Young Astronauts Club: Building the Future Today July 27, 2008
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Future Development, South Korea.1 comment so far
Many of us are fans of spaceflight, and we believe that the government and/or private industry should make a greater commitment to developing space capabilities. However, must of us don’t do anything about it beyond complaining to our fellow enthusiasts on message boards and blogs. There are plenty of things we could do, like writing to our Congressmen, joining the Mars or Planetary Societies, even seeking employment in the New Space businesses.
This month I’m taking action to promote the future of spaceflight. Ok, so it’s a little step, but at least it is action. The reason I’m interested in spaceflight is not because of all of the benefits it will have for mankind. Sure that’s part of it, but those reasons are later additions to my core passion for the subject. In reality, I was addicted to spaceflight as a child. NASA documentaries and propaganda on TV, in magazines, in books, and in my school created a desire in most of my classmates to launch ourselves into outer space. In the long run, I think this was a good thing, and want to pass that experience on to future generations. So, I have started a Young Astronauts Club.
I work at an English language immersion camp in South Korea. For our month-long summer program we created a dozen clubs for students to choose between. My creation is the Young Astronauts Club. My wife and I put a short video together to promote the club to the students.
Over the course of the month, we will build a scale model of the solar system, perform an egg drop, build a model space station or moon base, program Lego robots, and launch paper rockets.
I was inspired to set up the club because of the recent flight of Yi So Yeon, the Korean astronaut. I wanted to give my students a stronger connection to her trip to the ISS, and show them how they could do the same thing. I’m just trying to plant the seeds of future spaceflight into the fertile minds of today.
Exploration Confusion II: Do What Only NASA Can Do. July 11, 2008
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Uncategorized.add a comment
We’ve established that the “stick”, the Ares booster, is not the most desirable launch vehicle for the Orion capsule. But what alternatives are there to the shuttle derived solid rocket booster?
Popular alternatives are the Atlas 5 and Delta IV boosters. The DoD dumped millions of dollars into the EELV, or Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program after the Challenger accident. The military decided they could no longer rely on the Space Shuttle for their future launch needs, especially for classified payloads. Thus the EELV program helped Boeing and Lockheed Martin develop improved medium lift launchers capable of lofting 20,000 – 25,000kg into Low Earth Orbit. The Delta or Atlas would still need to be upgraded to a “man rating”, but at least they have a known flight record with all of the accompanying engineering data.
Unfortunately, the current plans for the Orion capsule put it at 29,000kg. This is definitely over the numbers listed for the current generation of Delta and Atlas boosters. If NASA pursued the EELV rout, they’d still have to design the capsule to fit the booster, rather than selecting a booster to fit the mission needs. Either that, or they must invest in a second round of EELV development.
What other options are there? How about the “New Space” companies? A quick peek at the SpaceX yields interesting returns. Their Falcon 9 Heavy booster is advertised as able to lift 29,600kg to LEO. This is just what NASA needs. Even better, they, “anticipate the first availability of the Falcon 9 Heavy in 2010.”
Unfortunately, SpaceX lacks a proven track record. They have yet to orbit a payload with their Falcon 1, let alone the much larger and more complex Falcon 9. Their third attempt is scheduled to occur in the next few weeks, so they may be a contender, but they have no proven track record, and the Falcon 9 Heavy still needs a great deal of development work before you rely on it for your future plans.
Where am I going with all of this? There are several imperfect solutions to lofting the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle. Any one of them could be used with some additional development. NASA would be much better off selecting the booster by establishing criteria, and going through a competitive bidding process. NASA really shouldn’t care how the Orion reaches orbit, as long as it does so safely, and there are several companies that could achieve that result.
NASA should, instead, focus on those things no one else is doing. The current lunar and Martian plans call for a massive heavy lift vehicle that can lift 70 – 150 tons into LEO. This requires a booster on the scale of the mighty Saturn V rocket from the Apollo era. There a re no rockets of this class operating today. Yes, NASA’s expects to fill this need with the Ares V, a Shuttle derived system based on the external tank and a pair of solid boosters.
There’s nothing wrong with this idea except that there’s no real funding for development until after the “stick” is operational. And any large project that is delayed like this faces a real risk of death through budget cuts. While the Ares I is a duplication of existing or soon to be developed commercial systems, the Ares V will provide new capabilities. Without the heavy lift capability, lunar exploration will hit a brick wall. NASA should focus on developing these new capabilities, and let industry design all lesser systems.
