CCDev - NASA Commercial Crew Development

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/launch/111209-disputes-assertion-af-lacks-block-data.html

Gass, whose customers include NASA, also urged the civil space agency to move more swiftly in its selection of a commercial vehicle for ferrying astronauts to the international space station. Four companies — Blue Origin, Boeing, Sierra Nevada and Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) — are studying commercial crew taxi concepts with NASA money awarded earlier this year. Atlas 5 is the launcher of choice for three of the companies, the exception being SpaceX, which plans to use its own rocket.

Noting that Congress gave NASA less than half of the $850 million it requested next year for commercial crew development, Gass said the agency needs to make a quick selection of at least one concept. "Atlas 5 is the choice of three of the four teams, has flown successfully many, many times, and could achieve human-rating in relatively short order," he said in his statement. "We believe Atlas 5 to be the most logical choice to plug the human spaceflight gap in the shortest order."[/size]

[Потусторонний]

http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/12/15/us-space-business-idUSTRE7BE21820111215
статья Клотсихи:
такси задерживаются, зависимость от России останется до 2017г.

Budget cuts in a program to spur commercial space taxis will likely keep the United States dependent on Russia to fly astronauts to the International Space Station until 2017, NASA's head of space operations said on Thursday.[/size]

But the newly revamped program, intended to provide a commercial alternative following the recent retirement of NASA's space shuttles, comes with a silver lining: NASA is abandoning plans for traditional fixed-price contracts and instead will use less expensive and more flexible partnering agreements.

"It's one small step for Commercial Crew," said Bigelow Aerospace attorney Michael Gold, referring to NASA's space taxi development program. "And one giant leap for common sense."

The switch was spurred by the halving of NASA's $850 million Commercial Crew program budget request for the year that began October 1 and by NASA's determination to keep at least two space taxi designs in the running for the agency's future business.

"We would like to carry two providers at a minimum, actually more," NASA associate administrator Bill Gerstenmaier said during a conference call with reporters. "We think competition is a key piece."

Currently the agency is funding work at four firms: Boeing, Space Exploration Technologies, Sierra Nevada Corp., and Blue Origin, a start-up owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos.

Other aspiring space transportation companies, including Stratolaunch Systems, the recently announced start-up backed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, are not seeking or have not been awarded NASA funds to assist with spaceship development.

"Our investment helps to ensure that this capability gets done in as timely a manner as we can actually make it occur," Gerstenmaier said.

A solicitation for the next phase of the program was due to be released on Monday, but will be delayed until the first quarter of 2012, Gerstenmaier said. The selection of companies, however, should remain on schedule for next summer.

NASA, which has $406 million to spend on the program this year, is uncertain how much money it will receive to see the development effort through the planned 21-month period.

"We want to get enough work behind us that we've got a very solid design that we can then start taking into a certification," Gerstenmaier said.

The agency had hoped to have an alternative by 2016 to sending its astronauts into space aboard the Russian Soyuz capsule, which costs more than $60 million per person per ride.

"We got an increase in the budget in fiscal year '12, which was a good thing, but it wasn't quite the funding level that we anticipated. That moved the potential service capability at least into 2017," Gerstenmaier said.

MORE LAUNCHES, LESS LAWYERING

The alternative contracting arrangement, called Space Act Agreements, has been used in a related program to develop commercial U.S. cargo ships to fly to the space station, a $100 billion research laboratory built in partnership with Russia, Europe, Japan and Canada that flies about 240 miles above Earth.

Space Exploration Technologies, or SpaceX, is preparing for its trial cargo run to the station in February, launching a Falcon 9 rocket carrying a Dragon cargo capsule. A second company, Orbital Sciences Corp. is expected to follow suit with its cargo craft later in 2012.

"Space Act Agreements yield amazing results, we need only look at the Dragon spacecraft and Falcon 9 rocket," SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell, wrote in an email to Reuters.

