CEV "Constellation" и лунная программа НАСА

[Salo]

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/04/ares-i-x-flight-test-could-move-to-late.shtml

Wednesday, April 01, 2009
Ares I-X Flight Test Could Move to Late August
The first flight test of the moon rocket that NASA hopes will replace the space shuttle may slip to late August, according to agency officials.

Some preparations for the Ares I-X flight test, which had been tentatively targeted for launch July 11 from Kennedy Space Center, can't continue until after shuttle Atlantis completes its May 12 Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission.

During that mission, Endeavour will be standing by on launch pad 39B - the same pad from which Ares I-X will blast off - in case it's needed for a rescue flight.

NASA had considered stationing Endeavour in the Vehicle Assembly Building so it could turn over pad 39B to the Ares I-X team sooner, so more modifications necessary for the new rocket could proceed. Doing so would have delayed nine remaining shuttle flights by about a month.

But given the safety benefits of using both pads, the progress already made modifying pad 39B and the readiness of Ares I-X, the decision was made to proceed with shuttles on both pads as originally planned.

"We were able to get a lot of work done at the pad that still allows us to launch an orbiter off of that," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA's associate administrator for Space Operations, during a briefing at KSC that followed Discovery's landing Saturday. "We think it's more of our normal plan to have the orbiter out at the pad. It gives us a little more robustness from a crew standpoint."

Gerstenmaier said the impact to Ares I-X would likely be three to four weeks, placing the launch in late July or early August, which "isn't too big of an impact to them."

But a spokesman at NASA headquarters said this week that the decision's impact is estimated to mean a move toward the end of August, though no date has been set yet.

"Detailed replanning and an official change to the launch date is in work by the I-X team, the Constellation Program, and the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate," spokesman Gray Hautaluoma wrote in an e-mail.

Completed modifications to pad 39B so far include the erection of three 600-foot-tall lightning towers and installation of an access arm on the Rotating Service Structure.

NASA plans to retire the shuttle by the end of next year, launching each mission from pad 39A. The first manned flights of Ares I, which is intended to eventually return astronauts to the moon, are tentatively targeted for 2015.

[В А Д И М]

Этот, который на картинке, макет для водных испытаний и его же будут пускать в июле. Внутри особо и оборудования нет, нет толком люков, иллюминаторов и движков. Вместо них приклеены картинки. Тот люк, который на картинке открыт - простой, как заслонка от печки. С Аполлоновским не сравнить. Внутри там бак для воды, чтобы центр тяжести поместить правильно. Он должен под определенным углом падать в воду. Мужик (который в белой бейсболке) из команды инженеров сказал, что этот люк (который видно на картинке) открывается за 10 сек, но потом, если сделают нормальный люк, всю секцию заменят. Сами секции (из нержавейки) все на винтах даже пока - любую можно заменить в случае чего. Идут в два ряда по поверхности, размером 30 градусов каждая. Теплозащиты как таковой нет - это сразу видно, особо, если сравнить с Аполлоном и Джеминай (которые тут же через дорогу стоят). Покрашена так зеленой краской, как ТКС и в днище там даже торчат бронзовые крепежные такие гайки (мужик сказал там к ракете будут, вроде, цеплять) А оранжевая обечайка по кругу вообще сделана из материала похожего на резину (мягкая на ощупь) и приклеена клеем типа Момента.

вот-вот... как всегда... а съёмки пройдут в павильоне...  

а который в черном дал мыло

вот ведь какой    

и обещал даже реальных фоток прислать

и пару кг лунного грунта  

[Ну-и-ну]

тот, что в бейсболке немного испугался, что наговорил лишнего, когда узнал, с кем разговаривал

И с кем он разговаривал-то? Жуть как интересно.

[Чебурашка]

NASA and Orion Industry Team Conduct Ground Test Firing

Испытание управляющих двигателей для САС КК "Орион" (attitude control motor thruster for the launch abort system (LAS))   31 марта 2009 года.

Блок управляющих двигателй состоит из твёрдотопливного газогенератора,  сборки из 8-ми сопел с клапанами максимальной тягой до 3 тс.



