SpaceX AsiaSat Win:

Wednesday’s contract announcement to launch the AsiaSat birds has resulted in SpaceX’s order book now being filled by a majority of commercial missions. The balance is concentrated on NASA contracts, as SpaceX push towards their commercial resupply (CRS) of the International Space Station (ISS).

The Californian-based company is also pushing towards the development of a crewed capability to return US domestic access to Low Earth Orbit.

The AsiaSat launches will be conducted by the Falcon 9 launch vehicle, lifting off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Launch Complex 40 in the first quarter of 2014.

“SpaceX is proud to be the choice of AsiaSat, a pioneer in advancing satellite communications in Asia,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and Chief Technology Officer.

“We are producing the most advanced launch vehicles in the world, and the international launch market has responded – commercial launches now represent over 60 percent of our upcoming missions.”

AsiaSat is the leading satellite broadcasting and telecommunications in Asia Pacific, opening their operations with AsiaSat 1 – Asia’s first privately owned regional satellite – in April 1990.

However, AsiaSat-1′s history began under the call sign of WeStar 6, launched in the payload bay of Space Shuttle Challenger during her STS-41B mission.

Challenger lifted off at 08:00 EST on February 3, 1984, on her fourth launch to begin the 10th Space Shuttle mission and the first under the new flight classification system. Had the previous numerical designation continued, this would have been the STS-11 mission.

Like her three previous missions, Challenger was inserted into a 28.5 degree 189nm orbit.

Once in orbit, Challenger’s crew deployed the WeStar 6 and Palapa-B2 satellites, while Bruce McCandless and Robert L. Stewart performed the first untethered EVA in history using the Manned Maneuvering Unit (McCandless) and the SRMS foot restraint for EVA purposes (Stewart).

Also carried aboard Challenger on this flight was the German-built Shuttle Pallet Satellite – which became the first satellite to be refurbished and re-flown into space following its first flight on STS-7. An electrical problem with SRMS (Shuttle Remote Manipulator System), however, precluded the deployment of the satellite as intended.

Sadly, WeStar 6 – and Palapa-B2 – became a black mark on the mission, after the satellites failed to properly fire their PAMs (Payload Assist Motor) after deployment, meaning they could not reach its desired GeoStationary orbit, and were stranded in a useless LEO trajectory.

Later that year, Discovery came to the rescue, undertaking her second mission, STS-51A.

This mission, which launched on November 8, 1984, marked the first time a Shuttle orbiter deployed two communications satellites and retrieved from orbit two other communications satellites.

The retrieval of the WeStar 6 and Palapa-B2 communications satellites also marked the last untethered spacewalk of the Shuttle Program until 1994.

Brought back down to Earth and refurbished, AsiaSat purchased the WeStar 6 satellite and relaunched it as AsiaSat 1 on a Chinese Long March 3 rocket in 1990. This satellite is no longer in service.

AsiaSat currently owns and operates four satellites AsiaSat 3S, AsiaSat 4, AsiaSat 5 and AsiaSat 7 – which are designed to deliver excellent performance, coverage and connectivity across the Asia-Pacific region.

AsiaSat 5 – launched in August, 2009 via an ILS Proton-M – was placed into orbit as a new generation satellite equipped with the latest technology and new beam coverage to provide highest quality television broadcast, telephone networks and VSAT networks for broadband multimedia services across Asia Pacific.

In addition to a very powerful pan-Asian C-band footprint and the improved Ku-band East Asia beam, AsiaSat 5′s Ku-band South Asia and in-orbit steerable beams were designed to serve new market requirements and to offer full backup capability in network coverage with AsiaSat’s existing satellites AsiaSat 3S and AsiaSat 4. AsiaSat 5 replaced AsiaSat 2 at 100.5 degrees East.

AsiaSat 7 was designed as a replacement satellite for AsiaSat 3S at 105.5 degrees East. This new generation satellite sports 28 C-band and 17 Ku-band transponders as well as a Ka-band payload. Its region-wide C-band beam covers over 50 countries across Asia, the Middle East, Australasia and Central Asia.

AsiaSat 7 also offers 3 Ku-band beams with intra beam switching capability, serving East Asia and South Asia, and a steerable Ku beam. AsiaSat 7 is providing satellite capacity for television broadcast and VSAT Network services across the Asia-Pacific Region.

The 3,813 kg (8,406 lbs) satellite was built by Space Systems/Loral and is expected to enjoy 15 years of service in orbit.

The launch, conducted from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 25, 2011 – was also an ILS mission, utilizing the Russian Proton-M launch vehicle. With the task of lofting AsiaSat 6 and 8 into orbit to be conducted by Falcon 9, the contract announcement appears to be a victory for SpaceX in the competitive launch services market.

“We are pleased to have SpaceX as our launch partner for the two upcoming missions. We look forward to the timely and successful launches of AsiaSat 6 and AsiaSat 8, thereby expanding our fleet from four to six satellites in 2014 to provide more high quality and comprehensive satellite services in the Asia-Pacific region,” said William Wade, President and Chief Executive Officer of AsiaSat.

AsiaSat 6 will have 28 high-powered C-band transponders while AsiaSat 8 will have 24 Ku-band transponders and a Ka-band beam. The high-powered transponders on the satellite will enable the use of small antennas on the ground.

The two SS/L 1300 satellites will serve Asia, the Middle East and Australasia.

(Images via SpaceX, ILS, NASA, and L2)

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Ongoing Russian Soyuz problems and delays:

Following what was an extremely challenging 2011 due to numerous hardware failures – including the Progress M-12M and Fobos-Grunt spacecrafts – the Russian space agency Roscosmos continues to have bad luck in its quest to get its programs back on track.

Last week, reports emerged in the Russian media that the Soyuz TMA-04M/30S spacecraft, set to launch the next trio of Russian and American crewmembers to the ISS, had suffered a failure during routine testing.

It is understood at this time that the Descent Module (SA) of Soyuz TMA-04M was over-pressurised during leak checking, which, coupled with poor quality materials, caused welds to break in the hydrogen peroxide thruster propellant system. Specific causes of the over-pressurisation are unknown at this time, and a Russian commission is currently investigating the matter.

Due to the nature of the failure, pressure integrity of the Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft is believed to have been compromised beyond repair, which means that the SA is question can no longer be used and must be scrapped.

Roscosmos have decided not to swap out the damaged SA with the SA intended for Soyuz TMA-05M/31S, as has been done in the past, and have instead opted to replace the entire Soyuz TMA-04M spacecraft – including SA, Orbital Module (BO), and Instrumentation and Propulsion Module (PAO) – with the Soyuz TMA-05M spacecraft, as swapping the entire spacecraft is quicker than de-integrating and re-integrating the SA from one Soyuz to the other.

Due to this swap-out of vehicles, the Soyuz TMA-04M launch must now be pushed back, since there is insufficient time to ready hardware originally intended for Soyuz TMA-05M for launch on Soyuz TMA-04M’s date. Also, since the Soyuz spacecraft originally intended for the Soyuz TMA-05M mission will now be used for Soyuz TMA-04M, the spacecraft for Soyuz TMA-05M must come from Soyuz TMA-06M, thus creating ripple-like delays for future Soyuz flights.

As detailed by NASA’s ISS Program Manager Mike “Suff” Suffredini at an ISS status press briefing late last week, following consultations between all the ISS international partners, it has been decided to push the Soyuz TMA-04M launch back from 30th March to 15th May, a delay of around 45 days for Russian cosmonauts Gennady Padalka & Sergey Revin, and NASA astronaut Joe Acaba.

In order to avoid a large gap of three-crew station operations between the return of the Soyuz TMA-22/28S spacecraft and the launch of Soyuz TMA-04M, the Soyuz TMA-22 return will also be delayed by around 45 days, from 16th March to 30th April.

The 45 day mission extension is not an issue however, since Soyuz TMA-22 arrived at the ISS back in mid-November 2011 around 45 days later than originally planned, due to the launch failure of the Progress M-12M/44P spacecraft in August. Thus, the delay in the Soyuz TMA-22 return only restores the mission to a normal duration, and thus doesn’t present any issues with leaving the Soyuz on-orbit past its 200 day orbital lifetime.

As for other Russian launches affected by the “ripple” of delays, The Soyuz TMA-05M/31S spacecraft will be delayed for 45 days, from 30th May to 15th July. Soyuz TMA-06M/32S will slip by roughly 20 days, from 26th September to 15th October, with Soyuz TMA-07M/33S slipping by roughly 10 days, from 26th November to 5th December.

