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    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News

    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Tue Sep 30, 2014 3:59 am

    NASA’s Orion spacecraft borrows basic design from Apollo program

    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News Orion_with_ATV_SM

    The Orion spacecraft may look like its 40-plus-year-old Apollo predecessor, but — like a modified car — its innards have been stripped and replaced with modern technology that will enable NASA’s newest space mobile to send humans further than ever before, experts said Wednesday.

    Mike Hawes, Orion’s program manager for Lockheed Martin, said a capsule that could carry up to six astronauts has the same shape as Apollo because the original designers got it right.

    “The physics are the same of going out and coming back at higher speeds,” he said. “The technology is all totally different. The computers are dozens of times faster than the (International Space Station). They’re thousands of times faster than Apollo. Apollo actually flew on 8K memory machines and, I think, it was 1 megahertz.”

    NASA partnered with Lockheed Martin to launch an Orion spacecraft Dec. 5, Exploration Test Flight-1 (EFT-1). The last time NASA sent a spacecraft meant to hold humans out of lower Earth orbit was 43 years ago in Apollo 17.

    Once the agency perfects Orion, it will be able to carry four astronauts in deep space for up to 21 days. The objective is to enable people to explore destinations such as asteroids and eventually Mars.

    Hawes and Mark Geyer, Orion project manager at the Johnson Space Center, visited the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on Wednesday to thank a team of 15 JPL’ers who contributed to the December test flight. They also shared lessons learned from the test flight with the larger JPL community as well as talked about to expect next.

    The next Orion mission will be Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), which is scheduled for September 2018, Geyer said. Then in 2021, NASA will send a crewed flight into high lunar orbit for a flyby meant to last at least a few days, he said.

    EFT-1 cost $370 million. Some of the materials such as the Orion spacecraft itself will be reused in future missions. The federal government has budgeted $1.1 billion a year for a series of Orion missions that could one day help put footprints on Mars, Geyer said.

    Like Apollo, Orion uses a crew model plated with Avcoat, a material that could withstand extreme temperature changes. Although the substance carries the same name, Hawes said new discoveries and U.S. Environmental Protection Agency restrictions have changed Avcoat’s composition.

    “If you think about Apollo, I didn’t know as a kid, but we only visited the equator of the moon — a very small part,” Geyer said. “Orion enables missions to go to the rest of the moon. It enables missions to go to these asteroids. It enables missions to go to Mars, and it’s the first piece to get the crew up safe and back.”

    http://www.pasadenastarnews.com/science/20150304/nasas-orion-spacecraft-borrows-basic-design-from-apollo-program


    NASA's Space Launch System (SLS)


    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News 184145-010_2


    NASA's Space Launch System Booster Passes Major Ground Test

    At the Promontory, Utah test facility of Orbital ATK, the booster for NASA’s Space Launch System rocket was fired for a two minute test on March 11. The test is one of two that will qualify the booster for flight before SLS begins carrying NASA’s Orion spacecraft and other potential payloads to deep space.The booster fired for two minutes, the same amount of time it will fire when it lifts the SLS off the launch pad, and produced about 3.6 million pounds of thrust.


    SpaceX Dragon Cargo Spacecraft

    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News 663px-COTS2Dragon.6

    Dragon is a partially reusable spacecraft developed by SpaceX, an American private space transportation company based in Hawthorne, California. Dragon is launched into space by the SpaceX Falcon 9 two-stage-to-orbit launch vehicle, and SpaceX is developing a crewed version called the Dragon V2.
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Tue Sep 30, 2014 4:22 am

    Uh oh...

    Houston, we have a problem: Plans for Boeing and SpaceX to build US 'space taxi' fleet delayed as losing bidder claims there are 'serious questions' over $6.8bn deal
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:36 am

    Dynetics Awarded SLS Work from Boeing

    WASHINGTON — Dynetics received a multimillion-dollar contract from Boeing Sept. 23 to develop components of NASA’s Space Launch System, part of ongoing efforts by the company to capture a greater share of SLS work. 
    Huntsville, Alabama-based Dynetics will provide Boeing with three structural test simulators for the core stage of the SLS. Dynetics will also design and manufacture the core stage’s Thrust Vector Control Exhaust Gas Heat Exchanger, a unit that keeps at the proper temperature hydraulic fluid used by actuators that control the thrust produced by the stage’s four main engines. 
    Dynetics spokeswoman Janet Felts said Sept. 24 that the contract covers the development of the heat exchangers and flight units for the first two SLS launches. The overall contract value is several million dollars. 
    “We are pleased to work with Boeing,” Dynetics President David King said in a statement. “We look forward to providing additional support to the SLS program.” 
    The award is the latest effort by Dynetics to win a bigger share of work on the overall SLS program. In 2012, the company received a contract from NASA to perform risk reduction work on a proposed advanced booster for the SLS. Felts said Dynetics is also working with Aerojet Rocketdyne on SLS engine risk reduction activities, and is pursuing opportunities with the SLS upper stage.
     
