EFT-1 Orion:

The EFT-1 Orion was born in the summer of 2011, as engineers at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) began welding together the crew module.

The module was then shipped to the Kennedy Space Center’s O&C (Operations & Checkout) Building in 2012 for an estimated 17 months of outfitting operations.

One of the recent milestones included the successful pressure and static load testing, proving the capsule should be able to cope with the stresses it can expect during launch and in space during its EFT-1 mission.

The successful test also validated a small area of repair on the spacecraft, after cracks were found during the initial pressure testing last November.

Since the small defects were found, engineers have reinforced the area of the aft bulkhead with doublers, adding structural integrity. The repair was validated during recent testing that pressurized the module to 110 percent of what it is expected to experience in space.

The associated load testing was conducted inside a 20-foot-tall static loads test fixture, allowing for hydraulic cylinders to slowly push and pull on the spacecraft to mimic the types of stresses Orion will experience during EFT-1. The spacecraft received loads ranging from 14,000 pounds to 240,000 pounds, measured by 1,600 strain gauges.

The team successfully completed eight loads tests on the crew module, with initial results showing no critical anomalies.

“The static loads campaign is our best method of testing to verify what works on paper will work in space,” said Charlie Lundquist, NASA’s Orion crew and service module manager at the Johnson Space Center. “This is how we validate our design.”

In addition to the loads testing, engineers and technicians completed a series of pyrotechnic bolt tests on an Orion Ground Test Article (GTA) dummy module in the Launch Equipment Test Facility at KSC. These tests were used to assess shock levels generated by separation events, along with their impact on the capsule’s tiles and surrounding components.

Over in the nearby Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB), the Orion Lockheed Martin team have been given the option of stacking the Launch Abort System (LAS) on the EFT-1 Orion inside the famous building’s Transfer Aisle, ahead of the stack being transported to Cape Canaveral for integration with the launch vehicle.

Click here for more Orion news articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/orion/

“The EFT-1 Off-line LAS Integration trade meeting concurred that the VAB was a viable option to perform the EFT-1 LAS stacking and that option should be made available to Lockheed Martin. LM is also considering other off-line integration activities,” noted L2′s EFT-1 Update Section.

As previously reported by this site, the Delta IV-Heavy launch vehicle that will loft EFT-1 Orion on its test mission is over 50 percent complete during its build-up flow at the United Launch Alliance (ULA) factory in Alabama.

Photos (L2) of the EFT-1 Delta IV-H show the vehicle undergoing its fabrication effort on the propulsion tankage for the rocket’s four major components: Center Common Booster Core (CBC), Port CBC, Starboard CBC, and the DCSS (Upper Stage).

The EFT-1 launch vehicle’s “major assemblies” – such as the stages – will be delivered to KSC in March 2014, with stacking on the launch pad beginning in July.

Testing for key events both during ascent and re-entry continues to take place, such as the recent test relating to the jettison of Orion’s three protective fairings – each 14 feet high and 13 feet wide – which will take place around the 560,000 feet point of ascent during EFT-1.

According to NASA, the first test – conducted by Lockheed Martin at their Sunnyvale facility – resulted in all the pyrotechnic mechanisms and bolts separating as planned. However the third fairing panel did not completely detach – likely due to a potential contact interference.

“This was a challenging system to design and test,” said Mark Geyer, Orion Program manager. “Completing this test helps us evaluate our design and assure mission safety and success.”

Evaluations will take place ahead of the second test, scheduled for later this summer, which will add expected thermal loads by heating one panel to 200 degrees Fahrenheit. A final test will be performed early in 2014.

A major milestone near the end of the mission will gain vital data into how the heat shield performs during the high energy re-entry – a Thermal Protection System (TPS) that continues to be prepared at contractor Textron Defense Systems.

The company recently completed the first round of gunning cycles on the shoulder sections of the heat shield, filling approximately 25 percent of the 320,000 cells on a honeycomb overlay.

The honeycomb provides structural reinforcement for the ablative Avcoat material which is bonded to the heat shield’s carrier substructure to protect Orion during re-entry.

Once Orion completes its re-entry, parachutes will safely slow the vehicle down, as it heads for its splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Work has been ongoing via the Orion Capsule Parachute Assembly System team, with the latest success – the Parachute Test Vehicle-4 air-drop – involving the rigging of one of the test capsule’s three main parachutes to skip one stage of its inflation, placing additional stress on the vehicle as it opened.

Most of the recent tests have involved off-nominal parachute deploy scenarios, allowing engineers to ensure a level of margin is available, should an Orion suffer from a problem during this critical part of the mission. The next air drop test is currently scheduled for July 24.

Once in the water, EFT-1 Orion will provide the first real test for the recovery forces, which includes the US Navy.

Per ETF-1 L2 information, a “Landing and Recovery Underway Test” Technical Interchange Meeting was recently conducted in San Diego, with the intention to continue coordination between the DoD (Department of Defense), L&R (Landing & Recovery) teams, and the Orion Flight Test Management Office, to ensure the teams are ready to support the test.

As previously reported by this site, the US Navy will conduct an Orion recovery exercise, scheduled for August 2013 – set to take place at Naval Station Norfolk, in Virginia. The second major test is planned for January 2014 – at Navy Base San Diego in California.

These two tests will prepare all related teams for the recovery of the EFT-1 Orion and allow for lesson’s learned ahead of the Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) and more importantly the first crewed mission, EM-2.

(NSF and L2 are providing full future vehicle 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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EFT-1:

The ULA rocket will be tasked with lofting the first space-bound Orion on a several hour flight to an altitude of more than 3,600 miles, prior to a return to Earth on a high-speed re-entry at more than 20,000 mph.

The most intense loads on this flight will occur during ascent, first stage separation, launch abort system jettison, parachute deployment and landing, with the test allowing NASA to evaluate Orion’s performance and integrity in preparation for the spacecraft’s future deep-space expeditions.

The EFT-1 data will also be a key driver during Orion’s key Critical Design Review (CDR) that will follow the test flight in the middle of 2015.

Following the completion of the CDR, the next Orion will be prepared for the Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) flight, conducted via the debut launch of the Space Launch System (SLS).

This mission is currently set for December, 2017 – although L2 information notes recent estimations currently place the launch window opportunities in a night launch stance, which would be undesirable for what is a test flight. As such, the mission may be moved to day launch opportunities the following Spring.

The first crewed mission with Orion and SLS will be Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2) in either 2020 or 2021. This mission was set to be a slightly extended version of EM-1′s trip around the Moon, prior to its realignment into an ambitious asteroid rendezvous and sample mission.

Following several slips over the past few years, EFT-1′s September, 2014 launch date is now holding firm, with all the hardware associated with the mission in various stages of production and processing.

A level of confusion surrounded last year’s slip to September, 2014, with a NASA Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) meeting claiming the “pacing element” was the Delta IV-H.

“EFT-1 is scheduled for September 2014. The pacing element for this flight is the surrogate launch vehicle; the capsule itself is well on the path to testing,” noted minutes from their discussions at the Johnson Space Center last year.

At the time, the comments appeared to match notes acquired a few months previous, which also pointed a finger at the Delta IV-H – as opposed to the EFT-1 Orion – as the main scheduling item. However, ULA claimed they were on track for the previous spring launch date for EFT-1.

“The LV for EFT-1 is in our production and launch queue and production is underway. The projected launch date has been agreed to between ULA, LM (Lockheed Martin) and NASA and ULA (and) is on track,” noted noted Dr George Sowers, ULA VP for Human Launch Services, during a Q&A session with NASASpaceFlight.com members.

“If Orion is planning to a (different) date, that is prudent since it’s the first flight for the spacecraft and there’s more risk. The Delta IV rocket, on the other hand, is a mature product.”

Interestingly, information acquired via L2 confirms the Delta IV-H only recently passed the 50 percent point in its fabrication process, pacing it for a shipping from the Decatur plant in Alabama next March.

“In addition to significant progress on the powerful rocket’s assembly and production, Launch, Mission Integration and Support activities are well underway at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida,” the update noted.

“The EFT-1 launch vehicle major assemblies will be delivered to KSC in March 2014, with stacking on the launch pad beginning in July.”

