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hobbyspacer · 26 days

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Space habitat reports – Apr.5.2024

Here is this week's selection of videos and news items about space habitats including the International Space Station and about living in space and space settlement. ** The past two Space to Ground reports from NASA Johnson https://youtu.be/_xqs4SCxcB0 https://youtu.be/tBV779u40to ** NASA Artemis Lunar Terrain Vehicle (Official NASA Trailer) - NASA NASA hosted a news conference from the Johnson Space Center in Houston April 3, 2024, to announce the companies selected to move forward in the development of the Lunar Terrain Vehicle under the LTVS (Lunar Terrain Vehicle Services) contract. The award leverages NASA’s expertise in developing and operating these next generation "Moon buggies" to build commercial capabilities that support scientific discovery and long-term human exploration on the Moon. NASA intends to begin using the LTV for crewed operations during the Artemis V mission on the surface of the Moon. https://youtu.be/zTHJ9zb8J2s ** NASA News Conference on Lunar Terrain Vehicle for Artemis Missions - NASA Live from Johnson Space Center in Houston, we'll announce the company, or companies, selected to move forward in developing the LTV (Lunar Terrain Vehicle). The LTV will help future Artemis astronauts search for water, ice, and other resources on the lunar surface, helping humanity establish a long-term presence on another planetary body for the first time. Hear from: • Vanessa Wyche, director, NASA Johnson • Jacob Bleacher, chief exploration scientist, NASA Headquarters • Lara Kearney, manager, Extravehicular Activity and Human Surface Mobility Program, NASA Johnson For more information, see: NASA Selects Companies to Advance Moon Mobility for Artemis Missions | NASA - Apr.3.2024. https://www.youtube.com/live/2nVKbW59viQ ** Axiom Space Welcomes CNES - Axiom Space Youtube Axiom Space welcomed the President of the National Centre for Space Studies (@CnesFrance), Philippe Baptiste, for an in-depth look at our progress in commercial space and discuss economic partnerships. #BuildingOpportunity https://youtu.be/jLP9M0gAppY ** Blue Origin publishes paper on Orbital Reef in Nature journal: Orbital Reef and commercial low Earth orbit destinations—upcoming space research opportunities | npj Microgravity - Mar.2024 As the International Space Station comes to the end of a transformative era of in-space research, NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit (LEO) Destinations (CLD) Program aims to catalyze a new generation of platforms with co-investment from the private sector, preventing a potential gap in research performed in LEO, while building a robust LEO economy. In this paper, we provide insight into the CLD Program focusing on Orbital Reef, describing its operational and technical characteristics as well as new opportunities it may enable. Achieving about a third of the pressurized volume of the ISS with the launch of a single pressurized module and growing to support hundreds of Middeck Locker Equivalents (MLE) in passive and active payloads internally and externally, Orbital Reef will enable government, academic, and commercial institutions to continue and expand upon research and development (R&D) efforts currently performed on ISS. Additionally, it will enable nascent markets to establish their operations in space, by initiating new lines of research and technology development and the implementation of new ventures and visions. Using Blue Origin’s New Glenn heavy launch system, Sierra Space’s cargo and crew Dream Chaser® vehicles, and Boeing’s Starliner crew vehicle, and expertise from Amazon/Amazon Supply Chain, Arizona State University, Genesis Engineering, and Redwire, Orbital Reef is being designed to address ISS-era transportation logistics challenges. Finally, this manuscript describes some of the expected challenges from the ISS-to-CLD transition, and provides guidance on how researchers in academia and industry can shape the future of commercial destinations and work performed in LEO.

A cross-sectional diagram of the Orbital Reef commercial space station. Credits: Blue Origin/Nature Microgravity ** VAST Check out our @vast facility in Long Beach, CA where we started building Haven-1. Design, analysis, software, avionics, machining, quality, supply chain/inventory/logistics, fabrication, primary structure welding, vibe/thermal/pressure testing, integration and more— all under one… pic.twitter.com/3LnZWYx0Sk — Max Haot (@maxhaot) April 5, 2024 ** Starlab - - Mitsubishi Corporation Joins Starlab Space as Strategic Partner, Equity Owner in Joint Venture | Starlab - Apr.5.2024 Starlab Space LLC (Starlab Space), the joint venture between Voyager Space and Airbus, today welcomed Mitsubishi Corporation as a strategic partner and equity owner in Starlab Space. This partnership expands Starlab Space's reach beyond a transatlantic partnership and transforms the joint venture into a global organization. Mitsubishi Corporation, renowned for its innovative endeavors across diverse industries, brings extensive expertise and resources to this global partnership. Mitsubishi Corporation is expected to leverage its capabilities to significantly increase the value of Starlab, using space research to enhance and accelerate terrestrial product development in multiple industries and expand access to space-based technologies globally ** A Home for Astronauts around the Moon - NASA The primary structure of the Gateway space station's HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module is one step closer to launch following welding completion in Turin, Italy. HALO is one of four Gateway modules where astronauts will live, conduct science, and prepare for lunar surface missions. NASA is partnering with Northrop Grumman and their subcontractor Thales Alenia Space to develop HALO. Image Credit: Northrop Grumman/Thales Alenia Space

The Gateway space station's HALO (Habitation and Logistics Outpost) module under construction in Turin, Italy. Image credits: Northrop Grumman/Thales Alenia Space ** Collins Aerospace tests new astronaut spacesuits onboard Zero-G flight - Spaceflight Now After working with the same spacesuits for nearly 40 years, NASA is looking to introduce the next generation of suits for astronauts working on the International Space Station and beyond. Collins Aerospace was one of two companies chosen to develop a new Extravehicular Mobility Unit (EMU) for the ISS and is also preparing a follow-on version that will be available for Artemis missions to the Moon. Danny Olivas, chief test astronaut for Collins, recently spoke with Spaceflight Now's Will Robinson-Smith about one of the latest chapters in their test campaign: flying inside the suits onboard a Zero G plane, which can simulate microgravity through parabolic arcs. Olivas walks us through this latest round of testing, what it was like being in the suit in that environment and what's left before NASA astronaut can don these new spacesuits out in low Earth orbit. https://youtu.be/b2XTpDy9txw ** Other news, articles, op-eds, etc: - Calendar: - Webinar: What It Will Take To Build Communities In Space | Beyond Earth Institute, Thurs. 1:00-2:30 pm EST, April 25, 2024 - Trash from the International Space Station may have hit a house in Florida | Ars Technica - April.2.2024 - Vast Space hires former Voyager Space executive | SpaceNews - Mar.29.2024 - Crew Keeps Up Space Health Research Before Next Trio Departs | Space Station/NASA - Mar.29.2024 - The impact of the Gravity Prescription on the future of space settlement | Space Settlement Progress - Mar.29.2024 - What Is Space For? Why we gaze and why we should go | William Boyce/The New Atlantis - Winter 2024 ** Highlight: Eye of the Sahara - Mauritania - Mar 26, 2024 23:57 UTC - ISS Above NASA EHDC6 Live views of the Earth from the International Space Station https://youtu.be/4bCr2JGZTZk ** Highlight: Florida - Sunglint - From Gulf to Atlantic over KSC - Feb 28, 2024 13:48 EDT - ISS Above https://youtu.be/FmUqysKhYqI ** Live Video from the International Space Station (Official NASA Stream) - NASA Watch live video from the International Space Station, including inside views when the crew aboard the space station is on duty. Views of Earth are also streamed from an external camera located outside of the space station. During periods of signal loss due to handover between communications satellites, a blue screen is displayed. The space station orbits Earth about 250 miles (425 kilometers) above the surface. An international partnership of five space agencies from 15 countries operates the station, and it has been continuously occupied since November 2000. It's a microgravity laboratory where science, research, and human innovation make way for new technologies and research breakthroughs not possible on Earth. More: https://go.nasa.gov/3CkVtC8 Did you know you can spot the station without a telescope? It looks like a fast-moving star, but you have to know when to look up. Sign up for text messages or email alerts to let you know when (and where) to spot the station and wave to the crew: https://spotthestation.nasa.gov https://www.youtube.com/live/xAieE-QtOeM?feature=share ====

ISS after undocking of STS-132 === Amazon Ads === Lego Ideas International Space Station 21321 Toy Blocks, Present, Space, Boys, Girls, Ages 16 and Up ==== Outpost in Orbit: A Pictorial & Verbal History of the Space Station Read the full article

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spacenutspod · 4 months

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After a journey spanning almost two decades, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser reusable spaceplane, named Tenacity, is officially undergoing environmental testing at NASA’s Neil Armstrong Test Facility located at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in anticipation of its maiden flight to the International Space Station (ISS), currently scheduled for April 2024. The environmental testing consists of analyzing the spacecraft’s ability to withstand rigorous vibrations during launch and re-entry, along with the harsh environment of outer space, including extreme temperature changes and vacuum conditions. This testing comes after Sierra Space announced the completion of Tenacity at its facilities in Louisville, Colorado last month, along with the delivery of Sierra Space’s cargo module, Shooting Star, to the Neil Armstrong Test Facility that same month, as well. Sierra Space’s Dream Chaser spaceplane, Tenacity, imaged at the Neil Armstrong Test Facility after being delivered just a few days ago. (Credit: Sierra Space/Shay Saldana) “At Sierra Space, we are ushering in the next industrial revolution with a business and technology platform that provides our customers with a complete turn-key solution offering space as a service,” Tom Vice, Sierra Space CEO, said in an official statement. “Our platform includes Dream Chaser, a revolutionary, highly reusable commercial spaceplane with global runway access, and the first business-ready commercial space station, leveraging the most advanced expandable structural architecture that will exponentially decrease the cost of product development and manufacturing in space.” Sierra Nevada naming its first spacecraft “Tenacity” is only fitting given Dream Chaser’s long and difficult journey getting to this point. This includes rejections, company buyouts, legal proceedings, engineering designs, test flights, and finally being selected by NASA in January 2016 to deliver cargo to the ISS. Less than a year after being approve by NASA, Dream Chaser successfully performed a successful free flight test at Edwards AFB in southern California in November 2017, which was a huge milestone for the spacecraft and the advancement of the commercial space industry. The goal of Dream Chaser is to provide a more cost-effective method for delivering cargo and supplies to the ISS, as while the spaceplane will be launched on a rocket, it will land like an airplane just like NASA’s Space Shuttle used to do. This will further enable its reusability capabilities, as NASA has contracted Dream Chaser for a minimum of six cargo resupply missions to the ISS during its contract. Dream Chaser’s maiden flight next year will be a collaboration between flight and ground controllers at the Dream Chaser Mission Control Center in Louisville, Colorado, NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, and NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Texas. During this flight, Tenacity will conduct a myriad of in-flight tests after launch and prior to docking with the ISS. This includes performing vehicle maneuvering demonstrations within the ISS approach ellipsoid, which is a 4 x 2 x 2-kilometer (2.5 x 1.25 x 1.25-mile) invisible border encircling the ISS. Unlike the autonomous docking system employed on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft, Dream Chaser will be docked and undocked to the ISS using the Canadarm2, which is a 17-meter-long (56-foot-long) robotic arm built by the Canadian Space Agency and installed on the ISS in 2001. During this mission, Tenacity is slated to deliver more than 3,500 kilograms (7,800 pounds) to the ISS and stay docked with the orbiting laboratory for approximately 45 days before being undocked by Canadarm2 and returning to Earth. Once Dream Chaser is greenlit for future flights after this first mission, it will be capable of delivering approximately 5,200 kilograms (11,500 pounds) of supplies to the ISS while staying docked for up to 75 days. Additionally, Dream Chaser will be capable of returning more than 1,600 kilograms (3,500 pounds) of experiments and cargo from the ISS to Earth, with more than 4,000 kilograms (8,700 pounds) of trash being discarded during Earth reentry using the Shooting Star cargo module. How will Dream Chaser help improve outer space exploration in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science! As always, keep doing science & keep looking up! The post Dream Chaser is Getting Tested at NASA appeared first on Universe Today.

#space #astronomy #news #science

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americaspace · 7 years

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PHOTOS: Dream Chaser Delivered to Edwards AFB for Next Flight Test

Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser spacecraft was delivered to NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center this week, where it will undergo several months of testing in preparation for its second approach and landing flight. The data SNC gathers from this test campaign will help influence and inform the final design of the cargo Dream Chaser, which will fly at least six cargo delivery missions…

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#Approach and Landing Tests (ALT)#Armstrong Flight Research Center #California #Commercial Resupply Services (CRS)#CRS-2 cargo contract #Dream Chaser #Dream Chaser Cargo System #Edwards Air Force Base #Mark Sirangelo #NASA #Sierra Nevada Corporation #SNC Space Systems

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scifigeneration · 4 years

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SpaceX astronaut launch: here's the rocket science it must get right

by Gareth Dorrian and Ian Whittaker

Two NASA astronauts, Robert Behnken and Douglas Hurley, will make history by travelling to the International Space Station in a privately funded spacecraft, SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket and Crew Dragon capsule. But the launch, which was due to take place on May 27, has been aborted due to bad weather, and will instead take place on May 30 at 3:22 pm EDT.

The astronauts will take off lying on their backs in the seats, and facing in the direction of travel to reduce the stress of high acceleration on their bodies. Once launched from Kennedy Space Centre, the spacecraft will travel out over the Atlantic, turning to travel in a direction that matches the ISS orbit.

With the first rocket section separating at just over two minutes, the main dragon capsule is then likely to separate from the second stage burn roughly an hour later and continue on its journey. All being well, the Dragon spacecraft will rendezvous about 24 hours after launch.

Space mission launches and landings are the most critical parts. However, Space X has conducted many tests, including 27 drops of the parachute landing system. It has also managed an emergency separation of the Dragon capsule from the rocket. In the event of a failed rocket launch, eight engines would lift the capsule containing the astronauts up into the air and away from the rocket, with parachutes eventually helping it to land. The Falcon 9 rocket has made 83 successful launches.

Docking and return

The space station has an orbital velocity of 7.7km per second. The Earth’s rotation carries launch sites under a straight flight path of the ISS, with each instance providing a “launch window”.

ISS orbit. Author provided

To intercept the ISS, the capsule must match the station’s speed, altitude and inclination, and it must do it at the correct time such that the two spacecraft find themselves in close proximity to each other. The difference in velocity between the ISS and the Dragon capsule must then be near to zero at the point where the orbits of the two spacecraft intersect.

Once these conditions are met, the Dragon capsule must manoeuvre to the ISS docking port, using a series of small control thrusters arranged around the spacecraft. This is due to be done automatically by a computer, however the astronauts can control this manoeuvre manually if needed.

As you can see in the figure below, manoeuvring involves “translation control” as indicated by green arrows – moving left/right, up/down, forward/back. The yellow arrows show “attitude control” – rolling clockwise/anti-clockwise, pitching up/down, and yawing left/right.

How to manoeuver a spacecraft. Author provided

This is complicated by Newton’s first law of motion – that any object at rest or in motion will continue to be so unless acted upon by an external force. That means any manoeuvre, such as a roll to the right, will continue indefinitely in the absence of air resistance to provide an external force until it is counteracted by firing thrusters in the opposite direction.

So now that you have a grasp of orbital manoeuvring, why not have a go yourself? This simulator, provided by Space X, allows you to try and pilot the Dragon capsule to the ISS docking port.