The final Shuttle flight is scheduled July 8, 2008
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in NASA, News and politics.add a comment
Just a quick note that NASA has released the schedule for the final 8 Shuttle flights to be distributed over 2009 and 2010. Here’s the full release:
Date: Mon, 7 Jul 2008 16:42:03 -0500
From: info@JSC.NASA.GOV
Subject: NASA SETS LAUNCH DATES FOR REMAINING SPACE SHUTTLE MISSIONS
July 7, 2008
Kyle Herring
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
John Yembrick
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0602
Report #H08-167
NASA SETS LAUNCH DATES FOR REMAINING SPACE SHUTTLE MISSIONS
HOUSTON — Following a detailed, integrated assessment, NASA selected target launch dates for the remaining eight space shuttle missions on the current manifest in 2009 and 2010. The manifest includes one flight to the Hubble Space Telescope, seven assembly flights to the International Space Station, and two station contingency flights, planned to be completed before the end of fiscal year 2010. The agency previously selected Oct. 8 and Nov. 10 as launch dates for Atlantis’ STS-125 mission to service Hubble and Endeavour’s STS-126 / ULF-2 mission to supply the space station and service both Solar Alpha Rotary Joints on the port and starboard end of its truss backbone that supports equipment and solar arrays.
The approved target dates are subject to change based on processing and other launch vehicle schedules. They reflect the agency’s commitment to complete assembly of the station and to retire the shuttle fleet as transition continues to the new launch vehicles, including Ares and Orion.
SHUTTLE FLIGHTS IN 2009
Feb. 12 — Discovery (STS-119 / 15A) will kick off a five-flight 2009 with its 36th mission to deliver the final pair of U.S. solar arrays to be installed on the starboard end of the station’s truss. The truss serves as the backbone support for external equipment and spare components, including the Mobile Base System. Lee Archambault will command the 14-day flight that will include four planned spacewalks. Joining him will be pilot Tony Antonelli and mission specialists John Phillips, Steve Swanson, Joseph Acaba, Richard Arnold and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronaut Koichi Wakata. Wakata will replace Sandy Magnus on the station as a flight engineer. STS-119 marks the 28th shuttle flight to the station.
May 15 — Endeavour (STS-127 / 2JA) sets sail on its 23rd mission with the Japanese Kibo Laboratory’s Exposed Facility and Experiment Logistics Module Exposed Section, the final permanent components of the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s contribution to the station program. During the 15-day mission, Endeavour’s crew will perform five spacewalks and deliver six new batteries for the P6 truss, a spare drive unit for the Mobile Transporter and a spare boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna. Mark Polansky will be Endeavour’s commander with Doug Hurley as pilot. Mission specialists will be Christopher Cassidy, Tom Marshburn, Dave Wolf, Tim Kopra and Canadian Space Agency astronaut Julie Payette. Kopra will become a station flight engineer replacing Koichi Wakata, who will return home with the STS-127 crew. It will be the 29th shuttle flight to the station.
July 30 — Atlantis (STS-128 / 17A) launches on its 31st flight, an 11-day mission carrying science and storage racks to the station. In the payload bay will be a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module holding science and storage racks. Three spacewalks are planned to remove and replace a materials processing experiment outside the European Space Agency’s Columbus module and return an empty ammonia tank assembly. The mission includes the rotation of astronaut Nicole Stott for Tim Kopra, who will return to Earth with the shuttle crew. The remaining crew members have yet to be named. STS-128 marks the 30th shuttle flight dedicated to station assembly and outfitting.
Oct. 15 — Discovery’s (STS-129 / ULF-3) 37th mission will focus on staging spare components outside the station. The 15-day flight includes at least three spacewalks. The payload bay will carry two large External Logistics Carriers holding two spare gyroscopes, two nitrogen tank assemblies, two pump modules, an ammonia tank assembly, a spare latching end effector for the station’s robotic arm, a spare trailing umbilical system for the Mobile Transporter and a high-pressure gas tank. Canadian Space Agency astronaut Bob Thirsk will return home aboard Discovery with its crew, which has yet to be named. STS-129 marks the 31st shuttle mission devoted to station assembly.
