Space Access 2007

Overview
Thu 22 Mar afternoon
Thu 22 Mar evening
Fri 23 Mar morning
Fri 23 Mar afternoon
Fri 23 Mar evening
Sat 24 Mar morning
Sat 24 Mar afternoon

These are notes I took from the presentations at the Space Access 2007 Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.

Friday Afternoon, March 23, 2007

2 pm Michelle Murray, FAA AST

• http://www.ast.faa.gov/
• summary of FAA AST accomplishments since last Space Access
• NASA COTS winners announced
• First experimentatal flight permit - Armadillo at XPC
• FAA Human Space Flight rules announced
• NASA signed MOU with Virgin Galactic for high speed flight & heat shield research
• 6 launch permits issued
• "When do I need a license or permit?" summarized regulatory thresholds
• preparations for XPrize Cup
  • 180 days for draft application
  • 150 days for final application

• "you need to be working with us now"
  • experimental permit info
  • how to start the pre-application permit consultation
  • experimental permit workshop

2:40 Panel, RLV Flight Insurance - Kelly Alton, James Dunstan, Doug Griffith, Ralph Harp

• insurance that will be required for space flight companies will be governed by state law
• Federal Aviation Regulations require up to a $500M policy for "innocent bystanders" and $100M for possible liability to the government for damage to government property
• computation of "maximum possible loss" (MPL) figure is imporant because it will set your insurance premiums
• 40K deaths/year due to automobiles
• 6K deaths/year due to aviation
• none recently due to space flight, except for years with space shuttle accidents
• underwriting isn't as scientific as you think
• more expensive on a one-time event, much less if you spread it out over a year
• Ralph Harp insured Confederate Air Force and round-the-world balloons
• if no underwriters will touch it, need to set up a personal injury account
• if you ever have an incident - report it. Later insurance claims will probably require that it was promptly reported.

3:30 break

4 pm Jim Muncy, PoliSpace

• last year proposed that we don't oppose Orion/Ares/COTS because we'll get our share
• now abandoning that stance - they're eating up parts of NASA that are more beneficially working with NewSpace companies
• they way they're going, NASA will spend so much servicing the space station that they'll never get to the moon
• DoD is waking up much faster to the need of entrepreneurial development
• different economics of "PC satellites" vs "mainframe satellites"

4:40 John Carmack, Armadillo Aerospace

• video of Armadillo's progress over the recent years
• John has personally spent $3M on the program
• changed to regeneratively cooled engine
• modular testing allows learning on smaller cases
• "more economies of quantity than economies of scale"
• dual module system coming
• 4-module system with fixed engines and gimbaled engines
• boost up to 250mph, trading drag losses for gravity losses
• risk with "tall tippy vehicle"
• allows them to test maximum dynamic pressure at Oklahoma
• had some that "looked exactly like Elon's last flight" circling pattern
• always test now with "go to space burn duration"
• FAA experimental permit work "wasn't all that bad"
• second permit went through smoothly
• planning a commercial launch license to fly customer payloads
• "trying to make things perfect when we're done, not necessarily at the first attempt"
• expects to win the LLC this year
• last year "we had the luck we could reasonably expect"
• funded out of pocket at sustainable rate - could continue at this rate "until the bottom falls out of the video game market"
• likes the rate Armadillo is going right now
• believes that when the capability to carry customers to space is demonstrated, the business case will close itself
• will use Lexan windows so customers will have 360 degree view
• several possible plans for reaching orbit
• considering LOX/methane motor
  • Helium as a consumable causes problems, adds costs

• self-pressurization is preferred
  • some new technologies under consideration when tested on small projects can be proven for tens of thousands or a couple hundred thousand dollars.
  • with a modular system, new technologies can get swapped in more easily
  • when he mentions this to aerospace industry professionals, they give him "that look"
  • focusing on LLC for now
  • 20+ additional flights on Pixel, Texel and the modules before October
  • NM spaceport had to resubmit FAA paperwork so license is delayed
  • new vendor for 3-axis GPS system for under $10K - should allow the vehicle to recover from unusual attitudes
  • John estimates best case as: win money in Oct, test flights in Nov, go to NM spaceport in Dec and start flying vehicles "full speed all the way up"
  • "we're pretty good at putting these vehicles together now"
  • John believes it's possible to build the orbital vehicle in the current shop that Armadillo has in Dallas
  • audience suggests hexagonal pattern rather than rectangular. John says it doesn't make as much difference as they think.
  • asked when he'll take reservations, he doesn't want to pre-sell a capability that doesn't exist yet
  • qualification plan: once they go through another generation and understand it well, they'll build 3 vehicles for 100 test flights. Then people can ride on the pressurized vehicles.
  • designed the tanks for the size so they can replace them with Microcosm LOX tanks

5:30 Tim Bendel, Frontier Astronautics

• supplier for NewSpace companies
• attitude control systems using "state space" control laws for better reliability
• demo at X Prize Cup was a balancing cone with cold gas thrusters - they let kids throw nerf balls at it to try to knock it over - recovery demonstrated response to unexpected inputs
• first client is Masten Space Systems, providing ACS for XA 0.1 vehicle
  • 4 hinged engines different from fully gimbaled system

• has advantages which Frontier takes advantage of
  • other customer is SpeedUp, providing prototype for hoverbike which will be used as LLC entrant
  • Viper engine - 7500lbf thrust LOX/kerosene engine designed to be clustered
    • removable/replacable ablative liner instead of regenerative motor

	 * designed for stable combustion despite low pressure drop

• replacable ablative nozzle patent to be issued 4/12/07
• Asp engine - pressure-fed hydrogen peroxide motor, 1500lbf thrust
• pursuing hydrogen peroxide production, currently importing from Sweden
• machining services available
• looking for test flights
• applying for FAA spaceport license