The astronauts will return to Earth when a new set are ready to take their place, or at NASA’s discretion. NASA are already planning the first fully operational flight of crew Dragon, with four astronauts, although a launch date for that has not yet been announced and will undoubtedly depend on the outcome of this demonstration flight.

New era for spaceflight

The launch puts SpaceX firmly ahead of the other commercial ventures looking at providing crewed space launches. This includes both Boeing’s Starliner, which first launched last year but was uncrewed, and Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser which is planned to be tested with cargo during a trip to the ISS next year.

The ability of the commercial sector to send astronauts to the ISS is an important step toward further human exploration, including establishing a human presence at the Moon, and ultimately, Mars.

With companies competing, however, an open question remains whether safety could at some point be compromised to gain a commercial edge. There is no suggestion this has happened so far, but any crewed mission which failed due to a fault stemming from economic concerns would have serious legal ramifications.

In a similar way to modern aircraft legislation, a set of space safety standards and regulations will need to be put in place sooner rather than later. For commercial lunar and beyond missions we also have to ensure that any spacecraft does not contaminate the location they are visiting with germs from Earth.

With more nations and companies developing plans for lunar missions, there are obvious advantages in international cooperation and finding cost efficient launch methods. This is not least because it’s not as dependent on the whim of elected governments for direction, which can change completely from one administration to the next.

So for us scientists looking to expand our knowledge of space, it is a very exciting moment.

About The Authors:

Gareth Dorrian is a Post Doctoral Research Fellow in Space Science at the University of Birmingham and Ian Whittaker is a Lecturer in Physics at Nottingham Trent University

This article is republished from our content partners over at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#science #featured #space #spacex #astronauts #international space station #falcon 9

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spaceexp · 5 years

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Robotics Supporting Exploration; Briefers Talk Friday About Spacewalk

ISS - Expedition 60 Mission patch. August 14, 2019 The Expedition 60 crew is busy conducting space research everyday inside the International Space Station. While they work, scientists and engineers on Earth can remotely control and observe experiments attached to the outside of the orbiting lab. Researchers today concluded a run of the external Robotic Refueling Mission 3 experiment. Robotics controllers on the ground remotely guided the Dextre robotic hand, attached to the Canadarm2 robotic arm, and tested cryogenic refueling techniques in space. Refueling and repairing satellites and spacecraft supports NASA’s objective of sending humans to the Moon, Mars and beyond.

Image above: Expedition 60 Flight Engineer Christina Koch of NASA photographs Earth landmarks through the station’s “window to the world,” the seven-windowed cupola. Image Credit: NASA. Back inside the space station, the astronauts continued supporting human research activities. NASA astronauts Nick Hague and Andrew Morgan joined ESA (European Space Agency) astronaut Luca Parmitano for eye exams at the end of the day. Morgan also serviced a variety of science freezers holding experiment samples for analysis. Parmitano continued researching stem cell differentiation for the Micro-15 experiment. Hague and Morgan are also getting ready for a spacewalk on Aug. 21. The duo spent a couple of hours Wednesday configuring spacewalking tools and tethers they will use next week. The spacewalkers’ mission is to install a second commercial crew vehicle docking port, the International Docking Adapter-3, on top of the Harmony module. Briefers will discuss the spacewalk details on NASA TV beginning Friday at 2 p.m. EDT. All six crewmembers, including NASA astronaut Christina Koch and cosmonauts Alexey Ovchinin and Alexander Skvortsov, participated in an emergency simulation during the afternoon. The station crew practiced the activities necessary to contain emergencies such as pressure and chemical leaks or a fire.

International Space Station (ISS). Animation Credit: NASA

Two reboosts will occur overnight tonight to set up the correct phasing for the uncrewed Soyuz MS-14 34-orbit rendezvous next week and landing Sept. 6. The Soyuz and its 2.1a booster are scheduled to roll out to the Site 31 launch pad on Monday. In Louisville, Colorado, Sierra Nevada Corporation announced the selection of United Launch Alliance as launch provider for the Dream Chaser spacecraft. Dream Chaser is scheduled to begin missions to transport cargo to and from the International Space Station in late 2021. Related links: Expedition 60: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/expedition60/index.html Robotic Refueling Mission 3: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=1787 Dextre robotic hand: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/special-purpose-dextrous-manipulator/ Canadarm2: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/remote-manipulator-system-canadarm2/ Micro-15: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/experiments/explorer/Investigation.html?#id=7653 International Docking Adapter-3: https://www.nasa.gov/feature/meet-the-international-docking-adapter Harmony module: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/structure/elements/harmony Spacewalk: https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-tv-to-air-us-spacewalk-briefing-on-space-station-docking-port-install Space Station Research and Technology: https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/research/index.html International Space Station (ISS): https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html Image (mentioned), Animation (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Mark Garcia. Best regards, Orbiter.ch Full article

#space #science

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sciencespies · 4 years

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Antares launches Cygnus cargo spacecraft on first CRS-2 mission

https://sciencespies.com/space/antares-launches-cygnus-cargo-spacecraft-on-first-crs-2-mission/

Antares launches Cygnus cargo spacecraft on first CRS-2 mission

WALLOPS ISLAND, Va. — A Northrop Grumman Antares rocket successfully launched a Cygnus cargo spacecraft on a mission to the International Space Station Nov. 2, kicking off a new era in cargo delivery for the station.

The Antares 230+ rocket lifted off from Pad 0-A at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport here at 9:59 a.m. Eastern. The Cygnus spacecraft, named by Northrop Grumman the S.S. Alan Bean after the late Apollo-era astronaut, separated from the rocket’s upper stage about eight and a half minutes later.

The Cygnus is scheduled to arrive at the ISS Nov. 4, grappled by the station’s robotic arm at around 4:10 a.m. Eastern and berthed to the station later that morning. It will remain on the station until January.

The mission, designated NG-12, is the first mission under the new Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) 2 contract, a follow-on to the original CRS contracts awarded in 2008 to Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Northrop Grumman) and SpaceX to transport cargo to and from the station. Northrop is introducing new capabilities to both Antares and Cygnus to meet the requirements of the CRS-2 contract.

“CRS-2 I would describe as more of a step-function change in the capability” of the system, said Frank DeMauro, vice president and general manager of Space Systems at Northrop Grumman, during a prelaunch briefing at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility here Nov. 1.

One change is the ability to carry more cargo. The Cygnus is loaded with 3,705 kilograms of cargo, more than any previous mission. The spacecraft can now carry 10 middeck lockers filled with payloads, compared to six on the previous Cygnus mission in April. The spacecraft also has improved power and telemetry capabilities for those payloads, allowing researchers to maintain contact with them during the two-day journey to the station.

On the previous Cygnus mission, Northrop introduced a “late load” cargo capability, allowing time-sensitive cargo, such as biological experiments, to be loaded onto the spacecraft within 24 hours of launch. A similar late-load capability was already available on SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

The NG-12 mission means that, for the first time, two Cygnus spacecraft are in orbit at the same time. The Cygnus from the NG-11 mission, which departed the station in early August, remains in orbit to demonstrate the ability of the spacecraft to perform a long-duration free-flying mission. “That is continuing extremely successfully,” DeMauro said.

With the launch of the NG-12 Cygnus controllers will test their ability to operate two spacecraft simultaneously. “We think that is a key capability for NASA or other government agencies or commercial industries,” he said.

DeMauro said Northrop will start planning the end of the NG-11 mission after the NG-12 Cygnus arrives at the ISS. “We haven’t set a deadline for when we’ll bring it back,” he said of the NG-11 Cygnus. “I don’t expect it to be that much after NG-12 on orbit.”

