Европейцы помогут США пережить списание шаттлов

[instml]

НАСА пообещало поддержать коммерческую ракету-носитель Liberty

Финансировать проект аэрокосмическое ведомство не спешит, зато с готовностью предлагает разработчикам техническую помощь.

http://science.compulenta.ru/634369/

[SpaceR]

Честно говоря, не думал, что эта тема получит продолжение!

Да это как обычно, опять виртуальная "война"... Думаю, "Либерти" счас нужна только чтобы было что показать в части "альтернативных предложений". Ну, и может чуток цену на создание основного претендента сбить.

[Salo]

http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/detail.cfm?mediaid=57342

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. -- This is an artist's conception of the Liberty Launch Vehicle under development by Alliant Techsystems Inc. (ATK) of Promontory, Utah, for NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). In 2011, NASA and ATK entered into an unfunded Space Act Agreement during Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) activities to mature the design and development of a crew transportation system with the overall goal of accelerating a United States-led capability to the International Space Station. The goal of CCP is to drive down the cost of space travel as well as open up space to more people than ever before by balancing industry's own innovative capabilities with NASA's 50 years of human spaceflight experience. Six other aerospace companies also are maturing launch vehicle and spacecraft designs under CCDev2, including Blue Origin, The Boeing Co., Excalibur Almaz Inc., Sierra Nevada Corp., Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), and United Launch Alliance (ULA). For more information, visit www.nasa.gov/exploration/commercial[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/598228main_October_2011_CSD%2060%20Day%20Report_508.pdf

NASA AND ATK FORM NEW PARTNERSHIP

As part of Commercial Crew Development Round 2 activities, NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) have entered into a new agreement for collaboration on the development of ATK's commercial Liberty launch system. The agreement is an unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) which means no money will exchange hands, but each party will benefit.  
"This unfunded SAA will provide the opportunity to look at the Liberty system to understand its design solution and risks, its capabilities and how it could be used to fly our NASA crew," said Ed Mango, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager.
ATK and NASA experts will review and discuss Liberty system requirements, safety and certification plans, computational models of rocket stage performance, and avionics architecture designs.  A launch system "Initial System Design" review also is planned, where ATK will formally present the Liberty systems-level requirements, preliminary design, and certification process development.
"With this SAA, we believe NASA will benefit from gaining insight into the various systems we are developing, and we can benefit from the feedback," said Kent Rominger,  ATK vice president and program manager for Liberty.  
A copy of the Agreement has been posted to the Kennedy Space Center Procurement Website at
http://procurement.ksc.nasa.gov/documents/NNK11MS06S-ATK.pdf

[Salo]

http://blog.al.com/space-news/2011/12/european_space_company_will_co.html

European space company will compete with Decatur plant to launch satellites[/size]
Published: Wednesday, December 07, 2011, 4:15 PM

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama - European aerospace titan EADS will officially enter the race next year to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station and government satellites into orbit, the company's president said Wednesday in Huntsville.

Sean O'Keefe, president of EADS North America and a former NASA administrator, discussed the opportunities his company sees in aerospace and defense with The Huntsville Times editorial board.

EADS is a European conglomorate including Airbus; Airbus military; Eurocopter, Europe's major helicopter supplier and Astrium, builder of the Ariane rocket that is a leading satellite launcher.

"We're looking at a very strong opportunity to compete for launch vehicle systems," O'Keefe said. O'Keefe said the company's entry is the offspring of a partnership between EADS and Utah-based solid-rocket motor manufacturer ATK. The joint venture rocket would be powered by ATK solid-rocket boosters and include an Ariane 5 upper stage.

EADS will develop two versions of the new rocket, O'Keefe said. One will be "human-rated" to carry astronauts, and the other will be designed to lift Air Force and National Reconnaissance Office satellites into space. "They're looking for price competition," O'Keefe said.

