- Joined
- Oct 30, 2009
- Messages
- 14,020
- Reaction score
- 4
- Points
- 0
Florida Today - The Flame Trench: KSC, Boeing set to announce spacecraft work
Interesting it's using the same "pusher" type launch abort system SpaceX plans to use on the Dragon capsule.
The CST-100 also holds 7 passengers/crew like the Dragon and can be launched on the Falcon 9, so presumably is of comparable mass as the Dragon. Anyone know what the development cost of the CST-100 is?
Presumably it will be multiple times less than the Orion, also like the Dragon.
this once again means a privately financed spacecraft can be developed for 1/10th the cost of a government financed one.
While one should note that Dragon is not a privately financed spacecraft, nor is SpaceX a privately financed company. It's eyewash spread by the media. The reality is that NASA pays more than 50% of all SpaceX's costs. But development is less expensive though, as you mentioned.
And as far was I know, the development of the CST-100 also profits from COTS, i.e. NASA. It would be interesting to know how much Boeing and how much NASA does pay for the CST-100.
So I have a problem to talk about privately financed spacecraft because without NASA there wouldn't be any privately financed spacecraft. Although development costs are relatively low.
Whatever that formula is between government financing and private financing that allowed SpaceX and likely Boeing to build spacecraft at 1/10th the cost of fully government financed ones, I'd like to see the ESA follow that same formula to develop low cost launchers and crewed spacecraft.
Bob Clark
HOUSTON, April 3, 2012 (Boeing PR) – Boeing successfully completed a parachute drop test of the company’s Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft today at the Delamar Dry Lake Bed near Alamo, Nev. CST-100 is part of the Boeing Commercial Crew Transportation System (CCTS), which will provide the United States with the capability to transport people and cargo to the International Space Station (ISS), the Bigelow Aerospace Complex and other destinations in low Earth orbit.
An Erickson Sky Crane helicopter lifted the CST-100 test article to about 11,000 feet and released it. Three main parachutes deployed to slow the capsule’s descent before six airbags inflated, providing a smooth ground landing. The event was the first drop test of the fully combined vehicle landing system, including all elements.
“This successful test is a tremendous milestone that brings Boeing one step closer to completing development of a system that will provide safe, reliable and affordable crewed access to space,” said John Mulholland, vice president and program manager, Boeing Commercial Programs.
{...}
The team is planning a second test later this month, following parachute inspection and re-packing. This second drop test will include a drogue parachute deployment sequence on top of the main parachute deployment, demonstrating the full, nominal parachute system performance.
Boeing has scheduled additional tests to be performed in 2012, including a landing air bag test series in May, a forward heat shield jettison test in June, and an orbital maneuvering/attitude control engine hot fire test in June — all to gather additional data on key functional elements of the spacecraft design.
{...}
CLEAR LAKE, Texas — Boeing’s new private spaceship may be ready to carry astronauts to the International Space Station and other locales in low-Earth orbit by 2015, company officials say.
{...}
I'm curious whether it will be the CST or Dragon transporting humans into earth orbit / to the ISS first. Although it seems that we are living in depressing times of manned space flight with all that back and forth going on at NASA, we actually have much more activities going on than ever before in history. But sadly none of it is related to exploration for now. Dragon and the CST are actually just a continuation / improvement of the Apollo Command Module, 35 years later, but with an uncertain future though. Somehow a bitter taste. Most people during the early to mid 1970's certainly thought we would be way ahead past the year 2000. But nonetheless great to see that the capsule design gets a revival
Isn't it ironic that many people believe that nobody does spaceflight anymore, yet there is so much going on right now?! It's exciting times!
Give us 20 years, and we will certainly have systems in place that are visually more ''futuristic''. Just look at some of the concepts for the DSH, FlexCraft and MMSEV that NASA have been floating around.
And the SpaceX Grasshopper RLV is a brilliant concept too.
As for capsules.. Well, as they say, physics doesn't change, and with the advantage of wings not being as large as it was once thought, capsules are definitely here to stay for a long time.
Nevada-based company Bigelow Aerospace, a Boeing partner that is developing large, expandable space habitats, played a key role in the drop test.
Company founder and president Robert Bigelow noted in a press statement: "If astronauts had been in the capsule during these drop tests, they would have enjoyed a safe, smooth ride… further proof that the commercial crew initiative represents the most expeditious, safest, and affordable means of getting America flying in space again."
I'm curious whether it will be the CST or Dragon transporting humans into earth orbit / to the ISS first. Although it seems that we are living in depressing times of manned space flight with all that back and forth going on at NASA, we actually have much more activities going on than ever before in history. But sadly none of it is related to exploration for now. Dragon and the CST are actually just a continuation / improvement of the Apollo Command Module, 35 years later, but with an uncertain future though. Somehow a bitter taste. Most people during the early to mid 1970's certainly thought we would be way ahead past the year 2000. But nonetheless great to see that the capsule design gets a revival
Do you think it would be realistic to replace the currrent Dragon-trunk with a descent/ascent stage? The Dragon is built quite small and light, but has the disadvantage that the heat shield mass would have to be landed and relaunched again from the moons surface.
The scenario would require 2 Falcon Heavies, the first one with a lunar injection stage, the other one with a Dragon/Lander vessel.
(Sorry for distracting the thread from the CST-100 topic.)