З.Ы. Новое интересное видео про Constellation http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7lPByc_NxM&feature=channel_page

[ronatu]

Coo6pa3u/\u HakoHeu,... :wink:

NASA: Ares, Orion on time, but costlier

BY JAMES DEAN • FLORIDA TODAY • April 3, 2009

 CAPE CANAVERAL -- NASA says it still can meet the 2015 target to launch astronauts on its shuttle replacement, but it's going to cost more than originally thought, and some systems may be scaled back for the first flight.

"We think it is possible to get there," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the agency's Exploration Mission Systems Directorate, which oversees the Constellation program. "I think we're still in the ballpark on all this."

In an interview Thursday, Cooke and Constellation program manager Jeff Hanley said the estimated cost to reach that first human flight in the Orion capsule on an Ares 1 rocket has risen from about $28 billion to about $36 billion.

The first estimate, made in 2005, came about a year before NASA made design changes to the rocket to include a more powerful first-stage solid rocket booster and a different upper-stage engine.

NASA said those changes would increase early development costs but deliver long-term savings.

Cost increases are not unusual for the development of a major space program, most of which cost billions more than original estimates.

Human spaceflight programs also historically have launched years after their initial target dates.

Cooke and Hanley acknowledged that flying astronauts to the International Space Station by March 2015 remains a challenge.

Because more money was not available early on in the program, with the shuttle still flying, work on some systems has been bunched together instead of being spread out over more time, the managers said. That lowers confidence in meeting the targeted flight schedule, Hanley said.

But he said steps can be taken to build that confidence, such as shifting money from a later budget year to an earlier one, or delaying the introduction of some systems until later flights if they don't compromise safety.

"There were several key components to the shuttle that didn't fly on STS-1," Hanley said.

He said he was "emminently confident" that a system would be ready by March 2015 "or very, very close to that."

(2 of 2)


Cooke said he considers Ares 1 and Orion -- which are targeted to return American astronauts to the moon by 2020 -- to be further ahead at the same stage of development than past programs he has worked on in more than 35 years, including the shuttle and space station.



The shuttle fleet is scheduled for retirement in 2010, but there is a push in the U.S. Senate to extend it another year.

NASA hopes to minimize the gap between the last shuttle mission and the first flight of its replacement vehicle to limit the number of jobs lost during the transition at Kennedy Space Center and elsewhere. The agency has estimated that KSC could lose about 3,500 jobs, but a significant delay in the flight readiness of the new rocket and capsule could worsen the local impact.

The first test flight of the new rocket at KSC is scheduled for no earlier than Aug. 30 this year. A progress review to assess the program's capability and technical problems is planned for early next year.

Contact Dean at 639-3644 or jdean@floridatoday.com.
.....

http://www.floridatoday.com/article/20090403/NEWS02/904030320/1006/NEWS01

[frigate]

On display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida is the Orion crew exploration vehicle mockup (right) before beginning open water recovery tests in April 2009. Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder.

A close-up of NASA's Orion spacecraft mockup on display before beginning water recovery tests in the ocean off the Florida coast. Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder.

On display at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex in Florida is the Orion crew exploration vehicle mockup (left) and an exhibit about the Constellation Program on April 2, 2009. Credit: NASA/Troy Cryder.

[Чебурашка]

RELEASE: 09-080: NASA SELECTS MATERIAL FOR ORION SPACECRAFT HEAT SHIELD

NASA выбрала материал для изготовления теплозащиты КК Orion

В тему. Фото пару месяцев назад. Макет теплозащиты. Сектора выполнены из различных материалов для выбора наилучшего.

[ronatu]

NASA plans to dust off Apollo-era heat shield technology for the next spacecraft it hopes to send to the moon.

The agency announced today it had selected a system for its Orion crew exploration vehicle that protected Apollo capsules, called the Avocat ablator system. The material was no longer in production before more than three years of tests began for Orion.

The Government Accountability Office last year cited heat shield challenges as one of several potential risks to developing a replacement for the space shuttle by NASA's targeted 2015 timeline. Read the report here.

"There is currently no industry capability for producing a thermal protection system of the size required by the Orion," the report says. "Furthermore, heat shield design features required by the Orion, namely the size, have never been proven and must be developed."

Orion is intended to return astronauts to the moon by 2020.

