SLS - space launch system (3-я попытка)

[ronatu]

....CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. - NASA is making swift progress on a new super rocket for human expeditions beyond Earth orbit, and officials said Tuesday the agency is on track to launch a first unmanned test flight in late 2017.

"We're making steady progress and we're hitting our marks as we go," said Todd May, manager of the Space Launch System Program Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.  

"We're pleased to report that we're on track for 2017."....

[instml]

Refurbishment on Grand Scale for Iconic VAB

The Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida has been a landmark to the technological advancements of sending men to the moon and astronauts into space for more than 45 years. But the VAB, as it is best known, is due for major renovations to continue processing launch vehicles and support the subsequent launching of a new generation of astronauts into orbit and deeper into space than ever before.

"This is home improvement, VAB style," said Jose Lopez, who is managing the effort to refurbish a structure that was once the biggest in the world. "We're going for more flexibility and reliability with modern equipment. That building has many systems that haven't been touched up since it was built (in 1965)."

Although the work is massive simply because of the scale of the VAB, Lopez said now is the time to do it and take advantage of the pause in rocket processing that is to end in a couple years.

"When the shuttle program was in place, you couldn't take down the cranes for a long period of time, or take on heavy infrastructure projects," Lopez said.

Before another generation of rocket processing kicks in, Lopez said, the VAB must be outfitted with everything it needs to host these rockets and spacecraft assembly for another 40 years.

The effort will touch most areas of the architectural behemoth in one way or other. For instance, High Bay 3 will see the seven work platforms designed for the Apollo/Saturn V removed. In their place will be a series of 10 platforms that can be relocated and fitted with inserts designed for processing different kinds of rockets.

Like everything else inside the VAB, the platforms are not run-of-the-mill items. They are expected to weigh about 90,000 pounds and be outfitted with commodities essential for rockets, such as nitrogen and helium along with electrical and networking cables.

Simply put, no longer will a high bay be suitable for only one kind of rocket design.

"If you can fit in the big rocket, you can definitely fit in the smaller rockets," Lopez said.

The VAB is slated to host NASA's Space Launch System, or SLS, as it is readied for test flights in 2017 and 2021. The SLS will rival the Saturn V for sheer size and power and is designed for several variations that the platforms would have to accommodate. Commercial companies with much smaller rockets also are expected to use the VAB's unique facilities.

"The main thing we're doing there is an evolvable approach where we can handle any one of these SLS vehicles, but also handle any of the commercial vehicles," said Scott Colloredo, chief architect of the Ground Systems Development and Operations Program that is overseeing the VAB modifications. "By supporting one, it helps us to support the other."

The five primary overhead cranes in the VAB will see their antiquated control systems modernized, too. The cranes, anchored to the VAB's framework at the top of the structure, were used to lift the shuttles and rocket stages from the floor of the transfer aisle to their place on the launch platforms. They routinely hoisted the 100-ton shuttles more than 16 stories off the ground safely and lowered them onto the side of the external fuel tank for launch.

Two of the cranes can lift 325 tons, another two are rated for 250-ton loads and the fifth one is designed to hold 175 tons. They will be crucial again in the future to stack the SLS components into a launch configuration.

The doors, the largest in the world, are due for new braking systems and other modifications that will reduce wear-and-tear on the tracks and systems.

The renovation calls for removing a great deal of the infrastructure inside the VAB, some of which was installed when the structure was built in 1965. New systems, all up to modern building and safety codes, are to be installed.

More than 50 miles of Apollo-era cabling will be removed during the work and replaced with modern lines. About 70,000 feet of cabling already has come out. In some cases, that means replacing thick bundles of copper wiring with a few fiber-optic lines no wider than a pinky finger.

The fire suppression system has corroded in many important areas and is not big enough under current regulations. So its vast network of pipes, spigots and pumps, will be taken out entirely beginning next year and replaced with new equipment and piping. The work should be finished by the end of 2014, Lopez said.

There is plenty of evidence that other water and drainage pipes in the VAB are also corroding, so they will be replaced, along with boilers and chillers that feed hot and cold water into the facility.

Battery backups for the electrical system also are slated for replacement.

The renovation is focusing on the building interior systems, but the building itself is in very good shape.

The work would have had to be done at some point soon whether rockets were being processed or not, Lopez said. Doing it all while keeping the structure's systems up and able to handle normal processing demands would have been an exceptional and expensive challenge, though.

"It would have been like putting a new car engine in your trunk while keeping the same engine in the front still going," Lopez said.