Photos (L2) of the EFT-1 Delta IV-H show the vehicle undergoing its fabrication effort on the propulsion tankage for the rocket’s four major components: Center Common Booster Core (CBC), Port CBC, Starboard CBC, and the DCSS (Upper Stage).

The major work on the vehicle involves the friction stir welding process for the tank longitudinal welds and plasma arc welding for the circumferential welds. Similar processes were employed for the External Tanks during their production at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), along with other vehicles.

This process ensures optimal structural integrity for the intense loading that the vehicles endure during their ride uphill.

After the EFT-1 tank skins are friction stir welded, the tanks will then undergo insulation installation, receive their coat of paint, prior to final assembly and shipping to Florida.

(NSF and L2 are providing full future vehicle 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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Major Peake’s flight assignment:

At an event in the UK earlier today – exactly four years to the day that Major Tim Peake’s selection as a European Space Agency (ESA) astronaut was made public – it was announced that Major Peake will fly to the ISS for five and a half months, as a Flight Engineer on Expeditions 46 and 47.

Major Peake will launch on the Russian Soyuz TMA-19M spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on November 30, 2015, and return to Earth on the same vehicle on May 16, 2016. During his mission, he will participate in many scientific experiments, many of which of European, and some maybe even of British origin.

According to the latest Flight Planning Integration Panel (FPIP) chart (available on L2), Major Peake can expect to see two visits of Russian Progress vehicles during his stint on the ISS, as well as two visits of SpaceX Dragon vehicles, and one visit of a Japanese HTV, with visits of Orbital’s Cygnus vehicle also likely.

He will also be trained to perform spacewalks, should one become necessary during his stay. However, plans at this point are very preliminary, and are likely to change dramatically between now and Major Peake’s launch.

Major Peake’s ISS slot was preliminarily planned to be assigned to French astronaut Thomas Pesquet, meaning Peake would have been the last of his selection class to fly, in the 2016-2017 timeframe. However, Pesquet appears to have now moved into the later slot, with Peake taking his place in the 2015-2016 slot, possibly in recognition of the UK’s recent financial contributions to ESA’s human spaceflight program.

In January of this year, NASASpaceflight.com sources reported that Major Peake had been chosen to fly on a unique short-duration flight opportunity afforded by the year-long mission to the ISS in 2015. Under this plan, Major Peake would have launched on Soyuz TMA-18M on September 30, 2015, and returned to Earth ten days later on Soyuz TMA-16M on October 10, 2015.

However, while said opportunity would have resulted in Major Peake flying to the ISS earlier than the 2016-2017 timeframe, it is understood that Britain objected to Major Peake being assigned to a short-duration slot while Andreas Mogensen of Denmark flew a long-duration mission, considering that the UK contributed more money than Denmark to ESA’s human spaceflight program at the most recent ESA ministerial meeting in November 2012.

As such, the 2015 short-duration opportunity has now been tentatively assigned to Denmark’s Andreas Mogensen, with Major Peake now being assigned to the long-duration slot from 2015-2016, and Frenchman Thomas Pesquet likely becoming the last of his class to fly in the 2016-2017 slot.

Major Tim Peake – Britain’s first ESA astronaut:

Timothy Peake was born on April 7, 1972, in Chichester, United Kingdom. In 1990, at the age of 18, he attended the Royal Military College Sandhurst, and upon graduation in 1992 went on to serve as an Officer in the British Army, serving as a platoon Commander with the Royal Green Jackets infantry division in Northern Ireland.

In 1994, he graduated as a helicopter pilot into the Army Air Corps (AAC), and four years later in 1998 went on to become a flight instructor, becoming instrumental in bringing the Apache attack helicopter into service with the AAC.

In 2005, he graduated from the Empire Test Pilots School at Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England, a British military establishment that has now churned out eleven international astronauts. In 2006 he earned a Bachelor of Science degree in Flight Dynamics from the University of Portsmouth.

Major Peake left the British Army in 2009, after 17 years of service and over 3,000 flying hours, and became a helicopter test pilot with the Agusta-Westland company. However, just a few months later in May 2009, he was announced as part of the European astronaut class of 2009, in the process becoming the first Briton ever to be selected for the ESA astronaut program.

While the UK was not a contributor to ESA’s human spaceflight program at the time of his selection, it was hoped that Major Peake would serve as an incentive for the UK to become more involved with human spaceflight – a hope that has been fulfilled with the UK’s recent financial contributions to ESA’s manned programs.

Major Peake graduated from ESA astronaut training in November 2010, and since then has been dividing his time between flying Apache helicopters for the British Territorial Army (TA), and astronaut training in Houston, Germany, and Russia, in the hope of an assignment to an ISS crew.

Peake’s assignment to a space mission will not be the first time a Briton has been in space, with many joint UK-US nationals having flown aboard the Space Shuttle and ISS, including Mike Foale, Piers Sellers, Nick Patrick, and Greg H. Johnson. As NASA astronauts however, they all flew with US flags on their arms, and did not represent the UK.

British national Helen Sharman did make it into space in 1991, however she flew as part of a privately-funded commercial experiments program to the Russian Mir space station, and as such was not sanctioned by the British government to fly on behalf of UK. Other privately-financed “space tourist” flights have also been made by joint UK-US national Richard Garriott, and joint UK-South African national Mark Shuttleworth.

Coincidentally, Major Peake looks set to miss out on claiming the title of “first UK national on the ISS” by just 2.5 months, as that claim will instead go to British singer Sarah Brightman, who will visit the ISS as a space tourist, along with ESA astronaut Andreas Mogensen, for ten days from September 30-October 10, 2015, meaning that two Britons will in fact fly on the ISS in 2015.

Major Peake will however be the first ever person to fly in space on behalf of the UK government, thus representing the whole of the UK, and wearing a Union Jack flag on his arm. Major Peake’s flight will also represent the end of a long road by the British armed forces to get a current or former service member in space, having come tantalisingly close on several occasions in the past.

Those attempts were British Army Lieutenant-Colonels Anthony Boyle and Richard Farrimond, Royal Navy Commander Peter Longhurst, and Royal Air Force (RAF) Squadron Leader Nigel Wood, who in February 1984 were all selected as Payload Specialists to fly on the Space Shuttle as part of the Skynet 4 program. Ultimately however, the Space Shuttle Challenger disaster prevented all from ever flying in space.

The British forces again came close to being able to lay claim to an astronaut as part of the commercial Project Juno in 1991, with Royal Navy physician Gordon Brooks being selected as one of the final four candidates, and Army Air Corps Major Tim Mace being selected as back-up for Helen Sharman, who ultimately flew the mission.

Major Peake however will end the long history of disappointment when he blasts off toward the ISS in 2015.

“I am delighted to be proposed for a long-duration mission to the International Space Station. This is another important mission for Europe and in particular a wonderful opportunity for European science, industry and education to benefit from microgravity research,” said Major Peake on Monday.

“Since joining the European Astronaut Corps in 2009, I have been training to work on the Station and I am extremely grateful to the ground support teams who make it possible for us to push the boundaries of knowledge through human spaceflight and exploration.”

The United Kingdom and the ISS:

The UK has had a long and difficult relationship with the ISS over the past two decades, however, with Major Peake’s flight assignment, it finally looks as though the UK is firmly committing to the orbiting laboratory, and thus is finally set to start receiving its many benefits.

The UK was a signatory to the ISS Intergovernmental Agreement (IGA) signed on January 28, 1998, between the USA, Russia, Canada, Japan, and the 11-member ESA, however it was the only signatory of that agreement that did not go on to contribute any funding to the ISS program.

This was due to a long-standing UK government policy that barred the UK from contributing any funding to human spaceflight, preferring instead to focus on unmanned missions and telecommunications technologies. While this strategy allowed for the creation of a very strong satellite industry for the UK, it meant that Britain was left out of sharing in the scientific benefits that result from the ISS.

Within the past few years however, the space industry has been identified as a key area of growth for the UK, contributing £9 billion to the British economy every year. As such, a government-backed drive to increase the UK’s involvement in the space sector has been underway, which resulted in the April 2010 establishment of the UK Space Agency (UKSA), who are tasked with managing Britain’s participation in space projects, for the benefit of the entire nation.

UKSA manages Britain’s contributions to ESA, and in the November 2012 ESA ministerial meeting, Britain became the only nation in the austere European budget environment to actually increase their financial contributions to ESA, becoming ESA’s third largest contributor in the process.

Notable among Britain’s £1.2 billion ESA contributions at the 2012 ministerial were two never before seen British contributions to the field of ESA human spaceflight. In a departure from past policy, and following years of campaigning by many who saw the potential benefits of UK participation in human spaceflight, the UK made a £12.4 million contribution to ESA’s European Life and Physical Sciences (ELIPS) program, which will grant the UK access to the microgravity environment of the ISS to conduct research.

Additionally, the UK made a completely unexpected one-off contribution of £16 million to ESA’s effort to design and build an Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV)-derived Service Module (SM) for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, which is now expected to include construction contracts for British industry in the areas of telecommunication and propulsion, meaning British made technologies could be used to send the first human beings beyond Earth’s orbit in over half a century.

ESA is building the Orion SM for NASA in order to cover ESA’s share of ISS operating costs for the period of 2017-2020, meaning that, since Britain is a financial contributor to the Orion SM effort, technically the UK will be an ISS partner nation for the 2017-2020 period. It is this fact that paved the way for Major Peake’s ISS flight assignment.

It is hoped that Major Peake may be able to carry out some British experiments during his time on the ISS, thanks to the UK’s recent contributions to the ELIPS program.

There is a surging interest lately in UK participation in microgravity research, with the second ever UK Space Environments conference set to take place at the National Space Centre in Leicester from November 9-10, 2013, organised by the UK Space Biomedicine Association (UKSBA).

While in late 2010 the Union Jack flag was quietly removed from the ISS, Major Tim Peake will hopefully place it back during his flight, as the UK finally takes its rightful place as an ISS partner nation, with the benefits of the orbiting laboratory in the form of scientific research and inspiration becoming available to the people of Britain at long last.

(Images: via NASA, BBC, and L2).

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No Go To The Moon:

In the wake of the Columbia tragedy, the Vision For Space Exploration (VSE) provided NASA with a roadmap to retire the Space Shuttle fleet after the assembly of the International Space Station (ISS) was completed, prior to focusing on a return to the surface of the Moon via the Constellation Program (CxP).

“Moon, Mars and Beyond” was the goal, with a return to the Lunar surface classed as a required stepping stone on the path to Mars.

Following the demise of the Constellation Program, the focus switched to missions to visit a Near Earth Asteroid (NEA), before once again taking aim on what has consistently been NASA’s big goal of sending humans to Mars.

This new roadmap is still – and is likely to remain for some time – under construction, with only Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) all-but set in stone for the debut launch of the Space Launch System (SLS), sending an uncrewed Orion on a fly-by of the Moon in 2017.

Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2) was to be tasked with a crewed version of EM-1, on a slightly longer mission that allowed for several orbits of the Moon.

However, that mission has since been re-purposed into an ambitious flight of an Orion crew to “get hands on” with a captured asteroid.

The following missions for SLS and Orion remain undefined, with the SLS manifest to 2032 (L2) only showing placeholders for one SLS launch per year, as the vehicle evolves from its 70mT capability, through to 105mT and eventually its fully evolved state as a 130mT capable Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV), required for what NASA claim will be missions to Mars in the mid-2030s.

It is likely NASA will undertake yet more ambitious NEA missions in the mid 2020s, venturing further out into deep space, as they validate the technology required for keeping a crew alive on missions lasting hundreds of days.

There also remains the possibility NASA will further evaluate the potential for an Exploration Platform, or Gateway, constructed at the ISS and sent out via Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) to the EML2 location. However, such a facility is yet to receive any notable political support.

Although missions to the lunar surface have never been fully promoted by NASA’s leadership since the end of the Constellation Program, the option has always been there, as seen via the internal exploration roadmap evaluation process.

Internal documentation placed the potential for NASA missions to the Moon within the ESD Concept Of Operations (Con Ops) presentations (L2) – listing it alongside the main NEA (Earth Earth Asteroid) missions under the Architectural Timeframe Design Reference Missions (DRMs).

“Lunar Surface Sortie (LSS): Lands four crew members on the surface of the Moon in the equatorial or Polar Regions and returns them to Earth,” noted one such example within the ESD Con Ops presentation.

“Expected drivers include: MPCV (Orion) operations in LLO (Low Lunar Orbit) environment, MPCV uncrewed ops phase, MPCV delta V requirements, RPOD (Rendezvous, Proximity Operations and Docking), MPCV number of habitable days.”

However, footsteps back on the Moon – at least via the boots of NASA astronauts – appears to be no longer a viable option, with General Bolden throwing a large amount of cold water on the prospect this year.

Per the issues, almost all related to NASA’s restrictive budget, General Bolden recently provided one example as to why NASA won’t be returning to the Moon, namely the apparent cost of the Lander.

During the Constellation Program, the lander – known as Altair – was already into the planning stages at the related NASA centers. However, Altair died, along with its launch vehicle – the Ares V – when CxP ended.

After being asked about the possibility of inserting lunar surface sorties into the exploration roadmap at a recent congressional hearing, General Bolden made the claim it would cost NASA between $8-10 billion to resurrect Altair through to the point of achieving lunar landings with it.

General Bolden followed up his comments during this week’s Explore Mars event, in which he praised the current – albeit yet undefined – roadmap as “realistic, affordable and sustainable”, providing the path remained focused on Mars in the 2030s.

Any future political redirection to include a return to the Moon’s surface, would – he claimed – seriously impact on the potential of sending humans to the Red Planet.

“We need to try and get all of us on to the same sheet of music in terms of the roadmap,” noted the NASA head. “(If we) have someone in the next administration who could take us back to a human lunar mission, it’s all over, we will go back to square one.

“I believe (that would mean we) would have missed the second greatest opportunity for humanity to go on to deep space and do what humans have wanted to do for hundreds of years.”

Golden Spike Lander:

While NASA’s current leadership are against returning to the Moon, the Golden Spike company – formed in 2010 and led by Gerry Griffin and Alan Stern – are aiming to provide a commercial opportunity for people to set foot on the lunar surface as early as 2020.

With the goal of raising $7-8 billion – an amount that would fund all the required systems development and integration, a careful multi-mission flight test series, and a healthy level of project reserves – Golden Spike made their plans known to the public last December.

The announcement included notional graphics, including a sporty looking hardware, before revealing they had arranged a feasibility study into a new commercial lunar lander, an effort that has been undertaken by Northrop Grumman Corporation.

That study was completed this week, with Northrop Grumman providing an overview of their lunar expedition architecture that includes a novel new, low-mass ascent stage concept dubbed “Pumpkin.”

After evaluating 180 lunar lander cases for various options and sensitivities – including loiter, staging, propellants, engines, surface duration, surface cargo and technology basis – the study determined that a set of options, using a minimalist pressurized ascent pod and descent stage with a surface habitat, was shown to be viable.

The study also showed the minimalist ascent pod with surface habitat concept could fit inside a five-meter diameter fairing payload envelope.

“This concept has significant operability advantages for surface exploration since the surface habitat can be segmented to isolate lunar dust and provides more space for living and for selecting the most valuable lunar return samples,” noted Martin McLaughlin, Northrop Grumman’s study lead.

“We affectionately call the minimalist ascent pod ‘Pumpkin’ because of its spherical shape and because it returns the crew to orbit after the surface exploration party.”

The study also determined there are numerous options for cryogenic propellants, when compared with storable propellants, but that multiple storable propellant options are possible. Options with cryogenic propellants have higher performance, but are more difficult to contain for the GSC mission duration than storable propellants, such as those used in the Apollo program.

“Northrop Grumman has done an exemplary job and helped advance Golden Spike’s technical approach to renewed human lunar exploration,” added Mr. Stern. “The study’s results are very exciting and will help enable a new wave of human lunar exploration that Golden Spike plans.”

(Images: NASA, NG, Golden Spike and L2)

(NSF and L2 are providing full exploration roadmap level coverage from Orion and SLS to ISS and COTS/CRS/CCDEV, to European and Russian vehicles.)

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Domestic Crew Capability:

Since the retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, NASA astronauts have been launched to the ISS on Russian Soyuz vehicles, a requirement that ensures the continuation of a US presence on a Station that was mainly funded and constructed by the United States.

While some argue the end of Shuttle was premature, the three orbiters successfully completed their unique role of hauling huge amounts of hardware and supplies to the orbital outpost, marking the start of a major transitional period for the US space agency.

With the ISS moving from assembly to utilization, and the orbiters receiving an honorable retirement, NASA looked forward to refocusing Shuttle’s yearly cost of around $4.5 billion into a new fleet of commercial vehicles that would take over some of the Agency’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) obligations, freeing the US to plan for a return to Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) exploration.

On paper the plan appears to be a perfect mix of propelling commercial space into the Premier League of space missions – initially supplying cargo to the ISS, prior to launching NASA astronauts to the giant laboratory in the heavens – followed by NASA’s flagship missions to explore deep space as far as Mars, enabled by the world’s biggest launch vehicle, the Space Launch System (SLS).

In reality, NASA’s $17-18 billion budget is spread over many projects, each of which tend to come with their own political backers, who then fight over how the NASA pie will be sliced up.

While NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) drive is up and running – with Orbital recently enjoying the successful debut launch of the Antares, ahead of Cygnus supply runs, and SpaceX already completing two CRS missions – the path towards the Commercial Crew missions to the ISS is suffering from funding concerns.

The initial plan aimed at regaining US domestic launch capability for NASA astronauts by around 2015.

Although the three main competitors involved in the Commercial Crew Program – SpaceX, Boeing and Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) – are currently making good progress on their respective vehicles, the lower-than-requested levels of funding in the NASA budget over the past three years has resulted in the 2015 target slipping by at least two years.

The shortfall is “only” in the hundreds of millions of dollars per year, which is ironically about the same amount of money that is being sent to Roscosmos for the purchase of seats on the Soyuz – a scenario that has been once again extended, to June, 2017 – in order to cover the slip in the Commercial Crew Program’s Full Operational Capability (FOC) date.

“NASA has signed a $424 million modification to its contract with the Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos) for full crew transportation services to the International Space Station in 2016 with return and rescue services extending through June 2017,” noted a NASA release on Tuesday, confirming a deal that had been known for several months.

“This firm-fixed price modification covers comprehensive Soyuz support, including all necessary training and preparation for launch, flight operations, landing and rescue of six space station crew members on long-duration missions. It also includes additional launch site support, which was provided previously under a separate contract.

“The modification will allow for a lead time of about three years Roscosmos needs to build additional Soyuz vehicles.”

This Catch 22 situation leaves General Bolden fighting to ensure funding for Commercial Crew isn’t once again starved during the FY13 Budget Proposal discussions, with the release relaying comments the NASA head has made many times previous.

“Full funding of the administration’s Fiscal Year 2014 budget request is critical to making these domestic capabilities possible by 2017.”

However, NASA planners appear to be resigned to the fact they will require Soyuz support through to the end of 2017, after a full one year slip was observed on the Flight Planning Integration Panel (FPIP) document, available in L2.

This first Commercial Crew mission to the ISS is known as US Crew Vehicle -1 (USCV-1), with a launch date now penciled in for November 30, 2017, followed by a docking on December 2, 2017.

The USCV-2 through to USCV-6 are shown to launch at intervals of six months, with a Russian Soyuz penciled in to provide a back up role “in the event the US Crewed Vehicle is unavailable” through to the USCV-4 mission in 2019.

Partly responsible for the funding constraints has been the large political support for SLS and Orion, which may also play a part of the bigger picture.

Per the 2010 Authorization Act, the language guided NASA to bringing SLS on line by 2017 – much earlier than the required per its primary role of lofting large upmass for deep space missions.

The reason 2017 was selected was partly related to the “back up” role of using Orion for NASA crew transportation to the ISS, in the event Commercial Crew suffered a major schedule delay.

The language was written at the time Commercial Crew was scheduled to begin in 2015, but with the ongoing slips, there is a slight possibility lawmakers may gaze towards what would be an overpowered 70mt SLS for an Orion mission to the ISS.

Although the ISS wasn’t mentioned, intimations towards Orion being initially used in LEO were recently made during the NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) meeting at the Goddard Space Flight Center, with panel member John Frost noting the “conservative” process would be to fly a crewed Orion mission in LEO before flying crewed Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2).

“However, this would require one more flight than is currently budgeted,” he added, before requesting he would “like to see the rationale for flying first-time crewed to BEO rather than LEO (and) the rationale for not flying flight-configuration before flying crew.”

Click here for Commercial Space Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/news/commercial/

Flying the BEO-tasked Orion on an ISS mission would be last resort, with extending the Soyuz agreement likely to be the route NASA would take in the event of further delays to Commercial Crew. However, General Bolden states he is focused on avoiding further slips by stressing the need for stable funding, starting with FY13.

“Three years ago, the Administration put forward a public-private partnership plan, the Commercial Crew Program (CCP), to ensure that American companies would be launching our astronauts from U.S. soil by 2015,” he wrote on Tuesday. “If NASA had received the President’s requested funding for this plan, we would not have been forced to recently sign a new contract with Roscosmos for Soyuz transportation flights.”

“Because the funding for the President’s plan has been significantly reduced, we now won’t be able to support American launches until 2017. Even this delayed availability will be in question if Congress does not fully support the President’s fiscal year 2014 request for our Commercial Crew Program, forcing us once again to extend our contract with the Russians.

“Further delays in our Commercial Crew Program and its impact on our human spaceflight program are unacceptable. That’s why we need the full $821 million the President has requested in next year’s budget to keep us on track to meet our 2017 deadline and bring these launches back to the United States.”

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ATV-4 mission overview:

ATV-4, named “Albert Einstein”, is the fourth in the series of ATV spacecraft, with ATV-1 having flown in 2008, ATV-2 in 2011, and ATV-3 in 2012.

As the ATV has the largest cargo carrying capability of all the ISS Visiting Vehicles (VVs), and also has the ability to perform ISS reboosts, ATV-4 will be carrying a large load of both internal (dry) and propellant (wet) cargo.

Specifically, the pressurized Integrated Cargo Carrier (ICC) section will carry around 2,700kg of cargo, including food, crew provisions, and scientific hardware.

The Service Module (SM) will carry 570kg of water, 100kg of gas (air and oxygen), 2,230kg of propellants available for ISS reboosts, and 860kg of propellants for transfer to the Russian Segment (RS).

ATV-4 will launch atop an Ariane 5 booster from Europe’s Kourou Space Center in French Guiana, where the vehicle currently resides while undergoing final processing activities.

While ATV-4 was originally scheduled to launch on April 18, that date was pushed back to June 5 due to the failure of an electrical unit in the vehicle.

While the ATV ICC and SM are normally mated together only once during their processing flow, the ATV-4 ICC and SM have been mated together three times in total, which is the reason for the delay.

After the first ICC-SM mating, it was discovered that there was a problem with a connector for a piece of equipment inside the ICC, and due to this issue, the decision was taken to de-mate the ICC from the SM, remove the ICC Aft Access Closure (AAC), and repair the connector. This was performed successfully, and the ICC and SM were put back together in time to support the originally planned docking window.

However, post-mating tests performed following the re-mating of the ICC and SM revealed another problem – the failure of the power supply of a Digital Signal Processing Unit (DSPU) inside the ICC.

This failure required the ATV teams to once again de-mate the ICC and SM, remove the AAC, and Remove & Replace (R&R) the faulty DSPU with a new unit. Once the ICC and SM were put back together again, the new DSPU led to the need to perform a complete re-testing of all interfaces, which was the reason for the delay to June 5.

The problem was described by Alberto Novelli, ATV-4 Mission Manager, in an exclusive Q&A with NASASpaceflight.com: “We had a problem with a connector that was fixed relatively quickly and we could have met the initial docking window. Unfortunately the failure of the power supply of an avionics box inside the ICC was detected during the post-mating tests.

“This required us to un-mate the ATV, re-open the pressurized module and change the unit. After the exchange, a complete re-testing of all interfaces was performed. This is the main reason for the delay.”

Assuming an on-time launch on June 5, ATV-4 is scheduled to dock to the ISS at the Aft port of the Russian “Zvezda” Service Module on June 15, following a ten-day free-flight and rendezvous period.

After a roughly 4.5 month period of “attached phase operations”, during which time ATV-4 will be unloaded of all its cargo, re-packed with trash to be incinerated upon re-entry, and will also provide propulsive support to the ISS for all reboosts and Debris Avoidance Maneuvers (DAMs), ATV-4 is tentatively planned to undock from the ISS on November 4, for a destructive re-entry a short time later.

Past ATV anomalies:

For the previous ATV mission, ATV-3 in 2012, despite the fact that the vehicle was able to meet 100 per cent of its mission objectives, it suffered from a number of in-flight anomalies, the resolutions for which were detailed in ATV mission readiness sources provided to NASASpaceflight.com.

The first anomaly seen on ATV-3 was with the Proximity Communication Boom, which should deploy from the ATV post-launch in order to aid in communication with the ISS, although the ATV can still communicate with ISS without the Boom deployed.

On ATV-1 in 2008, this Boom deployed less than 1 minute following launch, which is the nominal timeframe.

On ATV-2 in 2011, the Boom didn’t deploy until 141 minutes after launch, and on ATV-3 in 2012, the Boom didn’t deploy until 46 hour after launch.

Despite extensive investigations, the ATV teams have been unable to find any reason for these deployment delays, with loose theories being that possible Multi Layer Insulation (MLI) interference could be at play, caused by “ballooning” MLI on ascent as air trapped under the MLI escapes into vacuum.

Thus, slight modifications have been made to the MLI surrounding the Prox Comm Boom on ATV-4, including adding vent holes to prevent the ballooning. Additionally, an opening in the orbital debris shielding around the Boom has been enlarged to prevent interference, and teams have also verified that cabling around the boom will not cause interference.

While not technically a failure, a slight issue seen on ATV-3, and indeed ATVs -1 and -2, is increased “noise” in the pitch and yaw values during docking, which have been increasing from one flight to the next. An investigation determined that this “noise” was likely due to contamination or damage on the Laser Retro Reflector (LRR) on the Aft end of the “Zvezda” Service Module.

LRRs are used by the Videometers (VDMs) on the ATV, which are navigational sensors that measure the distance and angles between the ATVs and ISS during docking. Due to the increasing noise and the suspected contamination/damage, the decision was made to replace the LRR during Russian EVA-32 on April 19, a task which was successfully completed.

Alberto Novelli, ATV-4 Mission Manager, again explained the issue exclusively to NASASpaceflight.com: “During the final part of ATV-3 docking, Videometer n.2 (the redundant videometer) saw some noise in the signal received from the inner retroreflector that is installed on the Russian Service Module. This target is used by ATV during the last part of RDV (Rendezvous) operations.”

“Investigations concluded that the most probable cause was contamination of the target. The detection of a wrong measurement by the Videometer may result – in extreme cases – in an Escape Manoeuvre, even though the ATV GNC (Guidance, Navigation & Control) is robust with respect to these kinds of perturbations.

“However, in order to eliminate any possibility this scenario occurring, ESA decided to change the target with a new one (i.e. no design change).”

An additional failure seen on ATV-3 was the loss of one of the vehicle’s two redundant power chains, known as the Russian Equipment Control System (RECS), which controls the transfer of power between the ISS and ATV, since ATVs need power provided by the ISS during their docked phase.

Each RECS chain has two redundant ISS-ATV data protocol converters, known as Russian Interface Control Units (RICUs).

Click here for additional ATV News Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/atv/

However, 100 minutes after the docking of ATV-3, RICU-1 on the RECS-1 chain failed a health check, leading to a total loss of the RECS-1 chain, and thus a total loss of ISS power to ATV-3. Power was eventually restored after the RECS-2 chain was brought online.

While ATV-3′s design redundancy still allowed for 100 percent mission success despite the RICU failure, a full investigation was performed into the failure by the ATV teams. However, following extensive testing and reviews, no design or manufacturing flaw was able to be identified, and since 11 of the 12 RICUs flown over the previous three ATV missions were fault-free, no design changes were made.

Yet another failure to occur on ATV-3 was the ATV cabin fan, which failed after 96 days of operation. ATV-2′s cabin fan also failed after 100 days.

The failed ATV-3 cabin fan was replaced with a new unit and the old unit was returned to Earth on the SpX-1 Dragon flight for analysis.

Once back on Earth, the cabin fan was disassembled and analyzed, however, again, no design flaw was found.

A spare ATV cabin fan is already available on the ISS, should the ATV-4 fan fail, however most ATV operations can continue even with a cabin fan failed, albeit with some workarounds.

A number of failures were also seen due to ground commanding issues, such as an early reboost termination caused by Mission Control Center-Moscow (MCC-M) inadvertently selecting only one ATV thruster for the reboost instead of two, leading to the thruster being shut down due to a temperature violation.

Additionally, the first ATV-3 undocking attempt failed due to an incorrect spacecraft identification parameter being sent to the ATV Proximity Communication Equipment (PCE) by MCC-M. These issues will all be resolved for ATV-4 due to updated ground procedures and flight rules.

“All anomalies seen during the ATV-3 mission have been investigated, analysed and the corresponding agreed corrections or work-around, when required, have been put in place for ATV-4,” explained Mr. Novelli.

ATV’s legacy for future exploration:

While ATV-4′s primary mission will be to resupply and service the ISS, its mission will also contribute to future Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) space exploration by acquiring valuable engineering knowledge, expertise and experience for the teams building the Service Module (SM) for NASA’s Orion Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), the design and construction of which will be handled entirely by ESA and based heavily on the ATV SM.

Throughout the ATV-4 mission, every operation, including propulsive maneuvers, reboosts, dockings, undockings, and regular attached phase operations such as provision of electrical power and life support, ATV-4 will be contributing valuable engineering data and proven capability to the MPCV design effort

According to Nico Dettman, head of ESA’s ATV Programme Department, in response to a question from NASASpaceflight.com: “The MPCV-ESM (European Service Module) is using a number of ATV components (thruster, gas tanks, etc.) and is building on ATV heritage in terms of know-how in designing and qualifying a service module.

“Overall, the design of the ESM will differ in many aspects from the ATV-SM, taking into account four different design reference missions (lunar and LEO missions) including propulsive support to mission abort in certain contingency cases with a crewed capsule.

“The later will be achieved by integrating one of the former Shuttle OMS engines.”

Thomas Reiter, former ESA astronaut and current Director of ESA Human Spaceflight and Operations, told NASASpaceflight.com: “I am extremely proud of the dedication and problem-solving ingenuity of the ATV teams at ESA, CNES, Arianespace and Astrium, who collectively ensure the success of each ATV mission.

“We are looking forward to achieving all ATV-4 mission goals and, after ATV-5, to working even closer with our NASA colleagues as ATV heritage technology is integrated into the Orion Service Module.”

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EM-2 Asteroid Mission:

The mission involves three segments: the first is the detection and characterization of the candidate Near Earth Asteroids (NEAs) phase; the second segment involves a robotic rendezvous, capture, and redirection of a target asteroid to the Earth-Moon system; the third segment involves a crewed mission to explore and sample the captured asteroid using the Space Launch System (SLS) and the Orion crew capsule.

Based on the initial target date presented to lawmakers in the FY14 Budget Proposal, the Orion trip to the captured asteroid is likely to be a realigned version of the 2021 Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2).

Concerning the redirection segment, Mr. Gerstenmaier – presenting the mission to the NAC – said that the high powered (40-kW) Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) hardware “plays a key role” in this aspect of the mission.

The word “redirect” is being used for this part of the mission, because the asteroid cannot be maneuvered into cislunar space, it “must be heading back to cislunar space on its own.”

“(The asteroid is) continually thrust upon by the SEP, essentially deflecting it or redirecting it into the earth gravity or lunar gravity. With gravity assist – and then with some continued thrusting – you end with a deep (distant) retrograde orbit around the moon. That is a stable orbit that can be stable for up to a hundred years.”

Mr. Gerstenmaier admitted the team will have to work with a large set of criteria, in order to find the correct target asteroid.

“(We) have to find an object that is naturally of the right size, that has the right spin characteristics, right mass and which has to be heading back into cislunar space at the time.”

Interestingly, the Associate Administrator also noted the search for a candidate asteroid may result in some of the discarded Saturn IV upper stages from the Apollo era being spotted in deep space.

The S-IVB’s used during Apollo 8 through 12 are currently believed to be wandering around in a Heliocentric orbit, with Apollo 12′s S-IVB actually mistaken for an asteroid in 2002.

However, Mr. Gerstenmaier believes they can now determine where the Saturn upper stages are located and will be able to identify them, given NASA have calculations on their current positions. The density of the upper stage is also fairly low, when compared to an asteroid.

It was also noted NASA conducted a preliminary study with object 2009 BD, although it was determined that this asteroid could not be brought back to cislunar space until 2024, even if it met all of the conditions.

Per the proposed asteroid mission, a large body of work will have to be conducted on all of the mission elements.

One example provided by Mr. Gerstenmaier related to the SEP thrusters, that would need to fire for almost a year, requiring 12mT of xenon gas. Since the channel wall of the hall thrusters can erode, magnetic protection will also be needed.

Another challenge involves designing “a capture device that takes the wobble out” of the asteroid. Because of this, you need “a soft enough capture device like a spring tamper kind of device,” added Mr. Gerstenmaier.

“(NASA is) looking at the schematics of some inflatable device, that takes out (the) nutation slowly enough that it doesn’t overload (the) solar array. There is a lot of spacecraft motion. (The spacecraft is going to) essentially ride with this asteroid for a while.”

The spacecraft would use a “hydrazine system to despin this asteroid”. After this, the asteroid is redirected, using the thrusters, with the biggest challenge relating to capturing it -  something that “couldn’t be guaranteed.”

The third part of the mission is the estimated 20 day crewed flight to explore and sample the captured asteroid, utilizing the SLS and Orion – with the centerpiece of the mission being the EVAs to document and take samples of the asteroid.

Mr. Gerstenmaier mentioned NASA teams “were looking at potentially using the launch and entry suits with a modified TMG (thermal meteoroid garment) to provide an EVA capability.

“We envision two EVAs opportunities during the attached period, each with a duration of about 3 to 4 hours. (The spacewalks) would not be sophisticated EVAs, they would be simple, to go and grab a sample.”

To allow the spacewalkers to translate across to the captured asteroids, they would need “to put some booms across and modify the robotic spacecraft to have some handles for translation path.” Mr. Gerstenmaier added that the Orion EVA capability “was a design case for Orion, but not many people thought that we were going to do it fairly early in the (exploration roadmap) sequence.”

It was also mentioned that NASA could conduct an EVA at the ISS, with the new suits, in order to buy down some risks.

According to Mr. Gerstenmaier, the mission makes sense, since it involves a lot of activities that were already being conducted by various directorates, unifying them into one mission: asteroid identification and characterization, solar electric power (solar arrays and hall thrusters), in-space robotic activities, heavy lift and Orion.

The mission also builds NASA’s “tool box” for the ultimate goal, Mars.

“The robotic spacecraft that we build may be the robotic bus that (NASA is) going to use for propulsion in the future,” adding he had spoken to the international community about this mission on two occasions, and there is “general interest in it,” – ranging from observation opportunities to technology or mission design pieces.

Using Orion also has its advantages, given “it serves a rescue function, or a safe haven function, for the habitation module. It can take a three quarter inch hole on the other side of the Moon and still return four crew safely.”

The asteroid capturing mission itself will not need a habitation module, but later missions are likely to need one. The habitat itself could be derived from Orbital’s Cygnus spacecraft or Japan’s HTV, incorporating a next generation life support system which will also involve demonstrations on the ISS.

As with EM-1, the Service Module for the EM-2 mission will be provided in part by ESA, via hardware from their ATV (Automated Transfer Vehicle) cargo ships.

The history behind the decision to use ESA’s ATV for the service module was discussed at the same meeting by Kirk Shireman, Deputy Manager, International Space Station Program.

“Initially, there was discussions about (additional) ATVs, but ESA doesn’t really want to build any more,” Mr. Shireman noted.

“ESA was really interested in building something new. They actually wanted to build a human capsule. We told (ESA) that (NASA) didn’t have any interest (in this), that they are welcome to do that but not with (NASA’s) money.”

Shireman explained that he sees “common system ops costs” as NASA money, and added that he didn’t see “why NASA would invest in ESA building a crewed vehicle for (NASA).”

However, per the arrangement for ESA to provide ATV technology for Orion’s Service Module, this is now something he sees as “a wonderful solution.”

The new mission will now progress towards a feasibility review, sometime this summer.

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Interest In Asteroids:

The announcement – made during the FY14 Budget Proposal overview – is part of President Obama’s vision of sending humans to a “Near Earth Asteroid (NEA)” by 2025, although it is vastly different to all the previous NASA studies relating to visiting a space rock.

While asteroid aspirations have been part of NASA discussions since the 1970s, mission planning has suffered from the ever-changing political direction that has curtailed the agency from sticking to a long-term exploration roadmap.

Back during the Vision for Space Exploration (VSE) days, NASA’s goal was to visit the “Moon, Mars and Beyond” – a roadmap that was designed to redirect NASA following the decision to retire the Space Shuttle fleet.

While it wasn’t classed as a priority, notional studies cited a journey to an asteroid as a potential stop-gap option, inserted in-between the end of the ISS’ active role and the eventual return to the Moon, honing NASA’s skills in relearning human space travel outside of Low Earth Orbit (LEO).

With NASA’s direction maturing into the Constellation Program (CxP), the goals became more focused on a return to the Moon’s surface – with the potential to set up a Lunar Base – before taking aim on the ultimate goal of Mars.

However, as CxP began to suffer from major schedule problems, a major alternative option was evaluated around the Augustine Commission’s review into NASA’s Human Space Flight plans.

Known as the “Flexible Path”, the expansive study finally provided hard details on potential NEA missions. The internal 65 page Flexible Path presentation – available on L2 – presented actual destinations for missions that would launch in the mid-2020s.

In the opening statements of the study, the NASA authors made strong references to the threat asteroids pose – along with the fact a large amount of NEOs remain undiscovered – as an emphasis on supporting of such a mission from an Earth protection standpoint.

“The first asteroid discovered was Ceres in 1801 by Giuseppe Piazz. By 1900, hundreds of asteroids were known, including the first NEO – Eros, discovered in 1898 by Carl Gustav Witt,” opened the section on the potential NEA missions.

“By 1950, ~2,000 asteroids had been discovered, including a number of ‘Earth crossers’ or NEAs. By 1990, >9,000 objects had been identified throughout the inner solar system. Within the decade a total of 86,000 objects had been cataloged.

“Today, ~500,000 minor planets are known. Of that number, ~6600 are NEOs; of that number ~1100 are PHOs.”

PHOs – or Potentially Hazardous Objects – are classed as objects that come within 0.05 AU (7.5 million km) of the Earth. PHOs are in orbits that have the potential to make close approaches to the Earth and of a size large enough to cause significant regional damage in the event of an impact.

As far as potential NEAs to visit, the Flexible Path presentation pointed to a mission to Near Earth Object 1999AO10 as a candidate, requiring a mission launch date of January 2, 2026.

The NEO 1999AO10 deep space mission would last 155 days, around half of the mission length for the alternative candidate mentioned in the Flexible Path approach – 304 days – for NEO 2001 GP2.

Each mission allocated 14 days for the crew to conduct investigations and EVAs at the asteroid.

Tweaking The Current Plan:

NASA’s current Exploration Plan is mainly undefined, mainly due to uncertainty in the long term budget profile. However, the opening two missions for SLS and Orion have been documented via the CONOPS (Concept of Operations) and Design Reference Mission (DRM) presentations, as acquired by L2 and reported by this site.

The new SLS is currently targeting a debut launch in its Block 1 configuration in December, 2017, on what is known as Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) – an uncrewed validation flight of the Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) tasked with lofting Orion enroute to 7-10 day mission around the Moon.

The next mission currently manifested is for 2021, known as the EM-2 flight – a near-repeat of EM-1. However, for this flight, a crew of four will ride in Orion, venturing into Deep Space for the first time in decades.

The Design Reference Mission (DRM) documentation notes EM-2 to be a CLO (Crewed Lunar Orbit) flight, given the astronauts will spend three to four days orbiting our nearest neighbor, as opposed to heading directly home after passing around the Moon.

With the new asteroid mission officially scheduled for “as soon as” 2021, it is believed NASA planners will aim to take advantage of EM-2′s CLO profile, by “simply” adding the content of the asteroid rendezvous to the days the crew will spend near the Moon.

For the realigned EM-2, a 2019 mission is required to hunt down and capture the asteroid that would then be placed in the vicinity of the Moon within two years, a plan believed to be based around a proposal from the Keck Institute for Space Studies (KISS). A full mission outline article will be in the coming days.

The 2019 mission would require the launch of an Asteroid Retrieval Spacecraft (ARS) via an Atlas V in its 551 configuration, setting sail for an asteroid that would small enough and relatively close by.

The KISS approach notes such a mission could involve “between two and six years” – dependant on size and location of the asteroid.

This key parameters will determine the schedule, as NASA teams begin their hunt for a candidate asteroid. NASA managers will hold the option to move the mission further down the schedule, which would in return EM-2 back to its original plan.

Technology and Procedures Already To Hand:

With six years to go until the planned launch of the ARS, and potentially eight years until the launch of a realigned EM-2, the teams will be pushed hard to meet the challenge outlined in the FY14 Budget Proposal. However, a number of key technologies and mission procedures already exist.

For the ARS, the launch vehicle cited by the KISS approach is already available, along with the Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technology that would be used to send the ARS to rendezvous with the asteroid, prior to dragging it to a location – likely a Lagrange point – near the Moon.

Californian company Aerojet recently promoted the use of their current Solar Electric Propulsion technology as an enabler for NASA’s deep space aspirations – 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 potential marriage between SEP and NASA’s exploration missions is something Aerojet are more than happy to work on.

“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.

Also, a large amount of training has already been conducted for when the astronauts meet the asteroid. This work has been conducted via the NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) missions, which took place at the Aquarius underwater habitat in Key Largo, Florida.

Although the training related to a full scale asteroid mission, including the use of habitats and a Multi Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV), the protocols and procedures – including the use of NASA’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) – will provide mission planners with a very useful baseline.

For the proposed mission, the ARS will arrive at the asteroid, before deploying a giant telescoping “plunger” to capture and encase the space rock, with the pair then heading back to the designated area near the Moon.

Click here for other NEO/NEA Articles: http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/tag/neo/

The Orion crew would then launch via the SLS and arrive at the ARS with its captured friend, allowing for the astronauts to conduct a short distance EVA.

Procedures for conducting EVAs from Orion have also been practised back in 2010, via a series of EVA egress/ingress tests on a full-scale mock-up of the Orion crew module in the large Neutral Buoyancy Lab (NBL) at the Johnson Space Center.

According to the Joint EVA NBL Orion Mockup (JENOM) test overview document – available for download on L2 – “The primary purpose of (Test 8 of the EVA Systems Project Office (ESPO)) (was) to understand the Orion design implementation for the side hatch and internal layout.

“The test (helped) provide information to the design teams (on) mobility needs, location of vehicle interface element umbilicals on the (EV) suit, and understanding of umbilical based operations in order to assist with design maturity.”

As outlined in NASA’s notional video of the asteroid mission, the crew would exit the Orion via the side hatch, prior to setting up a pole that would be used to translate across the ARS to the asteroid.

They would then peel back part of the bagging surrounding the rock, allowing for hands on access. Photo documentation would take place, along with the use of tools to chip away at the rock, allowing for sample collections.

A number of these procedures have already been tested during NEEMO missions.

Following their visit with the asteroid, the Orion would depart from the ARS and head back to Earth for a nominal re-entry into the Pacific Ocean.

The Follow On Missions:

The new mission is set to become a pathfinder for future missions to larger asteroids in deep space.

However, that in itself will require another leap forward in mission capabilities, with evaluations into sending what would be a considerable amount of hardware to a NEA destination still under evaluation.

These evaluations range from multi-launch SLS campaigns as the baseline approach, to the use of an Exploration Platform or Gateway – as the centrepiece of several exploration pathways – for the alternative option.

A several month internal study – a high level effort within the ongoing NASA exploration roadmap evaluation drive and specific to the Gateway – was conducted and subsequently stalled at the political level.

The study related to a Gateway that would be built at the International Space Station (ISS) and then sent to Earth Moon Lagrange point (EML2) via Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP). This Gateway would provide a staging post for missions to the Lunar Surface, NEAs, Mars and potentially other destinations.

For a NEA specific mission, Boeing outlined a conceptual approach involving the EML2 Gateway at last year’s Global Exploration Workshop. Under this Boeing plan, Solar Electric Propulsion would be used by NASA for NEA missions – a technology also cited by Aerojet.

This new propulsion system would be gradually developed over the next 10 years, although a demonstration flight would be capable of readiness by 2014.

A NASA docking system, Spacecraft boom, triple panel SEP module, Solar Array mast, and Alpha-joint (similar to the ISS’ Beta joint) would be developed between 2016 and 2020 – all leading to the creation of a 320 kW SEP operational spacecraft for NEA missions by 2022.

Under the Boeing notional plan, a 2024 NEA mission to NEA2008EV5 would depart not from Earth but from the ISS-EP at the Earth-Moon L2 (EML2) point.

Using the new SEP technology, transit from the EML2 point to the NEA of interest would take approximately 100 days with SLS’ third stage used to “kick start” the stage and shorten the trip. SLS would be involved with the Gateway plan.

Investigations at the NEA would last for approximately 30 days before a ~235-day trip back to Earth for a total mission duration of roughly one year.

This alternative plan is internally considered as the most exciting option within NASA circles for missions later in the 2020s, after the newly announced mission.

(Images: L2 Content, NASA, NEEMO and Boeing)

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EFT-1 Progress:

While Orion’s role with the Space Launch System (SLS) recently became more convoluted, following the apparent change to its second Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) mission – known as Exploration Mission -2 (EM-2) – into flight to a “captured asteroid” near the Moon – the EFT-1 mission is proceeding full steam ahead.

The EFT-1 mission is a critical test of Orion’s systems, providing vital data for the Critical Design Review (CDR) in April, 2015 – itself a major milestone ahead of Orion’s debut with the SLS in 2017.

The debut SLS/Orion mission – known as Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) will be an uncrewed mission around the Moon, launched on a Block 1 SLS.

The debut flight of Orion, launching with the United Launch Alliance Delta IV-H, will involve two orbits to a high-apogee, with a high-energy re-entry through Earth’s atmosphere on what is a multi-hour test, testing critical re-entry flight performance data and demonstrating early integration capabilities.

Orion will return home at a speed almost 5,000 miles per hour faster than that endured by the Space Shuttle orbiters, providing a crucial test of the vehicle’s Thermal Protection System (TPS).

The heatshield that will be tasked with protecting Orion during re-entry was recently transported from Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Facility near Denver to Textron Defense Systems in Wilmington inside a Super Guppy that landed in Boston at the end of March.

The Textron engineers will next apply the avcoat thermal ablation material to the heatshield over the next few months, prior to shipping it to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

The EFT-1 Crew Module (CM) is currently located at at KSC’s Operations and Checkout (O&C) building and is now taking shape and showing an appearance that is more familiar with fully constructed models of the Orion spacecraft.

The CM was recently relocated from the birdcage tool onto a purpose-built dolly, allowing for the installation of backshell drill templates to perform match drilling of the attachment assembly.

Strain gauge installations and secondary structure installations continue on the vehicle in preparation for the static loads test.

In addition, the custom replacement brackets and the aft bulkhead doublers have been installed on the Crew Module to repair the cracks suffered on the aft bulkhead ribs.

The cracks occurred during proof pressure testing on the vehicle, with the spacecraft sustaining three cracks in the aft bulkhead. A team composed of Lockheed Martin and NASA engineers designed a set of brackets to repair the area, as well as tooling to fix the cracked structure.

With the CM taking shape, work is continuing on both the EFT-1 Service Module, with shear web assembly and forward bulkhead installed into the service module structure inside the O&C building. Engineers have completed the laser alignment of the shear panels, while the drilling of the panels and longerons is currently in work.

Over in the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) where the EFT-1 Orion was born, engineers are making progress for the incorporation of the LAS Ogive Assembly.

Precision integration of the ogive assembly, which plays a part in protecting the crew module and providing protection during its journey through the atmosphere, was performed using the ogive integration tool.

The ogive panels were placed on the assembly tool and drilling on the panels is currently in progress.

With the ATK-built Launch Abort System (LAS) hardware already on site at Kennedy, the next major hardware to arrive on the Space Coast will be the Delta IV-H itself.

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In preparation for the mating between the EFT-1 Orion and the rocket, the United Launch Alliance will deliver a full-size section of the vehicle to the Marshall Space Flight Center (KSC) later this spring.

This will allow engineers to test the fit of the spacecraft adaptor that will not only fly with the Delta IV-H/Orion combination, but will also provide the same role with the SLS.

Work is currently taking place at a high bay of Building 4755 at MSFC, with expert welders using state-of-the-art friction stir welding machines worked on two separate adapters.

For each adapter, a vertical welding machine stitched panels together to form a conical cylinder, then a circumferential welding machine attached a thicker, structural support ring at the top and the bottom.

The flight of the adaptor on EFT-1 will provide engineers with important data about its performance before it rides on SLS’ EM-1 flight.

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MAF History:

Michoud has played a vital role in building rocket hardware for many decades, best known to the current generation for its assembly of the large External Tanks that flew with the Space Shuttle.

Its history ranges as far back as the 1940s, building planes and landing craft during World War II, before switching its focus to building engines for Sherman and Patton tanks for use during the Korean War.

MAF entered the rocket business in 1961, when NASA tasked the facility with the construction of first stages for the Saturn IB and Saturn V launch vehicles, prior to their shipment by barge to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC).

Undergoing a similar transition to what it is today, Michoud had its attention switched to the construction and assembly of the Shuttle External Tanks.

The first of the 136 tanks, ET-1 for STS-1, rolled out of the door in June, 1979 – one of only two tanks to have its thermal protection system foam covered in white paint.

The latter period of its ET production role was filled with both tragedy and success, as STS-107′s External Tank became the focus of investigations into the loss of Columbia, after it shed a large piece of foam from its bipod ramp, critically damaging the ill-fated flagship.

The painful Return To Flight efforts resulted in major modifications to the External Tank, placing new demands on Michoud’s workforce, only for the region to be decimated by 2005′s Hurricane Katrina.

With large numbers of the MAF workforce displaced – some with their homes completely destroyed – the downstream ET manifest was under severe strain, just as NASA were hoping to pick up the pace on ISS assembly missions to complete the Shuttle’s final major role in space.

Under the leadership of key managers, such as the highly respected Wanda Sigur, the workforce rallied, adding shifts and working Technical Interchange Meetings (TIMs) to streamline the production practises, all while improving the safety of the tanks.

Their work proved to be successful, as confirmed by the “clean” performance of the ETs during the vast majority of RTF launches.

The MAF workforce managed to keep the ET schedule on track – aided by some misbehaving orbiters extending processing flows at KSC – and even returned one tank back into the mix. ET-122 was set to fly earlier in the program, before being damaged by Katrina. It successfully flew on STS-134 with Endeavour.

However, by the time the Shuttle Program was slowing down, the workforce already knew the promise of transitioning their careers into the Constellation Program (CxP) were dashed. As as result of CxP’s eventual cancellation, the vast majority of the MAF workforce were laid off as the final External Tank headed out into the Gulf of Mexico.

A large number of workers could have seen their careers saved, had it not been for the delays in implementing the plan for a Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV), outlined in the 2010 Authorization Act as the flagship of a realigned exploration program.

MAF leaders had hoped for an announcement within a timescale that may have allowed them to save a large number of workers, as was seen in their actions to extend the period prior to handing out WARN notices, several times, before finally losing patience with the politically motivated stalling tactics in Washington DC.

The impact to the facility was severe, as only a small group of skilled workers remained, spending their days removing equipment to make way for a line of Hollywood production companies to use the wide open floor space to film scenes for movies, such as GI Joe 2 (Retaliation).

MAF Fightback:

Signs of Michoud returning to life were small, with the BP oil company taking control of Building 451 – otherwise known as the LH2 proof test building – to store the blow out preventer that caused the Gulf oil spill in 2010, while Boeing utilized the MAF machinery to build a small pathfinder tank.

The last remaining ET – an old and usable LWT named ET-94 – was moved into storage in Building 103, while several part tanks – such as ET-139, which provided a test bed for work surrounding the Stringer crack issue suffered by STS-133′s ET-137 near to the end of the program – were sold to scrap merchants.

Elsewhere in the facility, work began on Orion, resulting in the construction of the Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1) vehicle, which has since shipped to KSC for outfitting. All future Orions will be born at Michoud, with work on the Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) Orion scheduled to start as early as next year.

Orion will also gain a neighbor in the form of new Dream Chasers, following a deal between Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) and Lockheed Martin that included MAF in the role of building the composite airframe for new spacecraft that will be launched atop of an Atlas V.

However, the bulk of MAF’s future work will be on the huge SLS rocket, with large-scale efforts now taking place to modify several buildings to host the fabrication and assembly of the HLV at the facility.

Multiple projects are scheduled through 2014, involving modification and construction projects in Buildings 103, 110, 114, 115, 131 and 451.

Under the watchful eye of ET-94 in Building 103, Michoud’s main manufacturing building – encompassing 42 acres under its roof – is being modified to welcome the Robotic Weld Tool 3. Scheduled for completion by May, the tool will be used to make dome components for SLS, and will be known as the Enhanced Robotic Weld Tool when in operation.

This large factory floor space will also host the segmented ring tool, dedicated to fabricating L and Y rings for the SLS vehicle. These rings are used to make barrel-to-barrel and dome-to-barrel connections within the SLS rocket’s structure.

The tooling installation work – which has already seen circular steel structures rise out of the floor – should be completed this month, with test and checkout procedures to follow immediately.

Repurposing the facility since the demise of the Constellation Program can be seen in Building 115, as engineers modify the high-bay manufacturing building by installing weld tooling that will fabricate the barrel components for SLS. Known as the Vertical Weld Center, the friction-stir-weld tool will stand about three stories tall once fully assembled. The work is scheduled for completion in June.

Over in Building 110, the demolition work on Cells B and C – which once hosted fully constructed External Tanks for TPS foam application – has been completed.

Preparations are in now full swing for the installation of the Vertical Assembly Center (VAC), a location where dome assemblies and the tank barrel sections will be joined together to complete the “dry structure assemblies”.

This huge piece of hardware should be in place by March, 2014 – becoming the world’s largest friction stir weld machine.

In Building 131 – previously used for the cleaning and primer application for the Shuttle ETs – repurposing work is taking place enable it to host massive SLS sections for foam application.

Because SLS is so large, the roofline of the building is being extended north. Engineers are currently breaking up the tarmac in front of the building and adding to the existing foundation in preparation for the building work.

Notably, the SLS stages will depart from MAF without any white paint, despite NASA images showing a “Saturn V” type paint scheme for the monster rocket. As such, SLS will have an “orange” core, with the appearance of a large Shuttle External Tank.

Roofline and foundation extensions are also taking place in Building 451, similar to building 131, allowing for additional space for proof testing of the LH2 tank on SLS’ core stage. Space in the building is being created by removing what is known as the “beer can,” a barrel-shaped structure for holding the structure in place during testing.

While KSC continues its efforts to attract several vehicles to be part of its “multi-user spaceport” aspirations, MAF has already secured its place as a facility that will be birthplace of both commercial and government vehicles for the decades to come.

(Images: Via NASA and L2 content from L2′s ET and SLS specific L2 sections, which includes, presentations, videos, graphics and internal – interactive with actual SLS engineers – updates on the SLS and HLV, available on no other site.)

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