    - http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/42019dynetics-awarded-sls-work-from-boeing
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Tue Sep 30, 2014 5:38 am

    Great article on NASA "stuff"
    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2608/1

    SpaceX in Texas!
    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2609/1

    Atlas V update, flawed title...
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2774080/Countdown-Mars-Nasa-starts-assembling-huge-rockets-needed-test-spacecraft-hopes-man-red-planet.html
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Tue Sep 30, 2014 2:16 pm

    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News 924009465255222310

     - First MOM picture that includes all of Mars... Looks good, can't wait to see a Russian flag there on the surface!


    Last edited by Mike E on Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:32 am; edited 1 time in total
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Tue Sep 30, 2014 11:25 pm

    More uncertainty in the US "space department"... 
    http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42045ula-to-help-fund-aerojet-rocketdyne-engine-studies
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Wed Oct 01, 2014 5:29 am

    How ridiculous is this! "Space should never mix with politics" is clearly getting ignored by the "Space elite".

    Visa Issues Keep Russian, Chinese Engineers Away from IAC 2014

    TORONTO — Multiple Russian and Chinese space engineers failed to obtain visas to attend the 65th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) here this year, an absence that undermined space agency arguments that space cooperation should not be subject to short-term political issues.
    The absence of many in the planned Russian and Chinese delegations left gaps in sessions related to the future of the international space station, the development of new Chinese rockets and other topics.
    At a panel featuring the heads of the world’s major space agencies, the Mexican Space Agency stood in for the missing Chinese and Russian participants. Almost all of those making speeches — the heads of the U.S., European, Indian, Canadian and Japanese space agencies, in addition to Mexico – stressed the need for international collaboration at a time when no nation can go it alone.
    NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said that, if one looked only at the way the international space station is being managed — both in orbit and in terms of astronaut launches and retuns aboard Soyuz capsules — one would have no idea of the tensions now stressing relations between Russia and the West.
    China has always been a special case in the United States, where NASA by law is prohibited from doing much with China’s quickly expanding space program.
    The U.S. government has specifically exempted the space station, where Russia is the biggest of NASA’s partners, from any embargoes or sanctions following Russia’s incursion into Ukraine.
    But the space exception apparently did not extend to the procurement of visas by many would-be Russian and Chinese delegates.
    Berndt Feuerbacher, a past president of the International Astronautical Federation and the moderator of the panel with the heads of space agencies, publicly apologized for the visa issues that have put so many holes in this year’s IAC program, and stretched the credibility of the idea that space is a protected domain.
    “This was not our intention,” Feuerbacher said when questioned about how a panel discussing global space cooperation could do without China and Russia. “It is very unfortunate that problems in the visa area meant those delegations could not be here today. I apologize.”
    Walter Natynczyk, president fo the Canadian Space Agency, said it is Canada’s foreign ministry that handles visa issues and that the Canadian Space Agency – host. of this year’s IAC – was not made aware of the visa issue until only a couple of days before the congress started Sept. 29.
    To date, Canada is the only Western government to have extended Russian sanctions to barring a satellite from being exported to Russia for launch aboard a Soyuz rocket. A Canadian maritime monitoring satellite, which was financed by the government but was to be used as part of Canada’s exactEarth commercial venture, was denied an export license at the last minute, apparently because of pressure from Canada’s large Ukrainian expatriate community.
    The United States, Europe and Asian nations have continued to send commercial and scientific satellites to Russia for launch.
    The annual IAC has always prided itself on being an island of nearly pure engineering and future-think in a world of political upheaval. Iranian delegates have been regular attendees, as have representatives from other nations whose space programs have zero contact with the West.
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 03, 2014 5:27 am