Increased cargo, and increased mass of the Cygnus itself, required improvements to the Antares launch vehicle. This launch marked the debut of the Antares 230+, a version of the Antares with changes such as increased structural strength of the first stage. That eliminates what Kurt Eberly, Antares vice president at Northrop Grumman, called the “throttle notch” where the rocket’s RD-181 first stage engines throttled down during maximum dynamic pressure. Instead, the engines remain at 100% thrust throughout their nearly 200-second burn. That change, along with others to reduce the mass of the vehicle and to deploy the Cygnus in a slightly lower orbit, increase the vehicle’s payload capacity by about 800 kilograms.

Eberly said that this version of the Antares is being “on-ramped” to the NASA Launch Services 2 contract, making it eligible for launching NASA science missions as well. “It allows us to be more competitive and lift heavier payloads and address more market going forward,” he said. The CRS contracts have been, to date, the only customers for the medium-lift rocket.

Cygnus payload: cubesats, cookies and cosmic rays

The payload on the NG-12 Cygnus mission includes nearly 2,000 kilograms of science investigations. They span the usual gamut of science and technology demonstration payloads, from biological research to materials science.

Included on the Cygnus is the AstroRad Vest, developed by Israeli company StemRad and Lockheed Martin. Astronauts will wear the vest to test its performance in shielding them from radiation from solar storms. The suit is customized to provide “selective shielding” for key organs, said Oren Milstein, co-founder and chief scientific officer of StemRad, and its high-density polyethylene material can provide the same level of shielding as a much heavier storm shelter inside a spacecraft.

Another payload is an oven developed by Nanoracks and Zero Gravity Kitchen to test the ability to bake foods in space. The first use of the small oven will be to bake cookies in a partnership with hotel chain Doubletree.

While the experiment may sound trivial, the companies see it as a pathfinder for future human activities in space, such as commercial space stations or long-duration missions beyond Earth. “What are we going to need for those people to have a good experience?” said Mary Murphy, senior internal payloads manager at Nanoracks. Something as simple as baking in space, she said, “can make people have a comfortable experience for a long-duration spaceflight opportunity.”

Several cubesats are on the Cygnus for later deployment. Two of them are for the National Reconnaissance Office as part of a program called IMPACT to perform in-space validation of 14 technologies for potential later use on operational NRO missions.

The cubesats use a standardized interface as part of an unclassified initiative called the Greenlighting program to allow experiments to easily be added to the cubesats, said Maj. Michael Felten of the NRO in a Nov. 2 interview. One example is testing of a microprocessor originally designed for the oil and gas industry to see if it can also be used in space applications.

“We use the results from the R&D as far as the performance in space and the survivability and the degradation of those components to influence the selection of new technologies into our future operational systems,” he said. “It allows us to pick the newest and the most capable components for our future collection capabilities.”

Also on the Cygnus is hardware to perform repairs of the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) instrument outside the station. That experiment, mounted on the station in 2011 for an initial three-year mission to measure high-energy cosmic rays, continues to operate today but its cooling system is failing.

The Cygnus is bringing a new cooling system and special tools that astronauts Andrew Morgan and Luca Parmitano will use in a series of five spacewalks to repair the AMS. Kirk Shireman, NASA ISS program manager, said at the prelaunch briefing that those spacewalks would likely begin in mid-November. A separate set of spacewalks to replace batteries in the station’s power system, interrupted by a failed battery charging unit last month, will resume after the AMS spacewalks.

A repaired AMS could operate through the 2020s, pending decisions by the ISS partners to extend station operations past its current deadline of 2024. Sam Ting, the Nobel laureate physicist who is the principal investigator for AMS, says the extended mission will allow it to address issues ranging from the abundance of antimatter to confirming one model for dark matter.

“AMS will continue to collect and analyze data for the lifetime of the space station, because whenever precision instruments such as AMS are used to explore the unknown, new and exciting discoveries can be expected,” he said.

The NG-12 launch is part of a busy period of activity on the station. A Japanese HTV-8 cargo vehicle, launched in September, departed the station Nov. 1. Both a Russian Progress cargo spacecraft and a SpaceX Dragon cargo spacecraft are scheduled to fly to the ISS in early December.

Two other companies have CRS-2 cargo contracts with NASA. SpaceX will transition to its CRS-2 contract, using a cargo version of its Crew Dragon spacecraft, in 2020. Sierra Nevada Corporation will start flying its Dream Chaser cargo spacecraft under development to the ISS in late 2021. All three CRS-2 contracts include a minimum of six missions per company through 2024.

#Space

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un-enfant-immature · 4 years

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Max Q: NASA signs up new Moon delivery companies

There were lot of highlights in the space industry this past week (even though a rocket launch that was supposed to happened is now pushed to Monday). The biggest news for commercial space might just be that NASA signed on five new companies to its list of approved vendors for lunar payload delivery services, bringing the total group to 14.

SpaceX is among them, and Musk’s company had its own fair share of news this week, too – some good, some bad. One things’ for sure: Even going in to the last week in November, there’s still plenty of news to come in this industry before the year’s out.

NASA selects five new vendors for commercial lunar payloads

Artist’s rendering of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander.

The five include Blue Origin, SpaceX, Ceres Robotics, Sierra Nevada Corporation and Tyvak Nano-Satellite Systems. This doesn’t necessarily mean all or any of these companies will actually fly anything to the Moon on behalf of NASA, but it does mean they can officially bid for the chance. Alongside 9 other companies selected previously by NASA, their bids will be considered by the NASA based on cost, viability and other factors.

SpaceX Starship prototype blows its lid

This is the bad news I referred to earlier: SpaceX’s Starship Mk1 prototype in Texas blew up just a little bit during cryo testing. This test is designed to simulate extreme cold conditions that the spacecraft could endure during flight, and it clearly didn’t. But Elon Musk was optimistic, saying just after the incident that they’ll move on to a more advanced design right away.

Sierra Nevada Corporation details an expendable cargo container for its Dream Chaser spaceship

SNC’s Shooting Star module. Credit: SNC.

One of the companies that is now included in NASA’s lunar payload service provider list is Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC). They’re currently developing and building their Dream Chaser spacecraft, which is reusable and lands like the Space Shuttle. At an event at Cape Canaveral in Florida, they unveiled what they call the ‘Shooting Star’ – an ejectable single use cargo container for the Dream Chaser that can really add to its versatility.

Nanoracks will launch a test craft that can convert old spaceships into orbital habitats

This demonstration mission is just a start, but the tech that Nanoracks is launching aboard a future SpaceX launch will be able to cut metal in space, marking the first time a robotic piece of equipment has done that. The ultimate goal is to use this tech to take spent spacecraft upper stages and give them new life – as research platforms, satellites or even habitats in orbit.

NASA’s JPL is using the Antarctic to test a rover for a trip to Enceladus

That’s one of Saturn’s moons, and it’s made up of icy oceans. Normally, that’s not an optimal place for a rover to get around, but the agency’s laboratory has been testing a design in the Earth’s coldest oceans to see how viable it will be, and now they’re going to use the Antarctic, which is where it’ll test it for months at a time.

Tesla’s Cybertruck is made of Starship steel

Elon Musk revealed Tesla’s crazy, beautiful, ugly, strange Cybertruck pickup last week, and he noted that the stainless steel alloy that makes up its skin is the same material that SpaceX is developing and using on its new Starship spacecraft. Sometimes, being CEO of both a car company and a space company at the same time really pays off.

Space is inspiring new kinds of startups

A lot of large companies outsource at least part of their innovation management and design, and with the space boom on, there’s a new opportunity for companies to emerge that specialize in helping those same large companies find out where they fit in this new frontier. Luna is one such co, putting the puzzle pieces together for health tech companies.

#TechCrunch

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magzoso-tech · 4 years

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New Post has been published on https://magzoso.com/tech/max-q-nasa-signs-up-new-moon-delivery-companies/

Max Q: NASA signs up new Moon delivery companies

NASA selects five new vendors for commercial lunar payloads

Artist’s rendering of Blue Origin’s Blue Moon lander.

SpaceX Starship prototype blows its lid

Sierra Nevada Corporation details an expendable cargo container for its Dream Chaser spaceship

SNC’s Shooting Star module. Credit: SNC.

Nanoracks will launch a test craft that can convert old spaceships into orbital habitats

NASA’s JPL is using the Antarctic to test a rover for a trip to Enceladus

Tesla’s Cybertruck is made of Starship steel

Space is inspiring new kinds of startups

#Miscellaneous

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nasa · 7 years

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Space Missions Come Together in Colorado

Our leadership hit the road to visit our commercial partners Lockheed Martin, Sierra Nevada Corp. and Ball Aerospace in Colorado. They were able to check the status of flight hardware, mission operations and even test virtual reality simulations that help these companies build spacecraft parts.

Let’s take a look at all the cool technology they got to see…

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor building our Orion crew vehicle, the only spacecraft designed to take humans into deep space farther than they’ve ever gone before.

Acting NASA Deputy Administrator Lesa Roe and Acting NASA Administrator Robert Lightfoot are seen inside the CHIL…the Collaborative Human Immersive Laboratory at Lockheed Martin Space Systems in Littleton, Colo. Lockheed Martin’s CHIL enables collaboration between spacecraft design and manufacturing teams before physically producing hardware.

Cool shades! The ability to visualize engineering designs in virtual reality offers tremendous savings in time and money compared to using physical prototypes. Technicians can practice how to assemble and install components, the shop floor can validate tooling and work platform designs, and engineers can visualize performance characteristics like thermal, stress and aerodynamics, just like they are looking at the real thing.

This heat shield, which was used as a test article for the Mars Curiosity Rover, will now be used as the flight heat shield for the Mars 2020 rover mission.

Fun fact: Lockheed Martin has built every Mars heat shield and aeroshell for us since the Viking missions in 1976.

Here you can see Lockheed Martin’s Mission Support Area. Engineers in this room support six of our robotic planetary spacecraft: Mars Odyssey, Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, MAVEN, Juno, OSIRIS-REx and Spitzer, which recently revealed the first known system of seven Earth-size planets around a single star, TRAPPIST-1. They work with NASA centers and the mission science teams to develop and send commands and monitor the health of the spacecraft.

See all the pictures from the Lockheed Martin visit HERE.

Sierra Nevada Corporation

Next, Lightfoot and Roe went to Sierra Nevada Corporation in Louisville, Colo. to get an update about its Dream Chaser vehicle. This spacecraft will take cargo to and from the International Space Station as part of our commercial cargo program.

Here, Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Vice President of Space Exploration Systems Steve Lindsey (who is also a former test pilot and astronaut!) speaks with Lightfoot and Roe about the Dream Chaser Space System simulator.

Lightfoot climbed inside the Dream Chaser simulator where he “flew” the crew version of the spacecraft to a safe landing. This mock-up facility enables approach-and-landing simulations as well as other real-life situations.

See all the images from the Sierra Nevada visit HERE.

Ball Aerospace

Lightfoot and Roe went over to Ball Aerospace to tour its facility. Ball is another one of our commercial aerospace partners and helps builds instruments that are on NASA spacecraft throughout the universe, including the Hubble Space Telescope and the New Horizons mission to Pluto. Ball designed and built the advanced optical technology and lightweight mirror system that will enable the James Webb Space Telescope to look 13.5 billion years back in time.

Looking into the clean room at Ball Aerospace’s facility in Boulder, Colo., the team can see the Ozone Mapping Profiler Suite. These sensors are used on spacecraft to track ozone measurements.

Here, the group stands in front of a thermal vacuum chamber used to test satellite optics. The Operation Land Imager-2 is being built for Landsat 9, a collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Geological Survey that will continue the Landsat Program’s 40-year data record monitoring the Earth’s landscapes from space.

See all the pictures from the Ball Aerospace visit HERE.

We recently marked a decade since a new era began in commercial spaceflight development for low-Earth orbit transportation. We inked agreements in 2006 to develop rockets and spacecraft capable of carrying cargo such as experiments and supplies to and from the International Space Station. Learn more about commercial space HERE.

Make sure to follow us on Tumblr for your regular dose of space: http://nasa.tumblr.com

#nasa #space #technology #science #commercialpartners #commercialspace #ballaerospace #lockheedmartin #sierranevada #spacecraft #missions

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spacenutspod · 4 months

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The mobile launcher, carried by the crawler-transporter 2, rolls out from its park site location to Launch Pad 39B at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in August 2023 for testing ahead of the agency’s Artemis II mission.NASA/Ben Smegelsky Another jam-packed year is in store for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida as the momentum of a busy 2023 is carried forward into the new year. On the horizon are missions to the Moon, more crew and cargo flights to the International Space Station, and several upgrade projects across the spaceport. NASA’s first CLPS (Commercial Lunar Payload Services) initiative mission with Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander is set to begin work in 2024 after lifting off on the inaugural launch of United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket. These missions will help the agency develop capabilities needed to explore the Moon under Artemis ahead of sending astronauts to the lunar surface. Another CLPS mission, set for launch early in the year aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, will send the Intuitive Machines Nova-C lander to a landing site at the Moon’s South Pole region. The mission will carry NASA payloads focusing on plume-surface interactions, space weather/lunar surface interactions, radio astronomy, precision landing technologies, and a communication and navigation node for future autonomous navigation technologies. The SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Dragon spacecraft lifts off from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida in November 2023 on the company’s 29th commercial resupply services mission for the agency to the International Space Station. SpaceX Development toward Artemis II, NASA’s first crewed test flight of its lunar-focused Artemis program continues across Kennedy. SLS (Space Launch System) hardware, including twin solid rocket boosters and a 212-foot-tall core stage for the Artemis II mission, will begin stacking and integration inside the Vehicle Assembly Building in the coming months, after which teams will begin a series of testing prior to launch. Processing also is underway on the core stage for Artemis III. The Artemis II Orion crew and service modules will continue prelaunch processing inside Kennedy’s Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building alongside the crew modules for Artemis III and Artemis IV– NASA’s initial missions to land the next humans on the lunar surface. The Starliner team works to finalize the mate of the crew module and new service module for NASA’s Boeing Crew Flight Test that will take NASA astronauts Barry “Butch” Wilmore and Sunita “Suni” Williams to and from the International Space Station.Boeing/John Grant NASA and its commercial partners, Boeing and SpaceX, have three Commercial Crew Program missions set to fly from Florida’s Space Coast, setting up another busy year of traffic for the International Space Station in 2024. Teams are readying for the short-duration Crew Flight Test of Boeing’s CST-100 Starliner no earlier than April. Meanwhile, NASA and SpaceX will continue crew rotation missions to the orbiting laboratory with Crew-8 expected no earlier than mid-February and Crew-9 to follow in mid-August. Other crewed missions to the space station include SpaceX and Axiom Space’s short-duration Axiom Mission 3 and Axiom Mission 4 private astronaut missions. SpaceX’s Polaris Dawn, the second private short-duration orbital flight will also lift off from Kennedy with four individuals that plan to attempt the first-ever commercial spacewalk. Along with crewed flights, three of the agency’s Commercial Resupply Services missions hosted on SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft, Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus, and the debut flight of Sierra Space’s cargo spaceplane, Dream Chaser, are slated to fly from Kennedy next year to deliver thousands of pounds of supplies, equipment, and science investigations to the orbiting laboratory. The four SpaceX Crew-8 crew members (from left) Alexander Grebenkin from Roscosmos, and Michael Barratt, Matthew Dominick, and Jeanette Epps, all NASA astronauts, are pictured training inside a Dragon mockup crew vehicle at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, California. SpaceX NASA’s Launch Services Program based at Kennedy has several science and CubeSat missions manifested to fly on commercial rockets next year. They represent a mix of some of the agency’s most complex robotic and scientific missions, as well as smaller cost-efficient missions, and missions sponsored by NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative. The first of three primary missions is NASA’s PACE (Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem) spacecraft that will launch early next year on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. PACE’s science goals include extending ocean color, atmospheric aerosol, and cloud data records for Earth system and climate studies. GOES-U (Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite-U) is slated to launch in April on a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket, the fourth and final satellite in NOAA’s GOES-R Series of advanced geostationary weather-observing satellites. Scheduled for an October launch on a Falcon Heavy, the agency’s Europa Clipper mission will investigate Jupiter’s moon Europa to determine if it has conditions suitable to support life. Among the small spacecraft and CubeSat missions slated to launch in 2024 are two dedicated launches on Rocket Lab’s Electron for PREFIRE (Polar Radiant Energy in the Infrared Experiment), which aims to give researchers a more accurate picture of the energy entering and leaving Earth. Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket will host NASA’s EscaPADE (Escape and Plasma Acceleration and Dynamics Explorers) mission that will send two spacecraft to study solar wind energy and momentum through Mars’ unique hybrid magnetosphere. Technicians process the NASA’s Plankton, Aerosol, Cloud, ocean Ecosystem (PACE) observatory on a spacecraft dolly in a high bay at the Astrotech Space Operations Facility near the agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.NASA/Kim Shiflett While next year’s expected cadence of nearly 100 launches from Florida’s Space Coast is likely to mirror 2023’s record-setting pace, something else to look out for will be upgrade and sustainability efforts around the spaceport. The Indian River Bridge construction project, which opened the first of two spans in June of 2023, and the solar site 6 project of the Utility Energy Services Contract, are expected to wrap up and become fully operational next year. Restoration and beautification efforts across Kennedy also include the consideration of several sites for development into natural wildflower prairies. In the spring, Spaceport Integration’s sustainability team will work on “Project Arbor at the Spaceport.” It will focus on planting Florida native trees and one seedling from the Artemis Moon Tree project along the Fitness Trail near Operations Support Building II to provide shade, benefit wildlife, and help improve air quality. A historical marker sponsored by NASA and the Florida Department of State will be installed in early 2024 at the site of Kennedy’s original Headquarters Building making it the first to be located within Kennedy’s secure area. As 2023 draws to a close, Kennedy Space Center is gearing up to support more groundbreaking missions that will expand human knowledge of Earth and our solar system while protecting the local ecosystem and natural resources.

#space #astronomy #news #science

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spacetimewithstuartgary · 7 years

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DREAM CHASER TO USE EUROPE’S NEXT-GENERATION DOCKING SYSTEM ESA and a team of European industrial contractors led by QinetiQ have finalised an agreement with Sierra Nevada Corporation for the use of Europe’s International Berthing Docking Mechanism on the Dream Chaser spaceplane. The Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) Dream Chaser is being developed as a reusable, lifting-body, multimission spacecraft capable of landing at commercial airports or spaceports that can accommodate large commercial aircraft anywhere in the world. Selected to provide cargo delivery, return and disposal services for the International Space Station under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 contract, it is a safe, affordable, flexible and reliable system, designed to provide crewed and uncrewed transportation services to low orbit destinations, such as the Space Station and future commercial space infrastructures. The International Berthing Docking Mechanism (IBDM) is an androgynous, contact force-sensing, low-impact docking system, capable of docking and berthing large and small vehicles. The IBDM consists of the Soft-Docking System and the Hard-Docking System. The first captures and actively dissipates the kinetic energy of the two spacecraft. The second makes the structural pressurised connection between the spacecraft. The IBDM is fully compatible with the International Docking System Standard (IDSS) defined by the Station partner agencies and with the new docking ports being made available at the Station. ESA developed the docking system in cooperation with NASA, with the goal of building a modern docking system for space vehicles visiting the Station after the Space Shuttle’s retirement. The dual active control loop markedly improves on existing technology by reducing the docking forces on the space infrastructure and by enabling the capture and docking of a wide range of spacecraft mass and flight envelopes. QinetiQ has been leading IBDM development since the beginning and it has set up an industrial team including SENER (Spain and Poland), responsible for the Hard-Docking System, Ruag AG (Switzerland) for the linear actuators, and Maxon (Switzerland) for the electric motors. David Parker, ESA Director of Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration, notes, “This agreement is an additional step forward in international cooperation and it has a strategic value in view of ESA’s current involvement and future plans for international human exploration missions, as well as for potential commercial activities and servicing scenarios in low orbit. SNC has shown interest in joining forces with Europe for a mutually beneficial cooperation.” "We have always envisioned the Dream Chaser to be a vehicle with global reach and have actively sought international cooperation,” said Mark Sirangelo, corporate vice president of SNC’s Space Systems business area. “This IBDM partnership is a significant example of that. SNC is very pleased to be working with ESA and its industrial partners on this technology.”

#space #science #human spaceflight #dream chaser #sierra nevada #NASA #ESA

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scifigeneration · 5 years

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A revolution in a sentence – the future of human spaceflight in America

by John M. Horack

“This year, American astronauts will go back to space in American rockets.”

This one sentence from the 2019 State of the Union address may have escaped your notice. It ended a paragraph in which the president paid tribute to astronaut Buzz Aldrin of the Apollo 11 mission to mark the the 50th anniversary of the first moon landing. From that point, the speech transitioned to increasing the standard of living for Americans in the 21st century. A small sentence, perhaps. Maybe perceived by some as a throwaway line. But behind these 12 words lies a revolution in how Americans will get to space in the future.

Americans have not flown to orbit aboard an American rocket or from an American launch pad since July 8, 2011. This gap of nearly eight years and counting is the longest in our history, eclipsing the six-year gap between Apollo-Soyuz in 1975 and the Space Shuttle program in 1981. Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle in 2011, the United States has paid Russia approximately US$75 million per seat to launch U.S. astronauts to the International Space Station aboard Soyuz spacecraft from a launch site in Kazakhstan.

However, as noted in the State of the Union, things will change in 2019. American astronauts are scheduled to fly to space from U.S. soil this summer, aboard three separate launch systems, developed not by the U.S. government and its contractor workforce, but instead by commercial spaceflight companies. It is a change that heralds a new era in manned space travel.

A new era of American spaceflight

SpaceX, Boeing and Virgin Galactic are all planning to send American astronauts into space in 2019. For SpaceX and Boeing – if the schedule holds and near-term test flights go well – their voyages will be orbital flights to the ISS launched from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. SpaceX will fly two NASA astronauts in their Dragon Capsule on a Falcon 9 rocket, and Boeing will fly a crew of three in its CST-100 Starliner aboard an Atlas-V booster.

Virgin Galactic has already put Americans into space with their most recent flight in December 2018. Although this rocket did not orbit the Earth, and did just a quick “up and down” trajectory, it demonstrates amazing progress.

Most revolutions do not happen overnight, and our revolution in commercial human spaceflight is no exception. All of this activity can be traced back to the George W. Bush 43 administration, when NASA Administrator Dr. Michael D. Griffin put $500 million of NASA money on the table to help spur industry to develop commercial systems from which NASA could purchase delivery services, for crew and cargo, just as one buys airline tickets.

If I wish to fly from New York to Los Angeles, for example, I can go to a website, make a reservation, and enter my credit card number. I don’t have to build the airplane, construct the airport, own and operate the air-traffic control system, refine the fuel from crude oil, train the pilot, and so forth. I buy it as a simple commercial transaction. This mode is what NASA was after when the first commercial launch programs were established in 2006.

Launches return to American soil

Development has occurred on a schedule much longer than anticipated, creating the record gap in American launches. However, it has led directly to the establishment of multiple independent systems of cargo supply to space, aboard the SpaceX Falcon-9 and Orbital Science’s Antares launch vehicle. All told, this arrangement has worked extremely well, safely and in a cost-effective manner.

In 2019, human launch capability will be added to the ongoing portfolio of cargo flights, returning American astronauts to American launch vehicles, and eliminating the requirement to launch to the ISS on a Russian system. After almost two decades at NASA, I can say that this is, indeed, a big deal.

This revolution is just getting started. In the not-too-distant future, you can also expect to see Blue Origin, the space company founded by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos and Sierra Nevada Corporation begin similar flights to orbit. Bezos’ team is already flying suborbital cargo and science experiment flights to space on a reusable vehicle named New Shepard from their launch facility in Texas. Sierra Nevada will be flying their Dream Chaser vehicle, which looks much like a mini-space shuttle and lands on a runway, for cargo to ISS (first) and then people (later).

Revolutions – even those cloaked in a simple sentence – do not happen in an instant. It has been 13 years since NASA first worked to spur commercial development of launch capabilities. Eight years have elapsed since the retirement of the Space Shuttle. A revolution is in the making, totally transforming how we send American astronauts into space. Perhaps not overnight, but it is coming soon to a launch pad near you … and, yes, this revolution will be televised.

About The Author:

John M. Horack is the Neil Armstrong Chair and Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at The Ohio State University

This article is republished from our content partners at The Conversation under a Creative Commons license.

#space #spacex #space exploration #Virgin Galactic #Blue Origin #Boeing #NASA #International Space Station

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spaceexp · 6 years

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Sierra Nevada Corporation’s Dream Chaser Achieves Successful Free Flight at NASA Armstrong

Sierra Nevada Corp. - Dream Chaser patch. Nov. 13, 2017 Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser spacecraft underwent a successful free-flight test on November 11, 2017 at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, Edwards, California. The test verified and validated the performance of the Dream Chaser in the critical final approach and landing phase of flight, meeting expected models for a future return from the International Space Station. The flight test helped advance the vehicle under NASA’s Commercial Crew Program space act agreement, as well as helped prepare the vehicle for service under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services 2 program. The testing will validate the aerodynamic properties, flight software and control system performance of the Dream Chaser.

Image above: Sierra Nevada Corp’s Dream Chaser lands on Edwards Air Force Base in California. The spacecraft went through preparations for flight at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center. Image Credits: NASA/Carla Thomas. The Dream Chaser is preparing to deliver cargo to the International Space Station beginning in 2019. The data that SNC gathered from this test campaign will help influence and inform the final design of the cargo Dream Chaser, which will fly at least six cargo delivery missions to and from the space station by 2024. Commercial Space: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/index.html Sierra Nevada Corp.: https://www.sncorp.com/ Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA/Yvonne Gibbs/Armstrong Flight Research Center/Leslie Williams. Greetings, Orbiter.ch Full article

#space #science

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sciencespies · 3 years

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Op-ed | Can we backhaul our way to space?

https://sciencespies.com/space/op-ed-can-we-backhaul-our-way-to-space/

Op-ed | Can we backhaul our way to space?

If the market grows large enough, a dedicated lunar-to-LEO tanker industry could evolve

Trade. It enables, disseminates, and helps pay for new technologies and skills. It encourages sciences, the arts, and communications across oceans and cultures. It is a requirement for the evolution and supply of settlements and cities. Like technology and physical expansion, trade is a defining characteristic of humanity. It is impossible to overstate its importance in human history and development.

So, how do we get trade, and all of its ancillary benefits, started on the new frontier of space? After finding things to trade – like lunar or Martian scientific knowledge or lunar water – trade is most likely encouraged by making both the upfront and ongoing costs of space transportation and operations as low as possible. That requires the most efficient possible use of whatever transportation is available. One way to increase efficiency is to employ a concept the trucking industry calls‚“backhaul.”

The administration of Donald Trump challenged NASA to aggressively return astronauts to Earth’s moon, and to prepare for going on to Mars. President Joe Biden’s administration appears to support continuation of that vision. A young administration confronted with a Congress precisely balanced between bitterly fighting political parties is unlikely to want to spend its limited political capital squabbling over space policy. That encourages continuity.

There also seems to be a new sense of reality at NASA. While senators appear to have headed off any attempt to cancel NASA’s vastly late and over-budget Saturn 5-class Space Launch System and freeing the resources it consumes for more useful purposes, NASA is doing what it can to minimize the SLS’s lost opportunity costs. Payloads that Congress baselined for the SLS have been moved to cheaper commercial rockets. NASA picked SpaceX’s largely self-funded, Starship-based lander for the Human Landing System. Boeing has been strongly urged to improve their dismal performance managing SLS — though there is little sign of that actually happening. Nonetheless, it is becoming possible to believe that a “lunar gateway” station, and maybe even early visits to the lunar surface, could actually occur – if not by 2024, at least within the decade of the 2020s.

In an early, lunar transportation architecture dependent on the expendable SLS, the astronaut capsule alone will return to Earth — usually with a small amount of spare volume and mass. Later when reusable spacecraft ply between Earth and her moon, and supplies are transported in one direction, empty or partially filled vehicles will return to be used again. Since the empty vehicles produce no value beyond returning for reuse, anything that allows space on them to be used or sold is a net gain for the transportation provider. In the trucking industry, goods “backhauled” in this way often pay extraordinarily low rates, subsidized by the primary purpose of moving the outbound goods. Crucially, the outbound cargo can be totally unrelated to the inbound backhaul.

Early first-generation vehicles will be severely constrained in both volume and mass, but even then backhaul may be relevant. Returning crew capsules could carry small items stored “under the seats.” These might include lunar samples desired by companies or scientists, or even wealthy individuals, in addition to those wanted by NASA. Low-mass ornaments or jewelry, like glass beads from ancient lunar volcanic “fire fountains” and other collectible mineral grains, whose value comes solely from their being obtained on Earth’s moon, are possible high-value items. Possible rare, high-value heavy elements or rare-earth elements collected from asteroid impact sites could be used in orbit or on Earth.

Tiny but abrasive and chemically reactive lunar dust particles can damage equipment and human lungs, so all samples need to be properly stored in sealed containers. After arrival on Earth, they must be cleaned before distribution to nonscientists.

Later, if second-generation lunar crew transportation vehicles were reusable, backhaul opportunities become much more attractive. After dropping crew and supplies off at a lunar base, cislunar supply vehicles would return empty, or with smaller return cargoes, to low Earth orbit or elsewhere in cislunar space. At that time, backhaul might become a real market.

The International Space Station and future semi-commercial stations, Lunar Gateway, applications satellites, and other activities in cislunar space need water and oxygen for propulsion, drinking, and breathing – both of which are readily available on Earth’s moon without having to lift them from Earth’s surface. Oxygen can be derived from oxidized surface rocks available in many locations, not only from polar water deposits. Water, because it is useful or necessary for so many things in so many places, has been called the “oil” of the solar system.

If NASA were to establish a science base on Earth’s moon, lunar water or oxygen might be backhauled for use at the cislunar facilities. If the market grows large enough, a dedicated lunar-to-LEO tanker industry could evolve – which might never happen if the infrastructure for supplying space facilities with lunar water had to be paid for up front and from scratch, before any water was delivered.

Backhaul allows trade to start small, possibly very small, early on while transportation infrastructure is still rudimentary. That could increase early income from lunar activities, amortizing some of the costs and encouraging growth, leading to earlier development of largescale commercial or semi-commercial industrial stations or orbital tourist facilities. Costs could be spread over multiple activities, in this case both science and commerce.