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/ground/vabrefurbishment.html

[instml]

NASA intends to use Delta 4 upper stage on moon flights
http://www.spaceflightnow.com/news/n1205/15slsinterim/

[Salo]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/space-launch-system-core-stage-reaches-preliminary-review-372305/

Space Launch System core stage reaches preliminary review[/size]
By:   Zach Rosenberg Washington DC
09:04 24 May 2012

The core stage of the Space Launch System (SLS), among the most crucial components, has entered preliminary design review (PDR), an important checkpoint in the design of the US super-heavy launch  vehicle

"We are in a place where we are executing. We are under-promising and over-performing," says a member of the NASA design team. The core stage PDR will be done by August, or around the time the PDR was initially scheduled to begin.

"We cannot afford to develop more than one new thing. That new thing we chose to develop is the core stage of the vehicle. It is the structural backbone of the vehicle," says the designer.

The core stage, powered by four Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-25 engines originally developed for the Space Shuttle, will have more thrust than the Saturn V, the most powerful rocket yet built in the US. The rocket will initially launch 75t into orbit, with future versions launching up to 130t.

SLS's first launch is scheduled for 2017, a goal the programme team fully intends to keep despite the complexity of building a new rocket. The first flight will include a cryogenic upper stage adapted from the Delta IV, which will be replaced on subsequent flights by a Rocketdyne J-2X.[/size]

[instml]

Fiction Stir Welding Aids SLS

Four aluminum domes, each created using innovative friction stir welding processes, are seen in this overhead view of the Marshall Space Flight Center Advanced Welding and Manufacturing Facility in Huntsville, Ala. In this cutting-edge facility, a team of NASA and contractor engineers and technicians develops complex manufacturing processes aimed at achieving high-strength, defect free, uniformly bonded aluminum structures -- a vital requirement for next-generation launch vehicles and hardware designed for long-term space travel.

Image credit: NASA/MSFC/David Higginbotham

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/multimedia/gallery/fsw1.html

[Зловредный]

Fiction Stir Welding Aids SLS

Однако, какая опечатка!

[Seerndv]

Да, и вот еще одна новость:

Competitors include Aerojet with the LOX/RP-1 AJ-1000, a significantly scaled-up[/size] version of its AJ-26 engine

(в девичестве НК-33 :idea:)

Всё же это нельзя считать "девичеством" НК-33.
Под понятие "девичество" можно подвести только разные версии AJ-26 (от 58 до 62).
А тут выйдет уже совсем другой ЖРД, причём достаточно крупный. Подозреваю, что число "1000" в индексе движка обозначает тягу в фунтах.

AJ-26  (в девичестве НК-33 :idea:)

- кстати, у Кузнецова были проработки вариантов на 150, 250 и 600 т.
Как глубоко они прорабатывались (понятно, что больше на бумаге) и показывалось ли всё это Аэроджету, вот в чём вопрос?  :roll:

[Дмитрий В.]

- кстати, у Кузнецова были проработки вариантов на 150, 250 и 600 т.
Как глубоко они прорабатывались (понятно, что больше на бумаге) и показывалось ли всё это Аэроджету, вот в чём вопрос?  :roll:

Вряд ли Аэроджет заинтересовался бы эскизными проработками 1960-61 гг. :roll:

[Seerndv]

- кстати, у Кузнецова были проработки вариантов на 150, 250 и 600 т.
Как глубоко они прорабатывались (понятно, что больше на бумаге) и показывалось ли всё это Аэроджету, вот в чём вопрос?  :roll:

Вряд ли Аэроджет заинтересовался бы эскизными проработками 1960-61 гг. :roll:

- да, но получить готовые расчёты по вариантам демонстрирующим определённую устойчивость в определённом диапазоне тяги?
На халяву, сэр?
Чтобы потом заявлять о своих возможностях создания движка для ускорителя SLC большей мощности?
Ви таки бы отказались? :wink:

[Дмитрий В.]

- кстати, у Кузнецова были проработки вариантов на 150, 250 и 600 т.
Как глубоко они прорабатывались (понятно, что больше на бумаге) и показывалось ли всё это Аэроджету, вот в чём вопрос?  :roll:

Вряд ли Аэроджет заинтересовался бы эскизными проработками 1960-61 гг. :roll:

- да, но получить готовые расчёты по вариантам демонстрирующим определённую устойчивость в определённом диапазоне тяги?
На халяву, сэр?
Чтобы потом заявлять о своих возможностях создания движка для ускорителя SLC большей мощности?
Ви таки бы отказались? :wink:

Я таки не уверен, что полвека назад варианты 300 - и 600-тонника были очень глубоко проработаны. :wink:

[Seerndv]

- кстати, у Кузнецова были проработки вариантов на 150, 250 и 600 т.
Как глубоко они прорабатывались (понятно, что больше на бумаге) и показывалось ли всё это Аэроджету, вот в чём вопрос?  :roll:

Вряд ли Аэроджет заинтересовался бы эскизными проработками 1960-61 гг. :roll:

