Keep the shuttle flying: Fwd: SpaceX targets May 5 for Dragon pad abort test

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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.

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.

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.

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