As one Soyuz must depart the station before another can launch, the undocking and landing of Soyuz spacecraft prior to the launches noted above will slip by a similar amount to the delay of the launch in question, in order to preserve the preferred two-week gap of three-crew station operations between Soyuz landings and launches.

This means a roughly 45 day slip for the Soyuz TMA-03M landing, from 16th May to 1st July, a roughly 5 day slip for the Soyuz TMA-04M landing, from 12th to 17th September, and no slip for the Soyuz TMA-05M landing, which will still occur as originally planned on 12th November.

Click here for ISS Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/iss/

Other flight activities for early 2012:

With the first crew rotation of 2012 now via the Soyuz TMA-22 undocking and landing on 30th April and the Soyuz TMA-04M launch on 15th May, the next three months on station will be devoted to a spacewalk, and visits from Russian, European, and commercial cargo ships, all of which must be co-ordinated with each other to ensure no conflicts in the complex schedule.

The first item on the order of ISS flight events for the next few months is Russian Extra Vehicular Activity-30 (EVA-30) on 16th February.

During this spacewalk, the first of 2012, Russian cosmonauts Oleg Kononenko and Anatoly Shkaplerov will spend roughly six hours outside the Russian Segment (RS) of the ISS, preparing for the arrival of the Multipurpose Laboratory Module (MLM) “Nauka” in 2013.

The MLM will dock to the Service Module (SM) “Zvezda” Nadir docking port, where Docking Compartment-1 (DC-1) “Pirs” currently resides.

Due to this, DC-1 will need to be undocked and disposed of prior to MLM’s arrival, and so the two manually-operated Strela cranes currently attached to DC-1 must be relocated to elsewhere on the station in order to preserve them for future use.

Thus, during EVA-30, the Strela-1 crane will be relocated to the Mini Research Module-2 (MRM-2) “Poisk”, a task originally planned for last August’s Russian EVA-29.

Strela-2 will move to the Functional Cargo Block (FGB) “Zarya” during a later EVA. Other tasks for EVA-30 including installing debris shields on the SM, setting up external experiments, and, as a get ahead, transferring an EVA ladder from DC-1 to MRM-2.

Following EVA-30, the next big task for the ISS will be to receive the European Automated Transfer Vehicle-3 (ATV-3) cargo carrier.

Currently planned for launch atop an Ariane V from Kourou Space Center in French Guiana on 9th March, ATV-3 will dock to the ISS following a 10 day free flight, on 19th March.

ATV-3 is somewhat controlling the debut launch of the new European Vega rocket, currently planned for 13th February, by limiting the number of days that the Vega launch can scrub before it must be stood down until after ATV-3, due to the need to have enough time to reconfigure Kourou launch site assets to support the ATV-3 launch. ATV-3 cannot move to make way for Vega, as that would cause problems for the already jam-packed and highly complex ISS flight manifest.

ATV-3, which has been upgraded to carry more internal cargo than pervious ATVs, will be the first vehicle to dock at the SM Aft port since the Progress M-11M/43P spacecraft prior to STS-135 last June, since the failed Progress M-12M/44P was supposed to dock there following Progress M-11M’s departure in August. ATV-3 will remain at the ISS through to August 2012, during which time it will provide propulsive support for ISS attitude control, reboosts, and Debris Avoidance Maneuvers (DAMs).

Following the ATV-3 docking, and with the Progress M-15M/47P launch now accelerated from 25th April to 20th April, a full month of time will be free in the ISS schedule for what will likely be the most watched mission of the year – the inaugural visit of SpaceX’s Dragon capsule to the station.

SpaceX ongoing delays and potential launch date:

SpaceX’s Dragon capsule had at the start of the year been planned for launch on 7th February, on the now approved combined COTS-2/COTS-3 (C2/C3) demo mission.

However, ongoing delays, related mainly to software testing, integrated simulations, refinement of flight procedures, and closeout of various “open items” on the spacecraft and launch vehicle, have pushed the launch to the right.

The ISS is now fully ready to support Dragon, however, with the Enhanced Processor & Integrated Communications (EPIC) card installations and both the X2_R10 and X2_R11 software transitions now completed, the latter of which includes Mobile Servicing System (MSS) 7.1 software, which updates the MSS, of which the SSRMS is a part, to support Dragon robotics activities.

Officially, the target launch date for Dragon at this time is 20th March – the day after the planned ATV-3 docking, so as to avoid any conflicts with that vehicle.

However, this date is merely a placeholder with the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) Eastern Range, and at last week’s ISS status press briefing, NASA ISS Program Manager Mike Suffredini said that due to the volume of work still to be completed, an April launch date is more likely for SpaceX.

SpaceX has until late April to play with, since the Progress M-15M launch and docking is planned for 20th and 22nd April, respectively, and after that, the Soyuz TMA-22 undocking and landing on 30th April.

Following the TMA-22 undocking, ISS will be at three crew operations, which may preclude the Dragon berthing at the ISS due to the need to have two trained crewmembers aboard the station to perform the Dragon capture with the Space Station Remote Manipulator System (SSRMS).

It is not understood at this point whether ESA astronaut André Kuipers would be able to fulfil the role of a trained crewmember, along with NASA astronaut Don Pettit, but if not, the next time two trained US crewmembers would be aboard the station is 17th May, following the 15th May launch of Soyuz TMA-04M, carrying NASA astronaut Joe Acaba.

Following arrival of Soyuz TMA-04M, the ISS schedule is free through the rest of May and all of June, whereupon another Soyuz rotation will occur in early through mid-July, followed by Russian and Japanese resupply flights.

Flight activities for later in 2012:

Another vehicle to feel the fallout of the recent Soyuz problems is Japan’s H-II Transfer Vehicle-3 (HTV-3), which was previously scheduled to launch on 26th June, for a rendezvous with and berthing to the ISS on 1st July.

Since the Soyuz reshuffle placed the HTV-3 rendezvous and berthing on the same date as the Soyuz TMA-03M undocking, following which ISS will be at three-crew operations, that meant HTV-3′s arrival would cause conflict issues, and violate the flight rule to have two fully trained US crewmembers available to support capture operations, since only one US astronaut would be aboard the ISS following the Soyuz TMA-03M undocking (Joe Acaba).

Thus, HTV-3 now has to wait for Soyuz TMA-05M, carrying NASA astronaut Sunita Williams, to dock with the ISS on 17th July, prior to launching on what is now scheduled to be a late July or early August date.

The months of August and September will then be a very busy time on ISS, with the scheduled undocking of ATV-3 on 27th August, and the unberthing of HTV sometime in late August or early September.

During this time, Orbital’s Cygnus vehicle could also visit the ISS on its maiden flight, as much as ongong delays with launch site readiness mean that no firm date is set for that flight at this time.

Also during August, Russian EVA-31 will be performed, along with the recently added US EVA-18. This EVA had been scheduled for summer 2012 before, but was pushed back to 2013. However, a recent external hardware failure, namely the Main Bus Switching Unit-1 (MBSU-1) located on the S0 Truss, caused NASA managers to reconsider.

MBSU-1, which along with three other MBSUs distributes power around the station’s electrical system, started displaying erratic behaviour late last year, such as resets and loss of communication. MBSU-1 has now completely lost communications with the ISS, although it is still functioning and distributing power correctly.

It is clear, however, that MBSU-1 is slowly degrading, and could be on the verge of total failure. While source information shows that the ISS could tolerate a complete MBSU-1 failure via the crew installing internal jumpers to re-distribute power around the station, this would leave the ISS in what is a single fault tolerate situation, as a failure of another MBSU would require an emergency EVA to Remove & Replace (R&R) the failed MBSU.

Source information shows that MBSU-2 has previously displayed errors similar to those seen on MBSU-1, such as bit errors, and thus MBSU-2 is vulnerable to the same type of failure as MBSU-1, which would not be recoverable via jumper installation.

Due to this fact, NASA managers have decided to go ahead and R&R MBSU-1 this year, in order to reduce the risk of a complete failure leaving the ISS MBSUs single fault tolerant.

This means that, although EVA-18 will include an R&R of failed hardware, it is classed as a planned EVA, not an unplanned EVA – the best example of which is August 2010′s three epic EVAs to R&R the failed Loop B Pump Module (PM). Procedures for a contingency EVA do already exist however, should MBSU-1 fail prior to its scheduled R&R and thus require an immediate R&R.

EVA-18 will be significant since it will be the first US ISS spacewalk in the post-Shuttle era, an era which will see the ISS crew have to halt their research activities in order to deal with outside problems themselves, instead of leaving it to a visiting Shuttle crew as was done in the past.