    Orbital To Make Decision on New Antares Engine by November

    TORONTO — Orbital Sciences Corp. will make a decision on replacing the engine used in the first stage of its Antares rocket before submitting a proposal to NASA in November for a follow-on international space station cargo contract, a company official said Sept. 30.
    In a presentation at the 65th International Astronautical Congress here, Orbital Executive Vice President Frank Culbertson said the engine decision is linked to the company’s proposal for NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)2 competition. NASA issued the request for proposals for CRS2 on Sept. 26, with responses due Nov. 14.
    “We’ll make sure we’ll have a decision on that before we submit the proposal,” Culbertson said when asked about the status of the engine decision.
    Orbital has been weighing for several months a replacement for the AJ-26 engines that Antares currently uses. Those engines, provided by Aerojet Rocketdyne, are refurbished versions of Soviet-era NK-33 engines originally designed for the N-1 lunar rocket developed in the 1960s.
    Culbertson said Orbital had been in discussion with “several companies” on a new engine, but did not name them. One option reportedly under consideration is to replace the current Antares first stage with a solid-rocket motor from ATK, with whom Orbital is in the process of merging. ATK currently provides the solid motor used in the Antares second stage.
    There are enough AJ-26 engines in stock, Culbertson said, for Orbital to perform the remaining six missions in its current CRS contract with NASA, as well as some additional launches. The existing cargo contract could be extended as a bridge until the CRS2 contracts begin. “We’ll sign it as soon as NASA offers it,” he said of a potential CRS contract extension.
    An investigation into an AJ-26 engine that failed during a May test firing at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi, is also wrapping up, Culbertson said. “We have come up with probably two potential root causes, both of which we can screen for,” he said. Engine firings on the repaired test stand there will resume in October.
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 03, 2014 5:29 am

    NanoRacks Identifies Root Cause of ISS Cubesat Deployment Failures

    TORONTO — Two separate August failures of the NanoRacks satellite dispenser operated from the international space station — one a nondeployment of small satellites and the other an unplanned release of spacecraft — were both caused by overly tightened dispenser screws, Houston-based NanoRacks has concluded.
    NanoRacks LLC Managing Director Jeffrey Manber said the company has repeated the failure at a ground test facility in front of NASA. Sometimes there is no deployment, and sometimes deployment occurs without being commanded.
    Manber said NASA, as space station general contractor, and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency — from whose station module the Nanrocks’ dispensers are deployed — have approved the company’s decision to deliver a fresh batch of dispensers to the station. 
    But the two agencies are still assessing possible additional safety measures, such as mandating that a latch be put on the dispensers’ covers to prevent future unplanned deployments. 
    As an added precaution, Manber said, NanoRacks has hired the Aerospace Corp. of Los Angeles, a U.S. federally funded research and development center, to oversee the company’s review of what happened.
    In an interview here at the 65th International Astronautical Congress, Manber stressed — and NASA in its summary of the event agreed — that the unscheduled release of the two satellites at no time posed any threat to the station crew or the station’s infrastructure.
    “This is a commercial project, and we have to accept the possibility of failures,” Manber said. “But we have to assure that any failure does not pose a threat, and this posed no threat. We are getting our space legs. If this had happened on an expendable launch vehicle, of course, the satellites would have been lost.”
    In the event, the satellites owned by Planet Labs of San Francisco that were released in an uncontrolled fashion did not suffer from the experience. The satellites that were not released are similarly in good health.
    Manber said two of the dispensers now aboard the station — the ones whose satellites did not deploy on command — would be returned to NanoRacks for inspection. NanoRacks is now more closely calibrating the tightness of the screws before they are prepared for packing into the space station cargo freighters.
    “This was a case of our not fully understanding how sensitive to screw tightness of the dispensers were,” Manber said. 
    The dispensers, rectangular cylinders with a door at the end, each house up to several “cubesats” — satellites measuring 10 centimeters on a side and typically weighing only a few kilograms.
    The dispensers exit the station from JAXA’s Kibo habitable module. Once outside, they are seized by Japan’s robotic manipulator arm and placed into the correct release orientation.
    NanoRacks’ business has become centered on cubesat deployments because the number of cubesats — dozens by Planet Labs alone — built by commercial companies is skyrocketing. NanoRacks has placed more than 150 payloads on the space station and has more than 100 more awaiting delivery, NanoRacks Business Development Manager Richard Pournelle said here in a presentation of the company’s business.
    Pournelle said NanoRacks has booked four orders from customers seeking to deploy satellites weighing up to 50 kilograms, and the company is aiming to accommodate 100-kilogram-class satellites. 
    The international space station operates at an altitude of between 390 and 410 kilometers, its orbit inclined 51.6 degrees relative to the equator. While not ideal as an Earth observation orbit for some missions because it does not cover the whole planet, the station’s orbit overflies 95 percent of Earth’s surface and is located under the radiation belts that can disturb satellite operations and cut their service lives.
    The orbit is also low enough that satellites deployed there, even if they fail in orbit or do not have their own propulsion, will be removed from orbit in a matter of months by the natural forces of residual oxygen at that altitude, meaning they pose only a short-term hazard as space debris.
    NationalRus
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    Post  NationalRus Fri Oct 03, 2014 6:53 am