Dec. 10 — Endeavour (STS-130 / 20A) will close 2009 with its 24th mission to deliver the final connecting node, Node 3, and the Cupola, a robotic control station with six windows around its sides and another in the center that provides a 360-degree view around the station. At least three spacewalks are planned during the 11-day mission. The 32nd station assembly mission by a shuttle does not yet have a crew named.
SHUTTLE FLIGHTS IN 2010
Feb. 11 — Atlantis (STS-131 / 19A) begins its 32nd mission as the first flight in 2010, carrying a Multi-Purpose Logistics Module filled with science racks that will be transferred to laboratories of the station. The 11-day mission will include at least three spacewalks to attach a spare ammonia tank assembly outside the station and return a European experiment that has been outside the Columbus module. It will be the 33rd shuttle mission to the station. The crew has yet to be named.
April 8 — Discovery’s (STS-132 / ULF-4) 38th mission will carry an integrated cargo carrier to deliver maintenance and assembly hardware, including spare parts for space station systems. In addition, the second in a series of new pressurized components for Russia, a Mini Research Module, will be permanently attached to the bottom port of the Zarya module. The Russian module also will carry U.S. pressurized cargo. The first Russian Mini Research Module to go to the station is scheduled to launch on a Russian rocket in the summer of 2009.
Additionally, at least three spacewalks are planned to stage spare components outside the station, including six spare batteries, a boom assembly for the Ku-band antenna and spares for the Canadian Dextre robotic arm extension. A radiator, airlock and European robotic arm for the Russian Multi-purpose Laboratory Module also are payloads on the flight. The laboratory module is scheduled for launch on a Russian rocket in 2011. The mission marks the 34th mission to the station. The STS-132 crew has yet to be named.
May 31 — Endeavour’s (STS-133 / ULF-5) 25th mission will carry critical spare components that will be placed on the outside of the station. Those will include two S-band communications antennas, a high-pressure gas tank, additional spare parts for Dextre and micrometeoroid debris shields. At least three spacewalks are planned to be carried out by the crew, which has yet to be named. The 15-day mission will be the 35th to the station.
For the shuttle launch manifest, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/iss_manifest.html
For details on upcoming shuttle missions and their crews, visit:
Exploration Confusion July 6, 2008
Posted by Brian Pfeifer in Future Development, NASA.1 comment so far
I’m about to criticize NASA’s planes for the near future, so I’d like to state for the record that I am a fan a NASA and all that the organization has accomplished. I love NASA, and have no desire to see it dissolved, undercut, or otherwise destroyed. Having said that, I’d like to point out that the current steps being taken for our follow on vehicle to the Space Shuttle, are all backwards.
When planning a space mission, you usually start by determining the goals of the mission. The goals may be “to search for the evidence of past water on Mars,” or, “before this decade is out, to land a man on the Moon and return him safely to the Earth.”
Once you have your mission objectives you can start to decide what tools and systems are needed to fulfill the mission. These become the engineering specifications that determine the size and shape of the spacecraft. Then you can go out and buy launch services on a Pegasus for small payloads, a Delta II or IV for larger payloads. Or if you need to, you can start designing a new booster that fits the needs of the mission.
In pursuing President Bush’s Vision for Space Exploration, NASA started with the booster design, not the mission objectives. This has lead to an odd design cycle. Once they decided to use a shuttle derived solid booster for the crew vehicle launcher, that drove the design of the Crew Exploration Vehicle now known as the Orion capsule. Unfortunately, once they determined the mission objectives, they realized the “stick” lacked the thrust to push the Orion into space. NASA was forced to add a fifth segment to the solid booster to achieve the required thrust. They also discovered that using a Space Shuttle Main Engine for the upper stage was impractical. So they swapped the SSME for a to-be-redesigned Saturn era J2 engine.
The whole point of using Shuttle derived hardware was that it was already man rated. Thus it would dramatically reduce development and testing time and money. With the modifications now in place, everything must follow the full proofing process, and loses the advantages of using derived systems.
Few NASA observers thought the stick was a great solution when it was first proposed. We were willing to accept it because development was supposed to be quick, inexpensive, and take advantage of technical continuity with the Shuttle program. Now that those benefits are quickly dissolving, we should reexamine whether the stick is the right booster to put the Orion in orbit, or even if the Orion is the right vehicle at all.
In my next post, we’ll explore possible alternatives based on one simple idea: NASA should do those things that only NASA can do.