Thus, NASA’s strategy of pre-positioning ample spare Orbital Replacement Units (ORUs) outside the ISS prior to the Shuttle’s retirement is already proving to be a good strategy, as source information shows that two spare MBSUs are currently available outside the ISS – both stored on External Stowage Platform-2 (ESP-2), with one having flown to the ISS on STS-116 in December 2006, and the other on STS-120 in October/November 2007.

Two spare MBSUs are also available on the ground, one of which is planned for launch on HTV-4 in July 2013, and the other planned for launch in 2017. Both of these MBSUs are not susceptible to the bit errors noticed on MBSUs 1 and 2.

NASA is currently in the process of reviewing specific EVA timelines, and source information shows that two main paths are being considered – one involving the R&R of MBSU-1 using just the two spacewalkers, and the other involving the Special Purpose Dextrous Manipulator (SPDM) “Dextre” doing some of the preparation tasks prior to the EVA, including retrieving the space MBSU from ESP-2 and positioning it near the EVA worksite, to be installed by the EVA crew (it is not possible for the SPDM to perform the entire R&R).

Without the use of the SPDM, a standard EVA timeline could accomplish the MBSU-1 R&R in 6 hours 30 minutes, around the standard time for an EVA. However, a streamlined timeline could accomplish the MBSU-1 R&R in only 4 hours 30 minutes, leaving around an additional 2 hours for some extra tasks outside the station. With prior assistance from the SPDM however, an additional 3 hours 30 minutes would be available for additional tasks.

Source information shows that the additional tasks that could be performed include those deferred from the single STS-135 EVA in July 2011, such as the FGB Power & Date Grapple Fixture (PDGF) 1553 cable install, FGB PDGF grounding wire inspections, and SSRMS Camera Light Pan/tilt Assembly (CLPA) R&R. Some of these tasks could also be conducted during US EVAs 19 and 20 however, which have now been brought forward to February 2013, for reasons unknown at this time.

Following US EVA-18, the remainder of 2012 will then see the usual traffic of Soyuz and Progress flights, along with possibly the first operational resupply flights of the Dragon and Cygnus vehicles under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) Program.

Overall, despite claims that the ISS was going to be slowing down in the post-Shuttle era, the station is in fact as busy as ever, playing host to a wide array of international and commercial Visiting Vehicles (VVs), as well as the usual heavy schedule of maintenance and research activities.

While delays in Russian and commercial vehicles continue to have an impact on the ISS, it is vital that both these systems demonstrate reliability this year, since both are now being heavily relied on to provide vital crew and cargo transportation to the ISS in the wake of the Shuttle’s retirement.

(Images: L2 Content, NASA, Roscosmos and Orbital)

(NSF and L2 are providing full transition level coverage, available no where else on the internet, from Orion and SLS to ISS and COTS/CRS/CCDEV, to European and Russian vehicles). 

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Aerojet Engine Development:

While Aerojet are already involved in a wide range of propulsive requirements for launch vehicles and spacecraft, work is already well under way for their effort to become the provider of the Next Generation Engine (NGE), a process started via the Air Force’s Request For Information (RFI) over a year ago.

The RFI noted it was seeking an Upper Stage engine utilizing modern design and manufacturing methods, while it would be expected that the new engine will demonstrate state-of-the-art operating margin and reliability and minimize life-cycle costs, with an aim of replacing the RL-10 – which is used in various forms with Atlas’ Centaur Upper Stage (RL-10A-3) and Delta IV’s Upper Stage (RL-10B-2).

Aerojet recently noted they had successfully completed a major milestone in the development of a ground demonstrator for the Next Generation Engine (NGE) program, announcing the completion of the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) of the turbopump assembly.

The engine under development – which is yet to receive a name – would not be restricted to just US Air Force/EELV use, according to Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet Vice President, Space & Launch System speaking in an interview with NASASpaceflight.com.

“For now we are assuming the RL-10 engine requirements with additional consideration of the requirements put forth in the AF September 2010 RFI. (Next Generation Engine (NGE) Request for Information; Solicitation Number: SMC10-55; Agency: Department of the Air Force; Office: Air Force Space Command; Location: SMC – Space and Missile Systems Center).

“We do believe this engine can serve future civil as well as Air Force needs.”

Aerojet – who previously noted it has been decades since there has been an open engine competition in the United States – added they are unable to compare their new engine to an RL-10 derivative at this stage. However, they are confident they can present their NGE as a major step forward.

“We don’t know many specifics about RL-10 derivatives since little has been made public. Aerojet believes that our offering for NGE will make major improvements over the current RL-10 in cost and reliability and have equal or greater performance depending on configuration,” added Ms Van Kleeck.

The Californian-based company are involved in a number of future engine projects, not least the advanced booster for the Space Launch System (SLS), but also in the field of environmentally “green” engines.

With experience in working with Hydroxylammonium nitrate or hydroxylamine nitrate (HAN) powered engines for uncrewed spacecraft, Aerojet noted they are also working on a nitrous-ethanol bipropellant system for Human Space Flight applications.

“While Aerojet has been developing HAN-based monopropellants for a wide range of applications since 1990, Human Spaceflight is not a current focus for this effort. For HSF, our current green propulsion focus is a nitrous-ethanol bipropellant system,” noted Ms Van Kleeck.

It has been publicly known that HAN is being developed as a potential propellant for launch vehicles, both in the solid form as a solid propellant oxidizer, and in the aqueous solution in monopropellant rockets.

According to technical papers – such as those associated with the US Department of Energy – it is typically bonded with glycidyl azide polymer (GAP), Hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HTPB), or carboxy-terminated polybutadiene (CTPB). The catalyst is a noble metal, similar to the other monopropellants that use silver or palladium.

“For the HAN-monopropellant systems we are currently focused on robotic spacecraft and defense applications,” Ms Van Kleeck continued. “Aerojet has successfully tested HAN thrusters from 0.2 lbf up to 150 lbf and has found no limitations to developing even higher thrust engines. When developing new, green propellants, one needs to consider both environmental and safety issues.

“For HSF, if green monopropellants become attractive, Aerojet believes that HAN is the leading green monopropellant candidate if you consider all of the safety and handling issues.”

As aforementioned, Ms Van Kleeck noted that Aerojet place a large amount of consideration on both the environmental and safety elements of their advanced propellants, not least their impact on humans, but also for the atmosphere of Mars.

“Aerojet has developed both monopropellant and bipropellant liquid rocket engines that utilize environmentally friendly propellants. Our monopropellant efforts include HAN based engines and Nitrous Oxide based engines. In the bipropellant arena, we have developed Nitrous-Ethanol, LOX/Methane, LOX/Hydrogen and LOX/Ethanol engines,” added Ms Van Kleeck.

“For interplanetary missions to Mars, NASA has chosen Aerojet’s monopropellant hydrazine thrusters for both cruise and landing for all Mars landers to date for the simple reason that hydrazine (N2H4) does not contain carbon.

“For all advanced propellants, both environmental and safety considerations are very important, and our selections are based on a balance of both of these critical factors. Insofar as toxicity to humans, we have done extensive work on our selected propellants and have found that they meet our requirements.

“Just as important, extensive testing has shown that our propellants are the safest to handle and use in typical test and operational settings.”

(Images: Via NASA, ACS.org and Aerojet.)

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Shuttle Preparing For Final Destinations:

While America’s perhaps best-known rodent meteorologist Punxsutawney Phil was forecasting an extended winter, Atlantis was moved into VAB High Bay 4 in Springtime warmth in a movie-like repeat of the previous day’s work. 

This orbiter shuffle was the second in a possible series of “double-moves” to get each of the famous spaceships ready for transport to their display sites in the coming months.

Orbiters Discovery and Endeavour traded places back in August, Atlantis and Endeavour switched positions this week, and the next potential double-move could be sometime next month, which would signify completion of Transition and Retirement (T&R) work on Discovery at Kennedy and her readiness to be ferried to Washington, D.C. in mid-April.

Atlantis will eventually take Discovery’s place in Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) Bay 1, but the exact timing and route of the moves will depend on when Discovery is ready to ferry.  For now, work to begin removing Main Propulsion System (MPS) hardware from Atlantis for preservation for possible Space Launch System use is slated to start in High Bay 4.

Meanwhile, T&R work has resumed on Endeavour in OPF Bay 2 to get her ready for her planned ferry flight to Los Angeles now planned for the Fall. 

Bart Pannullo, NASA Vehicle Manager for Space Shuttle Transition and Retirement processing, spoke with media in attendance on Wednesday for Endeavour’s move back to the OPF; when asked about upcoming processing milestones, he noted that Endeavour’s decommissioned reaction control system (RCS) hardware was on the way back to KSC. 