"We applaud NASA's decision to use Space Act Agreements for the next round of Commercial Crew and look forward to the competition," she said.

The difference between traditional government contracting and Space Act Agreements is night and day, added Gold, who oversees business growth for Bigelow Aerospace, which is developing commercial orbital habitats for research, government and business lease.

"It's the difference between a 30-page contract and one that could involve 3,000 pages of regulations," Gold said. "Even understanding what you're up against can take months of review by lawyers. If you want to spend more money on lawyers and less on launches, FAR (Federal Acquisition Regulation) is a terrific way to proceed."

Gerstenmaier said the alternative partnering arrangement would not allow NASA to get as involved technically in the space taxis' design, but "essentially we can enable them."

[Потусторонний]

НАСА пересматривает механику контрактов
NASA rethinks mechanics for commercial crew contracts[/size]
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/15commcrew/

[ronatu]

НАСА пересматривает механику контрактов
NASA rethinks mechanics for commercial crew contracts[/size]
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1112/15commcrew/

Under a compromise budget for fiscal 2012, NASA will get $17.8 billion, including $406 million for commercial crew development. That's about half what the Obama administration requested, a shortfall that will delay the debut of any new vehicle by about one year, to 2017 if not later. NASA's current contract with the Russian federal space agency expires in the spring of 2016.

Gerstenmaier said NASA will be forced to negotiate a contract extension in the 2013 timeframe to ensure additional Soyuz flights, assuming Congress grants a waiver to the Iran, North Korea and Syria Nonproliferation Act that otherwise would block the space agency from buying high-technology services from the Russians.

Faced with those realities, and uncertainty about the budget in 2013 and 2014, NASA managers decided to switch back to Space Act Agreements to keep the Commercial Crew Program moving forward.

[Петр Зайцев]

Слава богу, хоть какой-то просвет. А то совсем мафия Маршалла и горстки сенаторов зарвалась. Думают, что Президент и Администратор им не указ, не говоря уж о воле Конгресса в целом, отображенной в Space Act. Я полагаю, что Болдену следует их всех к ногтю - уволить с позором, пока железо горячо. Сенаторов, конечно, не уволишь, но с ниме разберется Tea Party.

[Shin]

Не нашел, может давали уже эту фотку:



http://www.flickr.com/photos/nasahqphoto/6479685647/in/photostream

[Потусторонний]

Чтобы рядом ... :wink:
http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_2/United_States_7/Blue-Origin_LV/Gallery/Blue-Origin.htm
http://www.b14643.de/Spacerockets_2/United_States_7/Blue-Origin_LV/Description/Frame.htm

[avmich]

Слава богу, хоть какой-то просвет. А то совсем мафия Маршалла и горстки сенаторов зарвалась. Думают, что Президент и Администратор им не указ, не говоря уж о воле Конгресса в целом, отображенной в Space Act. Я полагаю, что Болдену следует их всех к ногтю - уволить с позором, пока железо горячо. Сенаторов, конечно, не уволишь, но с ниме разберется Tea Party.

Конечно, не указ. Достаточно начать читать американскую конституцию, чтобы это понять.

Конгресс в целом - другое дело. А на Ти Пати мы ещё посмотрим.

[Valerij]

NASA Sets Briefings for Tomorrow on Planets, Commercial Crew
[/size]

Marcia S. Smith
Posted: 19-Dec-2011
 Updated: 19-Dec-2011 08:39 PM

Today NASA announced two press briefings that will take place tomorrow, Tuesday, December 20.
 ....