O'Keefe took direct aim at United Launch Alliance, the Boeing-Lockheed Martin partnership that assembles Delta and Atlas launch vehicles in Decatur. "Our friends at the Government Accountability Office and other familiar faces on Capitol Hill have basically come back and said, 'You know, the United Launch Alliance, which has been a single, sole source provider for everybody to do everything ... the price of that has escalated every time you turn around,'" O'Keefe said.

"The United States government is finally getting to the point of saying, 'We can no longer do that,'" he said. O'Keefe said NASA and the Air Force have both said, "for the first time ever, we want to certify competitors."

EADS is ready to compete, he said, because it already launches more than half of all European satellites[/size].

[ronatu]

Честно говоря, не думал, что эта тема получит продолжение!

Башня то уже есть... :wink:

[Salo]

http://www.marshall.org/pdf/materials/1024.pdf




Полезные нагрузки в фунтах.

[Дмитрий В.]

Честно говоря, не думал, что эта тема получит продолжение!

Башня то уже есть... :wink:

Она будет использоваться исключительно для SLS. Под Liberty предложеноиспользовать МПУ от шаттлов, а ее еще надо переделать.

[октоген]

Скрестили дорогущий ускоритель шаттла с дорогущей ступенью ариан... Этто очень хорошо. Для нас.

[Salo]

Ещё один претендент на нишу Delta IV Heavy.

[frigate]

"И поменяли фунты на рубли" (С) В.С. Высоцкий

[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://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1203/22legall/index2.html

Question: What is Arianespace's involvement in the Liberty project?

Le Gall: Liberty is a nice use of technology developed for Ariane and the space shuttle. This project is made by ATK in the U.S. and Astrium in Europe, and if this project finally exists, Arianespace will bring its expertise for launch operations. I want to remind you that this project, Liberty, today is funded by the companies. They did not get a single dollar from NASA.

Question: Is there any discussion about who will administer the launch services for Liberty?

Le Gall: We will see. If this project exists, it is clear that Arianespace has the expertise of launch operations. But we will see, if this project goes forward, who will manage that.

Question: What range are your prices now for launches?

Le Gall: We are about the same level of price as Proton, or not much more expensive. But our quality is much better.

Question: Is that for the total launch service, or per payload?

Le Gall: Per payload.[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/120509-atk-throws-hat-into-commercial-crew-ring.html

Wed, 9 May, 2012
ATK Pitches Liberty Rocket for Commercial Crew[/size]
By Denise Chow

    LOS ANGELES — The aerospace company that built the solid rocket boosters for NASA's space shuttle fleet announced plans May 9 to develop its own private launch system — a spaceship and rocket — to fly astronauts to and from low-Earth orbit. The first manned flight could launch in about three years, company officials said.

    Utah-based Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, announced the new project here at the first Spacecraft Technology Expo, where thousands of government and industry officials have gathered to discuss innovative new technologies and the future of human spaceflight.

    ATK had already been working on a new private rocket, called Liberty, which it submitted as a contender in the second round of NASA's Commercial Crew Development program last year. Ultimately, the Liberty rocket was not selected to receive funding, but ATK continued development of the booster under an unfunded Space Act Agreement with NASA. As part of this arrangement, NASA shares its expertise in designing and testing the rocket but does not provide money for the project.

    Now, ATK has unveiled plans for a complete launch system centered around the Liberty rocket. The design includes a space capsule to carry passengers to destinations in low-Earth orbit, such as the International Space Station, said Kent Rominger, vice president and program manager for Liberty.

    "The goal is to provide a new launch capability for the nation," Rominger said. "The vehicle is designed to be very, very simple, and inherently more safe and reliable. We really believe the whole system is designed for success."The spacecraft will be able to carry seven passengers, or various combinations of crew and cargo. ATK also hopes to provide launch services for U.S. government satellites eventually, Rominger said.

    The composite crew module was built by ATK at its Iuka, Miss., facility as part of an earlier NASA program headed by the agency's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. from 2007 to 2010. The program aimed to assess whether composite materials were a viable alternative to aluminum lithium on NASA's Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle which is being built for future manned exploration flights to deep space.

    "For Liberty, it made a huge amount of sense since composites were one of our competencies," Rominger said. "We wanted to pull in all the supplies and leverage all the work that has already gone into the system."