“They’ve actually completed processing and they’re in transport right now and they’ll be delivered to Kennedy Space Center on Monday,” Panullo said, referring to the ship-set of Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) and Forward Reaction Control System (FRCS) pods that were decommissioned out at a facility in White Sands, New Mexico. 

Depending on the progress of processing work in the near-term, Panullo said that Endeavour’s gutted FRCS module could be re-installed next week.  He also noted that contract negotiations are still ongoing for shipment of Atlantis’s RCS hardware to White Sands for decommissioning work. 

Discovery’s RCS hardware has already been re-attached, but when her OMS pods were reinstalled, they were noticeably missing OMS engine nozzles – although the pods were also missing most of their seldom-seen internal hardware. “Because some of the nozzles aren’t safe for ferry flight, they’re going to be installed at the display sites, post-ferry,” Panullo explained. 

With the second orbiter double-move underway and the possibility of another one, NSF also asked Panullo about what might happen with Endeavour between when she is “ready to ferry” and her actual ferry flight.  “Endeavour is going to be processing pretty much up until the point it’s ready to leave,” he said. 

“Now that’s where it’s different with 103 [Discovery]; 103 we’re actually going to finish up processing in the middle of March and move it to the VAB for storage and then it’ll sit there until it goes directly out to the MDD, the Mate-Demate Device, and that will happen in mid-April.”

Although the target date for Discovery’s ferry remains April 17, the exact plans and timing for where Discovery might be stored before her ferry flight seem to remain in flux.

While observing work to secure Atlantis in High Bay 4 on Thursday after her move, the media group there for the photo opportunity heard a few possibilities; the ones we heard seemed to depend on when Discovery’s T&R work is completed and she is ready to ferry.  The earlier work is complete, the more moving around – such as just seen with Atlantis – might need to be done. 

If T&R work finishes much closer to the planned April 17th departure date from KSC, then there might not be much moving around. 

Noting another factor, on Wednesday Pannullo said “there are some other things going on with facilities,” that might play into the temporary storage locations for Discovery before ferry.  No final decisions have been made yet. 

Click here for T&R Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/T&R/

The actual takeoff dates and ferry stops for Discovery and Endeavour will be subject to weather conditions, similar to the past.  When asked whether there might be any changes in the weather rules, Panullo said he was unaware of any.

In addition to work going with the orbiter vehicles at KSC, the media group also observed ferry flight hardware for Enterprise getting ready for shipment.  The Approach and Landing Test Article OMS pods (or ‘ALTA pods’) were originally built for Enterprise and were used in 1977 during Approach and Landing Tests at Dryden Flight Research Center and Edwards Air Force Base in California. 

The ALTA pods were subsequently used to ferry all the Shuttle orbiter vehicles at one time or another throughout Shuttle Program operations when the OMS flight hardware was either under construction at the final assembly plant in Palmdale, California, or in maintenance at KSC. 

Both ALTA pods were seen on Thursday attached to their transportation trailers in the VAB, sitting next to their lifting equipment.  One of pods was used in a practice fit check on Endeavour last year while she was in High Bay 4. 

The ALTA pods should soon be shipped to Washington for installation (expected to be permanent) on Enterprise.  Enterprise will be ferried out of Washington to New York City shortly after Discovery arrives in April. 

To read about the orbiters -  from birth, processing, every single mission, through to retirement, click here for the links:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25837.0

(Images: Via NASA and L2 content – And special photography provided by Philip Sloss, NASASpaceflight.com and Larry Sullivan, MaxQ/NASASpaceflight.com – many thousands of super hi-res image stock available on L2′s new Photo Section)

(L2 and NSF are continuing to follow the orbiters through their transitional period. To join L2, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)

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SLS Waiting For Primary Roles:

As outlined in previous articles on this site, NASA managers are continuing with their efforts to refine the Design Reference Mission (DRM) roadmap for the Agency’s new flagship launch vehicle.

While that process continues, clues to the roadmap’s foundations can be found in NASA documentation, such as the SLS Concept Of Operations (Con Ops) presentation (available on L2 – Link to Presentation), which provides a detailed overview of the large number of the DRMs under consideration.

*Click here for the list of SLS Con Ops Articles*

As to when the process will be complete, a lot will depend on information relating to budget support for NASA, specifically the SLS and Orion programs.

In turn, SLS managers need to present a roadmap and a schedule which is far removed from the “worst case” scenario, one which sees SLS involved in a widely-spaced opening salvo of missions, before increasing to a flight rate of just one mission per year in the 2020s – an unacceptably low flight rate in most people’s eyes.

NASA managers are fully aware of this, with the SLS team already looking as far ahead as FY14 in their recent manifest meeting, based mainly around the previously reported wish to halve the gap between SLS-1 in 2017 and SLS-2.

With the “worst case” manifest showing SLS-2 would launch in 2021 – otherwise known as the first crewed mission for SLS and Orion – it is understood that if this mission cannot be advanced to 2019, an alternative option would be to launch SLS on a cargo mission in that year.

It has not yet been determined what type of cargo would fly on the SLS – a Block I (70mt) HLV – in such a schedule scenario.

Other Roles For SLS:

SLS’ design was technically selected ahead of knowing what specific missions it would be conducting. While it has been argued the payloads should determine the design of the launch vehicle, its upmass capabilities and fairing size options at least provide some guidelines to its future passengers.

As noted in the SLS Con Ops presentation, flexibility is inherent with a vehicle that will debut as a 70mt deriviative, prior to growing to 100mt (Block IA) and later to a 130mt (Block II). The aim is to evolve the SLS to its full capability in time for potential missions to Mars.

“The SLS changes the paradigm of what can be launched, because its launch performance is far greater than that of any current vehicle. In addition, its dramatically larger launch fairing enables launching large, multi-element systems, greater science instrument mass fraction, larger electrical power supplies, and more mass for shielding and lower-complexity engineering solutions,” noted the SLS Con Ops presentation.

“This translates into an earlier return on science, a reduction in mission times, and greater flexibility for extended science missions.”

Notable additions to the DRM section of the presentation are roles for the SLS which are separate from those which involve NASA’s future exploration aspirations.

Secondary Payloads – SpaceX and SLS:

One of these additional roles relates to “Secondary Payloads” – in other words, spacecraft – usually much smaller than the primary passenger – that could potentially hitch a ride uphill with the SLS.

The subject of secondary payloads became an important subject for SpaceX recently, as the Californian company noted its agreement to launch 18 ORBCOMM Generation 2 (OG2) satellites would be carried out – as secondary payloads – during Falcon 9 launches.

Originally, the delivery of the second-generation satellites into Low Earth Orbit (LEO) was set to be carried out on the Falcon 1e launch vehicle.

SpaceX noted the switch to Falcon 9 was made to further maximize the cost-effectiveness of their COTS/CRS missions, by including these additional payloads as passengers on the Falcon 9′s second stage, allowing them to be deployed after the Dragon spacecraft separates from the launch vehicle.

When SpaceX were asked if there was still a future role for Falcon 1/1e following this switch, the company’s communications director Kirstin Brost Grantham told NASASpaceflight.com: “Current plans are for small payloads to be served by flights on the Falcon 9, utilizing excess capacity. This is a very cost effective solution for small satellite launch needs.”

With a number of the OG2 satellites set to fly with the next Falcon 9 – the combined COTS 2 and 3 Demo mission – NASA teams used their experienced Monte Carlo analysis methods to review the deployment of the satellites, so as to ensure they did not hold an impact risk to the International Space Station (ISS).

For SLS, the Con Ops presentation noted the potential use of an Encapsulated Secondary Payload Adapter (ESPA) ring to allow for additional passengers to ride with the monster rocket.

“The SLS will pursue opportunities to fly secondary payloads in conjunction with primary missions. These services can be provided by the Science Mission Directorate (SMD), allowing deployment of these payloads along the SLS trajectory. An ESPA ring may be flown to accommodate this class of payloads.”

For SLS/HLV Articles, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/hlv/

SLS DoD Missions:

In a reminder of the Space Shuttle’s past, SLS managers are also eyeing up the possibility of launching military payloads on the HLV.

Currently, most DoD spacecraft are launch by EELVs (Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle), such as the Atlas V or the Delta IV vehicles, under the control of the United Launch Alliance (ULA). However, for a period during the early years of the Shuttle’s lifetime, the orbiter’s role with classified DoD payloads was commonplace.

