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NASA announced Saturday afternoon that the SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched Friday, which has recovered from a thruster problem that jeopardized its mission, is cleared to arrive at the station just one day later than planned. Dragon will rendezvous with the station in the early morning hours Sunday, with the station crew scheduled to grapple the Dragon with its robotic arm at 6:31 am EST (1131 GMT). The arm will than move the Dragon to its berthing location on the Earth-facing port of the Harmony module.
That’s a major recovery from just 24 hours ago, when SpaceX engineers were still struggling to bring the spacecraft’s four thruster pods online. According to NASA, “all of Dragon’s systems are operating as planned” now, including the thrusters, which have been raising the spacecraft’s orbit in preparation for Sunday’s arrival. “SpaceX said it has high confidence there will be no repeat of the thruster problem during rendezvous, including its capability to perform an abort, should that be required,” NASA noted in the statement.
Update 3/3 9:30 am: The berthing took place not according to plan, but actually ahead of it: The station’s robotic arm grappled Dragon one hour early, at 5:31 am EST (1031 GMT), and attached it to the station at 8:56 am EST (1356 GMT). Dragon will remain at the station until March 25, when it will return to Earth carrying experiments and other items from the station.
This time it’s the spacecraft that’s causing some problems for SpaceX. The Falcon 9 rocket lifted off on time at 10:10 am EST (1510 GMT) after a trouble-free countdown and placed the Dragon into orbit nine minutes later, all according to plan. However, SpaceX reported a problem with the Dragon immediately after separation, offering no additional details. SpaceX CEO and CTO Elon Musk tweeted the most details offered to date about the issue, which may be software related.
11:20 am EST update: SpaceX public relations provided the following brief statement: “One thruster pod is running. Two are preferred to take the next step which is to deploy the solar arrays. We are working to bring up the other two in order to plan the next series of burns to get to station.”
12:05 pm EST update: Another update from SpaceX public relations: “Falcon 9 lifted off as planned and experienced a nominal flight. After Dragon achieved orbit, the spacecraft experienced an issue with a propellant valve. One thruster pod is running. We are trying to bring up the remaining three. We did go ahead and get the solar arrays deployed. Once we get at least 2 pods running, we will begin a series of burns to get to station.”
2:15 pm EST update: There’s been no further word from SpaceX about the status of the Dragon troubleshooting, but NASA has informed the ISS crew that Saturday’s planned arrival of Dragon at the station won’t take place, suggesting SpaceX is still working to get the Dragon’s thrusters working.
3:00 pm EST update: A press conference involving NASA and SpaceX personnel is starting momentarily, but Elon Musk passed along this bit of (good) news via Twitter just before the start: “Pods 1 and 4 now online and thrusters engaged. Dragon transitioned from free drift to active control. Yes!!”
4:25 pm EST update: Dragon appears to be on the mend after a near-death experience immediately after launch. NASA and SpaceX officials said in a telecon that the spacecraft’s thrusters were coming back online, and Elon Musk tweeted shortly after the end of the telecon that all four pods were now online. Musk said engineers suspect that debris of some kind lodged in a line leading from a helium tank to an oxidizer tank, keeping the oxidizer tank from pressurizing; alternative, a valve could have stuck closed. The problem appears to have been resolved, however, and Dragon will soon perform a thruster burn to raise its orbit.
As for when Dragon will arrive at the station, NASA and SpaceX officials said they’ll need time to review the data from the thrusters and be confident that they’re working properly before bringing Dragon close to the station. While a Saturday arrival has been ruled out, Dragon could still berth with the station as soon as Sunday. Once Dragon raises its orbit this afternoon, Musk said they’ll have plenty of time to determine next steps: Dragon can remain in orbit for months now that its solar arrays are deployed, and there are plenty of berthing opportunities for Dragon at the station, except for some days around mid-month when three members of the station’s current crew depart.
