CST-100 - cемиместная капсула от Боинга

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1108/04boeingatlas/

Boeing selects Atlas 5 rocket for initial CST-100 test flights[/size]
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: August 4, 2011

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--Boeing will use United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rockets for initial test flights of the company's proposed CST-100 manned spacecraft, a seven-seat capsule being developed for commercial missions to and from government and private-sector space stations in low-Earth orbit, company officials announced Thursday.

   
An artist's concept of the Atlas 5 rocket with a CST-100 capsule rolls to the Complex 41 launch pad. Credit: Boeing

 John Elbon, vice president and program manager of Boeing commercial crew transportation systems, said four test flights of the CST-100 spacecraft are envisioned, assuming continued NASA funding, including an on-the-launch-pad abort test in 2014 that will not require a booster.

The other three flights will use a version of the Atlas 5 that includes one solid-fuel strap-on booster and a two-engine Centaur upper stage:
An unmanned CST-100 orbital test flight in the first quarter of 2015.

An unmanned in-flight test of the CST-100 abort system in the middle of the year.

A manned test flight with two Boeing pilots on board in the fourth quarter.

 "If NASA selects Boeing for a development contract with sufficient funding, ULA will provide launch services for an autonomous orbital flight, a transonic autonomous abort test launch, and a crewed launch, all in 2015," Boeing said in a statement.

The agreement announced Thursday includes development of launch pad crew access and emergency egress systems and an avionics system to detect faults in the Atlas 5 in time to trigger the capsule's abort system. If funded, the rockets will be launched from complex 41 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

The Atlas family rockets boasts 97 successful launchings in a row while the Atlas 5 family has logged 26 successes and no failures. It is certified to carry high-priority national security spy satellites as well as nuclear-powered science missions like NASA's upcoming Mars Science Laboratory.

Because United Launch Alliance is a partnership between Boeing, builder of the Delta family of rockets, and Lockheed Martin, builder of the Atlas 5, Boeing's procurement team went through additional steps to show the Atlas 5 selection "wasn't biased by the fact that Boeing is a partial owner of ULA," Elbon said.

"I'm really pleased with this selection," he told reporters in a teleconference Thursday. "Our approach is to build a reliable spacecraft built on existing simple systems and then integrate that with a proven launch vehicle, all focused on putting in place a very safe system, one that will be reliable and one that can be operational as soon as practical so we can start flying U.S. crew from U.S. launch sites."

While the CST-100 capsule could be adapted to fly atop launch vehicles from other providers, work to "man-rate" any proposed launcher would be required. That work will already have been done for the Atlas 5 and presumably the ULA rocket would be used for initial operational flights to and from the International Space Station and a proposed commercial outpost being designed by Bigelow Aerospace.

"Our philosophy going through this whole process has been that we would human rate the system, not the launch vehicle," Elbon said. "So we're starting here with a very reliable launch vehicle, it's been certified to launch extremely elaborate, important NRO (National Reconnaissance Office) missions, also nuclear missions. Those are nearly as critical, and that cargo is nearly as precious, as humans. So we start out with a rocket that's reliable and dependable from the get go.

"And then we add on that a very robust abort system so that in the unlikely event there is a problem, the spacecraft can escape and take the crew to safety. Part of that integrated system then needs to be an emergency detection system within the rocket that can monitor its systems and let the spacecraft know if it's seeing some condition that might lead to a problem."

Based on Boeing's analysis to date, Elbon said, "there's not a lot of change that needs to be made to the launch vehicle so this system can be human rated."


The CST-100 capsule approaches the space station for docking. Credit: Boeing

 Boeing is in the process of interviewing astronaut candidates and while previous spaceflight experience is a clear benefit, it is not required. Elbon said current plans call for Boeing test pilots to fly the first manned test flight and any non-NASA missions. For operational flights to and from the International Space Station, NASA astronauts presumably will be at the controls.

But that assumes NASA continues funding the commercial space initiative at sufficient levels and that Boeing's design wins agency support going forward.

