Space Access '11

Space Access '11
Space Access Society info

Overview
Thu April 7 afternoon
Thu April 7 evening
Fri April 8 morning
Fri April 8 afternoon
Fri April 8 evening
Sat April 9 morning
Sat April 9 afternoon

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by Ian Kluft

These are notes I took from the presentations at the Space Access 2011 Conference in Phoenix, Arizona.


Henry Vanderbilt, Space Access Society

Thursday afternoon, April 7, 2011

Henry Vanderbilt, Space Access Society

quick intro, announcements

Henry Spencer, on Destinations (and Pit Stops) Beyond LEO

This is the traditional intro to the conference with an overview of technical issues for space launches, orbital dynamics, and possible topics for research and commercial space missions of interest. The presentation ranged from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) and Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO) to lunar, asteroid and planetary missions.


Dennis Stone, NASA

Dennis Stone/NASA, COTS/CCDev update

The NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (affectionately known as
C3PO) is overseeing development of US commercial launch capability for
manned and unmanned commercial space operations.

  • hired venture capitalist to advice on dealing with commercial sector
  • wants to see business plans and investors
  • gives companies "maximum possible intellectual property rights allowed by law"
  • COTS - Commercial Orbital Transportation System
    • two partner companies
      • SpaceX has performed a COTS demostration launch, which was "flawless"
      • Orbital Sciences will also perform a demo launch
    • showed Orbital's animation video, left SpaceX video to Gwynne to show since she's here
    • both companies have been through the International Space Station integration process
    • all of the COTS paid milestones have been completed by the companies
  • CCDev - "Commercial Crew Development" program to advance crew spacecraft technologies in US industry
    • NASA provides some grants to push technology development forward
    • Blue Origin project is a pusher escape system
    • Boeing project is a capsule for a crew of 7
    • Paragon project is an air revitalization system
    • Sierra Nevada project is a manned lifting body spacecraft
  • What's next? Can't announce CCDev2 winners yet - it'll be soon
  • aiming for CCDev3 full-up commercial crew program headed up at KSC/JSC
  • Commercial means having more customers than just the government
  • benefits: increased flight rate means increased reliability, economies of scale
  • no NASA logo on the commercial craft, frees them to use any other advertising logos without restriction against implied gov't endorsements
  • how to develop the microgravity market - exploring and looking for current ideas
  • COTS and CCDev are already successful public-private partnerships


Sara Meschberger, SEDS

Students for the Exploration and Development of Space/Sara Meschberger

  • national organization of college students in support of space education and development
  • annual conferences, this year at CU Boulder
  • 501(c)3 non-profit organization
  • donations to endowment can help establish more stable annual budget including scholarships
  • space video competition in conjunction with Space Frontier Foundation and SpaceVidCast.com
  • SEDS chapters located at many universities


Jeff Feige, Orbital Outfitters

Orbital Outfitters/Jeff Feige

The title is "Pressure suit use for commercial spaceflight".

  • OO has taken a long look at suit/vehicle integration
  • founded 2002
  • niche is that there hadn't been significant development of spacesuits for decades
  • specialized suits for commercial operators and high-altitude skydiving
  • suits must do...
    • keep occupant safe
    • allow them to perform their designated tasks
      • suit may not have to be same for pilot and passenger
  • most of a suborbital space flight is at altitiudes where you would die if exposed to outside environment
  • difference between suborbital and orbital is duration
    • for suborbital, the dynamic portion of the flight is the whole flight
  • other issues
    • important to understand hazards beyond pressure - i.e. fire, chemical
    • terrestrial (cold water) protection for after landing
  • factors affecting use of suits
    • comfort/mobility - ingress/egress accessibility
      • not like t-shirt and jeans!
    • thermal issues
      • cooling more often the issue than heating, closed-in body heat
    • performance under pressure vs unpressurized
    • vehicle integration factors
    • mass/volume penalties for flight
    • significant business model impacts
      • not cheap
    • "bottom line - suits a re a necessary hassle"
  • no good alternatives
    • only demostrated safety system independent of the vehicle
  • factors
    • what if you're the person on that trip?
    • operator/developer liability for a fatal accident - can you claim you did everything in a design without a spacesuit? probably not
    • industry accident of a fatal accident
  • commercial aircraft have systems and procedures to deal with depressurization
  • those are not an option in a vaccuum
    • rapid descent not possible when you'll continue coasting upward
    • oxygen masks useless above 50,000'
  • the space shuttle is a textbook case of how not to integrate a suit into a vehicle
    • shuttle designed for shirtsleeve environment
    • suits added after Challenger
    • seats engineered for weight of astronauts without suits
    • oxygen flow into cabin creates fire hazard
  • suits are complex, expensive and have a significant impact on vehicle design
  • everyone who has tried to make a spacecraft without a spacesuit has turned around to use them
  • a spacesuit is a safety subsystem - it has to be developed in parallel with the vehicle


Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX

SpaceX/Gwynne Shotwell

Note: It's a really big deal having SpaceX at the conference. They're the first NewSpace company to launch to orbit and now also to re-enter a spacecraft.

  • SpaceX founded 2002
  • considering crew from the beginning
  • cargo have been the initial opportunities
  • 1300 employees and growing
  • Falcon 1
    • not just a practice shot - developed for a payload size market
    • on hold until early next year due to Falcon 9 priority
  • Falcon 9
    • 3 metric tons of cargo to International Space Station
  • F9 with faring
    • 15 tons to LEO
  • Falcon Heavy
    • 53 metric tons to LEO
    • if you're crunching numbers, remember it cross-feeds propellants between stages
      • makes it like a 3-stage vehicle
  • last 4 launches and re-entry were successful
  • NASA's COTS program has brought in some money
  • NASA wants a fresh Dragon capsule each flight
    • designed for re-use
    • looking into commercial availability of refurbished Dragon capsles
    • NASA will consider refurbished capsules in the future when refurbishment issues are more clearly understood
  • hoped to have an announcement today on CCDev2 - waiting for Fed budget
  • 13 new F9 launch orders in past 12 months, mostly but not all Iridium
  • Falcon reliability
    • designed for crew from the beginning
    • engine-out capability - can continue after an engine failure
    • engine quick restart capability - launch abort can recycle within the hour
    • many other factors
  • showed video of SpaceX accomplishments, animation of upcoming
    • "Falcon 9/Dragon: fastest and safest path forward for crew transport"
  • working toward Dragon cargo capsule test going to the International Space Station on the next flight - maybe sept/oct time frame
  • question about how SpaceX works with Tesla (both founded by Elon Musk)
    • hosted Tesla in SpaceX's Hawthorne facility initially
    • LiPo batteries on Dragon capsule uses tech from Tesla electric car

The crowd gave Gwynne a standing ovation.


Misuzu Onuki, JAXA

Misuzu Onuki, on Japanese Space Activities, including commercial and media

The talk is titled "What is going on in Japan?".

  • recent accomplishments of the Japanese space agency (JAXA)
    • Hayabusa sample return
    • ISS/JEM assembly complete
    • new Japanese astronauts
  • some financials
    • decreases in budgets
    • decreases in companies using space agency services
  • new govt policy to change emphasis from research and technology development to commercial utilization of space
  • showed drawing of a winged commercial suborbital spacecraft concept by Japanese industry
  • 98 airports in Japan, several with concepts for spaceport use
  • expecting to participate in commercial global suborbital point-to-point flights as the technology develops
  • leasing agreement with Bigelow Aerospace for access to their commercial space stations
  • one project is an orbital washing machine for space suits


Gary Hudson, t/Space

Gary Hudson, Gary Hudson, on "It's A Trap!" Monopsony and NewSpace

Note: t/Space was a consortium of companies which made an entry for NASA's COTS program

  • aerospace is typically like the defense industry, a "monopsony" (opposite of a monopoly in that there is only one buyer)
  • says that t/Space made the proposal which eventually became COTS
    • wanted NASA to help dig us out the hole it made barring commercial space development
    • wanted to stop Constellation which would inevitaly dry up space research funding and fail
  • mistakes that NASA (via former administrator Mike Griffin) made in COTS
    • "skin in the game" deters investment, makes NASA the only possible customer
    • cargo not crew - may be more expensive because crew requires less automation (ingress, docking, etc)
    • ISS is the initial destination - involves complex visiting vehicles rules that NASA waives for Shuttle and Soyuz
    • primary hardware milestones - paper milestones are heavily bureaucratic
  • results
    • new contractors become like ULA - thousands of expensive employees reduce cost savings below what is possible
    • inhibits cost innovation - systems tend to lose efficiency
    • barriers to entry for start-ups - NASA procurement process impossible for small companies, rules should use insurance rather than total fear of liability
  • CCDev
    • tied to job creation
    • hostage to funding for the "Senate launch system"
  • possible solutions
    • it won't come from Congress
    • communications satellites are not driven to fix this because launch is only a part of their overall enormous expenses
    • (other impediments to commercial development due to govt domination - couldn't read the small font of the slides from the back)