Similar ideas for incremental development are not new. Companies developing a new technology often take an incremental approach, earning money on partial solutions while developing their better mouse traps. SpaceX was able to parlay testing retro-propulsion deceleration technologies needed for their Falcon 9 reusable first stage —using rocket engine plumes to protect the vehicle during reentry — by trading test data useful for potential Mars missions with NASA.

The space agency flew aircraft with advanced thermal imaging sensors to observe reentering test vehicles paid for by SpaceX, and shared the results. NASA got data it could not otherwise afford while SpaceX got the data they needed to perfect firststage reentry without having to fly their own sensors.

Later, SpaceX went a step further. The company tested reusing Falcon 9 first stages while launching operational satellites for paying customers. The test could take place after the first stage had completed its operational mission of delivering the second stage and payload to the needed trajectory. The customer paid for the launch — presumably at a somewhat reduced price to accept the risk of flying with experimental hardware on board — while SpaceX got their test data without having to pay for a dedicated test launch.

The advent of a new partially commercialized lunar strategy is exciting, but it remains true that no lunar base is likely in the immediate future. That means no returning vehicles with excess capacity to sell cheap.

So, let’s look closer to home. There are already operational flights that could offer backhaul opportunities. Right now, there are three vehicles delivering crew or cargo to the ISS and returning to Earth: the Russian Soyuz, the SpaceX Crew Dragon, and the SpaceX Cargo Dragon. Soon the Boeing CST-100 Starliner and Sierra Nevada’s Dream Chaser will join the mix. Returning Soyuz and other returning crew vehicles have little excess capacity. Dragon Cargo is another story.

Dragon Cargo can return 3,000 kg in 10 cubic meters from the ISS. Because of various constraints like available volume and operational needs, Dragons usually do not return with their full theoretical capacity in cargo. On most return missions, small amounts of space could probably be found for backhaul. Soon, Dream Chaser will also return with substantial cargo capacity.

So, what might we backhaul from the International Space Station?

A company called Made In Space is deploying a series of ever-improving 3D printers to the station. Currently, these are used experimentally to make tools and parts needed on the station.

It is not hard to imagine using excess capacity or a second machine to print small novelty items for export to Earth on returning crew or cargo capsules. Such items might be quite valuable to those interested in space exploration, or in owning something truly unique. If backhaul costs were low enough, and especially if the prospective objects incorporated some property that could only be made in space, the market could be significant. If one entrepreneur makes a profit, others will follow, each with their own take. Some might even invent something useful that cannot be made on Earth.

While NASA has traditionally been resistant to using publicly owned infrastructure for profit-making businesses seen as frivolous, attitudes are changing. The Russians have fewer qualms, and one module already is privately owned and rented by NASA. Further private modules are planned for the very near future. If someone wanted to start a small business that used backhaul to get its products to Earth, they could probably find a way to do it, especially if production could be automated and not use valuable astronaut time.

If a few small businesses succeed, they could grow. At some point, volume might grow high enough for a consortium to purchase full-priced transportation to Earth. At that point, a mature industry will have arrived, and a trading economy will be firmly established.

Trade will have achieved yet another breakthrough for humanity — helping to pay for our expansion into the final frontier.

Donald F. Robertson is a freelance space industry journalist based in San Francisco. Follow him at @DonaldFR.

This article originally appeared in the September 2021 issue of SpaceNews magazine.

#Space

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phooll123 · 6 years

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SNC Dream Chaser shown off at

Space Symposium in Colorado Springs (PHOTOS)

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COLORADO SPRINGS – The space ship being developed by Louisville-based Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems is finding itself a star of this year's massive annual space industry gathering in Colorado Springs.

The Dream Chaser space craft is on display in front of the Broadmoor Hotel's conference center, which is hosting the 34th Annual Space Symposium, a conference that's drawn 14,000 space industry and military officials.

A steady stream of attendees have lined up to see Dream Chaser up close.

"People keep asking me if it's real," said Mark Sirangelo, the SNC executive vice president who leads the company's Space Systems division. "It's not a mockup. It did actually fly."

The Dream Chaser, a self-flying autonomous space plane, recently completed months of testing at Edwards Air Force Base in California and a flight after being dropped from a helicopter high above the Mojave desert.

After the successful tests, the company's readying to start building the first orbital version of Dream Chaser, assembling it in time for its first space mission. That's a mission flying cargo to the International Space Station in 2020.

"We're going great guns. We're hiring a lot of people, and we're moving fast," said Steve Lindsey, vice president of SNC’s Space Exploration Systems.

Its appearance outside Space Symposium is the first time anyone outside of the company or NASA has had a chance to see Dream Chaser following its test flights late last year.

The company shrink-wrapped Dream Chaser at a Mojave hangar last week and trucked across the Rocky Mountains to put it on display at Space Symposium on its way back to Louisville.

Dream Chaser has attracted a steady stream of onlookers and people taking selfies next to the spacecraft to share on social media.

Astronaut Buzz Aldren is among those who've shared a Dream Chaser selfie, and U.S. Vice President Mike Pence took a look at the craft during his quick visit Monday to deliver an address at Space Symposium.

SNC Space Systems and NASA tested the self-flying spaceship over California’s Mojave desert in November, dropping the unmanned Dream Chaser by helicopter from 12,234 feet and having the craft’s on-board computers fly it through a couple maneuvers before landing on an Edwards Air Force Base runway.

The test validated Dream Chaser's ability to flight itself through the atmosphere and return of cargo from the International Space Station in a runway landing.

The privately-owned spacecraft's first orbital flight is slated to take cargo to ISS in 2020.

The company will keep working on the flight-test version of Dream Chaser as part of development of a future version that will carry astronauts.

Dream Chaser is built at the SNC Space Systems’ suburban manufacturing site northwest of Denver, where the company has grown to have nearly 600 employees. The company has hired 400 people to work on Dream Chaser in Louisville in recent months, part of 1,500 people SNC now employs in Colorado, Sirangelo said.

The company expects to start assembling components for the first orbital version of Dream Chaser in Louisville later this year.

Dream Chaser’s minute-long test flight in November reached 330 miles-per-hour as the craft's autonomous flight computers took it through some maneuvers and guided it onto the runaway at 191 mph, then braked to a stop.

The spaceship traces its heritage to designs NASA began but stopped working on two decades ago. Sirangelo's company, then a 30-person startup, licensed the design in 2005 and kept developing it with the goal of making a commercial spaceship they considered the "space shuttle 2.0."

SNC Corp. Space Systems is using what has learned with Dream Chaser to compete to be part of designs for a NASA space research outpost planned to orbit the moon in the later 2020s.

"How cool is that?" Sirangelo asked Wednesday. "The name is not an accident. We've been chasing the dream a long time."

Successfully test-flying Dream Chaser was a milestone worth $15 million from NASA under a 2012 Space Act agreement it reached with SNC Space Systems to help fund some of Dream Chaser's development. The company could receive $212.5 million from NASA if it meets all the 2012 agreement's milestones.

NASA has, under a separate $14 billion program, contracted SNC Space Systems, Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Dulles, Virginia-based Orbital ATK to handle 18 space station resupply missions.

The space agency has so committed $10 billion for the flights, funding that will be split between the three companies.

SNC Space Systems’ parent company, Sparks, Nevada-based defense and aerospace contractor SNC Corp., has funded the majority of Dream Chaser’s development.

Dream Chaser is designed to be launched vertically atop a rocket to reach the ISS or other low-earth orbit destinations and then return by descending back through atmosphere using its wings — either autonomously or, in a future crew version, with a pilot aboard — to land on a runway.

Its first ISS cargo mission is slated to launch on an Atlas V rocket, which is made by Centennial-based United Launch Alliance. The company is taking bids from major rocket companies seeking to launch future Dream Chaser ISS cargo missions.

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