During the Shuttle era, the orbiters enjoyed both “dedicated” DoD missions – beginning with Columbia’s STS-4 flight – and “civilian” missions that carried, or deployed, DoD payloads. The last dedicated DoD mission was in 1992 with Discovery during STS-53, while the last “civilian” mission with a DoD payload was in 2000, during Endeavour’s STS-99′s mission.

SLS managers believe NASA’s previous experience with DoD missions opens up the potential to carry out SLS launches with military payloads.

“Other missions which may utilize the SLS capability are launches for other Government agencies, like the DoD and any Government agencies with classified missions,” the Con Ops presentation noted.

“DoD mission support will also be available on the SLS, which will be available to partner with DoD and international partners for them to use SLS launch capabilities and opportunities. Classified missions have previously been supported through the MCC (Mission Control Center) at JSC (Johnson Space Center).

“This capability, along with the large payload capacity of SLS, allows for a wide range of DoD payload development and flight that was not previously available within the United States.”

The presentation also claimed the SLS’ large payload capability may be attractive to some commercial partners, citing Bigelow Space Station modules as one example.

It is likely the SLS team will wait until they know the outcome of the exploration roadmap evaluations before pursuing the potential of launching additional payloads.

(Images: Via L2 content, driven by L2′s SLS specific L2 section, which includes, presentations, videos, graphics and internal updates on the SLS and HLV, available on no other site. Other images via NASA and SpaceX.)

(L2 is – as it has been for the past several years – providing full exclusive SLS coverage, available no where else on the internet. To join L2, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)

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Launch Abort System:

Historically, Launch Abort Systems (LAS) – or Launch Escape System (LES) – have appeared as towers, attached on top of the crew capsule, ready to “pull” the capsule – and its crew – away from a failing vehicle, be it at the launch pad, or during early ascent.

In the event of a nominal launch, the tower would be jettisoned midway through the ascent to orbit – at a point in time where a major issue would result in the capsule simply separating away for an abort – usually resulting in a splashdown.

These LAS towers can be seen on the early crewed launch vehicles, having first been tested in 1960 – when the “Beach Abort” practiced the abort technique on the first production Mercury capsule at NASA’s test facility at Wallops Island.

While Gemini used ejection seats, the towers became part of the Mercury and Apollo programs, even earning a place in Hollywood movies, such as when Tom Hanks – playing Commander Jim Lovell in the movie Apollo 13 – reached forward to manually jettison the tower during second stage flight during the film’s launch scene.

The early flights of the Space Shuttle only employed the ejection seat capability, as much as it was hinted using such a system – only available for a limited time during first stage ascent – would have provided the escaping astronauts very little chance of survival. The Shuttle mainly relied on abort scenarios involving the return of the crew with the orbiter.

Thanks to the strict safety record of crewed launch vehicles, the use of the LAS has only been called for once during an actual emergency, with the Russians.

Another abort – Soyuz 18A – aborted in flight, resulting in the crew landing safely near the Chinese border – however, it is believed this event came after LAS jettison, with the abort carried out by the Soyuz engines.

The clear use of the LAS during an abort event is a famous one – mainly due to the footage finding a large audience on youtube – as the crew of Soyuz T-10-1 underwent a pad abort, just seconds before their failing vehicle exploded on the launch pad.

The video shows a line of the Soviet top brass witnessing the dramatic abort, acknowledged only by one General calmly adjusting his collar.

It was reported that the crew landed safely, just four miles away.

LAS For Orion:

For the defunct Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) – a direct fallout of the Columbia disaster – crew safety for the next launch system was paramount, as NASA reverted back to a capsule design, with a full Launch Abort System.

In 2007, a major trade of several LAS concepts were evaluated by NASA managers, namely the Multiple External (x4) Service Module (SM) Abort Motor concept, the Crew Module Strap On Motors (x4) concept, and the In-Line Tandem Tractor (Tower) concept – the latter of which was baselined into Ares I/Orion design.

The trades request the preferred design should ensure the risk of losing the crew in an abort scenario would be no greater than 1:10, noting such a system is no guarantee for crew survival during an emergency.

The winning concept – the Tandem Tractor (Tower) LAS design – comprised of a Nose Cone, Attitude Control Motor (Eight Nozzles), Canard Section (Stowed Configuration), Jettison Motor (Four Aft, Scarfed Nozzles), Interstage, Abort Motor (Four Exposed, Reverse Flow Nozzles), Adapter Cone, and Boost Protective Cover (BPC).

The primary role of such a system is to save the crew during the ‘three stages’ of an abort, the first involving the firing of the spacecraft – in this case Orion – away from a failing vehicle on the launch pad to a safe distance, before deploying the parachutes on the Orion, for a landing in the Atlantic ocean within a 3450 ft radius due east of the launch pad.

The second stage of an abort is noted as “mid altitude” – which has a different characteristic when compared to pad abort. This stage of abort works for up to 150,000 ft, involving the LAS remaining on the vehicle after firing the Orion safely away from the failing vehicle until the point of drogue chute deployment, which becomes necessary at that altitude.

The final stage of abort, which would still require the LAS, is at an altitude of between 150,000 ft and 300,000 ft – the latter being the point the LAS would be jettisoned on a nominal flight. After being pulled away from the launch vehicle, Orion would revert to a flight profile similar to that used during the end of a normal mission.

During the evaluations, some engineers called for changes to the system. However, due to the mighty struggles of the time – involving Ares I’s mass to orbit ability, or lack thereof – the main focus turned to using the LAS, in the event of a successful launch, to still perform a firing, in order to assist Orion’s ride uphill.

“LAS Abort Impulse used for Ascent Assist: Theoretically can increase mass to orbit by 1000 lb. However, additional tension loading on the Command Module requires additional structure that leads to overall decrease in mass to orbit,” noted an extensive NASA presentation (acquired by L2 – Link to Document).

Managers also evaluated the use of nozzle inserts in the LAS motors, which would reduce the thrust and thus structural loadings on the vehicle. This option would mitigate any concerns of Command Module (CM) mass penalties.

‘An Alternate Option Using Nozzle Inserts: Reduces Abort Motor Thrust, Increases burn time. Relieves Command Module Compressive load – no tension loads. Increases the Payload Mass-to-Orbit by ~650 lb,’ added the presentation.

This option weakened as evaluations progressed, with the final note on such a use for the LAS pointing to only a 400lb mass increase.

This system has enjoyed one test launch, lofting a boilerplate Orion into the skies of White Sands, New Mexico, durng the successful PA-1 (Pad Abort 1) test in 2010.

MLAS:

While abort motors on the Service Module lost out during the trade studies, a new concept came forward called the Max Abort Launch System – or MLAS (named after Maxime (Max) Faget).

Although it was never publicly admitted, this system was often mentioned by sources as a potential solution towards a growing movement associated with cancelling Ares I and human rating the Ares V, as the Constellation Program (CxP) began to falter.

It also had the backing of then-NASA administrator Mike Griffin, which would not have come as a surprise, given MLAS was an evolution of two of the original three LAS concepts studied by Constellation, one of which made the LAS trade study in 2007 via a rather amusing hand-drawn sketch, created in 2006.

The MLAS concept combined the boost protection cover of the service module mounted escape system with the command module mounted motors, in turn reducing the overall height of the vehicle – something desired by the Ares V HR advocates, who were worried about being able to stack and rollout the vehicle – with a LAS tower – under the height restrictions of the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) doors.

The MLAS utilized a ‘bullet’ boost protection cover over the capsule to house four Mk 70 Terrier solid motors separation motors – as opposed to locating them on a tower above the capsule.

Two orientation parachutes are attached to the top of the fairing to re-orient the vehicle, with the blunt heat shield to aid in fairing separation.

The design resulted in the aborting vehicle re-orienting immediately after abort motor cut off during a pad abort, but would fly with its nose “into the wind” on a mid-altitude abort. The orientation parachutes would then activate quickly before the fairing separation.

In the event of a high altitude abort, the fairing would come off immediately, in order to allow the Command Module Reaction Control System (RCS) to stabilize the vehicle for entry.

The design of MLAS changed several times during its development, gaining fins for stability during later cycles, becoming more in line with another hand drawn sketch.

This  time the artist was former Constellation head Scott “Doc” Horowitz – as seen in the second of two MLAS presentations acquired by L2 (Link to Presentations) – over a year after Mr Griffin’s conceptual design.

The final version of the MLAS flight test vehicle weighed in at over 45,000 lbs and was over 33 feet tall – and this vehicle actually got to fly for real, after being shipped to Wallops for its one and only hop off the ground.

The pad abort test proper began seven seconds after burnout of some specially attached solid motors, as the vehicle rose into the Virginia morning sky at 6:25am local time on July 8, 2009.

Video of the launch showed a perfect test, as the vehicle rose on a stable flight path, before reorientation and further stabilization, followed by crew module simulator separation from the MLAS fairing, and parachute recovery of the crew module simulator.

Other tests were planned for MLAS, including a high altitude abort – which will involve the fairing being released immediately after abort is called, in order to allow the Command Module Reaction Control System (RCS) to stabilize the vehicle for entry. However, the program was put on the backburner, as the Constellation Program found itself cancelled.

At this time, the Space Launch System (SLS) will launch Orion with the previously chosen Line Tandem Tractor (Tower) design as its LAS.

SpaceX LAS:

Despite being late to the game, when compared to the Constellation development path, SpaceX still came up with an arguably superior system for use with their Dragon spacecraft, a system not only fully integrated into the body of the spacecraft, but one that also holds future uses, through to those that aren’t even related to launch abort.

The first major difference relates to the traditional use of solid propellant, mainly because of the speed it can ignite and reach full thrust – something highly desirable when moving human lives away from a failing rocket.

However, Dragon sports a series of eight liquid SuperDraco engines, built into the side walls of the Dragon spacecraft, capable of producing up to 120,000 pounds of axial thrust to drive the Dragon away from its failing launch vehicle.

SpaceX are deep into developing the engines – just nine months after their Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) contract noted the LAS is required – with the latest test fire taking place at the company’s Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas.

Referencing back to the benefit of solid motor abort systems, SpaceX’s SuperDraco produced full thrust within approximately 100 milliseconds of the ignition command. It also fired for five seconds, which is the same amount of time the engines would burn during an emergency abort.

Advantages of the SuperDraco liquid thruster include how the engine can be put through a series of throttling ranges, in turn allowing for redundancy, with SpaceX claiming they could lose one of the eight abort engines and still recover the vehicle and crew successfully. The engines can also be restarted multiple times.

Another advantage is the fact it’s not a tower. As noted previously, the LAS tower normally requires jettison shortly after first stage flight. Any failure of this key sequence of ascent would end the mission, given the flight profile wouldn’t be designed for carrying the LAS along for the ride.

Because the system is integrated into the Dragon itself – as opposed to departing the spacecraft during jettison – the spacecraft can technically abort within much longer periods than the tower version. With Dragon returning with the engines on board, they can also be reused on future launches.

There is also a large amount of commonality between the 18 maneuvering engines built into Dragon and the SuperDraco LAS engines – bar the fact the SuperDraco engines would burn through propellant 200 times faster.

The biggest long-term advantage of this system is related to the potential use of the engines to land Dragon back on land propulsively, as seen via SpaceX’s Reusable Falcon 9 concept, which returns all of the launch vehicle and spacecraft hardware to the ground for reuse.

Parachutes would still be onboard the Dragon, for a contingency event resulting in problems with the SuperDracos, allowing the spacecraft to land on water, as it is currently designed to do.

However, Earth isn’t the only landing destination for Dragon, with SpaceX holding ambitions of landing on the Moon and more notably Mars. Nicknamed “Red Dragon” – SpaceX have made no secret about heading to Mars, even publishing a graphic of their spacecraft touching down on the Red Planet.

Such a mission is deep into the future, although Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and Chief Technology Officer, included the full range of use for the SuperDraco’s when announcing his pleasure with the recent test firings.

“SuperDraco engines represent the best of cutting edge technology,” Mr Musk noted. “These engines will power a revolutionary launch escape system that will make Dragon the safest spacecraft in history and enable it to land propulsively on Earth or another planet with pinpoint accuracy.”

NASA’s own Mars plans are a mix of old mission outlines and revamped videos, but do show they also have propulsive landing ambitions – in tandem with large parachutes – with the latest conceptual Mars mission videos showing massive cargo landers and crew habitats, with the crew riding down to the surface on board the hab lander, touching down under large amounts of propulsive power.

Such missions are likely to be in the 2030s at the earliest, with the main focus for the entire US space program being the urgency to regain their own domestic crew launch capability, following the retirement of the Space Shuttle.

The successful development path of the SuperDraco engine has literally pushed SpaceX one step further down the road for NASA and the United States to achieve independence from purchasing seats on the Russian Soyuz – a vehicle which still uses the same tower LAS that caused one Soviet General to check if his collar was straight.

(Images via NASA, SpaceX, and L2 content)

(With the shuttle fleet retired, NSF and L2 are providing full transition level coverage, available no where else on the internet, from Orion and SLS to ISS and COTS/CRS/CCDEV, to European and Russian vehicles. 

(Click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/ - to view how you can access the best space flight content on the entire internet)

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Endeavour back home in OPF-2; final KSC work begins on the baby orbiter:

Since being relegated to VAB (Vehicle Assembly Building) HB-4 (High Bay 4) in August 2011 to allow sister Discovery access to OPF-1 to complete her retirement and decommissioning flow, Space Shuttle orbiter Endeavour has sat in the VAB to be viewed by spectators and visitors to the Kennedy Space Center – a role she will soon adopt full-time later this year.

After nearly six months in the VAB – a stay in storage longer then numerous of her OPF processing flows for her 25 flights – Endeavour’s engineers flocked to her side this morning for final preparations for her move back to her home in OPF-2.

With Endeavour (OV-105) safely cocooned inside the protective and processing structures of OPF-2, final decommission work will now proceed on the baby of NASA’s Shuttle fleet.

Serving her country and the world space community proud for just one-fourth of her total design life, Endeavour will now spend the next six months (at least) inside OPF-2 – the OPF that became her very own processing facility in 2003, following the tragic loss of her sister Columbia (OV-102) and her valiant international crew of seven men and women – the 9 year anniversary of which we remember today.

After vacating OPF-2 on 28 February 2011 for mating with her ET and SRB stack for her final voyage, Endeavour was taken into OPF-1 on 1 June 2011, following her successful return from the STS-134 mission.

In OPF-1, Endeavour was quickly deserviced from STS-134 flight status before being taken into full-up decommissioning operations – which saw her lose her three SSMEs (Space Shuttle Main Engines), OMS pods, FRCS (Forward Reaction Control System) pod, SRMS (Shuttle Remote Manipulator System) arm, and numerous pieces of internal equipment.

Stripped down and exposed, Endeavour was rolled out of OPF-1 on 11 August 2011 to make room for sister Discovery.

Since then, Endeavour has been stored in the VAB, with no work being performed on her during her stay in the VAB.

Following the removal of Space Shuttle orbiter Atlantis (OV-104) from OPF-2 on Friday, 20 January 2012 to make room for Endeavour, technicians in Endeavour’s home OPF have been busy performing Open Bay Work – scheduled maintenance and upkeep work on the OPF-2 systems that cannot be undertaken with a Shuttle orbiter present in the bay.

With that standard Open Bay Work complete, Endeavour will now take center stage in the OPF as technicians complete all open work for her eventual centerpiece display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, California.

In addition to the installation of three Replica Shuttle Main Engines (RSMEs) into her aft, Endeavour will also receive her now-cosmetic-only OMS Pods and FRCS pod before having portions of her MPS (Main Propulsion System) removed for the SLS rocket and related program.

Significant work will also be conducted in the space underneath her Payload Bay as final efforts to completely safe Endeavour for public display are carried out.

Endeavour, however, will not receive her SRMS arm back. That arm, which enabled many of her accomplishments throughout her life, will be given to a Canadian museum – still to be determined – in acknowledgement of and thanks for Canada’s support for the Shuttle Program since its conception in the 1970s.

Like Discovery before her, Endeavour’s payload bay doors will then be closed for the final time and power cut to historic vehicle for the final time.

With power already terminated to former fleet leader Discovery and middle child Atlantis, Endeavour – despite having flown the penultimate flight of the Shuttle Program – will be the final surviving Shuttle orbiter once hooked back up to OPF power this week.

The most recent information indicates the Endeavour will be powered through mid-March, though with all T&R (Transition and Retirement) flow schedules in flux and under a certain degree of pressure to be finished quickly, it’s possible Endeavour could be powered down for the final time earlier than mid-March.

Click here for T&R Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/T&R/

After this milestone is passed, she will then be fitted with a tailcone assembly to prepare her for her ferry flight across the country to the CSC.

While timelines are currently in flux because of the added work of having to remove MPS components from all three orbiters – work that has not yet begun on Endeavour or her sister Atlantis, KSC Orbiter T&R Manager Stephanie Stilson revealed in an interview with NASASpaceflight.com’s Philip Sloss that KSC is currently targeting a mid-September, 2012 ferry flight for Endeavour, as much as this has since slipped to the October timeframe.