    dont want to open a extra thread but i wanted to talk a littel about well noting short then humanitys long term space projects and im interested if russia has actaully a long term spaceprogram, and by longterm i mean longterm, nothing short of then a outpost and colonisation of at least mars and space exploration, thats the ultimate goal, no need to do it by oursefls, strong parters like india and china etc. can be found but im disturbed by the lack of determination and vision in space technology

    like NASA director Michael Griffin once said:

    the goal isn't just scientific exploration … it's also about extending the range of human habitat out from Earth into the solar system as we go forward in time … In the long run a single-planet species will not survive … If we humans want to survive for hundreds of thousands or millions of years, we must ultimately populate other planets. Now, today the technology is such that this is barely conceivable. We're in the infancy of it. … I'm talking about that one day, I don't know when that day is, but there will be more human beings who live off the Earth than on it. We may well have people living on the moon. We may have people living on the moons of Jupiter and other planets. We may have people making habitats on asteroids … I know that humans will colonize the solar system and one day go beyond
    Mike E
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 03, 2014 7:01 am

    NationalRus wrote:dont want to open a extra thread but i wanted to talk a littel about well noting short then humanitys long term space projects and im interested if russia has actaully a long term spaceprogram, and by longterm i mean longterm, nothing short of then a outpost and colonisation of at least mars and space exploration, thats the ultimate goal, no need to do it by oursefls, strong parters like india and china etc. can be found but im disturbed by the lack of determination and vision in space technology

    like NASA director Michael Griffin once said:

    the goal isn't just scientific exploration … it's also about extending the range of human habitat out from Earth into the solar system as we go forward in time … In the long run a single-planet species will not survive … If we humans want to survive for hundreds of thousands or millions of years, we must ultimately populate other planets. Now, today the technology is such that this is barely conceivable. We're in the infancy of it. … I'm talking about that one day, I don't know when that day is, but there will be more human beings who live off the Earth than on it. We may well have people living on the moon. We may have people living on the moons of Jupiter and other planets. We may have people making habitats on asteroids … I know that humans will colonize the solar system and one day go beyond
    Thanks for being the first to comment here.... Russia does have a long-term program, look at the threads in the space section and here; http://www.russianspaceweb.com/chronology_XXI.html - RSW always has news on the subject, so look around there as well... Russia, along with a lot of the world, has their respective programs in the works, don't worry, at least not right now... - The only current threat is  politics in space, cough...US...cough.
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 03, 2014 2:22 pm

    News on Orion...

    http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/orion-eft-1-mission-pad-flow-milestones/

    http://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/9347/20141002/orion-test-launch-preparations-final-stretch.htm
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:39 pm

    Next thing you know, the US will just *happen* to bring an asteroids down on Russia.

    http://sploid.gizmodo.com/nasa-reveals-details-of-mission-to-capture-and-bring-as-1641454531/+caseychan
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 03, 2014 9:49 pm

    Sierra Nevada is already looking towards the future, after their loss to Boeing...

    http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/dream-chaser-eyes-rides-with-under-review-stratolaunch-system/

    Now more some info, that didn't make the news, yet!

    Bigelow aerospace could become a major player in NASA's dreams of returning to the Moon. - Also on Bigelow, their recent partnership with ULA could spell trouble for their once "cuddly" relationship with SpaceX. - SpaceX is preparing to launch a Bigelow test inflatable early next year, it will be interesting to see if that works out.

    Elon Musketeer, (as many of you have heard) wants a million people on Mars... Even though he is a little crazy, you have to admit that we need more people like him in the space field (thinking ahead).
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    Post  Mike E Sat Oct 04, 2014 6:28 am

    New influx of news....

    http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/42083midterm-elections-could-shape-the-us-launch-debate

    http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/42082us-commercial-astronaut-training-becoming-crowded-market

    http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/42079sierra-nevada-reviews-options-for-dream-chaser%E2%80%99s-future
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    Post  GarryB Sat Oct 04, 2014 8:59 am

    We are lazy and wasteful here on earth because all the essentials of life are to be had... abundant and cheap.

    When we start going to other places like the Moon and Mars things become much more work and more expensive and more complicated.

    The more we learn to reuse and recycle on Mars, perhaps the more efficiently we will be able to use resources on Earth and reduce pollution and waste and the damage we do.

    The moons of the large planets are interesting... especially that ice covered one that supposedly has vast oceans of water under the ice surface... but the low temperatures, extreme tidal gravitation forces and of course radiation from the large planets makes things difficult... likely robots first.

