CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Following the completion of NASA’s flight readiness review, the second SpaceX demonstration launch for NASA’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program is scheduled for Monday, April 30. A Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon capsule will liftoff from Space Launch Complex 40 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There is a single instantaneous launch opportunity at 12:22 p.m. EDT.NASA Television launch commentary from Cape Canaveral will begin at 11 a.m.During the flight, SpaceX’s Dragon capsule will conduct a series of check-out procedures to test and prove its systems, including rendezvous and berthing with the International Space Station (ISS). The primary objectives for the flight include a flyby of the ISS at a distance of approximately 1.5 miles to validate the operation of sensors and flight systems necessary for a safe rendezvous and approach. The spacecraft also will demonstrate the ability to abort the rendezvous. After these capabilities are successfully proven, the Dragon will be cleared to berth with the ISS.
Category Archives: Commercial Space
SpaceX Test Fires Advanced New Engine
New Video Shows SuperDraco Engine in Action
Hawthorne, CA – Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has successfully test fired SuperDraco, a powerful new engine that will play a critical role in the company’s efforts to change the future of human spaceflight.
WATCH THE VIDEO: http://youtu.be/PUUnYgo1-lI
“SuperDraco engines represent the best of cutting edge technology,” said Elon Musk, SpaceX CEO and Chief Technology Officer. “These engines will power a revolutionary launch escape system that will make Dragon the safest spacecraft in history and enable it to land propulsively on Earth or another planet with pinpoint accuracy.”
The SuperDraco is an advanced version of the Draco engines currently used by SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft to maneuver on orbit and during reentry. As part of SpaceX’s state-of-the-art launch escape system, eight SuperDraco engines built into the side walls of the Dragon spacecraft will produce up to 120,000 pounds of axial thrust to carry astronauts to safety should an emergency occur during launch.
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program awarded SpaceX $75 million in April of last year to begin work developing the escape system in order to prepare the Dragon spacecraft to carry astronauts. Less than nine months later, SpaceX engineers have designed, built and tested the engine.
In a series of recent tests conducted at the company’s Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas, the SuperDraco sustained full duration, full thrust firing as well as a series of deep throttling demonstrations.
SpaceX’s launch escape system has many advantages over past systems. It is inherently safer because it is not jettisoned like all other escape systems. This distinction provides astronauts with the unprecedented ability to escape from danger at any point during the launch, not just in the first few minutes. The eight SuperDracos provide redundancy, so that even if one engine fails an escape can still be carried out successfully.
SuperDracos can also be restarted multiple times if necessary and the engines will have the ability to deep throttle, providing astronauts with precise control and enormous power. In addition, as a part of a recoverable Dragon spacecraft, the engines can be used repeatedly, helping to advance SpaceX’s long-term goal of making spacecraft more like airplanes, which can be flown again and again with minimal maintenance between flights.
SuperDraco engines will provide the Dragon spacecraft with the capability to perform on target propulsive landings anywhere in the solar system. Credit: SpaceX
SuperDraco engines will power a revolutionary launch escape system that will make SpaceX’s Dragon the safest spacecraft
in the world. Eight SuperDraco engines built into the side walls of the Dragon spacecraft will produce up to 120,000 pounds
of axial thrust to carry astronauts to safety should an emergency occur during launch. Credit: SpaceX
NASA’S Orion Spacecraft to Land in Oklahoma, Texas and Alabama
WASHINGTON — A test version of NASA’s Orion spacecraft soon will make a cross-country journey, giving residents in three states the chance to see a full scale test version of the vehicle that will take humans into deep space.The crew module will make stops during a trip from the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The planned stops include Jan. 23-25 at Science Museum Oklahoma in Oklahoma City; Jan. 27-29 at Victory Park and the American Airlines Center in Dallas; and, Jan. 31-Feb. 2 at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. Engineers, program officials, astronauts and NASA spokespeople will be available to speak with the media and the public.
The full-scale test vehicle was used by ground crews in advance of the launch abort system flight test that took place in New Mexico in 2010.
Media interested in seeing the spacecraft or scheduling interviews should contact Dan Huot at daniel.g.huot@nasa.gov or by calling the newsroom at NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston at 281-483-5111.
Orion will serve as the vehicle that takes astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit. The first orbital flight test is scheduled for 2014.
For more information on the each of the sites, visit:
http://www.sciencemuseumok.org
http://www.americanairlinescenter.com/
To learn more about the Orion, visit:
SpaceX – Going Solar
For its first mission to the International Space Station, SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft will use deployable solar arrays as its primary power source for running sensors, driving heating and cooling systems, and communicating with SpaceX’s Mission Control Center and the Space Station. Dragon’s solar arrays generate up to 5,000 watts of power — enough to power over 80 standard light bulbs. The solar arrays, shielded by protective covers during launch, deploy just minutes after Dragon separates from the Falcon 9 second stage, as it heads towards its rendezvous with the Space Station.
While many commercial satellites and NASA missions such as the Hubble Space telescope use solar arrays, Dragon will be the first commercial American transport vehicle to do so.
Artist’s rendition of Dragon spacecraft with solar panels fully deployed on orbit.
Past American spacecraft like Mercury, Gemini, Apollo and Shuttle used fuel cells or battery packs. Fuel cells are limited by the amount of chemical reactants (typically oxygen and hydrogen) that the vehicle can carry. Batteries alone are limiting due to their mass and the amount of power they can carry.
Solar energy provides a key benefit — long-term power. Combining Dragon’s solar arrays with a compact and efficient battery pack provides a reliable and renewable source of power. When in the sun, Dragon’s solar arrays recharge the battery pack, and the charged batteries provide power while Dragon passes through the Earth’s shadow. With solar panels, Dragon will have the power it needs for longer trips, whether to the Space Station or future missions to Mars.
Dragon’s solar array panels being installed on Dragon’s trunk at the SpaceX hangar in Cape Canaveral, FL.
Dragon’s deployable solar arrays were developed from scratch by a small team of SpaceX engineers. To ensure they will survive the harsh environment of space, our engineers put the solar arrays through hundreds of hours of rigorous testing including thermal, vacuum, vibration, structural and electrical testing.
SpaceX engineers conducting an early solar panel test. Hundreds of flood lamps simulate the unfiltered light of the sun.
Photo: Roger Gilbertson/ SpaceX
SpaceX conducts most of these tests in-house. This video shows a solar array full deployment test using testing equipment developed by SpaceX as part of a NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) milestone: http://youtu.be/i90vaEsMiEQ
After testing was complete, the solar arrays headed to SpaceX’s Cape Canaveral launch site for final integration. The solar arrays and fairing covers that protect the folded arrays during launch have since been installed on the Dragon spacecraft in preparation for their first flight to the International Space Station.
Dragon with the protective fairings installed over the folded solar arrays, at the SpaceX
Cape Canaveral launch site.
Stay tuned for additional updates as we continue preparations for our first flight to the Space Station!