    The look of the capsule will be similar to the Orion capsule, except it will only perform flights to and from low-Earth orbit. The capsule, which will land over water, will be reusable up to 10 times, Rominger said.

    But ATK is hoping to use Liberty for more than just taxi rides to the space station.

    "We are looking at space tourism," Rominger said. "Also other [space] stations, such as Bigelow — we can help build the station. We're also looking at other nations that aren't partners on the space station that would like to have stand-alone missions."

    ATK is aiming to begin test flights of the Liberty system in 2014, with the first manned mission expected to occur in late 2015, ATK officials said. This schedule means that Liberty could be available to NASA and other potential customers by 2016.

    In September, ATK completed a full-scale test of Liberty's five-segment solid motor — the world's largest solid rocket motor, which was originally designed to be the first stage of the Ares 1 rocket that NASA planned to use to launch the Orion capsule on trips to the Moon. The rocket was shelved after the agency's Moon-bound Constellation program was scrapped.

    Liberty will use the original Ares 1 engine as a first stage and European aerospace firm Astrium's workhorse Ariane 5 rocket as the second stage. The massive Liberty rocket will tower at 300 feet (91 meters) tall, company officials have said.

    "Liberty can lift more than any other system," Rominger said. "Our capabilities can carry seven crew and significant cargo, which I think is unique. We really are a launch system designed for the 21st century to bring better reliability and safety."

    With NASA's space shuttle fleet retired, the space agency now relies on Russian Soyuz rockets and spacecraft to ferry astronauts to and from the space station until commercial alternatives in the U.S. become available. NASA hopes that happens by 2017.

    The agency pays approximately $63 million per seat on Soyuz flights. But the Liberty system is designed to be more cost-effective, Rominger said. He did not disclose the projected price per seat, but did say it will be "significantly less than what we're paying the Russians today."

    The Liberty system is being built in partnership with Astrium, whose Ariane 5 rocket has served as Europe's primary booster for launching satellites and spacecraft into orbit.

    "One of the very exciting aspects of this program is having proven teams that have really worked on complex programs in various ways together," said John Schumacher, chief executive officer of Astrium in North America. "This is the commercial industry coming together to provide a capability built on previous test work and investment in a very lean, commercial way."


    Lockheed Martin will also provide support as a major subcontractor for the Liberty System, ATK officials announced today. This work includes designing various components for the spacecraft, such as avionics, propulsion systems, navigation and control, and the vehicle's docking system.

    "The infrastructure we put in place that's already there to support testing and production is going to shorten the timeline," said Scott Norris, leader of the Liberty program at Lockheed Martin. "All three of our companies have worked together in the past, integrating things and working together. I think we're well poised to meet our schedule, as aggressive as it is, with things we've already paid for in the past."

    The Liberty rocket and spacecraft have been submitted for consideration for the third and final round of funding under NASA's commercial crew program, Rominger said. The agency's selections are expected to be announced in August. In the meantime, ATK is eager to continue development of the Liberty system.

    "For us as a nation, we need commercial crew and heavy lift to maintain our leadership in space," Rominger said. "To me, it looks like this is a team that we, as a nation, should be very comfortable with. Let's do this so we can get U.S. astronauts launching from the U.S. by 2015."[/size]

[Salo]

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/09liberty/

ATK adds crew capsule to Liberty rocket proposal[/size]
BY STEPHEN CLARK
SPACEFLIGHT NOW
Posted: May 9, 2012

Joining a growing list of aerospace companies competing to build a commercial crew taxi for NASA, rocket contractor ATK announced Wednesday it could launch astronauts into orbit by 2015 aboard the firm's Liberty rocket and a composite module derived from existing programs.


Artist's concept of the Liberty rocket rolling to the launch pad at the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: ATK
 
But the Liberty bid faces stiff competition from other companies hoping to snare a slice of NASA funding. And Congress is likely to appropriate less funding than NASA requested for the commercial crew program, potentially leading to delays for any company which wins an award.

