Editorial: Cross Country Planning
By Ed Downs
“Really,” you may think. So cross country planning is a topic exciting enough to warrant editorial comment?” Yes, it most certainly is when the cross country in question is the longest trip our species has ever taken, non-stop to Mars. On Dec. 4 (currently set for 7:05 EST), 2014, the first crew-capable spaceship specifically designed for flight to Mars will be launched from Space Launch Complex 37 of Cape Canaveral’s Air Force Station for its initial unmanned fight into interplanetary space. The 41-year wait for NASA’s return to manned spaceflight beyond the realm of low orbit operations will be over. Regrettably, you may not even hear that it has taken place as never ending post-election analysis, continuing Ebola concerns and Middle East troubles hog highly valued media time. Let’s take just a moment to review what has been taking place in the world of space travel.
In Aug. 2011, this writer kicked off the editorial opinion feature of In Flight USA magazine with commentary on the retirement of the Space Shuttle. While politicians were sending the Space Shuttle around the country in their version of victory laps, the editorial noted that the end of space shuttle flights meant the end of the U.S. manned space flight program. For all practical purposes, this was the end of our leadership in space that had begun with the U.S. commitment to interplanetary space travel kicked off by President John F. Kennedy on Sept. 12, 1962, at Rice University, Houston, Tex.
The decommissioning of the Space Shuttle program meant that the U.S. would simply be a passenger on the Russian Soyuz spacecraft with no ability to place our astronauts in orbit using American made hardware. Fortunately, our inability to launch crews to the International Space Station will soon be coming to an end. Boeing and SpaceX, private companies that have been part of an aerospace industry competition to provide commercial low orbit service, are reaching their final stages of development, and Boing is expected to begin launching American crews to ISS as early in 2017, using the Boeing Atlas V booster and CST-100 Spacecraft.
This writer began to pick up on NASA news releases in early 2013 that told of the progress being made with another spacecraft, the Orion. This “Apollo look-alike” caught my attention and additional research was undertaken. An historical review disclosed that in Jan. 2004, President George W. Bush reasserted the national desire to return astronauts to the task of interplanetary space exploration and set plans in place to return to the moon and then push onto Mars. Called the Constellation Program, plans included the development of a new and flexible crew module and heavy lift rockets, the Ares I launcher and finally the Ares V booster, the new “moon rocket.” The crew module was to be a versatile vehicle that could sustain a crew of four in long term lunar orbit and be used for all future missions planning as a re-entry vehicle when returning to Earth.
This crew module is Orion. To fund the program, plans were set in place to decommission the expensive Space Shuttle in 2010 in order to free money for Constellation. It was expected that the U.S. would be back in the business of launching manned spacecraft as early as 2013, with a lunar mission possible by 2015. But 2008 election results changed the direction of our national goals away from technological world leadership and turned federal funding inward to social and ideological issues. The Constellation program was formally canceled in Oct. 2010 when the U.S. National Space Policy Act was passed. The Space Shuttle was allowed to pass into history in 2011, leaving the U.S. without the ability to launch astronauts into space from U.S. soil.
While the National Space Policy drastically cut funding for a return to the moon, the act did allow for the development of the Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy lift booster that combines the capabilities of both Ares boosters into a single design. The Orion spacecraft also survived, and when combined with the SLS, enables the launch of astronauts into high-earth orbit, lunar orbit, asteroid capture missions and explorative travel to Mars, all while maintaining the ability to provide crew and cargo support to the ISS. With funds drastically cut, both Orion and SLS have been on the slow track, but steady progress has been made.
Fascinated by the prospect of NASA having a space ship capable of flying to Mars, this writer contacted the Johnson Space Center (JSC), location of the Orion engineering prototype, with a request for a briefing and, if possible, a hands-on check out of the space craft itself. The Orion is larger than Apollo, 16.5 ft. in diameter versus the Apollo at 12.8 feet. This may not seem like much, but it adds up to an interior volume that is approximately 60 percent larger than Apollo. Designed to carry six when servicing the ISS, and four when used for long-range missions, it is not crowded. The interior “cabin width” of Orion is slightly larger than that of the ubiquitous Boeing 737, which crams six abreast seating into that space versus the Orion’s three abreast seating.
While the sidewalls do taper in on Orion, one must remember that most of Orion’s flight will be in weightless conditions, making a small space seem much larger. The conical shape of Orion is not simply a copy of Apollo but dictated by aerodynamics that ensures a stable reentry with minimum attitude guidance needed once the descent begins. Seat structures are designed to fold out of the way for weightless flight, as they are simply not needed. Both the Apollo and Space Shuttle used batteries and fuel cells for power, which means they had very finite fuel limits. Not so with Orion, which uses batteries and solar cells to provide power for missions lasting many months. The Apollo command module weighed in at almost 13,000 lbs. while the Orion command module tips the scales at about 22,000 lbs. To be sure, Orion is a larger, long-range machine. A full report on Orion appeared in the Jan. 2014, issue of In Flight USA and follow- up reports have been carried all year long. .
Using the term “Orion” to describe the spacecraft is not completely accurate. The Orion spacecraft system actually consists of several major components that are “stacked” together as mission needs dictate. The first of these is an abort system, which permits the crew to break free from a booster that might misbehave and also incorporates a shroud that completely covers the crew module during launch. Second is the crew module, which provides a human habitat for both launch and recover and contains the primary flight management system from which the crew controls the spacecraft. The crew module incorporates a universal docking collar that permits the crew module to dock with the ISS, a lunar lander, or even an extended range habitat for asteroid and Mars missions. Also included in the crew module is the three-parachute package that will gently lower Orion to a water landing.
Next in the stack is the crew module adapter, which is the portion of the service module that the U.S. is producing (with the European Space Agency building the ESA service module below that). This area contains the avionics interfaces and systems that tie to the crew module through the crew module/service module umbilical. Different avionics configurations can be installed to permit mission flexibility. The crew module adapter plugs into the service module (built through a cooperative agreement with the European Space Agency), which provides electrical power, propulsion (utilizing the Space Shuttle orbital maneuvering engine), attitude control and environmental control. Once in flight, four solar panels deploy from the service module, taking on an appearance wonderfully similar to the Star Wars X-fighter.
How cool is that! If flying beyond earth orbit, an Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage is added to this total stack for the final push from the Earth’s gravitational grip. The entire Orion stack has been completed and is now mounted on top of the Delta Heavy Lift Booster, the largest booster currently available. The Space Launch System (SLS) booster that is designed specifically for long range Orion flights (like Mars) will fly in 2017, and will be the most powerful rocket to ever lift off.
The December flight of Orion will place the vehicle in Earth orbit at 3,600 miles above the Earth, about 15 times higher than the Space Shuttle normally operated. With Orion, we are back in the interplanetary “space game.” This first flight will not simply be a robotic “launch and recovery” mission. The vehicle will “be flown” through the separation sequence and maneuvers needed for reentry. These first mission objectives will verify operations before flying a crew, but there are also many other flight test objectives, which are continually being developed and refined to maximize mission data return on the early test flights. With a re-entry speed in excess of 20,000 mph, the single piece heat shield, the largest ever manufactured, will be given a true test by fire.
It is remarkable that Orion and its support systems have survived during this long period of budget cuts to NASA and scientific research in general. While currently budgeted for only a single flight per year, this writer hopes that midterm election results and later, the election of new national leadership, will bring about a desire to once again make America a leader in space exploration and manned space flight. Yes, NASA does have a plan for cross-country flights that will serve up adventure and technology as never before. Keep Dec. 4 in mind and stay up to date at http://www.nasa.gov/orion.
One last thought, just in case you read this issue before Nov. 12, 2014. The Rosetta is schedule to land on a comet that day, which will be covered on live TV. As far as this writer knows, Bruce Willis will not be on board.
