NASA's Biggest Rocket Yet Aims for 2017 Test Flight

[Hum]

NASA's largest rocket yet, a vehicle under development called the Space Launch System (SLS), is on track for its first test flight in 2017, according to experts who spoke at the Space Tech Expo in Long Beach last month.

The rocket is designed to carry astronauts farther into the solar system than ever before. Meanwhile, NASA plans to leave travel to low-Earth orbit to commercial space companies, which are developing private space taxis to take over the job vacated by the retired space shuttle.

"We started working on Space Launch System concepts 10 years ago," said former astronaut David Leestma, a veteran of three space shuttle missions, who now heads the Technology Transfer and Commercialization Office at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to take NASA well beyond the space station. The SLS will be the most powerful rocket ever built, and it will be safe, affordable and sustainable."

The new super-rocket will be able to boost 143 tons (130 metric tons) to orbit using many existing components in its construction. The main liquid-fueled engines are leftovers from the shuttle program, as are the giant solid rocket boosters that will flank the rocket. Only the core, or central structure, will be completely new.

Atop the giant booster will be NASA's Orion capsule. Orion is slated for a test flight with the Atlas V rocket in 2014, during which the heat shield and re-entry systems will re-enter Earth's atmosphere at speeds similar to a lunar return. NASA hopes to have Orion ready for a crewed flight by 2021.

The lifting ability of the SLS will allow the rocket to deliver payloads to a position called L2 (a stable orbit beyond the moon), perform an asteroid mission, or even fly an unmanned sample return from the moons of Mars.

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[DocM]

The odds of SLS making it to production are less than 50/50 unless things change drastically. A test flight in ~2017 is almost a year late by the schedule of 6 months ago, so things continue to move right. Even then, a crewed flight wouldn't happen until almost 2022.

Even if they build it the thing's so bloody expensive / launch they can't afford to fly it more often than every 3 years, if that, which drives the per-mission cost sky high because of all the infrastructure that still has to be maintained.

In terms applied to other boodoggles, it's referred to by NASA line engineers as "the rocket to nowhere."

Tick - tick - tick....(countdown to cancellation)

Better to use commercial rockets, on-orbit assembly, fuel depots etc. than this Frankenrocket.

[Gaffney]

A space Elevator isn't impossible or necessarily over a hundred years away. All we need is mass production of Carbon Nanotubes that can reach their theoretical strength limits. Some people say that even if we had the strongest carbon Nanotubes possible in mass production it would cost too much or there are other structural problems. Estimates put the price at $20-100bn which isn't a price unknown to Civil Engineering, America alone is planning to spend over $200bn on their highspeed railways over the next 3/4 decades. There will be other structural issues but none of them are impossible to fix. Basically, one we get the material we can start setting dates on a space elevator and hopefully that's only a few decades away.

[DocM]

There are several problems with space elevators.

They have to be equatorial, which opens them up to typhoons and hurricanes if at sea and monsoons if on land. This would reduce operational times significantly, plus it would subject them to wind velocities that could over-stress them, cause serious deflection and induce oscillations.

If made of carbon nanotubes, a great conductor,they become targets not only for regular lightning but politive lightning (several times stronger) but space-directed lightning like sprites and elves. These lightnings are strong enough to generate gamma rays, which brings in radiation.

Besides lightning generated gamma radiation recent calculations show they'd be very slow - posing serious issues when traveling through the Van Allen radiation belts. Rockets are much faster, making the total exposure much less (total exposure being a function of radiation intensity v. time.)

Mitigating radiation requires shielding, which increases mass, which slows the elevator trip even further, which increases the radiation exposure, which increases the need for even more shielding. Endless circle.

[XerXis]

Time to get rid of the van allen belt, one less problem for space elevators

[DocM]

Get rid of the sun then. Most all the charged particle radiation in the belts are solar wind trapped by Earth's magnetosphere.

[XerXis]

Get rid of the sun then. Most all the charged particle radiation in the belts are solar wind trapped by Earth's magnetosphere.

As far as I know there have been projects (thought out, never executed) to deflect the particles in the van Allen belt to our athmosphere en thus reduce the radiation by a significant amount

[DocM]

An active superconducting spacecraft shield just went to Phase II at NASA, including the selection of Advanced Magnet Lab Inc. (AML) to do deign and other work leading to a prototype using their Double-Helix system. Lots of discussion about this one in the exploration community.

http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/spacetech/niac/2012_phaseII_fellows_westover.html

http://www.nasa.gov/pdf/637131main_radiation%20shielding_symposium_r1.pdf

NASA JSC Solicitation: Development of the Expandable Coil Concept

Status Report Source: Johnson Space CenterPosted Thursday, January 3, 2013

Synopsis - Jan 03, 2013

General Information

Solicitation Number: NNJ13457646Q

Posted Date: Jan 03, 2013

FedBizOpps Posted Date: Jan 03, 2013

Recovery and Reinvestment Act Action: No

Original Response Date: Jan 16, 2013

Current Response Date: Jan 16, 2013

Classification Code: A -- Research and Development

NAICS Code: 541712

Set-Aside Code: Total Small Business

Contracting Office Address

NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BH

Description

NASA/JSC has a requirement to continue the study of active radiation shielding for crew protection, a key challenge with human exploration of space. The study will include scalability of the coil configuration and magnet concept; further develop the 6+1 coil array and compensation coil concept for conductor placement, and loads as well as supporting structure. Preliminary concepts will be developed for managing fringe fields. Quench performance will be evaluated and a technology roadmap will be developed.

NASA/JSC intends to award to Advanced Magnet Lab (AML). AML has the patented coil configuration concept and approach for radiation shielding and has the proprietary software tool, CoilCAD which provides advanced 3D coil design. AML developed the 6 around 1 coil concept which includes state-of-the-art magnet tape for active radiation protection. AML also has patents on a "Double Helix" design for magnetic coils used in space shield. The Double Helix magnet technology allows nearly limitless configurations of magnetic field shapes.

The Government intends to acquire a commercial item using FAR Part 12.

Interested organizations may submit their capabilities and qualifications to perform the effort in writing to the identified point of contact not later than 4:30 p.m. local time on January 16, 2013. Such capabilities/qualifications will be evaluated solely for the purpose of determining whether or not to conduct this procurement on a competitive basis. A determination by the Government not to compete this proposed effort on a full and open competition basis, based upon responses to this notice, is solely within the discretion of the government.

Oral communications are not acceptable in response to this notice.

All responsible sources may submit an offer which shall be considered by the agency.

NASA Clause 1852.215-84, Ombudsman, is applicable. The Center Ombudsman for this acquisition can be found at

http://prod.nais.nasa.gov/pub/pub_library/Omb.html .

[Hum]

^ If only they had this during Apollo -- we may have made it to the Moon. :shifty: