designed "SuperDraco" engines, an advanced version of the Draco engines currently used by SpaceX's un-crewed "cargo only" Dragon to maneuver on orbit and during reentry, will ignite to begin the PAT—just as they would in a real emergency scenario either on the pad or in flight. The eight SuperDraco engines are built into the side walls of the Crew Dragon, and will produce up to 120,000 pounds of axial thrust to carry astronauts to safety (16,000 pounds of thrust each, compared to 100 pounds of thrust each with the original Draco thrusters on Dragon 1)

After ascending thousands of feet the PAT Dragon will deploy three parachutes, splashing down offshore of Cape Canaveral.

The engines can also be restarted multiple times if necessary, and the engines will have the ability to deep throttle, providing astronauts with precise control and enormous power. In addition, as a part of a recoverable Dragon spacecraft, the engines can be used repeatedly, helping to advance SpaceX's long-term goal of making spacecraft more like airplanes, which can be flown again and again with minimal maintenance between flights.

This gives SpaceX's launch escape system many advantages over past systems. It is inherently safer because it is not jettisoned like all other escape systems. This distinction provides astronauts with the unprecedented ability to escape from danger at any point during the launch, not just in the first few minutes. The eight SuperDracos also provide redundancy, coming in pairs, so if one engine fails the other can increase its thrust to compensate for the engine that is not firing.

Artist's illustration showing various stages of the Dragon V2 spacecraft's unique propulsive landing ability, allowing for landings almost anywhere in the world. Image Credits: SpaceX / AmericaSpace

The SuperDraco engines on the Dragon-2 are also the first fully 3-D printed engines intended for space. The chamber is regeneratively cooled and printed in Inconel, a high-performance superalloy that offers both high strength and toughness for increased reliability; they will become the first printed rocket engines ever used in spaceflight. SpaceX has completed qualification testing for the SuperDraco thruster at the company's Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, which included testing across a variety of conditions including multiple starts, extended firing durations, and extreme off-nominal propellant flow and temperatures.

The initial crewed flights on Dragon will parachute safely into the waters of the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Southern California, but future missions will land on terra firma by also employing the SuperDraco engines; so the engines have been designed to serve multiple roles since the beginning.

A second abort test is expected to be conducted later this year to put the Dragon's in-flight abort capability into action, demonstrating that it can carry a crew safely away from an exploding or out of control Falcon-9 rocket. If the PAT Dragon survives its test next month in good condition, SpaceX may use the same vehicle for the in-flight abort test as well.

The first orbital space flight for the Crew Dragon is expected to fly in 2016, without a crew, to validate the system as a whole before carrying out the first crewed test flight in early 2017.

 

Copyright © 2015 AmericaSpace - All Rights Reserved

 

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