Space Access '11

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

Roger Longstaff, Reaction Engines

Saturday morning, April 9, 2011

Reaction Engines/Roger Longstaff

• Skylon is UK unmanned large space plane project
  • design goal is single stage to orbit
• SABRE engine
  • air-breathing jet engine for subsonic to supersonic
• diagram of HOTOL, the first design (which he admits wouldn't have worked)
  • CG too far aft
  • intakes too heavy
  • other problems
• evolution to Skylon
  • Skylon CG moved to center
  • doesn't taxi like an aircraft - fueled on runway
  • airframe for supersonic lift/drag ratio over 4
  • payload bay in center of vehicle
• performance is integral to the mass budget
• parameters slide included 7 tons payload to ISS
• aeroshell - numbers too small to read
• fuselage cross section diagram
• with empty tanks, compared Skylon on reentry to an empty balloon
  • analogy to shuttle reentering like a brick, for comparison of ballistic coefficient
• diagram of cooling system on SABRE engine, uses Helium
• diagrams comparing SABRE engine's lift/weight and Isp with other engines
• ascent profile begins as a jet before lighting rocket
• descent profile diagram is an all downhill ride
  • lift/drag with the small wings is similar to the shuttle when subsonic
  • so descent copies the shuttle
• estimates the updates to the design will grow by 50 tons
• Skylon design is 275 tons
  • Boeing 747 is about 400 tons; Airbus A380 is about 500 tons
• 2012-2014 testing
  • full ground test of engine
  • nacelles
  • vehicle design complete
  • ready for development program - begin manufacturing
• Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reaction_Engines_Skylon
• Q&A
  • needs 5km runway (16400 feet)
  • G forced on re-entry are light - about 2.5
  • funded 85% private, 15% UK gov't
  • possible business model is to sell spacecraft to operators
  • cost around 12B euros - should be more refined by 2014
    • on scale of A380 development

Tim Bendel, Frontier Astronautics

Frontier Astronautics/Timothy Bendel

• Frontier has many services for NewSpace companies
• owns a former Atlas E missile silo in Chugwater, Wyoming
  • 47 ton blast door
  • vehicles can drive in when the doors are open
• hopes to have an FAA spaceport license soon
• pic of Bob Steinke's rocket engine
• design, assembly and testing of rocket engines
  • silo allows indoor rocket engine test firings
• establish Wyoming residency for your NewSpace company
  • rent space and keep hardware there
  • their address is your company address
  • WY taxes are low
    • may qualify for state business grants
• tenants
  • XL Space Systems manufactures Hydrogen Peroxide in rocket fuel grade
  • SpeedUp (presentation this morning) - former Lunar Lander Challenge competitor, hybrid motor, VTVL rocket development
  • LunaCity (presentation this morning) - uses SpeedUp's Laramie Rose
  • Stone Aerospace - various SBIR projects, IMU (inertial measurement unit) development
  • Open Source Launch Vehicle (presentation this afternoon) - open standard development, useful for SBIR research
• community of NewSpace companies working together at this site
• CU Boulder testing HySOR rocket engine
• video of LOX/methane rocket engine tests for customer Darma
• state of Wyoming is trying to diversify from current energy and ranching
  • summary of various incentive grants available for new businesses
• Q&A
  • no runway yet - private road used by neighbor for takeoffs/landings

Bob Steinke, SpeedUp

SpeedUp/Bob Steinke

• based in Wyoming
• hybrid engine
  • static test firings since last year's presentation
  • viable design and ideas for improvements
  • making parts for full scale motor
• story about lesson learned that hybrids are not explosion proof
  • when OF (oxidizer/fuel ratio) went too high, engine unlit
  • when H2O2 pressure dropped, it lit again with full chamber
  • resulting hard start/explosion
• VTVL rocket Laramie Rose
  • pace declined after Lunar Lander Challenge ended
  • received FAA AST permit for Class II amateur rocket
• Collaboration with Osa Fitch of Luna City Enterprises
  • new nozzle design
  • used Laramie Rose to test the nozzle - didn't have to develop test stand
• new product anouncement
  • Non-pyro valve actuator
  • self-contained pneumatic ball valve actuator
  • pressurant supply
  • simple two-wire replacement
  • single acting, manually restttable
  • follows ISO 5211 valve standard
  • pyro-free drop-in replacement for pyro valve
  • mail: rsteinke at bresnan dot net
• Q&A
  • advantages: no pyros (i.e. may significantly eliminate paperwork)

Osa Fitch, The Rocket Test Company

Osa Fitch, on The Rocket Test Co.

• based in NH
• Rocket Test Company Consortium
  • Frontier Astronautics
  • SpeedUp
  • Luna City - Fitch's company
  • DesignJug
• for testing rocket engine hardware incrementally, legally, economically
• video of rocket test
  • replaced legacy nozzle with one built by their process intended to be equivalent to it
  • that would allow software to make nozzle design changes more quickly
• collect data on "specific cashpulse" - like specific impulse (Isp) but how much cost rather than propellants are used by rocket firing for resulting thrust
• dodged a question about the nozzle due to patent filing

Jim Muncy

Jim Muncy, on Some Relevant Government-Industry Interactions

Note: some background - for many NewSpace companies, Jim contracts as their Washington bureau in effect

• "if you don't know me, ask somebody"
• a question once existed whether launch vehicles would be regulated as rockets or experimental aircraft
  • many wanted to see them as experimental aircraft
• Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act in 2004 set the current process
  • new mid-level regulation
• everyone hesitates to propose modifying this act until we have to
  • some parts expire next year - so we have to
• FAA AST is responsible to both regulate and promote commercial space
  • remainder of FAA got promotion of aviation taken away by Congress after ValueJet crash
• the Act doesn't prevent FAA from making regulations until 2012
  • the idea was to prevent regulation against things they imagine
  • lets the commercial space industry get started, like aviation did
  • it just requires they have observed data (fatalities or series of incidents which could lead to them) in order to regulate
  • this was inspired by the X-Prize flights in 2004
  • we all expected commercial tourist flights by 2005-2007
  • 8 years was a compromise to delay FAA broad regulatory authority, to allow the industry to get going
  • it was called a "learning period"
• Commercial Spaceflight Federation has been talking to Congress requesting an extension of the learning period
  • one idea is to make it 8 years from the first US space tourist flight
  • we don't kow if we'll get that much, or anything
• House Science and Tech Committee considering this or similar provision for May time frame
• if you have ideas about other problems in the Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act, Jim wants to know now!
  • email to info at commercialspaceflight dot org
• made overview of third-party indemnification and state jurisdiction issues
• Orion capsule isn't in competition with commercial crew
  • it's for NASA deep space exploration
  • Lockheed took a risk and bought Delta IV launch from ULA to test capsule in 2013-2014
  • avoids paying higher price later as price goes up
  • but NASA doesn't have money to launch crews on Orions
  • benefit of the Delta IV launch is it shows an existing launcher can carry Orion
    • no need for "shuttle derived heavy lift launch vehicle"
• NASA Administrator Bolden is being cautious - wants an evolvable solution
• It is essential to show NASA how commercial space helps them
  • it will not work politically to try to push NASA bureaucracy away into an irrelevant corner (as some people prefer)
• commercial space is more than crew
  • dep ots, etc
  • commercial efficiency all around
• Q&A
  • we won't know until Monday what's in the 6-month continuing resolution
  • get involved - show them you can take a more portable approach
    • quoted Augustine Commission - "you can have a space program or a jobs program"
  • DoD and NASA
    • 95% of DoD cares about liquid fuel rocket industrial base
    • 5% of Dod cares about solid rocket industrial base
    • NASA is impacting DoD costs by shifting contracts unpredictably with budgets and forcing prices to go up for DoD

Russ Blink and Ben Brockert, Armadillo Aerospace

Armadillo Aerospace/Russ Blink and Ben Brockert

• video of Stig hover flight
• Rocket Racing League will announce their own stuff separately
• 1000 test firings of RRL engine at Armadillo shop
• Project M for NASA became Morpheus
• Pixel rocket now on permanent display at NASA Johnson Space Center in Houston
• JSC hasn't fired a rocket engine on-site since Apollo
  • Armadillo helping them re-learn with current generation employees
    • safety
    • welding
    • JSC employees making a big deal of getting their picture taken "hey I'm using a drill press" - still more progress to make
• video of separate firings of methane and alcohol engines
• Ben did not have video on his laptop of an engine he designed (kind of chastised himself for it)
• Ben's goal is "mach diamonds the size of my head"
• video of a hydro test pressurizing a tank until it burst to verify the design strength
• video of 3-parachute test equipment dropped from airplane
  • nearly hit Tommy's car
  • Ben says he always parks 1/4 mile from Tommy
• videos of Stig rocket tethered hover flights
  • stig means "ascend" in another language - they didn't know which one
• video of nose/parachute charge test - nose almost hit camera
• GPS/APRS telemetry in nose of Stig
• video of mechanically-retracting launch rail testing
• video of Stig tethered flight test
  • Stig is more favorable for hovering
    • CG is "about 15 feet" from the engine gimbals
    • only small control inputs from engine gimbals are necessary
• aiming for 100,000' on first flight of Stig
• need to get to 100km (328,000') eventually
• it will land on the engine, causing dings and requiring maintenance
• Q&A
  • planning manned rockets
    • still in design
    • size of Gemini capsule
    • 8' diameter
    • plan to have that this year, want to fly by October
    • Armadillo flies 2 new vehicles every year
  • new engine development program starting - no details mentioned
  • parachutes packed to just fall out
  • turnaround time
    • took longer to set up than expected due to more farmed-out work
  • how many employees/volunteers?
    • they've never solicited volunteers
    • mostly employees now
    • may add 2 people this year
  • question of clustering the tube rocket
    • they've looked at clustering 3-7
    • second stage would not be recoverable at 400km altitude
      • note: 100km is a space flight
  • problems with electronics with a loose electrical ground