NASA is counting on commercial providers to build a crewed rocket and spacecraft to end U.S. reliance on Russia's Soyuz spacecraft for astronaut trips to the International Space Station.

A proposal for the Liberty rocket and spacecraft was submitted to NASA in March. The space agency expects to announce in August awards of between $300 million and $500 million to at least two companies over a 21-month period.

ATK is vying for NASA awards with SpaceX, Boeing Co., Sierra Nevada Corp., and other companies working on commercial crew transportation vehicles. Unlike other companies, ATK's Liberty program is currently operating entirely on private funding.

But much of Liberty's design, including the rocket's propulsion systems and the composite spacecraft, would recycle previous work on government programs in the United States and Europe.

ATK's late 2015 target date for the system's first crewed flight is earlier than its competitors say they will be ready for a similar mission.

Kent Rominger, ATK's vice president and program manager for Liberty, said program can meet the ambitious schedule thanks to its incorporation of proven designs used by the space shuttle, Europe's successful Ariane 5, and work already underway on NASA's Orion multipurpose crew vehicle.

"Our major components are either flying, at the [critical design review] level, or very close," Rominger said.

But without a monetary investment from NASA, ATK says it could not meet a 2015 goal for a manned flight. Rominger said Liberty's development would continue, but at a slower pace.

ATK, the builder of the space shuttle's strap-on boosters, said it would combine an extended version of the shuttle solid rocket motor with an upper stage based on the cryogenic core of Europe's Ariane 5 rocket. A seven-person capsule built by ATK and Lockheed Martin Corp. would fly into orbit on top of the two-stage Liberty launcher.


File photo of ATK's composite crew module. Credit: ATK
 
The spacecraft would be made of a lightweight composite shell developed by ATK in partnership with NASA's Langley Research Center beginning in 2007. ATK and Langley built a composite pressure vessel as an alternative to the Orion spacecraft's aluminum-lithium structure.

Lockheed Martin, Orion's prime contractor, picked a traditional metallic shell for the craft, which the space agency is developing to fly astronauts to destinations beyond low Earth orbit. But the composite structure picked by ATK for its commercial crew proposal has approximately the same shape as the Orion spacecraft.

"Each subsystem we're tailoring because Liberty has a simpler mission than the deep space missions that Orion will do," said Scott Norris, the lead Liberty manager from Lockheed Martin, one of the program's main subcontractors.

ATK hopes to use the structural design and tooling developed for the composite crew module for the Liberty spacecraft, which would carry astronauts to the International Space Station and back to Earth. The Liberty capsule would stay docked to the complex for more than six months.

Norris said Lockheed Martin would oversee final assembly of the spacecraft at the Kennedy Space Center. Lockheed Martin would also build the Liberty spacecraft's service module and manage integration of the capsule's avionics provided by other subcontractors.

According to Rominger, an award in the expected range of $300 million to $500 million would allow ATK to reach an overall system critical design review in 2014.

Before then, ATK and Lockheed Martin plan to advance testing of Liberty's avionics in through 2013, assuming Liberty wins an award from NASA.

Ground test firings of an air-start version of the Ariane 5's Vulcain 2 main engine are also scheduled to begin in mid-2013. Rominger said the Vulcain tests would likely occur at NASA's Stennis Space Center in Mississippi.

ATK would begin placing personnel at the Kennedy Space Center in late 2012. According to Rominger, Liberty processing and launch operations would eventually bring up to 150 jobs to the Florida spaceport.


File photo of the cryogenic core stage of an Ariane 5 rocket, which will be modified to become the upper stage of the Liberty launch vehicle. Credit: EADS Astrium
 
Other milestones planned through 2014 include testing of Liberty's pyrotechnic stage separation system. The rocket's launch abort computer, designed to detect impending failures before they become catastrophic, will also be developed beginning after an August award.

Rominger said ATK does not plan further test firings of Liberty's first stage motor after three ground ignitions conducted under the auspices of the canceled Ares rocket program and for the Space Launch System, NASA's heavy-lift booster for deep space exploration.