Click "Read more..." to read NASA's press release. .............

http://www.floridatoday.com/content/blogs/space/2009/04/nasa-selects-apollo-era-heat-shield.shtml

[Чебурашка]

Интересный документ от NASA по лунной базе:
Surface Buildup Scenarios and Outpost Architectures for Lunar Exploration  (10 МБ)

Картинки оттуда:

Типовой герметичный модуль для базы:



Другой вид:



Внутренняя планировка. Обратите внимание на специальное помещение Dust barrier для очистки от пыли:



База 1-ого этапа развёртывания из трёх типовых герметичных модулей и герметичного лунохода:



P.S. Герметичное соединение между модулем базы и луноходом. Не совсем понятно как они собираются так точно парковаться  :twisted:

[Tiger]

P.S. Герметичное соединение между модулем базы и луноходом. Не совсем понятно как они собираются так точно парковаться  :twisted:

Штырь в конус?..

[zyxman]

P.S. Герметичное соединение между модулем базы и луноходом. Не совсем понятно как они собираются так точно парковаться  :twisted:

По-моему это как раз не проблема, если луноход будет как сейчас показывают - с активной подвеской и с всеми поворотными колесами.
- насколько я понял, нынешний луноход может двигаться с любым направлением вектора движения, плюс подвеска может его поднимать/опускать сколько нужно, собственно точность поворота мотор-колеса это уже мелочь.

[ОАЯ]

Из картинок в pdf файле видно, что перед стыковкой с модулем луноход боком заежает по наклонным направляющим. Таким образом, он никуда от стыковочного узла не денется.

[Dude]

Фото с морских испытаний макета Ориона. В галерее на сайте размер очень мелкий видимо из-за жадности, но так это защита от "тупых" поэтому просто меняйте значение Item в конце URL от 1 до 10.

http://cmsimg.floridatoday.com/apps/pbcsi.dll/bilde?NewTbl=1&Avis=A9&Dato=20090408&Kategori=NEWS01&Lopenr=408017&Ref=PH&Item=1

[Чебурашка]

Вчера "Орион" первый раз окунулся в морские воды

Orion test

Orion test.  The Orion spacecraft mock up was going through a post landing Orion recovery test this afternoon Wednesday April 8, 2009 in the US Navy Trident Basin at Port Canaveral, Florida. US Air Force Pararescue from the 920th Rescue Wing at Patrick Air Force Base fit several different types of flotation devices around the capsule which is just being towed away from the Freedom Star booster recovery ship.

[Чебурашка]

Ещё фото в медиатеке центра им. Кеннеди: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=4

[ronatu]

de ja vu...  u/\u 45 /\eT cnycTR... :wink:

[Lev]

[ronatu]

RELEASE: 09-080: NASA SELECTS MATERIAL FOR ORION SPACECRAFT HEAT SHIELD

NASA выбрала материал для изготовления теплозащиты КК Orion

В тему. Фото пару месяцев назад. Макет теплозащиты. Сектора выполнены из различных материалов для выбора наилучшего.

Avcoat was used for the Apollo capsule heat shield and on select regions of the space shuttle orbiter in its earliest flights. It was put back into production for the study.

It is made of silica fibers with an epoxy-novalic resin filled in a fiberglass-phenolic honeycomb and is manufactured directly onto the heat shield substructure and attached as a unit to the crew module during spacecraft assembly.

PICA, which is manufactured in blocks and attached to the vehicle after fabrication, was used on Stardust, NASA's first robotic space mission dedicated solely to exploring a comet, and the first sample return mission since Apollo.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=27928

[Чебурашка]

Совещание в центре им. Маршала по проблеме вибраций  1-ой ступени РН "Аres-I"

Engineers Review Solutions to Thrust Oscillation on Ares I

Несколько новых интересных идей. В частности, демпферы внутри кислородного бака верхней ступени и двойное кольцо с демпферами на междступенчатом переходнике или на переходнике к "Ориону"

[Lev]

Чебурашка писал(а):

В частности, демпферы внутри кислородного бака верхней ступени и двойное кольцо с демпферами на междступенчатом переходнике или на переходнике к "Ориону"

Если они так боятся вибрации ТТУ - что мешает давить их на уровне конструкции ПхО РН-КК? ИМХО такое решение сразу напрашивается.