by Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
NASA would launch the first element of a human-tended Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway in 2022 under a proposed exploration plan that would make use of commercial and international partnerships.
A power and propulsion module would be followed soon afterward by habitation, airlock, and logistics modules. The gateway would serve as a base for astronauts to explore the moon for the first time since Apollo 17 lifted off from the surface in 1972.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Sierra Nevada Corporation has put forth a proposal to send a crewed Dream Chaser to service the aging Hubble Space Telescope.
The discussions are still preliminary, no specific plans have been drafted and senior White House aides or administration advisers currently overseeing the National Aeronautics and Space Administration could veto the concept. Decisions about any potentially major NASA initiative await the appointment of a new agency head, according to industry and government officials.
But deliberations about sending a spacecraft to link up with NASA’s pioneering orbiting telescope—comparable to five earlier missions by the now-retired space shuttle fleet stretching back to 1993—illustrate the Trump team’s guiding principles when it comes to space investments. Industry and transition officials agree the focus is on seeking dramatic but relatively inexpensive space projects that can be readily understood by average Americans.
The Hubble repair proposal also has garnered administration officials’ attention because it appears to meet still other important White House criteria, according to these people. The goal is to put a lid on federal expenditures for space by fostering public-private partnerships, while devising projects that can be completed within the president’s current four-year term….
Sierra Nevada is betting that the Trump administration’s enhanced interest in commercial space projects—including transition memos extolling the potential benefits of manned missions orbiting the moon—could revive Hubble’s rejuvenation bid. The company twice presented its proposal to transition officials, according to one person familiar with the details.
Sierra Nevada is currently developing a cargo variant of Dream Chaser to resupply the International Space Station. That vehicle is not scheduled to begin deliveries to the space station until 2019.
It’s not clear how much work, funding or additional testing would be required to upgrade the cargo ship for crew use. Nor is it clear whether a mission to Hubble could be completed in time for Trump’s re-election campaign in 2020.
The company did make substantial progress toward a crew vehicle during NASA’s Commercial Crew Program before Dream Chaser was dropped from the program in 2014.
The two selected commercial crew companies, Boeing and SpaceX, have run into significant technical problems during the final phase of commercial crew development and testing. Both companies are running significantly behind schedule.
By Frank Ochoa-Gonzales
NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Florida
The year 2014 proved to be of the banner variety for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center. Kennedy’s diverse new identity on full display as NASA prepares America for its next journey into deep space.
In the quest to transform Kennedy in to the world’s eminent multi-user spaceport, employees have helped prepare, launch and recover Orion; establish, ready and process research and cargo bound for the International Space Station and partner with Boeing and SpaceX to develop human-rated spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the ISS by 2017.
Silicon Valley, CA (SFF PR) — The Space Frontier Foundation calls upon Americans to stop efforts by US Senator Richard Shelby (R, AL) to critically damage the emerging commercial spaceflight industry. The Senate FY 15 budget proposals calls for excessive and costly bureaucratic oversight that would not only increase costs for private launch companies exponentially, but delay the Commercial Crew Program by months, if not years.
“There is a reason the NASA COTS program worked so quickly and efficiently, and that reason was not due to paperwork and hard-nosed oversight,”said Foundation President James Pura. “Taxpayers could save billions of dollars by letting NASA fly lean, commercial U.S. rockets, and if that means loosening up traditional oversight practices, so be it. Lean, milestone-based payment systems are the way of the future, and let’s enable that process, instead of hindering it.”
By Douglas Messier
Managing Editor
Sierra Nevada Corporation will conduct additional drop tests of its Dream Chaser space shuttle at Edwards Air Force Base in the fall, Co-program Director John Curry said during the recent Space Tech Expo in Long Beach, Calif.
The approach and landing tests will be conducted using an upgraded engineering test vehicle that glided to a landing at Edwards last October. The upgrades will include the avionics, software, and guidance, navigation and control systems designed for use on the orbital Dream Chaser spacecraft, Curry said.
As one of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners, Blue Origin doesn’t get as much attention as Boeing, Sierra Nevada Corporation and SpaceX. That’s partly by design; the secretive company tries to fly under the radar as much as possible.
The other reason is that while Blue Origin received $25.38 million in funding for its orbital vehicle during the first two phases of Commercial Crew, it was not selected for the third round. The company has been working with NASA on an unfunded Space Act Agreement under which the space agency is providing support but not any funding.
To date, Blue Origin has completed 19 of 20 milestones under the three agreements with NASA. There has been significant progress on the pressure vessel, engine and escape system. The table below shows the company’s milestones under the agreements.