The other is on a completely different topic -- a status report on NASA's commercial crew program (thanks to NASAWatch for publicizing it).   That "forum" will be held at Kennedy Space Center in Florida from 11:00 - 11:30 am EST (note that the original announcement incorrectly said it ended at 11:30 pm, but was later modified).  From the description, it sounds like a very brief recap of the announcement last week about the new commercial crew strategy.

http://www.spacepolicyonline.com/news/nasa-sets-briefings-for-tomorrow-on-planets-commercial-crew#.Tu-7-uccCqw.twitter

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/111221-comm-crew-solicitation-feb.html

Wed, 21 December, 2011
Commercial Crew Solicitation Expected in February[/size]
By Dan Leone

    WASHINGTON — NASA will solicit proposals in February for the third phase of a program aimed at developing commercially operated astronaut transportation systems, an agency official said Dec. 20.

    NASA wants to pick at least two winners by August, Ed Mango, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, said during a conference call.

    Mango described the next phase of NASA's commercial crew program as a "pretty big jump" from the previous two rounds, which focused on developing only individual components of crew transportation systems.

    "Obviously, this next phase has to be a lot bigger than element designs," Mango said on the Dec. 20 call.

    In the third phase of the program, NASA hopes to get at least two competing crew transportation systems ready to enter production. More details about the award will be discussed in advance of the solicitation on a public conference call tentatively set for early February, Mango said.

    With the U.S. space shuttle fleet retired, NASA is looking to get commercially operated successors up and running by 2017. In the interim, U.S., Canadian, Japanese and European astronauts will ride to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz craft at NASA's expense.

    NASA's commercial crew program has now switched gears twice in 2011.

    The agency was to have released a solicitation Dec. 19 for a "Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract" — a 21-month fixed-price contract culminating in a critical design review of at least two proposed astronaut taxi systems. However, the agency announced Dec. 15 that because of budget uncertainty, it was scrapping that contracting vehicle in favor of a similar program funded by Space Act agreements, which are not bound by the Federal Acquisition Regulations that govern traditional government contracts. NASA says it can use Space Act agreements to fund development efforts — as then agency has done in previous rounds of the commercial crew program — but not to purchase hardware or services.

    In announcing the shift to Space Act agreements, NASA human spaceflight chief William Gerstenmaier said the strategy would save the government money, but that NASA would sacrifice its ability to manage the design and manufacturing processes. Space Act agreements do not give the agency legal authority to dictate requirements to industry, Gerstenmaier said.

    NASA requested $850 million for its commercial spaceflight activities in 2012 and received an appropriation of $406 million. The NASA Authorization Act of 2010, which made funding recommendations for the agency through 2013, authorized only $500 million for commercial spaceflight.

    It is not yet clear how much of the $406 million NASA received for commercial spaceflight activities in 2012 will be used for the third round of the commercial crew program.

    "It will not be $406 million, I can tell you that," Mango said. He added that "the vast majority" of the 2012 funding will be used to continue activities initiated under the Commercial Crew Development 2 program, which began in April and is set to wrap up next July.

    NASA has been encouraging — and funding — the development of privately owned astronaut taxis since 2009. Awards made in the first two rounds are worth a combined $365.5 million.

    Companies that have received NASA funds to work on crew transportation systems are Blue Origin, Kent, Wash.; Boeing Space Exploration Systems, Houston; Sierra Nevada Space Systems, Sparks, Nev.; Space Exploration Technologies Corp., Hawthorne, Calif.; and United Launch Alliance of Denver.[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.parabolicarc.com/2012/01/20/atk-holds-isd-under-ccdev-2-saa/

ATK Holds ISD Under CCDev 2 SAA[/size]
Posted by Doug Messier
on January 20, 2012, at 4:09 pm

NASA PR — One of NASA's industry partners, Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) of Utah, successfully held a Launch System Initial Systems Design (ISD) Review of its Liberty Transportation System. This is the third milestone to be completed under ATK's unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA's Commercial Crew Program.

ATK has five milestones to meet under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement, which enables NASA and ATK teams to exchange technical information related to Liberty during the Preliminary Design Review phase of the program.
"This unfunded partnership with ATK on its Liberty systems brings expertise from around the globe and we are glad to contribute our more than 50 years of human spaceflight experience to this effort," said Ed Mango, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager.