- да, но получить готовые расчёты по вариантам демонстрирующим определённую устойчивость в определённом диапазоне тяги?
На халяву, сэр?
Чтобы потом заявлять о своих возможностях создания движка для ускорителя SLC большей мощности?
Ви таки бы отказались? :wink:

Я таки не уверен, что полвека назад варианты 300 - и 600-тонника были очень глубоко проработаны. :wink:

 

В 1960 г. по инициативе С.П. Королева в ОКБ-276 начались конструкторские проработки ЖРД для ракеты Н1. При решении задачии выбора размерности двигателя для первой ступени были эскизно проработаны три варианта двигателя с тягой 150, 300 и 600 т. на компонентах жидкий кислород и керосин, замкнутой схемы и давлением в камере сгорания 15 МПа. После проведенного анализа было принято решение о применении двигателей с тягой 150 т. Главной причиной такого выбора была невозможность изготовления крупногабаритных деталей и узлов для двигателей тягой 300 и 600 т на существующей производственной базе, а также отсутствие экспериментальной и стендовой баз для отработки двигателей такой размерности: требовалась существенная модернизация, в том числе с закупкой необходимого оборудования за границей, что значительно увеличило бы сроки и стоимость разработки.
http://www.lpre.de/sntk/NK-33/index.htm

- эскизный проект денег стоит, а если он ещё подтвердился в одной из сових размерностей, хе-хе, есть чем махать супротив рекламусек конкурентофф :lol:

[Salo]

Только вот один из вариантов эскизного проекта потом доводили двенадцать лет. Предлагаете повторить этот путь покупателю?

[Seerndv]

Только вот один из вариантов эскизного проекта потом доводили двенадцать лет. Предлагаете повторить этот путь покупателю?

М-м-м-м. это когда покупателю сообщали о трудностях доводки?

И потом, это будет уже не первая брачная ночь с подобным движком

[Salo]

Для нынешнего состава КБ увы первая. Хорошо бы не последняя.

[instml]

NASA Begins Development of Space Launch System Flight Software
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/H-12-181.html

[instml]

Throttle Up!

During a record-breaking test on June 8, 2012, engineers throttled the J-2X powerpack up and down several times to explore numerous operating points required for the fuel and oxidizer turbopumps. The results of this test will be useful for determining performance and hardware life for the J-2X engine turbopumps.

The J-2X engine will power the upper stage of the evolved NASA's Space Launch System, an advanced heavy-lift rocket that will provide for human exploration beyond Earth's orbit.

The test was conducted at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center in south Mississippi. Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne is developing the J-2X engine for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.

Image Credit: NASA/SSC

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/imagegallery/image_feature_2278.html

[SFN]

Журналист и высокопоставленный чиновник Роскосмоса "закрыли" SLS
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=956506#956506

[Александр Ч.]

Журналист и высокопоставленный чиновник Роскосмоса "закрыли" SLS
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=956506#956506

А "пацаны" об этом не знают и продолжают над SLS работать  :lol:
http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/sls/H-12-211.html

Кликабельно

"This meeting validates our design requirements for the core stage of the nation's heavy-lift rocket and is the first major checkpoint for our team," said Tony Lavoie, manager of the SLS Stages Element at Marshall. "Getting to this point took a lot of hard work, and I'm proud of the collaboration between NASA and our partners at Boeing. Now that we have completed this review, we go from requirements to real blueprints. We are right on track to deliver the core stage for the SLS program."

[ronatu]

WASHINGTON — NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., said June 21 that the Space Launch System's (SLS) cryogenic core stage recently passed its first major technical review, clearing prime contractor Boeing Space Exploration to begin the heavy-lift rocket's design phase.

The combined Systems Requirements Review and System Definition Review held the week of June 18 at Marshall validated that Boeing and NASA developed sound system requirements for the shuttle-derived launcher's cryogenic stage and supporting hardware.

"Now that we have completed this review, we go from requirements to real blueprints," Tony Lavoie, manager of the SLS Stages Element at Marshall, said in a statement. "We are on the right track to deliver the core stages for the SLS program."

The SLS core stage, an 8.4-meter-diameter structure that will stand more than 60 meters tall, will store liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen to feed its four Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne RS-25 engines. NASA intends to use RS-25s left over from the space shuttle program for the first few SLS flights. NASA has 16 RS-25 space shuttle main engines in inventory to use for SLS, the agency said.

SLS is slated to make its debut in 2017 on a test flight launching an unmanned Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle on a trajectory around the Moon. The rocket's first crewed flight is scheduled for 2021.

[pkl]

Журналист и высокопоставленный чиновник Роскосмоса "закрыли" SLS
http://www.novosti-kosmonavtiki.ru/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?p=956506#956506

Ага, вот будет прикол, когда он залетает. :twisted: