Updates NASA's CCDev-2 Program

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: ULA Completes Major CCDev Milestone:

ULA PR — CENTENNIAL, Colo., Nov. 22, 2011 — United Launch Alliance (ULA) today announced the completion of a key milestone that could lead toward the certification of the Atlas V launch vehicle for human spaceflight.

ULA has successfully completed the second required major performance milestone of its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Unfunded Space Act Agreement. The Design Equivalency Review (DER) completes a rigorous assessment of the flight-proven Atlas V launch vehicle’s compliance with NASA human spaceflight requirements. Three of the four current NASA CCDev partners providing commercial crew integrated services have selected Atlas V as their launch vehicle.

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[IronRain]

Spaceflight Now: Reduced budget threatens delay in private spaceships

This year's NASA budget halves the requested funding for the agency's commercial crew transportation program, placing the initiative's goal of ending U.S. reliance on Russian Soyuz spacecraft by 2016 in jeopardy, according to NASA officials.

The budget calls for $406 million for the commercial crew program, which partners with private firms to jointly invest in U.S. spacecraft to haul astronauts to and from the International Space Station.

Congress passed the bill Thursday and President Obama signed the budget into law while traveling overseas.

After the space shuttle's retirement, the only vehicle capable of the human transport job is Russia's Soyuz spacecraft. The Soyuz flies about four times per year, and NASA has booked seats for U.S. astronauts through mid-2016 at a cost of about $63 million per seat.

Companies vying for contracts to ferry crews to space say they can beat the Soyuz price. With sufficient funding, they all claim they could be ready for operational flights by the middle of this decade.

But the $406 million outlined in the fiscal year 2012 budget is less than half of the Obama administration's $850 million request for the commercial crew program.

The Senate and House appropriations committees passed legislation calling for commercial crew funding levels of $500 million and $312 million, respectively. A conference committee between lawmakers agreed to a compromise budget at $406 million.

In prepared testimony to the Senate subcommittee on science and space, NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden cautioned legislators on the consequences of a smaller commercial crew budget.

"A reduction in funding from the president's request could significantly impact the program's schedule, risk posture, and acquisition strategy," Bolden's testimony said, adding that a budget of $500 million would delay commercial crew service to the space station until 2017.

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[orb]

Aviation Week: NASA Space Act Agreements Face New Limits

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Sierra Nevada Completes 2 More Dream Chaser Milestones:

SNC PR – Sparks, NV – December 6th, 2011 – Sierra Nevada Corporation’s (SNC) Space Systems announces the completion of two Dream Chaser Space System Milestones under NASA’s Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) Program. SNC has completed ten straight Milestones as part of NASA’s CCDev Programs, with all Milestones completed on time and within budget.

SNC’S fifth Milestone of CCDev2 was the completion of a System Definition Review (SDR) for the Dream Chaser Space System. This important review was the culmination of months of work, including 19 Subsystem Definition Reviews, and marked the completion of the Program’s first design cycle. During the SDR Milestone meeting, the Dream Chaser team presented the Dream Chaser Space System baseline architecture to NASA program management.

The most recent Milestone was the introduction of a Flight Control Integration Laboratory (FCIL) for the Dream Chaser crew vehicle. This laboratory allows the team to assess the vehicle’s flight control surfaces and associated mechanisms required for flight. FCIL’s adaptive design allows it to communicate with the Dream Chaser Cockpit Based Simulator and Vehicle Avionics Integration Laboratory for integrated performance and pilot-in-the-loop testing.

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[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Sierra Nevada to Conduct Dream Chaser Wind Tunnel Tests at Marshall

NASA Press Release: RELEASE : 11-418 - NASA Center Signs Commercial Agreement With Sierra Nevada :

WASHINGTON-- NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., is entering into a space act agreement with Sierra Nevada Corp. Space Systems of Louisville, Colo., to provide key wind tunnel testing of a new spacecraft designed to transport crew and cargo to and from the International Space Station.

Marshall will perform wind tunnel tests for Sierra Nevada's Dream Chaser orbital crew vehicle, a spacecraft that looks like a small space shuttle. The tests will simulate speeds ranging from Mach .2, or 152 mph at sea level, to Mach 5, or 3,811 mph at sea level, to provide Sierra Nevada with aerodynamic data about how the vehicle reacts at varying speeds and atmospheric conditions. Marshall will provide engineering support and data processing throughout the test series. The agreement could lead to joint development, testing and operations of advanced space systems -- including innovative design and fabrication techniques.

"Helping our commercial partners be successful is a top priority, and we are pleased to be working with Sierra Nevada on Dream Chaser," said Teresa Vanhooser, manager of the Flight Programs and Partnerships Office at Marshall. "Our experienced workforce and unique wind tunnel offers our partners a proven, quick, and affordable way to test their Dream Chaser vehicle, and will aid in the development of the capability to transport astronauts to the International Space Station."

Marshall's 14-square-foot wind tunnel is capable of conducting tests at subsonic, transonic and supersonic wind speeds. Transonic speeds are close to Mach 1, the speed of sound, or 760 mph at sea level, and the facility can achieve wind speeds as great as Mach 5.

"We are extremely pleased to be adding the Marshall Space Flight Center to our Dream Chaser Orbital spacecraft team, which now includes seven NASA centers. Marshall has been at the forefront of many significant aerospace programs, and we are fortunate to have their terrific people and valuable technical capabilities assisting us in the development of our vehicle. Our partnership will enable us to reach low-Earth orbit sooner and safer. We look forward to a long and mutually rewarding relationship and to expanding our presence in Alabama," said Mark Sirangelo, head of Sierra Nevada Space Systems.

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[dumbo2007]

SpaceX preparing for February 7, 2012 launch for the COTS 2/3 demonstration mission

http://www.spacex.com/updates.php

NASA recently announced February 7, 2012, as our new target launch date for the upcoming mission. In addition, NASA officially confirmed that SpaceX will be allowed to complete the objectives of COTS 2 and COTS 3 in a single mission.

This means Dragon will perform all of the COTS 2 mission objectives, which include numerous operations in the vicinity of the ISS, and will then perform the COTS 3 objectives. These include approach, berthing with the ISS, astronauts opening Dragon and unloading cargo, and finally astronauts closing the spacecraft and sending it back to Earth for recovery from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California.

 

[orb]

NASA:
RELEASE : 11-419
NASA TAKES NEXT STEP IN DEVELOPING COMMERCIAL CREW PROGRAM
Competitive Agreements Will Keep U.S. Commercial Space Program on Track

Dec. 15, 2011

WASHINGTON -- NASA announced today a modified competitive procurement strategy to keep on track the agency’s plan to have U.S. companies transport American astronauts into space instead of outsourcing this work to foreign governments.

Instead of awarding contracts for the next phase of the Commercial Crew Program, the agency plans to use multiple, competitively awarded Space Act Agreements. Using competitive Space Act Agreements instead of contracts will allow NASA to maintain a larger number of partners during this phase of the program, with the flexibility to adjust technical direction, milestones and funding.

This flexibility is important during a period of high budget uncertainty when NASA is receiving less funding than President Obama requested for the agency’s commercial space program.

"NASA is committed to ensuring that U.S. companies are sending American astronauts into space," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "This new acquisition strategy will allow us to preserve competition as we maintain our momentum to provide a U.S.-based commercial crew launch capability at the earliest possible time."

This competitive Space Act solicitation is separate from the work being carried out under existing Space Act Agreements. The new competition will focus on an overall system design rather than single technology activities. Details on the new competition will be available in January.

The announcement for proposals is expected in the first quarter of 2012. These competitively awarded Space Acts will be followed by a competitively awarded contract for the certification phase. The certification phase will ensure that the designs fully meet the safety and performance requirements for NASA utilization.

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Florida Today - The Flame Trench: NASA switches gears on commercial crew agreements

Parabolic Arc: NASA to Continue Using Space Act Agreements for Commercial Crew

CBS News Space: Budget uncertainty forces NASA to revise contracting strategy

SPACE.com: NASA Revises Plan to Buy Private Space Taxis

Aviation Week: NASA Shifts CCDev Back To Space Act

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc:

• Hall to CCDev Competitors: Combine Your Bids to Save Time
  
  
• NASA: CCDev 2 Partners Progressing Smoothly on Milestones

 

[orb]

Commercial Spaceflight - 60 Day Report, Issue 4 (PDF)

Issue 4 of the bi-monthly newsletter detailing accomplishments, progress and happenings in NASA's commercial spaceflight development programs.

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: CSF on NASA Space Act Decision: We Like It!:

CSF PR – Washington, DC – The Commercial Spaceflight Federation congratulates NASA on the space agency’s important decision, announced today, to continue to use Space Act Agreements for the Commercial Crew Development Program. This decision will shorten the gap in U.S. access to space, help spur additional private investment, reduce America’s dependence on Russia, save taxpayer money, ensure the future of the International Space Station, and increase industry competition. Now that the Space Shuttle has retired, the Commercial Crew Program is the fastest way for America to regain our domestic access to space.