The double switch - Atlantis to take Endeavour place in VAB HB4:

With Endeavour safely in her OPF, Shuttle orbiter Atlantis (OV-104) has now taken up residence in VAB HB4, which involved her being wheeled out of the VAB transfer aisle and around the side of the building to the HB4 entrance – a move which was delayed until next week, before being pushed back up to Thursday and completed in the afternoon.

This now become Atlantis’s temporary home for February and most of March while her big sister Discovery completes her final KSC processing milestones in OPF-1.

However, Atlantis’s stay in the VAB will not be as solitary as Endeavour’s proved.

Unlike Endeavour, which saw now work performed on her during her VAB vacation, Atlantis will undergo the beginnings of her MPS tear down and removal while in the VAB.

While timelines are not solidified yet based on ongoing MPS tear down and removal work on Discovery in OPF-1, Atlantis is expected to remain in VAB HB4 until mid- to late-March 2012.

At this time, once all work is terminated on Discovery, the veteran flyer will be removed from OPF-1 and rolled over to the VAB for her last few weeks at her Kennedy home – a place she has called home since 1983.

After OPF-1 is vacated, Atlantis will be wheeled into the processing facility for her final T&R work.

In mid-April, Discovery will be rolled on her wheels from the VAB, past her two sisters, and out to Shuttle Landing Facility where she will be picked up by the Mate-Demate Device and her wheels retracted up into her belly.

Discovery will then be mated to the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft and flown up the eastern seaboard of the United States to Washington, D.C. and the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum on April 17, 2012 – 31 years 5 days after Columbia roared off Launch Pad 39A to begin this historic program.

To read about the orbiters -  from birth, processing, every single mission, through to retirement, click here for the links:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25837.0

(Images: Via NASA and L2 content – And special photography provided by Philip Sloss, NASASpaceflight.com and Larry Sullivan, MaxQ/NASASpaceflight.com – many thousands of super hi-res image stock available on L2′s new Photo Section)

(L2 and NSF are continuing to follow the orbiters through their transitional period. To join L2, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)

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NASA’s Remembrance:

This time of year serves to remind the human race that there is nothing routine about space flight, with three tragic anniversaries – Apollo 1, Challenger, and Columbia – all falling within five calendar days of each other early into each new year.

While the accidents, their causes, and the drive to mitigate repeat disasters are all well documented, the reminder – marked by NASA’s Day of Remembrance on the last Thursday of each January – serves to remind the current space program workforce that they have a job to do: to ensure no more names are added to the list of the fallen astronaut heroes.

KSC Director Bob Cabana knows what it’s like to put his life on the line for a mission into space. The retired USMC Colonel flew on four Space Shuttle missions and personally knew some of the lost heroes. He also was in charge of the spaceport that witnessed the final launches of the three surviving orbiters, each of which returned their crews home safely.

“Each year as I pause on our Day of Remembrance to honor those who made the ultimate sacrifice in our quest to explore space, I dedicate myself to ensuring that I do my very best to help prevent the loss of another life, whether as a crew member or in the line of duty supporting America’s space program,” noted Director Cabana in an address to the workforce.

“The business we are in is very demanding and terribly unforgiving of any mistakes we make.

“After laying the wreath, I took time to read the names on the mirror. They were some of my closest friends. They trusted us to do our best to protect them and keep them safe; they left loved ones behind who will always have an empty space that they once filled.”

KSC is currently transitioning to launch humans into space once again. As much as the new vehicles – ranging from commercial spaceships to NASA’s Orion capsule via the Space Launch System (SLS) - will be deemed “safer” than the Space Shuttle, it is unlikely the word “safe” will be taken for granted for decades to come, at least not when it involves sending crews uphill, riding on top of an explosion.

While the reminders this time of year are painful, the lessons from the three major disasters serve as motivation to ensure no more mistakes, to bring each crew back home safely and avoid another disaster which may result in the end of NASA in this risk adverse era.

“As we transition to a new future of commercial space operations and exploration beyond Earth, we cannot forget the lessons of our past,” added Director Cabana.

“They must be captured and passed on to ensure we do not repeat the same mistakes; that we do not take for granted our ability to launch humans into orbit; that just because we escaped harm in the past, it is no justification for success in the future; and that we have no hesitancy to share our concerns with anyone above or below us in the chain of command when it comes to the processing of critical space hardware that impacts the lives of our crew members, coworkers, and ourselves.

“We do amazing things at KSC, and we will continue to excel in the future because we have a culture of trust and integrity that binds us together. Let’s not lose that. Let’s not add any more names to the mirror. Let’s continue to do our best to ensure the health and safety of our crews and everyone else who works here at KSC.

“Thank you for your dedication to NASA, to KSC, and to human space exploration.”

Columbia’s loss remains the freshest in our minds. The beloved flagship which pioneered the Space Shuttle Program earned high praise from veteran commander John Young for her debut mission in 1981 and again from her inaugural pilot Bob Crippen who delivered a highly emotional tribute to Columbia during STS-107′s memorial speech – an amazing human tribute to a machine, one which is unlikely to be surpassed.
 
To vast amounts of people, both those who worked with the orbiters and those which followed their missions, the orbiters were living machines, almost differently sentient via their own personalities and quirks driven by a willingness to fight against the laws of physics to protect their crews.

Columbia had won that battle 27 times previous, before being mortally wounded during STS-107′s launch – a wound that sealed her fate during reentry 16 days later. Despite the gaping wound in her left wing, Columbia fought to the last during those final moments nine years ago today, as recognized by one of her engineers.
 
“Columbia’s lasting memorial in my eyes was her bravery that often gets over-looked,” noted one United Space Alliance engineer assigned to Columbia and who asked not to be named. “It was like she knew. I know that may sound strange – given she’s a machine, but I can’t – no matter how many times I look at the data – work out how she stayed mainly in one piece for so long, with her left wing terribly mis-shaped.
 
“Even with what we believe was – and I pray – an unconscious crew, and with her structure collapsing all around her, she still made multiple RCS (Reaction Control System) firings and rudder movements, fighting all the way to try and correct the drag. She should have been pulled over before she finally broke up, but she fought back, again and again.
 
“When I first got to see the data, I cried my eyes out. She was so brave to the end – I’m so proud of her and I’ll never forget her.”

Nine years later, Columbia continues to remind KSC’s current workforce of the need to work toward ensuring their future vehicles are in the best possible state for successfully launching and returning crews. Her remains continue to be held in a special room inside the very Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) she and her surviving sisters were processed in for their missions.

However, Columbia’s AND Challenger’s spirits remain in space – and while it may take a stretch of the imagination, their memories were honored as they watched over each one of their three sisters as Discovery, Endeavour, and Atlantis each enjoyed their victory laps around the planet one final time before descending into the atmosphere to conclude their service lives with a successful reentry and landing.

Sadly, the future which Columbia strived to create is currently less than desirable. As the U.S. Space Agency struggles to find a proper sense of direction, the future of NASA and humanity’s crewed exploration of space remains locked in PowerPoints and developmental contracts.

While political bickering continues over how to budget the future, its impact on the relatively small percentage of funding for what remains an admired space program threatens to disrespect the very heroes honored at this time of year.

Such frustrations were brilliantly captured in an article written by former SSP manager Wayne Hale.

“Do you think that they (the fallen astronauts) would be proud of their country which can no longer send humans into space? Do you think they would be proud of their space agency which has no coherent plan to continue with exploration?” Mr. Hale wrote in on his site.

“Do you think that they would be proud of their government which has fallen into bickering so badly that even the half of 1 percent of the federal budget that used to enable the future has been significantly reduced?  Or do you think that they would be proud of a commercial sector that is long on PR and short on delivering new commercial spacecraft?”
 
A proud nation such as the United States needs to honor its heroes and provide the inspiration of the next generation to step up to the plate to become part of the legacy and push forward humanity’s future in space.

*Discuss this article here*

To read about the orbiters -  from birth, processing, every single mission, through to retirement, click here for the links:
http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=25837.0

(Images: NASA, L2, Associated Press).

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Exploration Gateway:

With a return to the Moon’s surface returning to the table mid-way through 2011, during NASA evaluations into the new exploration plan, the concept of building a Gateway Platform at the International Space Station (ISS) and hosting it at a Lagrange point has become a large item of interest – not least since the Global Exploration Workshop last November.

Using the Gateway approach – the meeting concluded – utilizes “Near term focus on guiding capabilities, technologies and leveraging ISS,” prior to expanding to “Long term focus (on) Discovery Driven – and Enhanced by – Emerging Technologies.”

While the opening two missions of the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion (Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle) are currently manifested for trips around the Moon, the bulk of the schedule for the 2020s remains undefined, bar indicators that the roadmap would include missions to Near Earth Asteroids (NEA) and eventually Mars.

A Gateway would provide numerous supporting elements to a wide-ranging roadmap, not least an initial target of the Moon’s surface, but also via the potential for international collaboration, as overviewed in documentation into a crewed return to the moon – part of an ambitious plan put forward under the Boeing banner.

Such a deep space platform would be located at Earth-Moon Lagrange (EML) point 1 or 2, after being built from pre-launched hardware, providing the host station for a Lunar Lander (potentially reusable) – which would also be launched by the SLS.

The Gateway would first be constructed at the ISS, mainly using the Node 4/DHS (Docking Hub System), an orbiter external airlock, an MPLM (Multi-Purpose Logistics Module) habitat module, and an international module.

Once constructed, a space tug – powered either by solar electric or chemical propulsion – would be utilized to raise the platform to the EML point.

Such a proposal claims to have the platform ready for the arrival of crewed missions via the SLS by 2022.

While questions remain on the schedule of SLS’ availability, a potential solution to some of the challenges of enabling a space platform in the first place have been forwarded by Aerojet, promoting their current Solar Electric Propulsion technology – the same technology which enjoyed a staring role in the rescue of the Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite (AEHF-1).

Despite a nominal launch atop of an Atlas V – incidentally aided by three of Aerojet’s strap on solid rocket boosters – in August, 2010, a failure of the satellite’s subsystem resulted in the AEHF-1′s hydrazine-fueled liquid apogee engine (LAE) failing to carry out the required burns to place it correctly into Geostationary Orbit.

Thanks to some clever work via the satellite’s United States Air Force controllers and AEHF-1 teams, the $2 billion bird was saved via the ingenious use of the two smaller engines – namely the hydrazine-fueled Reaction Engine Assemblies (REAs) and later by the xenon-fueled Hall Current Thrusters (HCTs) – despite their primary role being one of positional stability on orbit.

The HCT thrusters – small motors that use electricity and xenon gas as propellant – do not have a large thrust level, but sport some amazing stamina, allowing them to fire over and over again for thousands of times.

While these motors can look forward to providing positional stability for upcoming satellites, along with long-distance trips with deep space spacecraft – a role Aerojet’s electric propulsion has successfully carried out on a huge range of spacecraft (a large amount remain operational today – click image for larger graphic) - a potential marriage between SEP and the Exploration Gateway plan has been promoted by the Californian company.

“We believe that Aerojet’s current Solar Electric Propulsion technology, such as that used to rescue AEHF, is immediately applicable to a key role in Human Space,” noted Julie Van Kleeck, Aerojet Vice President, Space & Launch System in an interview with NASASpaceflight.com.

“For example, a 25-40 kW SEP vehicle using current technology can pre-position a human-tended habitat at L-2 to support initial Orion missions. This approach would provide an immediate deep space destination for astronauts, and L-2 is an excellent way-station to the rest of the solar system.”

Playing to one of SEP’s strengths, such a vehicle would be relatively low in mass – when compared to its liquid propellant counterparts – aiding the launch vehicle used to loft such a vehicle en-route to its in-space role, while reducing the need for numerous refueling stations to assist thirsty spacecraft – otherwise known as propellant depots.

“In addition to delivering habitat modules to L-2, this 25-40 kW SEP vehicle enables an affordable and sustainable logistics transportation system for an L2 human outpost,” added Ms Van Kleeck. “Additionally this same vehicle supports a wide range of other potential destinations such as L-1, a 70,000 km way-station and lunar orbit. 

“The dramatic reduction in in-space propellant requirements enabled by SEP results in a 2X reduction in launcher delivery requirements to complete a mission, which will reduce the need for architectures like propellant depots.”

In recommending SEP technology for a role in NASA’s opening salvo of exploration missions, Aerojet believe they can assist as a facilitator towards enabling and supplying a platform, which itself would provide a key element of a viable exploration plan.

“A near-term operational SEP mission using current technologies serves three critical functions for human spaceflight,” Ms Van Kleeck noted.

“First, it provides an affordable transportation approach for the first deep-space destination for Orion.  Second, it establishes mission operation techniques and capabilities necessary for deep-space exploration.  Third, it provides a low-risk platform on which to validate subsystem/component technologies for follow-on vehicles. 

“These three critical outcomes, which follow the building block approach used over the past 50 years in the human spaceflight program, are why Aerojet recommends this near-term use of current technology Solar Electric Propulsion.”

Aerojet also have ambitions with the key component of the current exploration plan, via the upcoming evaluations into the advanced boosters which will provide the long-term assist of SLS’ ride uphill during first stage.

An article on Aerojet and SLS, along with other items of interest, will be forthcoming.

(Images: Via Aerojet, NASA and L2 content, driven by L2′s fast exapanding SLS specific L2 section, which includes, presentations, videos, graphics and internal updates on the SLS and HLV, available on no other site.)

(L2 is – as it has been for the past several years – providing full exclusive SLS coverage, available no where else on the internet. To join L2, click here: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/l2/)

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Delta Mariner Accident:

The Mariner – which is capable of carrying up to three common booster cores on the 2,100 mile journey from Alabama to Florida – was originally designed to carry Delta IV hardware from the production plant to the launch sites, while the Atlas hardware was delivered from its production facility in Denver to the launch sites by aircraft.

This process was reviewed in 2009, when the Atlas V production line was consolidated in Decatur, leading to ULA evaluations into common transportation options for both vehicles and the potential cost savings.

In mid-2011, Atlas hardware began sharing a ride on the Delta Mariner, completing a dual shipment, carrying both Atlas and Delta stages to Florida for future missions.

The ship was carrying an Atlas first stage and a Centaur upper stage for the April mission to launch the Air Force’s Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-2) satellite.

Advanced Extremely High Frequency -2 (AEHF-2) is set to become part of a series of communications satellites operated by the United States Air Force Air Force Space Command. The spacecraft will be used to relay secure communications for the Armed Forces of the United States, the British Armed Forces, the Canadian Forces and the military of the Netherlands.

The system will eventually consist of four spacecraft in geostationary orbits, with one bird already in orbit. AEHF is replacing the older Milstar system and will operate at 44 GHz Uplink (EHF band) and 20 GHz Downlink (SHF band).

The vessel was also shipping an interstage adapter for NASA’s Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission, scheduled to launch in August.

RBSP is being designed to help us understand the Sun’s influence on Earth and Near-Earth space by studying the Earth’s radiation belts on various scales of space and time.

The instruments on NASA’s Living With a Star Program’s (LWS) Radiation Belt Storm Probes (RBSP) mission will provide the measurements needed to characterize and quantify the plasma processes that produce very energetic ions and relativistic electrons.

The RBSP mission is part of the broader LWS program whose missions were conceived to explore fundamental processes that operate throughout the solar system and in particular those that generate hazardous space weather effects in the vicinity of Earth and phenomena that could impact solar system exploration.

RBSP instruments will measure the properties of charged particles that comprise the Earth’s radiation belts, the plasma waves that interact with them, the large-scale electric fields that transport them, and the particle-guiding magnetic field.

The two RBSP spacecraft will have nearly identical eccentric orbits. The orbits cover the entire radiation belt region and the two spacecraft lap each other several times over the course of the mission. The RBSP in situ measurements discriminate between spatial and temporal effects, and compare the effects of various proposed mechanisms for charged particle acceleration and loss.

The Delta Mariner, owned and operated by Foss Marine, made contact with the Eggner Ferry Bridge at US Highway 68 and Kentucky Highway 80 over the Tennessee River Thursday evening at 8:15 pm. Central Time resulting in a portion of the bridge collapsing, noted ULA in a release.

Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) spokesperson Keith Todd told the media that it was a miracle no one was killed, as there were four cars on the bridge and an off duty officer about to cross. Despite damaging two spans of the bridge, no vehicles were on those sections when the accident occurred.

While an investigation will likely reveal the cause of the accident, it appears the ship may have been off course, or mis-directed, given the bridge has lights that span navigable waterways.

One of the spans of the bridge was completely destroyed and became wrapped around the around the front portion of the vessel, but appears to have avoided any hull damage. 20 crewmembers were on board the Delta Mariner, none of which were injured during the accident.

“The Mariner cargo area of the ship and the flight hardware did not experience any damage. The hardware is well instrumented and all data from these instruments is being reviewed to confirm that there were no issues. The Coast Guard is conducting an investigation,” added the ULA statement.

(Images: ULA, Associated Press and KYTC).

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