In the wake of the 2003 Columbia disaster, the Bush administration ordered NASA to complete the International Space Station and retire the shuttle by the end of fiscal 2010 and to develop new government spacecraft for a return to the moon in the 2020s. Technical issues delayed the final shuttle flight to this summer, but the program is now in the process of shutting down.

The Obama administration, meanwhile, decided NASA's Constellation moon program was not affordable and ordered the agency to adopt a two-phase approach to post-shuttle manned spaceflight. In the near term, NASA was told to encourage development of private sector spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the space station.

At the same time, the agency was ordered to begin development of a new heavy-lift booster that could propel the Constellation program's Orion capsule on deep space missions. It is not yet clear when the new booster will be ready or what sort of deep space missions it will support.

But NASA is pressing ahead in the near term with contracts to encourage development of private-sector spacecraft to service the space station.

Last September, NASA awarded $92.3 million to Boeing under the agency's Commercial Crew Development program, known as CCDev2 for short, the second contract in the CCDev program.

Other competitors include SpaceX, which won a $75 million contract to continue development of its Dragon capsule, which would launch atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket; and Sierra Nevada, which won an $80 million contract to continue work on a winged mini-shuttle originally envisioned as a space station lifeboat. Blue Origins won a $22 million contract to continue spacecraft design development, propulsion system testing and abort systems.

Boeing's Crew Space Transportation 100 capsule, or CST-100, was unveiled at the Farnborough Air Show in July 2010. The spacecraft will be capable of staying at the International Space Station for up to six months before returning to parachute-and-airbag-cushioned landing in the western United States. The capsules are being designed to fly up to 10 times each with new heat shields and service modules added between flights.

But NASA must provide funding to continue the spacecraft's development. And Elbon said current levels of funding likely will not be sufficient to get the spacecraft off the ground anytime soon.

"I'm hopeful the debate that goes on in DC leads to ultimately increased funding beyond what's been proposed at the moment," Elbon said. "It would, I believe, take that to keep the program on schedule. It's obviously (dependent) on how NASA structures the procurement going forward, how many providers that they decide to carry, things like that.

"In my view, this is the quickest way to close the gap and get U.S. crews flying again," he said, referring to the gap between the end of shuttle operations and the debut of a new commercial spacecraft. "It's an affordable approach that will then leave NASA funding to develop capabilities for exploration beyond low-Earth orbit. And so I'm hopeful the budget, once it's settles out here, will support the scheduled program that we've laid out."[/size]

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Статья опубликовання 4 августа 2011 в Aviation week:
Boeing Selects Atlas V To Boost CST-100
By Mark Carreau mark.carreau@gmail.com HOUSTON

Boeing's Crew Space Transportation vehicle, the CST-100, will climb to orbit aboard the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Atlas V rocket through a series of unpiloted and piloted test flights planned for 2015-16, officials from the two companies announced Aug. 4.

A series of three test flights with the Atlas V and the seven-person CST-100 capsule are planned for 2015; with sufficient funding from NASA's Commercial Crew Development program, Boeing could be ready to begin transporting astronauts to the International Space Station aboard the reusable capsule in the first quarter of 2016 with all-NASA crews, says John Elbon, Boeing vice president and program manager of the company's Houston-based Commercial Crew Program.

Boeing becomes the third of four companies developing a crew transportation service under the $270 million NASA CCDev-2 initiative announced earlier this year to select Centennial, Colo.-based ULA and the Atlas V for the launch component. The Sierra Nevada Dream Chaser lifting body space plane and the Blue Origin capsule are the others.

Space Exploration Technologies Corp., has naturally chosen its own Falcon 9 for crewed as well as cargo versions of its Dragon capsule.

"This is the quickest way to close the gap and get U.S. crews flying again," Elbon told reporters during a briefing. "It's an affordable approach that will leave NASA funding to develop capabilities for exploration beyond low Earth orbit."

With the retirement of the long-running space shuttle program last month, NASA must rely on Russia's venerable Soyuz for the transportation of astronauts to and from the space station until U.S. commercial providers are available.

Elbon and George Sowers, ULA vice president of business development, laid out a flight test schedule that would follow a 2014 pad abort demonstration of the CST-100. Unpiloted flight tests would follow with an orbital systems checkout in the first quarter of 2015 and an abort demonstration at maximum dynamic pressure in mid-2015. The CST-100, crewed with Boeing test pilots, would attempt a rendezvous with the space station in late 2015. With sufficient development funds, Boeing would be ready to launch its first NASA crews to the orbiting science laboratory in the first quarter of 2016.

Boeing selected the Atlas V 412 version, which is the core rocket configured with a single solid-rocket booster and a dual engine Centaur upper stage, for the test and demonstration phase. Operations are planned for Launch Complex 41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.

Boeing completed an evaluation process in late July that included assessments of the SpaceX Falcon 9 and the ATK/Astrium Liberty rocket that would combine first and second stages from the U.S. and European partnership, as well as ULA's Atlas V.

The final selection was based on performance, reliability and cost, Elbon says. The Atlas V has scored 26 consecutive launch successes for national security, NASA and commercial payloads.Nonetheless, Boeing intends to host a second launch component competition for operations beyond the 2015-16 test activities, Elbon said.

On July 18, ULA and NASA announced an unfunded Space Act Agreement to start qualifying the Atlas V as a human-rated spacecraft for CCDev-2 participants. The effort includes a "part-by-part" assessment of the rocket, a probabilistic risk assessment of spacecraft safety and a systems requirement review.

ULA also is working on an Emergency Detection System (EDS) as part of the initiative with $6.7 million in federal stimulus funding that the company received under the 2010 CCDev-1 program. The EDS in combination with pad escape systems, also in development, should make a significant contribution to matching NASA's human rating requirements, according to Elbon and Sowers.

ULA was formed in 2006 as a joint venture between Boeing and Lockheed Martin to produce the Delta IV as well as the Atlas V under the U.S. Air Force Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program.

The first Atlas V took flight on Aug. 21, 2002.

[Salo]

http://www.itar-tass.com/c19/200728.html

Компания "Боинг" объявила набор кандидатов в пилоты для проведения испытаний космической капсулы CST-100[/size]

ЛОС-АНДЖЕЛЕС, 9 августа. (АРМС-ТАСС). У "Боинга" не хватает пилотов для проведения испытаний космической капсулы CST-100 (Commercial space transportation), предназначенной для доставки людей и грузов на МКС. С целью устранить этот пробел компания объявила набор кандидатов в астронавты-испытатели.

К ним предъявляются не самые высокие требования. В частности, кандидатам желательно, но не обязательно обладать опытом полетов в космос.

"Мы проведем процесс отбора. Конечно же, те, кто летал в космос, имеют хорошие рекомендации и высокие шансы пройти отбор", - уточнил вице-президент "Боинга" Джон Элбон.

НАСА в апреле выделило "Боингу" 92,3 млн дол на разработку, строительство и испытание новых средств доставки людей и грузов на орбиту. Специалисты компании построили капсулу, длина которой составляет 4,5 м, рассчитанную на 7 человек и осуществление 10 полетов. В качестве носителя выбрана ракета "Атлас-5".

Как сообщил Элбон, первая очередь испытаний запланирована на 2015 г. Сначала решено провести испытательный пуск ракеты "Атлас-5" с CST-100 без пилотов на борту. Затем в середине 2015 г. специалисты корпорации проверят надежность работы системы аварийного прекращения экспедиции во время полета. После этого "Боинг" запустит капсулу с двумя испытателями, передает ИТАР-ТАСС.[/size]

[Salo]

А вот какой любопытный видеоролик:

http://www.boeing.com/Features/2011/09/bds_cst_100_airbag_09_12_11.html

Оказывается Боинг и Биглоу продолжают сотрудничество, и в Биглоу построли отнаску, с которой сбрасывается капсула.

[Потусторонний]

На первом скриншоте ролика видно как при касании земли от каждого баллона отлетают по 2 крышки размером 4-8кв.дм. открываются дыры в которые выходит воздух

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2011/10/12/boeing-cst-100-wind-tunnel-tests-nearly-complete/

Boeing CST-100 Wind Tunnel Tests Nearly Complete
Posted by Doug Messier on October 12, 2011, at 3:20 pm[/size]


A scale model of Boeing's CST-100 spacecraft undergoes wind tunnel tests at NASA Ames Research Center. (Credit: Boeing)

By Edward Memi
Boeing PR

Boeing is nearing completion of wind-tunnel testing for a new spacecraft to ferry people and cargo to the International Space Station.

Engineers have been testing the spacecraft, called the Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100, since Sept. 17 at NASA's Ames Research Center in California. The test team is using a 12-inch-wide, 14-inch-long aluminum model that is about 1/14th the size of the operational space capsule that Boeing plans to build. Testing is scheduled to conclude by the end of October.

Using hundreds of pinhole-sized sensors, the wind-tunnel tests measure how air flows across the model. Boeing engineers plan to test the model in more than 20 different positions to mimic the different phases of an aborted landing.

"As engineers, we like data and numbers, and you can take all of this and make something meaningful out of it," said Boeing engineer Dustin Choe. "We can reduce it down and provide a clearer picture of what we will experience in flight."

The wind-tunnel tests help ensure the spacecraft is structurally sound and can be controlled safely. Engineers will tweak CST-100's design based on the data collected.

The wind-tunnel activity is part of a series of planned tests for CST-100. Boeing and teammate Bigelow Aerospace recently dropped a mock capsule off a moving truck to test the external airbags the real spacecraft would deploy to cushion a landing on Earth.

CST-100 will transport up to seven people or a mix of people and cargo to low-Earth-orbit destinations, such as the International Space Station and Bigelow Aerospace's planned space station.

Boeing is one of four companies competing under NASA's Commercial Crew Development program to develop crew vehicles to restore the United States' capability to provide access to the International Space Station by 2016.[/size]

[ronatu]

Boeing завершает цикл аэродинамических испытаний уменьшенной модели (1:14) капсулы CST-100, проводимых с 17 сентября в центре Эймса (NASA).







http://www.boeing.com/Features/2011/10/bds_cst100_windtunnel_10_10_11.html

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1110/31opf3/

Boeing to use shuttle facility for commercial capsule[/size]
BY WILLIAM HARWOOD
STORY WRITTEN FOR CBS NEWS "SPACE PLACE" & USED WITH PERMISSION
Posted: October 31, 2011

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL--The Boeing Co. will process its proposed CST-100 commercial manned spacecraft in a now-vacant space shuttle processing hangar in a first-of-a-kind deal valued at up to $50 million in state incentives, facility upgrades and financing, officials said Monday.


Artist's concept of CST-100 capsule approaching the space station. Credit: Boeing
 
 Using Orbiter Processing Facility No. 3 next to the Kennedy Space Center's huge Vehicle Assembly Building, Boeing expects to eventually bring up to 450 jobs to Florida's Space Coast, producing a flight-ready capsule by 2015, if the program is fully funded by Congress and if Boeing's design wins NASA development contracts.

"Today I'm happy to announce that the Boeing company has selected Florida for its commercial crew program office," said John Mulholland, program manager of Boeing's commercial crew development project. "In addition, we plan to manufacture, test and operate Boeing's CST-100 in this facility, OPF 3, and we will launch from right here on Florida's Space Coast."

He made the announcement in front of a politically star-studded crowd in OPF-3 that included Florida Gov. Rick Scott, a Republican, Lt. Gov. Jennifer Carroll, Sen. Bill Nelson, a Florida democrat who has played a key role in boosting NASA's post-shuttle budget, Rep. Bill Posey and Rep. Sandy Adams, both Florida Republicans.

Frank DiBello, president and CEO of Space Florida, a state-funded aerospace economic development agency, said the "fundamental baseline is a use agreement that we've negotiated with NASA for the facility, for access to the facility."

"We have some engineering studies underway to determine the kinds of engineering changes that are necessary to repurpose the facility and the total package of incentives, capital investment from the state and possible financing is in the neighborhood of $40 (million) to $50 million," he said. "There could well be access to financing beyond that depending on the nature of the work to be done."

