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April 29, 2011

NASA Showcases Commercial Manned Spaceflight Options as Shuttle Program Closes

By Doug Mohney, Contributing Editor

With the last flight of the Space Shuttle Endeavour and only one more shuttle flight later this year, NASA has begun to shine more light on its commercial crew program. 

At a press conference yesterday (April 28, 2011) in Orlando, NASA managers sat side-by-side with representatives from the four winners of the $269 million CCDev-2 program. “While we are ending the Space Shuttle program, we are evolving to commercial crew,” said Phil McAlister, acting director for NASA Commercial Space Flight Development.



The commercial crew development program has enabled NASA to work with private industry to build affordable access to low earth orbit (LEO) and the International Space Station (ISS), thereby ultimately freeing up money for deep space exploration. Key features McAlister emphasized were fixed government investment with industry partners having to put up investment money and competition, to encourage cost-effectiveness and ensuring NASA was not solely reliant upon a single provider.

Development of commercial spaceflight to LEO is expected to open up new markets for customers other than the U.S. government. But, “success is not assured,” McAlister stated. Companies that can't deliver on agreed upon milestones won't get paid. 

Program managers from Blue Origin, Sierra Nevada, SpaceX, and Boeing (News - Alert) were on hand to discuss their proposals, where development money would be applied, and their individual companies.

Rob Myerson, program manager for Blue Origin, said his company was developing a crew transport system comprised of a seven seat orbital space vehicle and a reusable booster system (RBS). Initially, the Blue Origin capsule will travel to orbit on an Atlas V and other boosters, with the RBS coming later.

Blue Origin has been using its sub-orbital program to test and demonstrate various technologies. During its CCDev2 work, it will work with NASA Ames and Stennis research centers for thermal protection work and engine testing. 

Sierra Nevada program manager Mark Sirangelo had a bad IT day; his Powerpoint slides were corrupted, so he was forced to rely on holding up a “low tech” picture of the company's Dream Chaser lifting body.    Sirangelo emphasized that the company had been working on space projects since the 1960s and employed 2200 people employed in 20 states.  

Dream Chaser had “14 to 15 years” of development behind it, said Sirangelo, tracing its origins back to NASA's HL-20 program. The vehicle could be configured for a wide variety of missions in LEO including cargo transport to and from the ISS and satellite service missions. Since it carries no hazardous materials on board, it could land horizontally at any airport around the world.

As usual, SpaceX (News - Alert) had the flashiest presentation. The company ran its latest YouTube video with a mix of pictures, animation, and Elon Musk sound bites discussing the development of Dragon from an unmanned cargo capsule to a full-blown manned spacecraft with thrusters to provide a pinpoint landing capability on “any solid service in the solar system.”

In the last 30 seconds of the SpaceX clip, a Dragon space capsule is shown descending down to a red landscape -- Mars -- and successfully landing next to an exploration base with an ascent vehicle (presumably another Dragon for the return trip home) and other structures.

Boeing stuck with “safe, affordable, soon” as its mantra for the CST-100 spacecraft. Program manager John Elbon said the philosophy behind its approach was to keep things simple in order to keep operation costs low as well as safe and reliable.  

Elbon said Boeing was prepared to provide a full crew transport capability by 2015 and provided a project management chart that included three flight tests, including two unmanned flights and a two crew flight test in early 2015, followed by “operational readiness” in 2015. Boeing's business case to develop and provide CST-100 services is predicated on continued NASA development funds and winning NASA crew business, with commercial partners such as Bigelow Aerospace and Space Adventures providing “upside” should they come through. If NASA didn't come through with additional development money, it is unlikely Boeing will put substantial resources into the project to produce flyable hardware.



Doug Mohney is a contributing editor for TMCnet and a 20-year veteran of the ICT space. To read more of his articles, please visit columnist page.

Edited by Jennifer Russell
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