During the ISD, Liberty team members from ATK, its European-based partner, Astrium, and their subcontractors presented the status of Liberty's system level requirements, preliminary design and certification process to representatives from the Commercial Crew Program at Kennedy Space Center in Florida and other NASA centers.

"With the SAA in place we have been able to work closely with NASA's Commercial Program and receive valuable feedback as we develop the Liberty Transportation System," said Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and program manager for Liberty. "We continued to develop Liberty with the goal of providing the safest, most reliable, cost-effective and capable launch vehicle for crew transport."

The current SAA continues through at least March. The two milestones met earlier include a Requirements Status Briefing and a Technical Interchange Meeting for the Liberty Transportation System. Two additional milestones are scheduled to be completed under this SAA.

All of NASA's industry partners continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities that will ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station, reducing the amount of time America is without its own system.[/size]

[Salo]

http://spacenews.com/civil/120123-solicitation-for-next-round-commercial-crew-program-expected-feb.html

Mon, 23 January, 2012
Solicitation for Next Round of Commercial Crew Program Expected Feb. 7[/size]
By Dan Leone

 WASHINGTON — NASA plans to solicit proposals Feb. 7 for the third round of its commercial crew program and award at least two funded Space Act Agreements this summer that will run through 2014 and prepare competing astronaut transportation concepts for production.

NASA has rebranded this initiative as the "Commercial Crew integrated Capability" program, according to a procurement notice posted online Jan. 23. It was formerly known as the Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract.

Continuing a drumbeat it has sounded since last summer, NASA cautioned that the next round of awards will depend heavily on funding availability. "NASA intends to select a portfolio of multiple [commercial crew concepts] that best meet the [program's] goals within the available funding," the procurement notice says.

The Commercial Crew integrated Capability program, being managed out of the Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is the successor to NASA's Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program, the second round of which will wrap up in July. Ed Mango, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager, said CCDev 2 will consume the majority of NASA's $406 million commercial human spaceflight budget for 2012. NASA had requested $850 million for these activities in 2012.

CCDev 2 represents more than $300 million in federal financial aid. Four companies received funded Space Act Agreements under CCDev 2, which focuses on development of vehicles capable of ferrying astronauts to and from the international space station.

NASA decided late last year that it could not afford to use standard government contracts as previously planned for the upcoming phase of the commercial crew procurement unless it was willing to fund development of just one transportation system.

Space Act Agreements allow NASA to provide companies with federal funds and access to agency expertise without having to draw up a contract that complies with complex federal acquisition regulations. The first two rounds of CCDev were funded via Space Act Agreements.

The caveat with Space Act Agreements is that they do not permit NASA to dictate design requirements to the contractors.[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120127-underfunding-commercial-crew.html

Fri, 27 January, 2012
Panel Report Warns that Underfunding May Affect Commercial Crew Program[/size]
By Dan Leone

WASHINGTON — NASA safety watchdogs are warning that continued underfunding of the agency's commercial crew initiative could put astronauts at risk by increasing the temptation to cut corners in order to end U.S. dependence on Russia for accessing the international space station (ISS).

 Under the 2012 budget Congress enacted late last year, NASA will get less than half of the $850 million it requested to put at least two U.S. firms under contract this year to develop privately operated crew taxis.

 In a report released Jan. 25, the Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) — an outside group of experts chartered to sniff out NASA safety problems and recommend changes — says the $406 million Congress approved will not allow commercial crew transportation to the ISS by 2016.

 "In fact, if the new funding level continues into the future, it is the ASAP's belief that the program is in jeopardy, thus extending the current lack of a U.S. human spaceflight capability and resulting in no alternative to reliance on Russia to obtain access to the ISS," the ASAP wrote in its annual report.