    Talk of sending people to Saturns moons when the Sun expands just because it has a thick atmosphere ignores the fact that it has a thick atmosphere because it is so cold... heat it up with an enlarged sun and most of that thick atmosphere will just blow away... and you get left with little to no atmosphere at all... it would be more efficient going to the ice covered moon but what would be its fate when heated up... melting ice and loss of water to become a dry atmosphere-less rock.

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    Post  Stealthflanker Wed Oct 08, 2014 4:38 pm

    Hmmm about space program.

    Anyway can anyone tell me why the Rocketdyne F-1, known as the most powerful single chamber rocket engine ever developed was abruptly discontinued with no further development ?

    I think it's very weird as having such capability the Americans wouldn't need to bought Russian RD-170 engine (Which have 4 combustion chamber Thus heavier) and does not need to basically "scratching the head back from zero" For ARES launcher.
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    Post  Mike E Wed Oct 08, 2014 7:50 pm

    Stealthflanker wrote:Hmmm about space program.

    Anyway can anyone tell me why the Rocketdyne F-1, known as the most powerful single chamber rocket engine ever developed was abruptly discontinued with no further development ?

    I think it's very weird as having such capability the Americans wouldn't need to bought Russian RD-170 engine (Which have 4 combustion chamber Thus heavier) and does not need to basically "scratching the head back from zero" For ARES launcher.
    Simple, its only use, the Saturn V, was retired (too large, heavy, and expensive after Apollo). NASA was set on Hydrogen for the next large project (the Shuttle), and no longer needed a large kerosene based engine any more. The number of chambers doesn't change anything, it simply is cheaper and easier to produce smaller nozzles. At the time of the F-1, they chose a single-chamber simply because they could.

    ARES is cancelled, and will instead be "replaced" by the all new SLS and the upgraded Atlas-5. The SLS *may* end off using a new variant of the F-1, but I don't think they've decided quite yet.
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    Post  Mike E Wed Oct 08, 2014 8:27 pm

    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2612/1

    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2611/1

    http://www.thespacereview.com/article/2610/1
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    Post  GarryB Thu Oct 09, 2014 1:23 am

    Plus credit where credit is due, the RD-170 has a different design to US engines and is 15% more efficient... which is very significant.
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    Post  Mike E Thu Oct 09, 2014 1:38 am

    GarryB wrote:Plus credit where credit is due, the RD-170 has a different design to US engines and is 15% more efficient... which is very significant.
    Yep, and it is also staged unlike the F-1 and other high-powered US engines. The RD-170 is still technically unmatched by anyone else!
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    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 10, 2014 1:17 am

    This is a bad sign for Sierra Nevada, hopefully they can take Boeing's spot! http://www.spacenews.com/article/civil-space/42137nasa-resumes-work-on-commercial-crew-contracts

    http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2014/10/cygnus-next-iss-mission-castor-xl-debut/
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    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News Empty Re: US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News

    Post  Mike E Fri Oct 10, 2014 11:01 pm

    Some extra news updates...

    http://www.spacenews.com/article/launch-report/42143commercial-licenses-waivers-needed-for-orion-test-flight

    http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/42146lockheed-martin-delivers-payload-for-fourth-sbirs-satellite

    http://www.spacenews.com/article/military-space/42154air-force-offers-hints-on-next-generation-missile-warning-system
    Mike E
    Mike E


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    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News Empty Re: US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News

    Post  Mike E Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:14 am

    Seems like Bigelow's SpaceX launch will be unaffected by their recent moves after all, can't really say that I's surprised...

    http://www.redorbit.com/news/space/1113251866/space-station-bigelow-expandable-activity-module-100814/

    Now I'd like to see Russia's equivalent!
    Mike E
    Mike E


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    US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News Empty Re: US Launch Vehicles and Spacecraft: Discussion & News

    Post  Mike E Sat Oct 11, 2014 7:20 am

    Now for a bombardment of NASA news!

    Comets! http://news.discovery.com/space/nasa-mars-missions-prepare-for-historic-comet-flyby-141010.htm

    Interesting new O2 technology... http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/missions/human-spaceflight/nasa-selects-advanced-oxygen-recovery-proposals-for-spacecraft-missions/

    They have finally resumed space walks... http://www.sci-tech-today.com/story.xhtml?story_id=023000IAL3QV#

    Orion spacecraft improvements. http://jalopnik.com/holy-crap-nasa-is-considering-improvements-to-orion-th-1644769784

    Finally, some new pictures of the Sun! http://time.com/3491240/sun-photos-halloween/

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