[ad_1]
NASA selected Maxar Technologies for a $ 375 million contract for the design, construction and launch of the core element of a mini space station in orbit around the moon, which will also serve as the Space research station and starting point for future human expeditions to the Moon. area.
Equipped with high power Xenon thrusters and huge sliding solar panels, this module will become the centerpiece of NASA's moon-orbit gateway station. NASA plans to add a small pressurized habitat, or module of use, to the bridge before assembling the components of a lunar lander before a human landing on the moon as early as 2024.
The gateway is a small space station that we will orbit around the moon, "said NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine in a speech at the Florida Institute of Technology on Thursday. "Consider it as a reusable command and service module that will orbit the moon for 15 years.The first element is the element of power and propulsion."
NASA states that the bridge will serve as a base of operations and refuge for astronauts heading towards the lunar surface, and the power and propulsion element, or PPE, will feature significant capabilities. maneuver to alter the orbits, allowing crews leaving the station to reach any part of the moon, such as a south pole where the measurements suggest the presence of ice in the craters permanently shaded.
Apollo's astronauts have landed in the equatorial regions, but NASA wants future crews to explore the ice fields of the water at polar landing sites, hoping to extract the material to generate thruster, electricity, air and other consumables to support a long-term basis.
Vice President Mike Pence instructed NASA, in a speech in March, to send American astronauts back to the moon by 2024. Development of the Gateway segments was already underway at the time of Pence's speech. at a rate to prepare for a lunar human landing around 2028.
NASA officials have announced that some elements of the original Gateway concept, such as an airlock to support space exits, a refueling module provided by the European Space Agency, a robotic arm built in Canada and a possible Japanese contribution, would be deferred in favor of the construction of a minimum station by 2024.
The first element of the bridge will be launched on a commercial rocket by the end of 2022, followed in 2023 by the launch of the first pressurized segment of the station, also on a commercial vehicle. The pressurized operation module would have multiple mooring ports to connect to the PPE, a lunar lander and visiting Orion crew caps.
According to NASA's current plan, commercial rockets would launch two or three pieces of a human-rated lunar landing gear that will be integrated into the bridge in time for an attempted landing in 2024.
The astronauts who were to land on the Moon in 2024 would participate in the third mission in tandem of the Space Launch System run by the government of NASA, a heavily delayed rocket whose first launch is planned for the end of 2020, as well as for the first time. Orion crew. ferryboat.
NASA has named the accelerated lunar landing program Artemis, goddess of the moon and sister of Apollo in Greek mythology.
According to current plans, the Artemis 1 mission, formerly known as Exploration Mission 1, will be the inaugural flight of the space launch system with the Orion crew capsule during an unmanned flight into lunar orbit and back to Earth. After the Artemis 1 mission at the end of 2020, the first SLS / Orion mission with astronauts would begin at the end of 2022 to circle the moon.
Accelerated moon program in the face of headwinds
The lunar fast landing program will cost billions of dollars more than what NASA intended to spend over the next five years. Earlier this month, the Trump administration asked Congress for a $ 1.6 billion down payment on the Moon accelerated program to complete the previous $ 21 billion request from the White House budget for NASA to the 2020 exercise, starting on 1 October.
The funding to launch the Moon program would come from surplus Pell Grant.
But this is only the beginning. Bridenstine said NASA would need more than $ 1.6 billion in additional funding per year after 2020 to allow the human landing on the moon by 2024, but Trump administration officials undefined budget corresponding to the total cost of the program.
"Although I am a supporter of difficult human space exploration projects that can lead us to the Moon and finally to Mars, on the basis of the limited information provided to Congress, it is impossible to judge the rationale for the president's budget amendment, "said representative Eddie. Bernice Johnson, D-Texas, Chair of the House Committee on Science, Space and Technology.
"We do not know how much money it will take in total to meet the arbitrary deadline of 2024 lunar landing or how that money will be spent … What we do know is that the President proposes to reduce further the needs-based grant program. which provides a lifeline to low-income students, namely the Pell Grants program, in order to pay for the first year of this initiative – something that I can not support, "Johnson said in a statement.
A House Expenditure Bill released on May 16 did not include the Trump administration 's $ 1.6 billion supplementary budget request. The additional $ 1.6 billion requested for NASA would fund early work on a man – sized lunar lander, and help keep the SLS and Orion programs on track for theft. unmanned test Artemis 1 at the end of 2020.
A former aerospace industry executive who joined NASA in April to help develop plans for the return of man on the moon by 2024 resigned from the agency this week .
Mark Sirangelo, a long-time leader of Sierra Nevada Corp., left NASA after the US Congress rejected a proposal to divide its human space flight efforts into two divisions, a "Moon to Mars Mission Direction" and a separate unit dedicated to manned space flight operations, such as those of the International Space Station in Low Earth Orbit.
In a memo to NASA employees on Thursday, Bridenstine wrote that Sirangelo "had chosen to pursue other opportunities" now that the agency was no longer pursuing the reorganization.
Maxar's Gateway contract is hailed as a model of partnership between NASA and industry
While the US astronauts' return calendar on the moon has accelerated, NASA officials said the bridge was an essential part of a long-term exploration strategy to ensure the durability of a new series of lunar missions over several years or decades.
Maxar defeated proposals for Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman and Sierra Nevada's propulsion and power assets. Company officials said Maxar would build on its long-standing experience in building and operating large commercial communications satellites for PEP development.
"This program will not only achieve NASA's goals, but will also transform the private sector by creating jobs and innovation," said Mike Gold, Maxar's Vice President of Civil Space, when from a conference call with reporters.
Maxar's commercial SSL division, formerly Space Systems / Loral, based in Palo Alto, California, will lead the development of the Gateway power and propulsion module. Maxar will work with Blue Origin and Draper on the program.
According to Gold, Blue Origin will contribute to the evaluation of personal protective equipment and safety, while Draper will contribute to navigation and trajectory design.
Officials have not announced a supplier for the EPP solar-electric propulsion system, but the spacecraft will feature large-area solar panels that act like a tape measure, rather than the rigid accordion-type panels most satellites. Developed by Deployable Space Systems in Goleta, California, the Roll-Out Solar Array technology, or ROSA, was first introduced in space in 2017 as part of a US-sponsored experiment. Air Force.
The two solar wings of the EPP will produce at least 60 kilowatts of electricity at the beginning of its 15-year life, more than double the power produced by today's most powerful commercial communications satellites, according to Al Tadros, vice president of space infrastructure. and civilian space.
"We're building 20 to 30 kilowatt satellites early in life, so managing high power is one of our core competencies," Tadros said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. "The satellite we proposed for the power and propulsion element is a 60-kilowatt satellite; so it is higher, but much of what we already do is applicable. So, electric propulsion technology, power processing units, these kinds of things with which we already have experience are applicable.
"For solar panels, we opted for our product ROSA, a product we started to adopt for our GEO comsats," said Tadros. "It's a higher power than we would normally have for a comsat. So there are new developments, but that's pretty well understood thanks to our work with the vendor on the deployment solar array.
"Other areas include the size of tanks for xenon. A large load of xenon makes it possible to carry out an electric propulsion in a cis-lunar space. And then, of course, he will have maneuvering abilities to go to the Moon and be able to support and provide communications and power support in the cis-lunar space. So many things we do, perhaps on a larger scale, but we have the right expertise and the right facilities to build it. "
Maxar will choose a commercial launcher for personal protective equipment, which is expected to weigh approximately 5,000 tonnes on takeoff. Half of this weight will be xenon propellant for the spacecraft's ionic engines, which are more efficient than conventional liquid fuel rocket propellants.
The company's operations team will then conduct demonstrations for up to one year before NASA has the opportunity to purchase Maxar's COB. The $ 375 million contract announced Thursday includes NASA 's purchase option.
NASA will provide Maxar with government-supplied equipment, including an S-band communication system that provides a radio link with nearby vehicles around the moon, and a passive mooring adapter to accommodate the future gateway habitat. . or use module, according to Dan Hartman, head of the Gateway Program at Johnson Space Center of NASA in Houston.
Maxar has not yet chosen a launcher for the EPP, according to Gold.
Tadros said the EPP is designed to separate from its commercial launcher in Earth orbit, then use its on-board electric propulsion system to slowly increase its altitude to intercept the moon, eventually tipping into a stable orbit around it. the moon.
"It has the ability to enter Earth orbit, launch and separate into Earth orbit, then transfer to a trans-lunar orbit and place in an orbit (Near Rectilinear Halo Orbit) "said Tadros. "This is the nominal scenario, but according to the ultimate configuration, this Earth orbit into which we separate could be a variety of climaxes and perigee. So it has not been clarified or decided yet. Like any tug, the vehicle is extremely capable of passing from a terrestrial orbit to a lunar orbit. "
Tadros said the EPP's ability to move to the moon could allow Maxar to choose a rocket at a lower cost, without limiting the company's launch options to the most powerful rockets available.
"It's an option," he said. "The equivalent is that launchers have the ability to go back to the first stage and offer different levels of performance – the same launcher but instead of adding the first step to the expense. All sorts of things will be negotiated and decided, but the vehicle is very capable of making a combination, and this flexibility is part of the attractiveness of the PPE. "
Maxar's specialty in the field of satellites is the construction and operation of geostationary telecommunications satellites, which often deploy rockets in elliptical transfer orbits ranging from a few hundred kilometers to more than 22,000 miles (nearly 36,000 kilometers) above the Earth.
Tadros said the EPP could deploy from its launcher in such an orbit, called the geostationary transfer orbit, before starting its journey to the moon.
"But there are other considerations," Tadros said. "For example, Van Allen's belts, the time you spend on radiation, etc. So, although mathematically, you can do it, it may not be the most desirable way to launch it. "
One of the advantages of PPE deployment solar panels is that they take up less space when stowed for launch. The spacecraft designed by Maxar should fit into the volume envelope of several rockets.
"It's one of the design requirements that we're compatible with a variety of launchers," said Tadros. "Their fairing sizes and other elements push for this requirement. We want the power and propulsion element to be both multi-use and multi-build, so we absolutely want to make it compatible with multiple launchers with ROSA and other configuration elements.
The possible role of Blue Origin in the Maxar's Gateway proposal
Maxar's partnership with Blue Origin, Jeff Bezos' space company, as part of human evaluation activities, has suggested that the EPP could be launched on Blue Origin's new Blue Origin rocket, which is still under development for its initial launch in 2021.
The new Glenn will be a heavy-duty rocket with a recoverable and reusable first stage. Blue Origin is also working on a privately funded lunar landing gear called Blue Moon, which could send experiments, freighters and astronauts to the moon's surface.
A selection statement outlining why NASA chose Maxar for the PPE contract was released on Friday, revealing new details on the company's proposal.
Maxar's proposal to NASA included an unidentified co-manifested lunar lander, which would fly in space with the same launch vehicle as the Gateway power module. While NASA's selection statement does not identify Maxar's favorite rocket for EPP, Michele Gates, head of source selection at the agency, distorted Maxar's proposal with a "weakness." for the use of a currently untried heavy launcher that adds uncertainty and risk to the launch. ground handling and vehicle launching operations. "
"Although I note that this issue increases the risk that SSL may demonstrate its capability, I also recognize SSL's mitigation plan aimed at maintaining the compatibility of its developed capacity for several launcher options while monitoring the process of launcher development, "wrote Gates. the NASA Selection Statement.
Two New Glenn's class rockets are currently flying: SpaceX's Falcon Heavy and United Launch Alliance's Delta 4-Heavy. ULA's new Vulcan Centaur rocket will deliver performance similar to the Delta 4-Heavy and New Glenn, and slightly better than Falcon Heavy, assuming SpaceX sets aside fuel for Falcon boosters Heavy.
According to NASA's selection statement, Maxar's proposal for personal protective equipment was the least expensive of the five offers received by the industry.
Maxar is designing the personal protective equipment that needs to be filled with xenon in the space, allowing for repeated maneuvers at different stations around the moon.
Maxar's personal protective equipment contract is commonly used in the commercial satellite sector, but is new to NASA.
"We are providing it (the EPP) in a way we have never done before," Bridenstine said. "We will have an option to take possession once it is in orbit. In other words, we buy it commercially. They build it, and if all goes well, we acquire it as a country. It's a different way of getting it, and it's a big change, and we have to get used to that kind of change as an agency, and we are. We make these changes quickly. "
NASA intends to purchase the next section of the bridge, the pressurized element, similarly later this year. The lunar lander with human evaluation will also be developed commercially.
"I think you can say that business practices for personal protective equipment are already a success, as NASA went through the process and awarded a contract as quickly as possible," Gold said. "Technology can be difficult, but the buying process can sometimes be of equal or greater importance – when developing and deploying hardware – than engineering.
"I believe it's NASA's most commercial program, which does not contain the word commercial," said Mr. Gold, referring to NASA's commercial cargo and commercial crew programs. which have allowed new spacecraft developed by the private sector to serve the International. Space station. "And I think this represents the future of the agency and the procurement process, and I think it has already allowed for rapid progress and getting a high quality product, affordable and reliable. "
Email of the author.
Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
[ad_2]
Source link