КК для негосударственной космонавтики

Олигарх

Сообщения: 801

15.08.2009 18:32:53

КК для негосударственной космонавтики

Предлагаю в этой ветке отслеживать развитие пилотируемых КК, разрабатываемых для использования вне государственных космических агентств. То есть возможно и госагентствами - но это только option для таких КК, главное назначение которых - выполнение полетов на коммерческой основе для, в принципе, все платежеспособных.

Начнем c cамого свежего

:

Company pitches 'lite' spaceship to NASA - Space.com- msnbc.com
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32418057/ns/technology_and_science-space/
By Amy Klamper

A stripped down version of NASA's future spaceship designed by a Nevada-based
company could be ready as soon as 2013, according to the Bigelow Aerospace, the
private company proposing to build it.
A Bigelow official flew to Denver in July to privately brief a White
House-charted panel on the suggested design based on the planned Orion Crew
Exploration Vehicle, which will carry passengers to and from low Earth orbit.
Such a system is crucial to Bigelow's plans for deploying Sundancer, an
inflatable space station module the North Las Vegas, Nev.-based firm is building
based on NASA's Transhab design. In search of the means to transport paying
passengers to Sundancer, Bigelow has spent the past two years working with
Denver-based United Launch Alliance to study a human-rated version of the Atlas
5 rocket.

But it was not until last month that Bigelow quietly unveiled the "Orion Lite"
concept in a private briefing to former Lockheed Martin Chief Executive Norm
Augustine and his White House-charted committee tasked in May with developing a
range of options for an affordable and sustainable U.S. human spaceflight
program.
Bigelow's crew capsule design is modeled on the Orion vehicle that Lockheed
Martin — one of United Launch Alliance's corporate parents — is developing for
NASA.

In a July 30 interview with Space News, Mike Gold, director of Bigelow's
Washington office, said he believes a low Earth-orbit optimized version of Orion
could be ready to launch atop a human-rated version of the Atlas 5 within three
or four years — much sooner than NASA's discredited March 2015 target for the
first crewed launch of Orion and its Ares I rocket.
Gold said the Bigelow capsule would have the same outer mold line as NASA's
16-foot (5-meter) wide Orion and possibly the same internal pressure vessel, but
little else in common.

Lighter capsule
For starters, NASA expects the lunar-capable Orion crew capsule and
propellant-laden service module to weigh well in excess of about 40,000 pounds
(20,000 kg). Gold would not provide weight or cost estimates for Bigelow's Orion
Lite concept, but said the envisioned vehicle would be light enough to launch
atop an Atlas 5 with a twin-engine Centaur upper stage but no strap-on
solid-rocket boosters. This configuration, known as the 402, is capable of
lofting 27,557 pounds (12,500 kg) into low Earth orbit.
Gold said the Bigelow capsule would also be capable of launching atop the Falcon
9 rocket Hawthorne, Calif.-based Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) hopes
to debut this year.
"I don't think there's any question that a commercial capsule can be
constructed, tested and launched years before the existing Orion plan will come
together, if it ever does," Gold said. "We're moving beyond Orion-Ares at this
point."
A start-up venture founded in the late 1990s by real estate mogul Robert
Bigelow, the company currently has two subscale expandable space modules in
orbit. The privately financed Genesis 1 and Genesis 2 modules were launched in
2006 and 2007, respectively, from Russia aboard Dnepr rockets.
A combination of rising Russian launch prices and the success of Genesis 1 and
Genesis 2 compelled the company to skip the launch of additional subscale
demonstrators and accelerate development of Sundancer, a six-person space
station that could grow to accommodate 15.
"We have a history of leveraging existing technology as demonstrated by the
Dnepr missions, and utilizing a commercial capsule simply follows in the
pragmatic path we have begun upon," Gold said. "We will soon be moving forward
with solicitations focused on the airframe and getting quotes from various
subcontractors."
!!!
Gold would not say whether Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin has or will
have any involvement in Orion Lite.
Lockheed Martin spokeswoman Joan Underwood
did not return multiple phone calls seeking comment by press time.
!!! But industry
and government sources familiar with the effort, said Lockheed has helped
Bigelow with the concept.
...
...

Петр Зайцев

Сообщения: 2,925