Former shuttle commander Robert Cabana, director of the Kennedy Space Center, said the deal was a win-win arrangement for the government.

"There is no financial exchange of funds between space Florida and KSC," he said. "We are turning over the use of the OPF bay three, which NASA no longer has a definitive need for and that we do not have funding to maintain. We would be tearing it down, so we are allowing Space Florida, through this use agreement, to have it for 15 years ... at no cost to NASA."

Space Florida, in turn, will lease the building to Boeing for processing its CST-100 spacecraft, along with NASA's shuttle main engine processing facility and processing control center.

"We will use OPF-3 to manufacture, assemble, refurbish and test the CST-100," Mulholland said. "We can handle multiple CST-100s simultaneously depending on the schedule and the need."

But the deal is contingent on Boeing winning upcoming NASA contracts to begin actual development of the proposed capsule.

Boeing is one of four companies currently designing commercial manned spacecraft under NASA Space Act Agreements aimed at coming up with feasible designs for safe, relatively inexpensive post-shuttle transportation to and from the International Space Station.

Boeing's battery-powered CST-100 will seat up to seven astronauts, launching from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket. Space Exploration Technologies of Hawthorne, Calif., is designing a manned version of its Dragon cargo capsule that will fly on the company's Falcon 9 rocket. The SpaceX rocket and capsule will be built in Hawthorne and shipped to Cape Canaveral for final processing and launch.

Sierra Nevada of Sparks, Nev., is developing a winged lifting body that could launch from Florida on an Atlas 5 rocket and, unlike the other competitors, land on a runway. Blue Origin of Kent, Wash., is working on yet another capsule design that also would utilize an Atlas 5 launched from Cape Canaveral.

NASA plans to award development contracts next spring to begin more detailed design work with additional government oversight. But funding remains a major question mark. The Obama administration's fiscal 2012 budget includes $850 million for commercial crew development. The House version of the budget cuts that to $312 million while the Senate supports $500 million.

With full funding, the commercial providers believe operational manned spacecraft would be ready for test flights in 2015. If funding is reduced, initial flights could be delayed to 2017 or even 2018. In the meantime, NASA will be forced to continue buying seats on Russian Soyuz spacecraft -- at some $60 million per astronaut -- for U.S., European, Japanese and Canadian space station fliers.

"The future of the nation's future commercial space capabilities rests in the hands of many others who must come together in support of these critical capabilities," said DiBello. "Only the Congress can determine when we will stop the investment of our nation's tax dollars into the purchase of continued space transportation service from the Russians.

"It's a national imperative that we have a strong commercial space capability in our industry to stand along side our nation's civil space exploration program led by NASA. We can no longer afford to be at risk of a single point failure as we strive to utilize the world's greatest engineering achievement, the International Space Station, and we need commercial space transportation capabilities sooner, rather than later."

Lower funding and a subsequent delay in spacecraft availability "is unacceptable for us to have the best chance of gaining a return on investment from the ISS for the nation's citizen taxpayers, who paid almost $100 billion to build it," DiBello said. "Adequate and timely investment by congressional leadership is a requirement, and we think the administration's budget request for commercial crew should be fully supported."

Boeing's commercial space effort currently employs about 30 people in Florida and another 170 or so in Texas and California. Mulholland said the workforce will be concentrated in Florida, assuming Boeing wins additional contracts, rising to around 450 in late 2015 if the program is fully funded.

John Elbon, vice president and general manager of Boeing's space exploration division, said being able to lease OPF-3 for CST-100 processing, rather than building a new facility from scratch, was a key element in the company's business model.

"Another one, of course, is there's a great local workforce here we can tap into that know about manufacturing, processing, preparing for launch," he said. "Finally, I would mention it was important to us to collect all of our programs in a single location so we get the synergy associated with having a single set of engineers to support the manufacturing, do the sustained engineering, do the refurbishment, do the launch operations, etc.

"There were several reasons why it made sense for us to do this, but clearly the ability to have an asset that we didn't need to own, that we could lease in partnership with Space Florida, was a contributing factor."

NASA built three orbiter processing facilities to service and refurbish the agency's fleet of space shuttles, equipping them with custom gantries, access platforms, hydraulic systems and propellant servicing equipment that accommodated the shape of the winged spaceplanes. Shuttle-specific equipment presumably will be removed from OPF-3 to make way for use by Boeing.

DiBello and Cabana said OPFs 1 and 2, along with other no-longer-needed shuttle facilities at KSC, also will be available for commercial use.[/size]

[Потусторонний]

Подготовка к продувке http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/10/wind-tunnel-testing-boeings-new-space-capsule/

[instml]

"Боинг" запускает "космическое такси"
Вместо шаттлов будут строить космический аппарат

Компания "Боинг" планирует строить космические аппараты для осуществления коммерческой доставки на Международную космическую станцию (МКС) людей и грузов на базе производственных площадей Космического центра имени Кеннеди в штате Флорида (США), сообщает "Рейтер".

"Боингом" достигнута договоренность об аренде третьего производственного ангара Космического центра, сообщила пресс-секретарь американской компании Сюзан Уэллс. В понедельник стали известны детали сделки - строить будут "космические такси".

"Боинг" является одной из четырех компаний, спонсируемых НАСА в рамках программы по созданию средств доставки астронавтов на МКС. После завершения американской программы космических челноков - шаттлов - единственным кораблем, способным доставить людей на орбиту, является надежный и проверенный временем российский "Союз".

Затраты НАСА на услуги Роскосмоса оцениваются в 350 млн долларов в год. Американцы надеются, что с задачей транспортировки людей и грузов в космос справятся частные фирмы, и что произойдет это еще до конца 2016 года. "Боинг" предлагает разработать семиместную капсулу CST-100, которая будет выводиться на орбиту ракетой-носителем "Атлас-5".

Администрация президента США Барака Обамы запрашивает 850 млн долларов на финансирование пилотируемых программ в этом бюджетном году, который начался в США 1 октября. Конгресс и Сенат США урезают эту сумму до 312 и 500 млн долларов соответственно.

На космических таксистов НАСА уже потратило 388 млн долларов, причем "Боинг" на первом этапе финансирования получил 18 млн, а на втором - нынешнем - еще 92,3 млн долларов. В компании ожидают, что при одобрении НАСА проекта корабля CST-100 и выделении финансирования Конгрессом США во Флориде будет создано около 500 рабочих мест. Строить космическое такси они будут в старом ангаре НАСА.Пробный полет состоится уже в 2015 году.

http://www.rg.ru/2011/11/02/kosmos-site.html

"Боинг" запускает "космическое такси"
http://www.vesti.ru/only_video.html?vid=373982

[Потусторонний]

Фотографии внутренностей CST-100 Boeing commercial crew capsule mockup
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=828008#828008

Дополнение 25.11.11
http://www.spacenews.com/civil/111125-boeing-heritage-space-taxi-design.html
Boeing Tapping Heritage Programs for Space Taxi Design

COCOA BEACH, Fla. — From pressure seals used on the international space station to rendezvous and docking sensors developed for the Pentagon's Orbital Express experiment, Boeing is drawing heavily on heritage space and aviation programs for its proposed CST-100 commercial human spacecraft.
The seven-passenger, reusable Crew Space Transportation capsule is Boeing's contender in a tightening race to provide NASA with orbital spaceflight transportation services. With the retirement of the space shuttles this summer, the United States is dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the space station, at a cost of more than $60 million per person. NASA currently is investing $316.2 million among four firms, including Boeing, for development of space taxis and related technologies. A solicitation for detailed design work is expected to be released in December

The capsules would be able to stay in orbit up to 210 days, as per NASA requirements, and would land about six hours after undocking. The CST-100 is being designed to return on land instead of splashing down in the ocean, though it will be equipped for water landing as a backup.
"One of the reasons we're doing that is to ensure that our design is capable of 10 missions for the crew module," Hardison said. "If it went into the water, we'd have much more difficulty in recertifying it for flight, structurally and [for the] avionics onboard."