“Space Act Agreements are a proven way to get rapid, cost-effective results and will help ensure that the Commercial Crew Program is a success,” said CSF Executive Director Alex Saltman. “Space Act Agreements were used in the previous rounds of the Commercial Crew program, as well as the COTS Cargo Program. A NASA cost study has shown that the COTS Cargo development program, using Space Act Agreements, has been successful for a fraction of what a traditionally run program would have cost.”

“Competition is the key to the Commercial Crew Program, and we are pleased to see that NASA is continuing to promote competition, as recommended by the Government Accountability Office in a report released today.”

“This decision maximizes NASA’s bang-for-the-buck and brings America one big step closer to replacing the Space Shuttle with safe, reliable, and affordable commercial transportation to low-Earth orbit. The commercial crew program is an exciting partnership between commercial companies and NASA to combine innovative ideas and new investment from the private sector with NASA’s deep experience in human spaceflight.”

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Parabolic Arc: Space Access Society: NASA’s CCDev Decision a “Significant Victory”

 

[orb]

NASA:
NASA's Commercial Crew Program Refines its Course

December 21, 2011

NASA's Commercial Crew Program will move ahead using Space Act Agreements (SAAs) instead of contracts to advance designs of companies vying to launch astronauts into orbit. The move was made so the program could adapt to budget circumstances while maintaining a high level of competition.

"Our goal is to develop the best solutions, through competition, that the U.S. aerospace industry has to offer”," said Ed Mango, CCP's program manager. "SAAs will do just that by allowing us to maintain more partners during the next phase of the program."

The framework of these agreements would allow NASA the flexibility to work with partners in adjusting the technical direction, milestones and funding for integrated capabilities.

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Click on images to enlarge​

| | Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango talks to his team about the program's strategy for Fiscal Year 2012.

Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann​

| The Commercial Crew Program team discusses the next phase of developing a United States-led capability to get a NASA crew to the International Space Station.

Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossman​

| Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango and Deputy Program Manager Brent Jett update industry partners on the decision to use Space Act Agreements for the next phase of the program.

Photo credit: NASA/Jim Grossmann​

The decision to move forward with SAAs was ironed out between NASA, Congress, and the White House's Office of Science and Technology Policy and Office of Management and Budget after the agency received less money than anticipated for its Fiscal Year 2012 budget.

"Contracts in a stable budget environment are very effective in reaching a critical design phase that meets NASA requirements," said Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate. "But in a dynamic budget environment, they can become difficult and costly to maintain. Space Acts won’t allow us to move directly to certification, but they can allow industry to continue to advance their concepts."

SAAs are not a new way of doing business for CCP. In fact, the past two rounds of Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) activities have operated successfully under these arrangements.

"SAAs allow us to collaborate with our partners, provide technical insight, and freely exchange data and information," Mango said. "It's worked really well so far and should get us close to a critical design phase."

It’s his team's ability to remain flexible and embrace change, Mango said, that will guarantee routine American access to the International Space Station and other low Earth orbit destinations around the middle of the decade.

"CCP has one of the best development teams NASA has ever put together for human spaceflight," Mango said. "These folks want to be here, they want to do something different and innovative, and everyone in this program tends to adapt to change quickly."

The announcement for proposals for these integrated capabilities is expected to be released in the first quarter of 2012. These competitively awarded SAAs will be followed by a competitively awarded contract for the certification phase, which will ensure the designs fully meet the safety and performance requirements for a NASA mission.

"NASA is committed to ensuring that U.S. companies are sending American astronauts into space," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "This new acquisition strategy will allow us to preserve competition as we maintain our momentum to provide a U.S.-based commercial crew launch capability at the earliest possible time."

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[orb]

Space News: Commercial Crew Solicitation Expected in February:

WASHINGTON — NASA will solicit proposals in February for the third phase of a program aimed at developing commercially operated astronaut transportation systems, an agency official said Dec. 20.

NASA wants to pick at least two winners by August, Ed Mango, NASA’s Commercial Crew Program manager, said during a conference call.

Mango described the next phase of NASA’s commercial crew program as a “pretty big jump” from the previous two rounds, which focused on developing only individual components of crew transportation systems.

“Obviously, this next phase has to be a lot bigger than element designs,” Mango said on the Dec. 20 call.

In the third phase of the program, NASA hopes to get at least two competing crew transportation systems ready to enter production. More details about the award will be discussed in advance of the solicitation on a public conference call tentatively set for early February, Mango said.

With the U.S. space shuttle fleet retired, NASA is looking to get commercially operated successors up and running by 2017. In the interim, U.S., Canadian, Japanese and European astronauts will ride to the space station aboard Russian Soyuz craft at NASA’s expense.

NASA’s commercial crew program has now switched gears twice in 2011.

The agency was to have released a solicitation Dec. 19 for a “Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract” — a 21-month fixed-price contract culminating in a critical design review of at least two proposed astronaut taxi systems. However, the agency announced Dec. 15 that because of budget uncertainty, it was scrapping that contracting vehicle in favor of a similar program funded by Space Act agreements, which are not bound by the Federal Acquisition Regulations that govern traditional government contracts. NASA says it can use Space Act agreements to fund development efforts — as then agency has done in previous rounds of the commercial crew program — but not to purchase hardware or services.

In announcing the shift to Space Act agreements, NASA human spaceflight chief William Gerstenmaier said the strategy would save the government money, but that NASA would sacrifice its ability to manage the design and manufacturing processes. Space Act agreements do not give the agency legal authority to dictate requirements to industry, Gerstenmaier said.

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Spaceflight Now: NASA seeks to bolster ties with commercial crew firms

 

[orb]

NASA: NASA's Commercial Crew Partner ATK Meets Third Milestone

Parabolic Arc: ATK Holds ISD Under CCDev 2 SAA

 

[orb]

Florida Today - The Flame Trench: NASA updates commercial crew plans:

NASA plans to begin soliciting proposals around Feb. 7 for a new round of funding to help develop commercial vehicles expected to ferry astronauts to the International Space Station later this decade {...}

NASA said it planned to award grants in the form of Space Act Agreements to "multiple" companies to best meet its goals within available funding.

Congress this year appropriated $406 million for the commercial crew program, less than half NASA's $850 million request.

Companies must submit proposals within 45 days after the announcement. The awards are expected this July or August, with the performance periods extending through May 2014.

The next round of the program, managed at Kennedy Space Center, is called the Commercial Crew integrated Capability, or CCiCap.

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NASA NAIS: COMMERCIAL CREW INTEGRATED CAPABILITY

Florida Today - The Flame Trench: Say So Long to CCDev, Hello to CCiCap

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: Dream Chaser making impressive progress ahead of CCDev-3:

Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) have provided a positive overview on their progress in readying their Dream Chaser spacecraft for commercial crew operations in 2016. A fan favorite – due to its baby shuttle orbiter appearance – Dream Chaser has been paired with the highly reliable Atlas V launch vehicle as part of their Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) aspirations.

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Parabolic Arc: ASAP: Commercial Crew Program at Risk From Inadequate Budget, Oversight:

The Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) believes that NASA’s commercial crew program is at risk from inadequate funding and the space agency’s decision budget-based decision to use less intrusive Space Act Agreements (SAA) to oversee the work of developing vehicles to replace the retired space shuttle.

“It appears to the ASAP that the fiscal year (FY) 2012 funding level approved by Congress, which was less than half of what was requested by the Administration, will not allow commercial crew transportation to the ISS by 2016,” ASAP said in its annual report released this week. “In fact, if the new funding level continues into the future, it is the ASAP’s belief that the program is in jeopardy, thus extending the current lack of a U.S. human spaceflight capability and resulting in no alternative to reliance on Russia to obtain access to the ISS.”

After Congress provided less money for the program than requested, NASA decided to continuing using SAAs, reversing an earlier decision to use the more rigorous Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR)-based contracting approach. Space agency officials said it was the only way they could fund multiple vehicles.

“We believe that the sudden change in acquisition strategy in an effort to salvage the CCP may have significantly increased the risk to safety that the previous plan had begun to address,” ASAP said. “The lack of the ability to incorporate firm safety requirements using an SAA procurement exposes NASA to new risks if, at the conclusion of the developmental phase, the proposed designs do not meet minimum safety requirements. In that event, NASA will have to either (1) expend additional time and money having the designs modified and retested or (2) accept the risk associated with flying its astronauts on systems that do not meet the currently articulated minimum safety requirements….

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NASA: Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel Annual Report for 2011 (PDF)

 

[orb]

NASA: SpaceX Test Fires Engine Prototype for Astronaut Escape System:

Feb 1. 2012

One of NASA's industry partners, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX), completed a full-duration, full-thrust firing of its new SuperDraco engine prototype at the company’s Rocket Development Facility in McGregor, Texas. The firing was in preparation for the ninth milestone to be completed under SpaceX's funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

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Ultimately, SpaceX intends for the Dragon and SuperDraco engines to be fully reusable, which will help advance the company's long-term goal of making spacecraft more like airplanes that can be flown repeatedly with minimum refurbishment. SpaceX has 10 milestones to meet under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement, which continues through at least May.

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Click on images to enlarge​

| |

{colsp=3} SpaceX test-fires its SuperDraco engine prototype in preparation for a milestone that will be met for NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

Image credit: SpaceX​

Parabolic Arc: SpaceX Tests SuperDraco Launch Abort Engine

DiscoveryNews: SpaceX Test Fires Awesome New Rocket

Universe Today: SpaceX Test Fires SuperDraco Abort Engines Critical To Astronaut Launch Safety

NASASpaceflight: SpaceX Dragon advancing the Launch Abort System to new heights

SpaceX Updates (Feb. 1, 2012)


[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PUUnYgo1-lI"]SpaceX Testing - SuperDraco Engine Firing - YouTube[/ame]

 

[N_Molson]

Nice exemple of "diamond exhaust effect" on the test rig part.

 

[Wood]

On the topic of Launch Abort Systems for NASA's Commercial Crew Program, Launch Aborts Challenge Rocket Engineers.

 

[orb]

NASA:
NASA's Commercial Crew Partner ULA Completes Two Milestones

Feb. 2, 2012

One of NASA's industry partners, United Launch Alliance (ULA), successfully completed two milestones that could eventually lead toward the certification of its Atlas V launch vehicle for human spaceflight.

In December, ULA conducted a series of detailed reviews that reflected the culmination of efforts involving technical experts and representatives from NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

“ULA gave us an invaluable opportunity to get to know its Atlas V systems and subsystems through our unfunded partnership,” said Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango. “And we are happy to share our knowledge and expectations to keeping our crews safe."

The first review was a Tailored System Requirements Review (TSRR), which looked at how the existing, flight-proven Atlas V rocket could meet the intent of NASA's human spaceflight certification requirements. The team paid particular emphasis to requirements traceability, verification and certification planning.

"The TSRR was the result of an extensive effort with NASA and our commercial spacecraft partners during which we cooperatively reviewed the details of the Atlas V design, analyses and operations," said George Sowers, ULA's vice president of business development and advanced programs. "This was the first time that we were able to share detailed Atlas V design and flight data with NASA human spaceflight experts."

The second review was a Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) Review, which evaluated safety-critical launch vehicle systems. This included the details of existing failure modes and effects analyses data, ULA’s probabilistic risk assessment approach for CCP, explosion modeling analyses, system hazard analyses and fault coverage assessments. The PSA leveraged similar data developed in support of Atlas V launches of critical NASA missions including New Horizons, Juno and the Mars Science Laboratory.

"The PSA provided a firm foundation to show how the demonstrated reliability of the Atlas V offers significant benefits toward meeting NASA's stringent crew safety requirements," Sowers said. "We received invaluable insight from NASA's Commercial Crew Program while allowing us to provide the details behind the reliability and robustness of the Atlas V design."

Three of the four current NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) partners have selected Atlas V as their launch vehicle.

All of NASA’s industry partners continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities that will ferry U.S. astronauts to and from the International Space Station reducing the amount of time America is without its own system.

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Parabolic Arc: ULA Completes Two CCDev Milestones for Man-rating Atlas V

 

[orb]

Parabolic Arc: Sierra Nevada Delivers Dream Chaser Flight Test Vehicle Structure:

LOUISVILLE, Colo. (NASA PR) — One of NASA’s industry partners, Sierra Nevada Corp. (SNC), recently delivered the primary structure of its first Dream Chaser flight test vehicle to the company’s facility in Louisville, Colo., where it will be assembled and integrated with secondary systems. This is one of 12 milestones to be completed under SNC’s funded Space Act Agreement (SAA) with NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

“It’s rewarding to see our partner’s ideas and concepts come to fruition,” said CCP Program Manager Ed Mango. “The company’s delivery of its flight structure will allow them to make more strides toward launching NASA astronauts on American vehicles to the International Space Station.”

The Dream Chaser flight test vehicle, a full-scale prototype of the company’s planned winged spacecraft, will be used to carry out several remaining NASA Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) milestones, including a captive carry flight and the first free flight of the craft.

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NASA: Sierra Nevada Delivers Flight Test Vehicle Structure