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01-8-09

Taurus II and Cygnus

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Credits: NASA

 

Orbital will employ its Taurus II medium-lift launch vehicle and the Cygnus spacecraft in order to service the International Space Station (ISS) under the Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract.

 

Orbital is one of the two companies awarded CRS contracts under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services Project (COTS).

 

 

NASA announced the COTS project on January 18, 2006. The purpose of the program is to stimulate the development of access to low Earth orbit (LEO) in the private sector. At the time, with the imminent retirement of the Space Shuttle fleet, NASA was faced with the option of buying orbital transportation services on foreign launch systems: the Russian Soyuz / Progress, the European Ariane 5 / ATV, or the Japanese H-II / HTV.

 

Another factor taken into consideration by NASA was that competition in the free market could lead to the development of more efficient and affordable launch systems compared to launch systems that a government agency could build and operate.

 

Credits: Orbital

 

Orbital relies on proven experience in launch vehicle technology. Taurus II is designed to provide low-cost and reliable access to space, and it uses systems from other members of Orbital’s family of successful launchers: Pegasus, Taurus, and Minotaur.

 

Taurus II is a two-stage launch vehicle that can use an additional third stage for achieving higher orbits. The payloads handled by Taurus II can have a mass of up to 5,400 kg.

 

Orbital is responsible for overall development and integration of the first stage. The two AJ26-62, designed and produced by Aerojet and Orbital, are powered by liquid oxygen and kerosene. The core design is driven by NPO Yuzhnoye, the designer of the Zenit launchers.

 

The AJ26-62 engines are basically the NK-33 engines designed by the Kuznetsov Design Bureau for the Russian N-1 launch vehicle, and remarketed by Aerojet under a new designation.

 

 

The second stage uses an ATK Castor-30 solid motor with thrust vectoring. This stage evolved from the Castor-120 solid stage.

 

The optional third stage is developed by Orbital. The stage was dubbed the Orbit Raising Kit (ORK) and it uses a helium pressure regulated bi-propellant propulsion system powered by nitrogen tetroxide and hydrazine. ORK evolved from the Orbital STAR Bus. Because it is a hypergolic stage, it allows several burns to be performed in orbit, and can be used for high-precision injections using various orbital profiles.

 

Credits: Orbital

 

Cygnus will only have cargo capability and will be able to deliver up to 2,300 kg of pressurized or un-pressurized cargo to the ISS. The spacecraft will also be able to return up to 1,200 kg of cargo from ISS to Earth.

 

The two components of the Cygnus spacecraft will be the service module and the cargo module.

 

The service module is based on the Orbital STAR bus (like the ORK stage), and will use two solar arrays for producing electrical power for the navigation systems onboard.

 

The pressurized cargo module is based on the Italian-built Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM). The un-pressurized cargo module is based on NASA’s ExPRESS Logistics Carrier.

 

 

Cygnus will not dock to the ISS in the same manner as the European ATV, but it will be able to maneuver close to the ISS where the Canadarm 2 robotic arm will be used to capture it and berth it to the Node 2 module, similar to the Japanese HTV or SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft.

 

The Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), located at NASA’s Wallops Island Flight Facility on Virginia’s Eastern shore, was chosen by Orbital to serve as the base of operations for the Taurus II launch vehicle.

 

MARS has two FAA licensed launch pads for LEO access. MARS also offers access to suborbital launchers, vehicle and payload storage, and processing and launch facilities.

 

Credits: NASA

 

Due to the location of the spaceport, latitude 37.8 degrees N, longitude 75.5 degrees W, optimal orbital inclinations for the launches performed at MARS are between 38 and 60 degrees. Polar and retrograde orbits can also be serviced with additional in-flight maneuvering.

 

The first flight of Orbital’s new Taurus II / Cygnus launch system under COTS is scheduled for late 2010.

 

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Credits: NASA

 

If you want free lecture notes, exams, and videos from MIT, without any registration required, you can find them at MIT Open Courseware.

 

MIT Open Courseware reflects most of the undergraduate and graduate subjects taught at MIT. One of the courses that caught my eye was an engineering course called Aircraft Systems Engineering.

 

 

Even if the formal title of the course is Aircraft Systems Engineering, the lectures are focused on Space Shuttle design. If you are a space enthusiast and have a technical background, you will probably enjoy these lectures.

 

The course was taught by Professor Jeff Hoffman and Professor Aaron Cohen.

 

Jeff Hoffman is a former Space Shuttle astronaut. He was a NASA astronaut from 1978 to 1997, having made five space flights and becoming the first astronaut to log 1,000 hours of flight time aboard the Space Shuttle. In 2001, Jeff Hoffman joined the MIT faculty, where he teaches courses on space operations and design and space policy. His principal areas of research are advanced EVA systems, space radiation protection, management of space science projects, and space systems architecture.

 

Aaron Cohen served as Director of NASA’s Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. He was Manager of the Command and Service Module in the Apollo Spacecraft Program Office. In 1972, he was appointed Space Shuttle Orbiter Project Manager, responsible for design, development, production, and test flights. He also served for a year as the Acting Deputy Administrator for NASA.

 

One of the guest lecturers is Dale D. Myers. He was NASA Deputy Administrator between October 6, 1986 and May 13, 1989. In the first lecture of the course, Dale D. Myers gives a presentation on the beginning of the Space Shuttle program and describes how the external environment generated the requirements that forced the configuration of the Space Shuttle. This is a must-see, like any other lecture given by someone who has many years of experience under his/her belt. Watching this lecture reminded me of one of my professors back in university, who used to say that the must-have organ for a good engineer is the nose.

 

The course covers the subsystems of the Space Shuttle, including the requirements that shaped the design, the testing of each subsystem, and how they were operated. The structure of the orbiter, the thermal protection subsystem, the Space Shuttle main engines, landing and mechanical systems, the power systems, accident investigation, etc. are all covered by guest lecturers that were directly involved in the design and construction of the Space Shuttle.

 

I hope you enjoy the videos as much as I have. Happy New Year and all the best for 2009!

 

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12-12-08

Columbus

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Credits: ESA/NASA

 

Columbus is an integral part of the International Space Station (ISS), and it is the first European laboratory dedicated to long-term experimentation in zero-g conditions. The projected lifetime of the laboratory is ten years.

 

The laboratory is named after the famous Italian navigator and explorer Christoforo Columbus, who discovered the Americas in 1492.

 

 

The Columbus Laboratory is a large, pressurized aluminum cylinder measuring 4.5 meters in diameter and 6.9 meters in length. Its side walls contain eight research racks, with another two in the ceiling. Each one of these racks contains its own power and cooling systems. Video and data links systems feed information back to researchers and control centers on the Earth.

 

Columbus is the smallest ISS laboratory, but it has the same scientific, power, and data handling capacity as the other laboratories owned by Russia, USA, and Japan.

 

Credits: ESA/NASA

 

Scientific experiments started immediately on the Columbus because the laboratory arrived at the station with four scientific facilities pre-installed.

 

Columbus is used to carry out experiments in many different disciplines, including biology, biotechnology, fluid and material science, medicine, and human physiology.

 

 

The key element in these experiments is the micro gravity. In micro gravity, with gravitational forces much weaker than on the ground, processes that are obscured by gravity become noticeable. The research racks onboard Columbus are designed to investigate how micro gravity affects materials, biological specimens, and people.

 

Columbus contains the European Physiology Module Facility, the Fluid Science Laboratory, the BioLab, the Material Science Laboratory, and the European Drawer Rack, which can house a variety of small experiments.

 

Credits: ESA/NASA

 

Problems that are investigated on Columbus include the loss of bone cells by astronauts, plant growth in micro gravity, fluids behavior, and combustion of materials.

 

Experiments are also conducted outside of Columbus. These experiments are used to study the Earth or to expose materials to the harsh radiation, temperature, and the vacuum of space.

 

 

The mission that delivered the Columbus Laboratory to the ISS was STS-122. On February 7, 2008, the Space Shuttle Atlantis lifted off from Cape Canaveral, with Columbus docked into its cargo bay.

 

A vital part of the ISS and a prerequisite for the STS-122 mission, the Italian-built Node2 module (a.k.a. Harmony) was delivered to the ISS by the STS-120 mission in October 2007. The node is used as a connecting component for the Columbus Laboratory and the Kibo Laboratory. Node2 is also a docking port for the Space Shuttle.

 

Credits: ESA/NASA

 

Prior to the STS-122 mission , there were two spacewalks performed by the ISS Expedition 16 crew to prepare Node2 in order to receive the Columbus Laboratory.

 

ESA astronauts Léopold Eyharts from France and Hans Schlegel from Germany were members of the STS-122 mission. With five other NASA astronauts, they were part of the Columbus assembly and commissioning mission.

 

 

Schlegel spent twelve days in space and undertook two spacewalks to install the laboratory. Eyharts oversaw the installation and the start-up of the laboratory during a longer mission spent onboard the ISS.

 

Columbus was attached to the Harmony module on February 11, 2008, during the first spacewalk of the STS-122 mission. During this spacewalk, NASA astronauts Stanley Love and Rex Walheim spent nearly eight hours outside the ISS. The ISS robotic arm, Canadarm2, was used to move the laboratory from the cargo bay of the Space Shuttle to the starboard side of the Harmony module.

 

Credits: ESA/NASA

 

The second spacewalk of the mission lasted six hours and forty-five minutes. Schlegel and Walheim performed a regular station maintenance operation: they replaced the nitrogen tank that is used to pressurize the ammonia cooling system that runs on the ISS.

 

 

ESA was quite inspired to name the laboratory Columbus because it will open the world of micro gravity to a multitude of discoveries, in the same way that Christoforo Columbus opened up the New World to European explorers.

 

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Credits: NASA

 

The Multi-Purpose Logistics Module (MPLM) is a pressurized module that is used on Space Shuttle missions to transfer cargo to and from the International Space Station (ISS).

 

A typical MPLM mission starts in the cargo bay of a Space Shuttle. The MPLM is carried to the ISS and berthed to one of the docking modules by the Canadian robotic arm. The supplies are offloaded and then finished experiments and waste are loaded on to the module. At the end of the mission, the MPLM is moved to the Space Shuttle cargo bay and returned to Earth.

 

The Italian Space Agency (ASI) provides the modules to NASA. Three MPLMs have been built and delivered to NASA thus far. NASA owns the MPLMs and ASI receives research time on ISS in exchange. The MPLMs were named after great figures in Italian history: Leonardo, Raffaello, and Donatello. However, some of the mission badges display the ninja turtles instead.

 

 

The construction of the first MPLM – Leonardo – began in April 1996. Leonardo was delivered to NASA in August 1998. Raffaello and Donatello followed in August 1999 and February 2001, respectively. Each MPLM can make 25 return trips to space.

 

Credits: NASA

 

The MPLM is 6.4 meters long and 4.6 meters in diameter. The module weighs 4.5 tons and it can deliver up to 10 tons to the ISS. The design of the module resembles the payload module that is part of the ATV. In addition, ATV has a service module that offers autonomy. Obviously, ATV was the direct beneficiary of the knowledge gained during the design and operational phases of the MPLM.

 

 

There is room for sixteen standard payload racks (International Standard Payload Racks – ISPR) in the MPLM. Even if it is not used to carry a human crew, MPLM has its own life-support system. Furthermore, it has a 3 KW internal power supply.

 

Credits: NASA

 

The current Space Shuttle mission – STS 126 – has delivered the MPLM Leonardo to the ISS. Leonardo is on its fifth spaceflight and hauled over 14,000 pounds of supplies and equipment to ISS.

 

Part (a small part) of the payload was turkey, candied yams, stuffing, and dessert for a Thanksgiving meal at the station.

 

 

A special piece of equipment, the GLACIER, was also delivered to the station. GLACIER stands for General Laboratory Active Cryogenic ISS Experiment Refrigerator. GLACIER is a double locker cryogenic freezer that will be used for transporting and preserving science experiments. The payload also included a galley for the Destiny laboratory, an advanced Resistive Exercise Device (aRED), and two new crew quarter racks for the expanded station crew.

 

Credits: NASA

 

There are two more MPLM missions scheduled before the Space Shuttle retires. STS-128 will carry Leonardo in July 2009, and Raffaello will be docked to ISS during the STS-131 mission in February 2010.

 

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