Space Access '11

Space Access '11
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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.


Jeff Greason, XCOR Aerospace

Friday morning, April 8, 2011

XCOR Aerospace/Jeff Greason

  • "right now, times are looking good"
  • some new potential contract wins
  • latest news: working with United Launch Alliance (ULA)
    • pump-fed 25,000lbf thrust rocket engine for ULA upper stages
  • on what is a commercial aerospace effort...
    • doesn't really agree with Gary Hudson's definition that majority of your business is non-government
    • if your competitive instinct is to call your senator, you're not commercial
  • market for expendable launch vehicles is not as robust as some think
    • may not be able to support all the ELV vendors
  • hydrogen as a fuel not favorable for first stage
    • better for upper stages and deep space missions
  • XCOR's project for ULA involves a piston pump for liquid hydrogen
  • photo of 5K18 engine firing - the Lynx engine
  • video of engine test, nice loud roar satisfied this audience
  • photo of LOX tank insulatin with flat sides, looks like giant dice for a role playing game so they painted numbers on them to match the look
  • Lynx suborbital spacecraft
    • 3 markets: people, payloads and nanosatellites
    • primary payload location replaces the right seat
    • if there's a payload specialist payload goes behind pilot seat
    • a payload pod can be carried on top for exposure to outside environment
    • some experimenters want to track atmospheric variables multiple times , meaning multiple flights
    • shuttle mid-deck locker as a payload size has become popular, can fit in Lynx payload in place of right seat
    • wet lease program allows someone else to handle the retail details while XCOR focuses on technical/operational details
    • XCOR arranges sales by vehicle
      • contrasted to Virgin Galactic which sells services per person
      • similar sales volume between the two
  • regulatory topics
    • expiration soon on Congress' 2004 ban on fantasy-based regulation - FA currently not allowed to make regulation unless the topic exists
    • current US export controls are a problem for US economy
      • but current advice is still not to suprise a regulator
        • so follow the rules as they exist
        • explain what you're doing
        • give them time
  • Lynx (continued)
    • happy with the progress
    • pace is at the rate of profits from other contracts
    • investment climate improved over past year
    • diagram shows lots of parts of wind tunnel models
    • getting down to modest changes after recent wind tunnel runs
    • video of wind tunnel Mach 2.75 tests
    • photos of Lynx engineering test article in XCOR shop in Mojave
    • XCOR working on non-toxic propellants for reaction control system
      • use of non-toxic propellants isn't really a benefit until the vehicle is 100% non-toxic
  • Q&A (some political questions because Jeff was a presidential appointee to the Augustine Commission that reviewed NASA human spaceflight plans)
    • what's the problem with ITAR export restrictions?
      • it's good to restrict export of weapons info
      • it isn't good to have a guilty-until-proven-innocent approach to everything, which stifles commerce and opens opportunity for foreign competitors
      • anything which involves a rocket is on the "munitions list" - that makes you guilty until proven inocent on every dealing with the State Department
      • Commercial Spaceflight Federation is pooling industry experience on this subject to press for improvement in the system for US industry
    • several people tried asking various different ways to weasel a launch schedule or time frame out of Jeff - he didn't take the bait


Terri Carroll, Teachers in Space

Educational Outreach/Teachers in Space - Terri Carroll

  • Terri works for XCOR - among work there handles educational outreach
    • added a Rocketry 101 class for the school in Mojave
    • simple wind tunnel built by students used to test their rockets
    • engineering has been among the top 10 most difficult jobs to fill in the US
  • Teachers in Space
    • xCOR donated a space flight to Teachers in Space
    • don't have to quit teaching job to do this
    • (NASA's Educator Astronaut program required teachers to quit and become astronauts)
    • participation by XCOR test pilot Rick Searfoss, former NASA space shuttle commander
    • great reaction from kids showing video of rocket engine firings
    • project acts like students are interns at XCOR, has them design hypothetical spacecraft
    • reports are that the kids were still talking about the program months afterward
  • a teacher took the stand
    • teaches high school Engineering 101 class in Phoenix - students get ASU credit for the class
    • rockets/space provides a lot of "wow factor" that helps motivate the students
    • everyone in the aerospace industry has been helpful


Rick Wills, Air Force Research Lab (AFRL)

Rick Wills, on REFPROP

Rick works for the Air Force Research Lab in Albuquerque

  • Reference Fluid Thermodynamic and Transport Properties Database
    • basically a rocket propellant chemical database
    • allows searching for propellant combination with the chemical properties an engine designer is looking for
  • software for Windows, Mac, Linux
  • produces many kinds of chemical diagrams and tables for rocket propellants
  • possible uses
    • chemical properties
    • regenerative cooling potential
      • note: regenerative cooling is using a rocket propellant first as a coolant around the rocket nozzle and chamber while it's enroute to the injector
    • computational fluid dynamics
  • showed examples on slides and then by running the software

Microlaunchers/Charles Pooley

time slot moved to 2:40pm


Charles Miller, NASA

Charles Miller/NASA, on Propellant Depot Progress & Market Implications

Bruce Pittman of NASA Ames was originally scheduled to be a co-speaker but will make a separate presentation later in the conference

  • "The long arc of history tends toward comercial space"
  • responds to Gary Hudson that we are winning but maybe not at the rate we wanted
    • notes that's his own opinion and not NASA policy
  • we're experiencing a paradigm shift
  • sees similarity to the transcontinental railroad
    • it was a proposal for a public-private transportation partnership
    • Asa Whitney (brother of Eli) promoted it on Capitol Hill
    • he was ridiculed
    • but it was completed less than 25 years later
    • we take it for granted as history today
    • today, the space transportation industry is moving forward in a similar way
  • "the Apollo style model cannot sustain us"
  • public-private partnership
    • like transcontinental railroad - competition of two railroads working toward each other
    • there were negative side effects, such as effects on Native Americans
    • but today there are no natives where we're going - so we can avoid repeating that
  • canals and interstate highways were also public-private partnerships
  • Apollo was unique, as a race to beat the Soviets in the Cold War
    • since it succeeded, it's actually more difficult to adjust away from it
  • Commercial Space
    • 1984 - Congress created Office of Commercial Space Transportation (now FAA AST)
      • overcame resistance by getting half of House as co-sponsors, forcing a vote
    • 1986 - Challenger accident
      • NASA resisted proposal to remove commercial satellites from shuttle
    • 1990 - Congress passed Launch Service Purchase Act of 1990
      • required NASA to buy satellite launches from commercial services
    • 1998 - Commercial Space Act of 1998
      • "alternate access to station program" was killed by NASA
    • Commercial Cargo Program
    • 2004 - post-Columbia recommendations for commercial cargo and crew
    • today - NASA acting on Presidental directive to embrace commercial space launch for crew and cargo
    • let's learn from what hasn't worked along the way to make low-cost space launch possible
  • historically, NASA's predecessor NACA invigorated the aviation industry
  • high flight rates are the route to high reliability
  • What would happen if NASA adopted a propellant depot as the architecture for lower cost space launch?
    • commercial propellant depots
    • commercial launch vehicles
    • NASA spacecraft can depart from the depot toward Moon and Mars
    • commercial orbital operations can also use the depots
  • prices that can be charged are determined by nearest competitors
    • commercial RLV must be conservatve on safety
    • example 15 million / flight for 5 metric tons with new competition
    • listed reasons to believe that commercial space flight market is bigger than current surveys
      • 60 flights/year just for gov't and known commercial demand
      • enough to get started
      • not including tourism
      • not including emerging applications
  • many figures given too quickly to jot them all down
  • other uses appear to be ready to start up when propellant depots are available and launch cost comes down
    • gov't expects to add orbital debris removal contracts
  • Q&A:
    • clarified that propellant depots should be commercially owned and operated
      • they'll sell to whomever they want to
      • NASA will be a customer for its deep-space missions
    • cost of depots can be as small as re-filling empty upper stages
      • not as high as building a new space station (unless you significantly reduce the definition of a station)


Ryan McLinko, Space Frontier Foundation

Space Frontier Foundation/Ryan McLinko

  • Where are we going?
    • Earth Orbit - LEO, GEO, LaGrange points
    • planets
    • then out of the solar system
  • Why are we going?
    • technology -enabling better life on Earth
    • personal spaceflight and tourism
    • remote sensing
    • zero-G research
    • point-to-point transportation
    • cheaper power
    • resources (mining asteroids)
  • How are we going?
    • backing methods
      • gov't initiatives
      • tourism
      • many business cases
    • architectures
      • med/heavy lift rockets
      • in-orbit assembly
      • etc - couldn't copy all the list
  • What do we need?
    • game changing technologies
    • near term
      • reuasable craft
      • propellant depots
    • longer term
      • more advanced propulsion
      • etc
  • What support is needed?
    • role of gov't space
      • enable industry
      • develop and extend game-changing technologies
  • What challenges do we face?
    • high barriers to entry
    • markets with little or no competition
    • contracting systems
    • civil support is politically driven
    • public knowledge
    • public engagement
  • What happens now?
    • low-cost, low-risk launch vehicles
    • gov't stimulates private sector by being the customer
  • more about Space Frontier Foundation
    • US-based int'l non-profit space advocacy organization
  • NewSpace 2011 Conference
    • July 28-31
      • (ugh! that's during EAA AirVenture at Oshkosh)
    • at NASA Ames Research Center, Mountain View, CA
    • http://newspace.spacefrontier.org/


Max Vozoff, ISP Systems

ISP Systems/Max Vozoff

  • NOFBX monopropulsion overview
  • "Hydrazine sucks!"
    • it's ubiquitous in the industry
    • considered a necessary evil
    • it's dangerous, expensive, toxic
    • really really toxic - responsible for many worker deaths and injuries
    • tremendous hazmat operational and training overhead
      • cannot be approached without a hazmat "bunny suit"
    • why? because there's no alternative
  • NOFBX
    • nitrous oxide based non-toxic monopropellant
    • still an oxidizer - don't get it on your skin or ingest it
    • expected to reduce cost of reaction control systems
    • much lower overhead
      • safe if spilled on ground
    • invented by FireStar Technologies
    • ISP is a technology incubator majority owned by Firestar
    • based in Australia
    • international patents help ease ITAR export issues (Australia has those rules too)
    • chart comparing NOFBX with other monopropellants for various features
  • monopropellants don't have mixing problems of bipropellants
    • biprops can never mix perfectly so they have lots of little explosions adding to noise and vibration
    • NOFBX burns much quieter
    • simplifies spacecraft design through all systems
  • small thrusters fabricated with tricks from semiconductor industry
  • "no significant materials compatibility concerns"
  • can be mixed on-site
  • can be shipped in DOT-approved containers (on road/rail)
  • business plan
    • commercializing the product
    • expected 250 million market in US
    • obtain flight experience (that's they part they readily admit they're currently lacking)
  • market is estimated 500 million internationally
  • current status: taking angel investors, not looking for VC at the moment
  • Wikipedia page on Nitrous oxide fuel blend