Blue Origin Space Act Agreements Milestones
Award Period: 2010 – 2014
Milestones: 20
Milestones Completed: 19
Milestones Remaining: 1
Total Award: $25.38 million
| NO. | DESCRIPTION | ORIGINAL DATE | STATUS | AMOUNT |
| COMMERCIAL CREW DEVELOPMENT 1 | ||||
| A1 | Project Kickoff Meeting. A meeting to brief NASA personnel on the pusher escape system maturation plan. | March 2010 | Complete | $835,000 |
| A2 | 1-DOF TVC Plan. Conduct test firing of full-scale demonstration SRM integrated with TVC system on 1-degree of freedom trust measurement stand. | July 2010 | Complete | $835,000 |
| A3 | 6-DOF TVC Plan. Conduct test firing of full-scale demonstration SRM integrated with TVC system on 6-degree of freedom trust measurement stand. | October 2010 | Complete | $835,000 |
| A4 | Rocket Sled Test. Conduct non-separating test of full CC OML and mass simulator on rocket sled track. | March 2011 | Complete | $0 |
| B1 | Composite Pressure Vessel Maturation Kickoff Meeting. A meeting to brief NASA personnel on the implementation plan. | March 2010 | Complete | $290,000 |
| B2 | Test Article Composite Parts Received. Receive all parts necessary to complete assembly of one composite pressure vessel, closing supplier risk. | May 2010 | Complete | $290,000 |
| B3 | Test Article Assembly Complete. Completion of the test article. | August 2010 | Complete | $290,000 |
| COMMERCIAL CREW DEVELOPMENT 2 | ||||
| 1.1 | Space Vehicle Kickoff Meeting. A meeting at Blue Origin headquarters in Kent, WA to brief NASA personnel on the project implementation plan. | May 2011 | Complete | $905,000 |
| 1.2 | Space Vehicle Mission Concept Review. A review of the Space Vehicle Mission Concept. | September 2011 | Complete | $900,000 |
| 1.3 | Space Vehicle Systems Requirements Review. A review of systems requirements for the Space Vehicle. | May 2012 | Complete | $900,000 |
| 2.1 | Pusher Escape Kickoff Meeting. A meeting to brief NASA personnel on the pusher escape implementation plan. | May 2011 | Complete | $2,000,000 |
| 2.2 | Pusher Escape Vehicle #1 Shipment. Assembly of the first Pusher Escape Flight Test Vehicle is complete, except for installation of the pusher escape subsystem and separation mechanisms. Shipment to test range. | December 2011 | Complete | $2,000,000 |
| 2.3 | Pusher Escape Ground Firing. Conduct an intial ground test of the pusher escape rocket motor and thrust vector control system to be used during the flight test campaign. | January 2012 | Complete | $3,000,000 |
| 2.6 | Escape Pad Escape Test. Conduct a test of one of the fight test vehicles simulating an escape from a booster on the launch pad. | April 2012 | Complete | $1,900,000 |
| 3.1 | Engine Kickoff Meeting. Meeting to brief NASA personnel on engine risk reduction implementation plan. | May 2011 | Complete | $3,400,000 |
| 3.2 | Engine TCA and Test Plan Review. Meeting to review test article interface data, Interface Control Diagram (ICD) and test plan. | September 2011 | Complete | $4,000,000 |
| 3.4 | Engine TCA Test. Conduct pressure-fed test of the full-scale thrust chamber assembly (TCA). | May 2012 | Complete | $3,000,000 |
| UNFUNDED SPACE ACT AGREEMENT | ||||
| 3.6 | BE-3 Engine Test. Conduct a test firing of the pump-fed engine simulating a sub-scale booster suborbital mission duty cycle (MDC). | September 2013 | Complete | $0 |
| 3.7 | Subscale Prop Tank Assembly Review. Conduct a review of the design, manufacture and assembly of a subscale booster propellant tank. | December 2013 | Complete | $0 |
| 1.4 | Space Vehicle Subsystem Interim Design Review. Review space vehicle subsystem design progress with emphasis on power and actuation systems, in-space propulsion, multiplex avionics, flight mechanics and GN&C. | March 2014 | Pending | $0 |
| TOTAL: | $25,380,000 | |||
Looks like the honeymoon between the FAA and the nascent commercial space industry is coming to an end. Or at least the moratorium on government regulation.
George Nield, who heads up the FAA Office of Commercial Space Transportation, said earlier this week in Washington that he is against extending the “learning period” for commercial human spaceflight when it expires in 2015.
During that period, the FAA is generally restrained from rule making to allow the commercial spaceflight industry to experiment with different designs and systems for getting into space. However, the FAA can act if there is an accident or a close call.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) management team is getting a new deputy manager.
Kathy Lueders, who manages NASA’s International Space Station Program Transportation Integration Office, will take over the role next month. She will replace Brent Jett, who has left the agency after 21 years and four space shuttle flights.
“As deputy program manager, Lueders will oversee the facilitation of commercial spacecraft and launch vehicle development and certification efforts, enabling the safe transportation of NASA astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit and the International Space Station around the middle of the decade,” the space agency said in notice on its website.
WASHINGTON (NASA PR) — NASA on Wednesday released a request for proposals for the first of two contract phases to certify commercially developed space systems in support of crewed missions to the International Space Station. Through these certification products contracts, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP) will ensure commercial missions are held to the agency’s safety requirements and standards for human space transportation system missions to the space station.
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