 While the ASAP praised Russia's efforts to return its venerable Soyuz crew capsule to flight last fall following an August launch failure that destroyed a station-bound Progress cargo vessel, the panel noted its concern about continued U.S. reliance on Soyuz — a 40-year-old system, it said, "with an uncertain long-term future."

 NASA, seeking to end that dependence, is preparing to solicit proposals for a two-year effort to prepare competing astronaut transportation concepts for production.

 But the ASAP points out that NASA managers are worried about commercial crew funding going forward and consider "inadequate budget" to be "the top program risk."

 In ASAP's view, an inadequately funded commercial crew program threatens more than just spacecraft development timelines; it could also compromise safety.

 "The ASAP considers the lack of a credible and appropriately funded plan to develop a U.S. capability to launch its astronauts to the ISS to be an issue with significant safety implications," the report says. "If the development program is continued without adequate funding, it will increase the likelihood that safety-related testing and modifications to correct any design deficiencies would not be made."

 The ASAP also took issue with NASA's abrupt about-face on the use of Space Act Agreements for the next phase of the commercial crew development program, known at the time as CCDev. NASA disappointed would-be commercial crew providers last summer when it announced it would award conventional fixed-price contracts, rather than more-flexible Space Act Agreements, for the next round of CCDev awards. But after Congress halved the Commercial Crew Program's budget request in November, NASA announced Dec. 21 it would stick with Space Act Agreements.

 "Previously, NASA had made a strong safety case for using conventional contracting on the next phase of the CCDev Program, an approach that was viewed as well reasoned and appropriate by the ASAP," the report says. "The ASAP acknowledges NASA's assertion that the change is primarily driven by funding uncertainties and the need to maintain more than one provider for commercial crew transportation services. However, we believe that the sudden change in acquisition strategy in an effort to salvage the [Commercial Crew Program] may have significantly increased the risk to safety that the previous plan had begun to address."

 The ASAP report also flagged the international space station as an area of special concern. The panel said NASA managers had not yet shared a plan for safely deorbiting the outpost if it had to be abandoned before its planned end of life in 2020.

 Citing a briefing it received from NASA in May, the ASAP said the odds of a mission loss at some point in the space station's remaining on-orbit life are greater than 30 percent. A loss of mission, ASAP warned, might force NASA and its international partners to abandon the station, never to return.

 "One cannot escape the conclusion that the risk of an ISS [loss of mission] is more than an outside possibility," ASAP wrote. "While this possibility has been known for some time, NASA has not yet shared with the Panel an explicit plan to deal with this situation."

 The report urges NASA to begin seriously considering how to safely deorbit the 400 metric-ton space station.[/size]

[Александр Ч.]

"Неожиданный" поворот:

NASA Congrats to NASA's CCDEV 2 partner, Excalibur Almaz, for successfully completing their System Requirement Status Review yesterday!
32 мин назад
 

PS Возможно это надо было в тему по Эскалибуру, но там вроде не было ничего о CCDEV.

[Потусторонний]

"Неожиданный" поворот:

NASA Congrats to NASA's CCDEV 2 partner, Excalibur Almaz, for successfully completing their System Requirement Status Review yesterday!
32 мин назад
 

PS Возможно это надо было в тему по Эскалибуру, но там вроде не было ничего о CCDEV.

В программу взяли еще в декабре, но денег не дадут. ИМХО у американцев нет способа делать ПК без участия в программе. Желаешь лепить куличики - пожалуй в песочницу.

[Salo]

В ноябре:
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=827928#827928

[instml]

ULA Completes Two Commercial Crew Milestones

One of NASA's industry partners, United Launch Alliance (ULA), successfully completed two milestones that could eventually lead toward the certification of its Atlas V launch vehicle for human spaceflight.

In December, ULA conducted a series of detailed reviews that reflected the culmination of efforts involving technical experts and representatives from NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

"ULA gave us an invaluable opportunity to get to know its Atlas V systems and subsystems through our unfunded partnership," said Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango. "And we are happy to share our knowledge and expectations to keeping our crews safe."

The first review was a Tailored System Requirements Review (TSRR), which looked at how the existing, flight-proven Atlas V rocket could meet the intent of NASA's human spaceflight certification requirements. The team paid particular emphasis to requirements traceability, verification and certification planning.

"The TSRR was the result of an extensive effort with NASA and our commercial spacecraft partners during which we cooperatively reviewed the details of the Atlas V design, analyses and operations," said George Sowers, ULA's vice president of business development and advanced programs. "This was the first time that we were able to share detailed Atlas V design and flight data with NASA human spaceflight experts."

The second review was a Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) Review, which evaluated safety-critical launch vehicle systems. This included the details of existing failure modes and effects analyses data, ULA's probabilistic risk assessment approach for CCP, explosion modeling analyses, system hazard analyses and fault coverage assessments. The PSA leveraged similar data developed in support of Atlas V launches of critical NASA missions including New Horizons, Juno and the Mars Science Laboratory.

"The PSA provided a firm foundation to show how the demonstrated reliability of the Atlas V offers significant benefits toward meeting NASA's stringent crew safety requirements," Sowers said. "We received invaluable insight from NASA's Commercial Crew Program while allowing us to provide the details behind the reliability and robustness of the Atlas V design."

Three of the four current NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partners have selected Atlas V as their launch vehicle.

All of NASA's industry partners continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities that will ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station reducing the amount of time America is without its own system.

For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew  

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/ula_milestones.html

[instml]

[instml]

Sierra Nevada Delivers Flight Test Vehicle Structure

One of NASA's industry partners, Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC), recently delivered the primary structure of its first Dream Chaser flight test vehicle to the company's facility in Louisville, Colo., where it will be assembled and integrated with secondary systems. This is one of 12 milestones to be completed under SNC's funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

"It's rewarding to see our partner's ideas and concepts come to fruition," said CCP Program Manager Ed Mango. "The company's delivery of its flight structure will allow them to make more strides toward launching NASA astronauts on American vehicles to the International Space Station."

The Dream Chaser flight test vehicle, a full-scale prototype of the company's planned winged spacecraft, will be used to carry out several remaining NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) milestones, including a captive carry flight and the first free flight of the craft.

"SNC is proud to have met its schedule and cost targets in the delivery of our first flight structure as we continue to make preparations for our vehicle's first full-scale flight," said Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems. "The Dream Chaser Program is making great strides toward developing a safe and cost-effective space system that will provide our country with the capability to safely transport crew and critical cargo to and from the International Space Station."

The all-composite structure was designed by the SNC team and built in conjunction with SNC Dream Chaser team organizations AdamWorks of Centennial, Colo., Applied Composite Technology of Gunnison, Utah, and Scaled Composites of Mojave, Calif.

"Our team now includes more than a dozen heritage space companies and seven NASA centers whose combined strength has continued to allow us to exceed the program's expectations," said Jim Voss, SNC's vice president for Space Exploration. Voss is a former space shuttle astronaut and was a member of the second crew to live aboard the International Space Station.

Dream Chaser's CCDev2 flight tests will be conducted with the assistance of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in Edwards, Calif., under a Reimbursable Space Act Agreement (RSAA). During the captive carry test, a Virgin Galactic White Knight 2 carrier aircraft will drop the Dream Chaser flight test vehicle to measure its performance. SNC flight operations will be managed by the program's Director of Flight Operations Steve Lindsey, who joined the Dream Chaser team in 2011. Lindsey is a veteran of five shuttle missions and was chief of NASA's Astronaut Office from 2008 until his retirement from the agency in 2011.

All of NASA's industry partners continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities that will ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station reducing the amount of time America is without its own system.

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial/crew/sierranevada_milestone.html

[Петр Зайцев]

Надеюсь в полете половинки не будут удерживать вместе при помощи струбцины.