The Liberty critical design review would lead to a pad abort test using the rocket's Max Launch Abort System in August 2014, Rominger said. The Max Launch Abort System, or MLAS, is a rocket system designed to propel a crew capsule away from a failed launch vehicle.

The MLAS differs from traditional launch abort systems in that it would push a spacecraft away from a rocket. Previous launch escape motors, including the system on Russia's Soyuz rocket, use towers on top of the launcher, adding height and weight to the vehicle.

"The abort off the pad is one of the most challenging flight scenarios," Rominger said. "You want that system to get you a mile away from the pad. If the pad turns into a big fireball, you don't want the crew coming down anywhere near it. Our system has that kind of capability."

"Later that year, we will do another ascent abort test that simulates the second stage not igniting," Rominger said.

The ascent abort in late 2014 would launch from the Kennedy Space Center with a five-segment first stage motor.

An unmanned orbital flight test would follow in early 2015, then ATK would mount a crewed mission by late 2015, according to Rominger.[/size]

[instml]

ATK и Lockheed Martin против Элона Маска... Кто кого?

[Старый]

ATK и Lockheed Martin против Элона Маска... Кто кого?

И Маск на девятимоторной козе на повороте вжжжик!

[instml]

Производитель ракет-ускорителей для шаттлов намерен создать корабль

МОСКВА, 10 мая - РИА Новости. Аэрокосмическая компания ATK - производитель твердотопливных ракет-ускорителей для американских шаттлов - объявила о намерении создать полноценную космическую транспортную систему Liberty ("Свобода") для доставки астронавтов на орбиту, которая будет включать в себя ракету-носитель, систему аварийного спасения, космический корабль и наземную инфраструктуру.

"Liberty даст США новые возможности для космических запусков... как мы ожидаем, пилотируемый полет может состояться уже через три года, что прекратит нашу зависимость от России (в доставке астронавтов на орбиту)", - заявил вице-президент компании ATK Кент Роминджер (Kent Rominger), чьи слова приводятся в пресс-релизе компании.

Базирующаяся в американском штате Юта компания Alliant Techsystems или ATK создавала твердотопливные ускорители (Reusable Solid Rocket Motor - RSRM) для шаттлов, полеты которых были прекращены в 2011 году. В феврале 2011 года компания объявила, что намерена создать собственную ракету-носитель Liberty, в которой твердотопливный ускоритель должен был играть роль первой ступени. Вторую ступень для нее должна была разработать компания Astrium - на основе второй ступени ракеты Ariane 5.

Теперь компания объявила о намерении создать космический корабль для этой ракеты, который сможет доставлять астронавтов на низкую околоземную орбиту, в частности, на Международную космическую станцию (МКС). Как рассчитывает ATK, первый пилотируемый полет состоится в конце 2015 года, а начало регулярных запусков для НАСА и других потенциальных заказчиков планируются на 2016 год. Как обещает компания, цена за одно место в ее корабле будет ниже, чем цена места на "Союзе".

Помимо самой ATK в проекте будет участвовать компании Astrium (вторая ступень ракеты-носителя) и Lockheed Martin, которая будет разрабатывать системы управления, связи и навигации, стыковочный узел и ряд других систем.

Для запусков планируется использовать космический центр имени Кеннеди, откуда раньше стартовали шаттлы.

Российские корабли "Союз" после завершения программы полетов шаттлов в США остаются единственным средством доставки экипажей на МКС. Именно "Союзы" будут возить астронавтов НАСА и агентств-партнеров на МКС и возвращать их обратно на Землю, по крайней мере, до 2016 года. Соответствующее дополнение к контракту подписали ранее Роскосмос и НАСА.

http://ria.ru/science/20120510/645595142.html

[instml]

Теперь главное чтобы в эту тему не забрел Валерий :lol:

[Антикосмит]

Вот смеха будет, если американский сегмент МКС утопят в 2020 году  

Будет типичный кризис перепроизводства в космической отрасли отдельной страны

Они эти корабли и макеты солить будут что-ли?  :lol: