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As salvage crews continue to cross the test site at Cape Canaveral, where Spacerew's first capsule, Crew Dragon, was destroyed in an explosive crash last month, engineers are preparing for a few kilometers of the re-supply mission of the International Space Station. for the launch early Friday.
SpaceX and NASA officials met Thursday and cleared a cargo capsule for the launch of Cape Canaveral Complex 40 aboard a Falcon 9 rocket at 03:11 EDT (0711 GMT) Friday after data analyzes and computer equipment to ensure the safety of the supply ship the same fault that caused the explosion of a spaceship Crew Dragon on a test bench on April 20.
Although both vehicles have a common name, the abortion system investigated by the Crew Dragon accident does not operate aboard the Dragon spacecraft, which is expected to deliver nearly 5,500 pounds of supplies, of experiments and supplies to the space station and its six crew
The crew Dragon was destroyed in a fire accident about half a second before the planned ignition of the SuperDraco aircraft engines during a shootout at the checkpoint of the Air Force Cape Canaveral, confirmed Thursday a senior official of SpaceX.
The update provided Thursday at the Kennedy Space Center by Hans Koenigsmann, vice president of builders reliability and SpaceX flights, provided new details about the ground accident and was the first official confirmation that the spacecraft had been destroyed in the explosion.
Koenigsmann said the accident had occurred after successful tests of Draco's thrusters of the ship earlier in the day. The Dragon Crew, also known as the Dragon 2, features two sets of thrusters: the Dracos are used for maneuvering in orbit and are also used on the Dragon cargo ship, while the larger SuperDracos would activate for a while. launch emergency to stimulate astronauts. far from a failing rocket.
"On the test stand, we put Dragon on, as planned," said Koenigsmann. "We did tests with Draco thrusters, the smallest thrusters on the Dragon cargo. We shot them in two sets, each for five seconds, and it went very well.
"And just before we wanted to fire the SuperDraco, there was an anomaly and the vehicle was destroyed," Koenigsmann said. "There was no injury. SpaceX had taken all necessary security measures before this test, as we always do. "
The winds blew a pungent plume of red-orange toxic gas off the Cape Canaveral test site, located in SpaceX Landing Zone 1, where the company is making propellant propellants.
The Crew Dragon vehicle lost in the test crash was the same spacecraft that had conducted a successful six-day unmanned flight test flight, called Demo-1, bound for the International Space Station at the beginning of the In March, a mission that officials at the time declared was placed on SpaceX Of course, there will be a team of NASA astronauts to the station later in the year, as part of first human flight in Earth orbit since the end of the space shuttle program in 2011.
SpaceX is conducting the investigation of the Crew Dragon crash, with the participation of NASA engineers.
NASA administrator Jim Bridenstine told lawmakers on Wednesday that NASA was investigating the Crew Dragon crash "side by side" with SpaceX.
Responding to questions from Senator Richard Shelby, R-Alabama, at a congressional hearing on Wednesday, Mr. Bridenstine said he was confident that engineers will determine the cause of the accident. When Shelby asked if NASA would conduct its own investigation into the blast, Bridenstine replied, "It is not a strictly independent investigation."
"The engineers we have at NASA are extremely sensitive to what we are trying to achieve and have an obligation to ensure they only provide the most accurate data for the protection of our astronauts," said Bridenstine. "I am quite confident that … while SpaceX is conducting the survey with our engineers, we will get very specific information on the nature of the anomaly."
NASA has allocated more than $ 3.1 billion to SpaceX for the development of the Crew Dragon spacecraft since the launch of the commercial crew initiative in 2010. In a similar arrangement, the space agency has signed a series of commercial crew contracts and contracts valued at more than $ 4.8. billion during the same period.
Boeing also encountered difficulties during abandoned engine ground tests of its CST-100 Starliner crew capsule.
The Starliner is scheduled to make its first unmanned demonstration flight to the space station in August, followed by a test flight with three astronauts on board before the end of the year. The Starliner's early missions were delayed to allow engineers to investigate and correct the cause of a fuel leak last year during a grounding test of the ship's stopping engines in New Mexico.
Boeing did not reveal the fuel leak, which delayed the Starliner's first flights by several months, but a few weeks later, when the problem was first reported by Ars Technica.
It's too early to know how long the last month's Crew Dragon accident will delay SpaceX's first mission to astronauts, officials said.
NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley, both veterans of several space shuttle flights, train for the upcoming Crew Dragon space mission.
"I think what we learn from this test will … Dragon 2, in the end, a better vehicle, a safer vehicle," said Koenigsmann.
Upon completion of their testing programs, the Crew Dragon and Starliner capsules will begin transporting crews of four to and from the space station, ending NASA's sole use of the Russian space shuttle Soyuz.
"In terms of timing, I feel that completing this investigation, solving this anomaly, is actually our main focus, for me at the moment," he said. "We'll see what comes out of it."
Prior to the April 20 crash, SpaceX and NASA expected Crew Dragon's next space mission, the first with astronauts on board, to be ready to take off by late September or early October.
"I hope that it is a relatively fast investigation late in the day and that I do not want to completely rule out the current schedule," Koenigsmann said. "This is certainly not good news for the entire schedule, but I hope we can recover."
SpaceX was planning to fly the Dragon Crew spacecraft destroyed last month during a high altitude abandonment test in July. In-flight abortion will be a dramatic demonstration of the ability of SuperDraco engines to fire quickly and propel the crew capsule away from a Falcon 9 rocket shortly after take-off.
A prototype version of the Dragon Crew capsule has completed an abandonment test from the ground in 2015 to prove that the SuperDracos could move the gear away from an emergency on the launch pad and rescue his crew from the ground. # 39; astronaut.
Koenigsmann announced Thursday that the next Dragon Crew spacecraft under construction at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., Will now be used for in-flight abandonment trials. The next outgoing crew Dragon from the factory was previously assigned to the first mission with astronauts, designated by Demo-2.
"We have started production and we have several spacecraft in different forms for now, so we do not have to turn around and build a new one now," he said. "This is basically already in the works."
Mr. Koenigsmann stated that the investigators were examining telemetry data, high-speed images and wrecks of the Crew Dragon capsule located in landing zone 1, a portion of which remains inaccessible to investigators. recovery teams providing hazardous materials, such as tanks with spacecraft propulsion systems.
"Because it was (a) ground test, we have a large amount of data, a huge amount of vehicle data and ground sensors," he said. "It is too early to confirm a cause, whether it is probable or fundamental, but initial data indicates that the anomaly has occurred when activating the SuperDraco system. That said, we are looking at all the possible problems and the investigation is under way. "
The Crew Dragon Space Shuttle features eight SuperDraco thrusters mounted around the capsule in four modules. The SuperDracos each produce a 16,000-pound thrust at full power, burning a mixture of caustic hydrazine boosters and nitrogen tetroxide, a combination commonly used in satellite propulsion as the two liquids come into contact with each other. ignite on contact.
The engines would be used to repel the Crew Dragon capsule from its Falcon 9 rocket in case of emergency during launch.
"We have no reason to think that SuperDracos themselves are problematic," Koenigsmann said. "These have been submitted to about 600 tests on our test site in Texas … We continue to have great confidence in this particular booster.
"I think it's not a SuperDraco booster (which caused the accident), but it's pretty much all I can say at the moment," he said. declared.
Koenigsmann said the accident had occurred during the activation sequence, about half a second before the planned ignition.
"During activations, you put the system under pressure and make sure everything is ready," he said. "You open valves, you close valves. This is essentially what an activation system does. "
While Koenigsmann pointed out that the accident investigation of Crew Dragon was still in its infancy, NASA and SpaceX engineers were able to exonerate components of the capsule from The crew who are also used on the Dragon Tanker.
"We were able to control the common areas we had to examine – which they had to examine – and by the end of the day, we saw no change in our overall measurable risk Dragon cargo mission," said Kenny Todd, head of operations and NASA's integration of the space station.
"I think Dragon freight is sure to get to the station safely, as well as the Falcon 9," said Koenigsmann.
Assuming the Falcon 9 rocket takes off early Friday – the weather forecast is uncertain – the Dragon cargo ship is expected to reach the space station on Sunday.
Earlier this week, NASA had asked SpaceX to delay the launch of the Dragon cargo ship by two days to allow ground controllers time to replace a failed power distribution box outside the complex in orbit, providing emergency power supply to the robotic arm of the station.
NASA's Mission Control Center engineers in Houston, using the Canadian-made Dextre robot, completed the trade early Thursday.
After the arrival of Dragon and his docking at the Harmony module of the space station, the astronauts living aboard the ship unpack tons of food, food and experiments, then install research specimens for the Dragon capsule to return on Earth after his departure on May 31st.
Two packages of experiments inside the unpressurized chest of the Dragon will be robotically transferred to mounting posts outside the station.
One of them is a NASA instrument called Orbiting Carbon Observatory-3, which will track changes in carbon dioxide levels in the Earth's atmosphere, the main factor of climate change. Another set of instruments containing several experiments sponsored by the US Army will also be delivered to the station.
The mission scheduled for launch on Friday will be SpaceX's 17th replenishment flight to the space station since 2012, under the auspices of a $ 3.04 billion freight contract with NASA covering 20 missions conducted from Here the beginning of 2020. A subsequent replenishment agreement between SpaceX and NASA allows for at least six additional Dragon cargo flights up to 2024.
Freight contracts are separate from SpaceX's commercial crew agreement with NASA.
As part of the next freight contract, SpaceX plans to use a modified version of the Dragon Crew spacecraft, or Dragon 2, for logistics deliveries.
Meanwhile, SpaceX plans to continue to pilot the first-generation Dragon cargo capsule, or Dragon 1, to carry out the remaining four missions as part of the company's first replenishment contract with NASA, signed in 2008.
SpaceX ended the production of the first-generation Dragon in 2017. Since then, the company has launched reused Dragon capsules that have already flown to the space station and returned to Earth with parachute-assisted sea splash.
The space flight schedule scheduled for Friday was given to the station in August 2017 for the 12th SpaceX replenishment mission.
Koenigsmann said the remaining three cargo missions purchased by NASA in the original 2008 contract would use Dragon vehicles on their third voyage to the space station.
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Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @ StephenClark1.
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