7:45pm EST update: One final update tonight, in the form of a press release just emailed to media by SpaceX, indicating Dragon is now on track for arrival at the ISS as early as Sunday, just one day later than original plans despite all of today’s drama:
SPACEX ACHIEVES FIFTH CONSECUTIVE FALCON 9 LAUNCH DURING SECOND OFFICIAL CARGO RESUPPLY MISSION
Dragon spacecraft heads toward International Space Station
Hawthorne, Calif. – Today, Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) successfully launched its Falcon 9 rocket and Dragon spacecraft to orbit for SpaceX’s second mission under its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract with NASA. Falcon 9 completed its job perfectly, continuing its 100 percent success rate.
“Falcon 9 was designed to be the world’s most reliable rocket, and today’s launch validated this by adding to Falcon 9’s perfect track record with our fifth success in a row,†said Gwynne Shotwell, President of SpaceX.
After Dragon separated from Falcon 9’s second stage approximately nine minutes after launch, a minor issue with some of Dragon’s oxidation tanks was detected. Within a few hours, SpaceX engineers had identified and corrected the issue, normalizing the oxidation pressure and returning operations to normal. Dragon recomputed its ascent profile as it was designed to and is now on its way to the International Space Station (ISS) with possible arrival on Sunday, just one day past the original timeline.
Dragon is the only spacecraft in the world today capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Dragon will stay on station for a three-week visit, during which astronauts will unload approximately 1,200 pounds of cargo and fill the capsule with return cargo, for return to Earth. Dragon is filled with supplies for the ISS, including critical materials to support science investigations. Later this month, Dragon will return a payload that includes research results, education experiments and space station hardware.
 The Falcon 9 carrying the Dragon spacecraft for the CRS-2 mission undergoes a hot fire test on the pad on Monday, February 25. (credit: SpaceX) SpaceX is on track to launch this Friday the second of 12 contracted cargo missions to the International Space Station (ISS). Launch of the Dragon spacecraft atop a Falcon 9 rocket on a mission the company designates CRS-2 is scheduled for 10:10 am EST (1510 GMT) from Cape Canaveral. NASA and SpaceX officials indicated all was going well with the launch preparations, and there is an 80% chance of acceptable weather for the launch.
During a preflight press conference Thursday afternoon, SpaceX president Gwynne Shotwell provided some new details about the previous Falcon 9 launch, of the CRS-1 mission, in October. That launch suffered a shutdown of one of its nine first stage engines; the Dragon spacecraft still reached orbit although a second payload, a demonstration satellite for commercial communications company ORBCOMM, was placed in a lower-than-planned orbit to comply with NASA mission rules, and deorbited a few days later. Back in December Shotwell said the investigation into the engine anomaly was wrapping up, but offered few details about the incident.
On Thursday, Shotwell went into a little more detail. “There was a material flaw that went undetected in the jacket of the Merlin engine, resulting in a breach during the flight, causing depressurization of the combustion chamber,” she said. “The flight computer recognized that depressurization and commanded a shutdown.”
Shotwell did not go into more detail about the nature of the anomaly, saying that a detailed report about it was being reviewed by the State Department for public release in order to comply with export control laws. Engine technology is particularly sensitive, she said, and thus the company is being very conservative in what it says while awaiting approval of the report. “We’re just ultra-sensitive about that. I don’t look good in horizontal stripes. I certainly don’t want to go to jail,” she said.
This mission, like the last, is carrying a relatively light load: 677 kilograms of pressurized cargo (primarily experiments and related equipment) and 373 kilograms of unpressurized cargo up to the station, and 1,370 kilograms of cargo back from the ISS. Prior to the CRS-1 flight, which also had a light load, NASA and SpaceX officials said they were limited by volume, not mass. (Dragon is designed to carry up to 6,000 kilograms up to the station and up to 3,000 kilograms back.)
However, at Thursday’s press conference, Shotwell indicated that they were near the limits of the performance of the current, and soon to be replaced, version of the Falcon 9. “The upgraded Falcon 9 launch vehicle will accommodate a dramatic increase in cargo,” she said, referring to the “v1.1″ version of the Falcon 9, whose first flight in planned for. “You will see an increased amount of cargo both due to probably NASA comfort with our maturity in getting to space station, in addition, the upgraded Falcon 9 allows for additional carriage of cargo.”
Shotwell also briefly addressed another topic at the press conference unrelated to the CRS-2 mission: the announcement this week by the Inspiration Mars Foundation, established by businessman and space tourist Dennis Tito, to launch a human Mars flyby mission in 2018. SpaceX had been wrapped up in the news because a paper about the proposed mission used the company’s Dragon and Falcon Heavy vehicles as its baseline. So far, though, Shotwell said the company has no relationship with Inspiration Mars, confirming what those involved with the project said earlier this week. “I think his plan is very ambitious,” she said. “If he can come up with the funding to execute this mission, I’d be happy to have him as a customer.”
 Dennis Tito discussing Inspiration Mars at the National Press Club in Washington, DC, on February 27. The Inspiration Mars Foundation formally rolled out their plans for a human Mars flyby mission on Wednesday in Washington, and there were few surprises during the event compared to what had already been reported about their proposal, here and elsewhere. During that time Inspiration Mars has been grouped with a number of rather audacious NewSpace ventures announced since late 2011: air-launch company Stratolaunch Systems, asteroid mining companies Planetary Resources and Deep Space Industries, and Golden Spike with its plans for commercial human lunar missions. All are taking things that sound like science fiction and making them real.
However, there’s a key factor that sets Inspiration Mars apart that has nothing to do with technologies or missions. The others mentioned above all have business plans designed to create sustainable, profitable ventures. In many cases, those business plans are not particularly innovative: Stratolaunch Systems is just another launch services provider, although one with a unique technical approach (which, as Sea Launch discovered when it went through Chapter 11 reorganization, is alone no guarantee of success.) Inspiration Mars, though, is very different: there’s no desire to make a profit, and their proposed mission is a one-shot effort.
“This is not a commercial mission,” Dennis Tito, the founder of Inspiration Mars, said at Wednesday’s press conference. “This is not mission that, if it’s successful, I’m going to come out to be a lot wealthier. Let me guarantee you: I will come out a lot poorer as a result of this mission. But my grandchildren will come out a lot wealthier from the inspiration that this will give them.”
At the press conference, Tito said he would provide the funding to sustain the project through its first two years, but did not disclose how much that would be. (Most of the expense of the mission, including the purchase of the launch vehicles and spacecraft, would likely come in the three years leading up to the launch.) While Tito is wealthy—not a billionaire but widely reported to be a centimillionaire—he is likely not rich enough to pay for the mission entirely himself. Instead, he said the nonprofit foundation would raise money through donations as well as potential sales of sponsorships and media rights.
While raising money has been a major challenge for many NewSpace ventures, Tito didn’t think it would be that big a hurdle. “I think it’s such a great mission I’m very excited about going out there and raising that money,” he said. “I don’t think it’s going to be a real difficult problem, although I’m going to assume I’ll spend a lot of my time doing that.” He noted the California Science Center is currently raising money to build a new wing to host the Space Shuttle Endeavour, and that the person responsible for raising those efforts is a friend of his. “I know his experience in raising money. It wasn’t that difficult. If you have a good idea you can raise money for it.”
That puts Inspiration Mars closer to the B612 Foundation, which last summer announced plans to raise money to develop a space telescope called Sentinel to look for near Earth objects. (One wonders if the people at B612 agree with Tito’s statement that raising hundreds of millions of dollars isn’t “that difficult.”) However, B612 had been around for years before announcing Sentinel, and likely have long-term plans beyond Sentinel. Inspiration Mars, though, is focused solely on a 2018 Mars mission, after which it plans to donate any technology and other intellectual property it’s developed to NASA and the American people.
Inspiration Mars, then, is not so much a NewSpace venture as an initiative that takes advantage of, at least in part, the capabilities of NewSpace companies. SpaceX, of course, has been identified as one potential supplier of launch vehicles and spacecraft, but Inspiration Mars officials have cited a number of other options for spacecraft and launch vehicles from both established and emerging space companies. “We live in a time when more human spacecraft are being developed in America than in all American history combined up to this era,” said Taber MacCallum of Paragon Space Development Corporation, which is working on life support systems for the project. (Paragon itself has some NewSpace elements, including winning a first-round Commercial Crew Development award from NASA in 2010 to support development of life support technologies.)
After the press conference, I asked Tito why he preferred spending his money on Inspiration Mars than investing it into any number of other commercial space ventures that could lower launch costs or enable new markets, and also provide a monetary return. “It’s not a better investment of money,” he said. He explained he had reached a point in his life where he was less concerned about making more money than trying to give something back.
So, is this project his grandchildren’s inheritance? “Exactly.”
“If someone had told me six months ago I’d be talking with you about this,” Taber MacCallum said, shaking his head as the words trailed off. The “this” he was referring to in an interview yesterday in Washington was the plan being formally announced today by a new organization, Inspiration Mars, to mount a privately-funded crewed Mars flyby mission in 2018: a concept that leaked out last week and being led by Dennis Tito, the engineer-turned-businessman who is best known for being the first space tourist to visit the International Space Station in 2001.
MacCallum, CEO and CTO of Paragon Space Development Corporation, said he was approached by Tito back in September about this concept and agreed to look into the feasibility of sending a crew on a 501-day “free return” Mars flyby trajectory, launching from Earth in January 2018. “We kept on finding issues and then finding a workaround,” he said. “We all went into this very skeptical… but it all sort of kept working out.”
The organization’s plan is, notionally, what is described in the IEEE conference paper previously mentioned here: a two-person crew flying in a spacecraft like SpaceX’s Dragon. While the paper specifically describes launching a Dragon on a Falcon Heavy rocket, also developed by SpaceX, MacCallum said they’re still looking at various mission architectures involving other spacecraft and launch vehicles.
Although a Wall Street Journal article suggested that plans for cooperation with SpaceX “imploded” recently, he said they had not even started discussions with the company. “We haven’t been in touch with SpaceX other than to verify that the information on the web is correct,” he said, referring to technical information about the Falcon Heavy and Dragon used in their paper. “Unfortunately, as that paper leaked around, it created the perception that SpaceX is the baseline launch provider, and they’re not. It’s an open field, and we’re looking at two, maybe three, scenarios that look very promising.”
Regardless of the vehicle selection, MacCallum said they would use a two-person crew, which offered redundancy over sending a single person but without the “psychological issues” of a three-person crew. “And then Dennis said, ‘If it’s going to be two crew members, it needs to represent humanity, so it needs to be a man and a woman,'” he said, adding that they preferred a married couple past childbearing age and that Tito himself was not interested in going.
And what will that two-person crew do during the mission? “Mostly keeping themselves alive,” MacCallum said. The spacecraft’s life support system will be “as non-automated as possible” so it is more easily maintained by the crew, a very different approach to the more automated systems on the ISS designed to free up crew time to do science, but which are more difficult for crews to repair without getting replacement items sent up form Earth. “It’s going to be a ’55 Chevy. They’re going to be taking this apart a lot,” he said. There will be time for some human deep space physiology research, he said, with Jonathan Clark putting together a set of proposed experiments to do during the mission.
One sensitive area for the proposal is just how much it will cost. “Dennis has asked us not to talk about what it’s going to cost, because he’s sure that whatever number we say will be wrong,” MacCallum said. The project is willing to admit that the cost would be “a fraction of Curiosity,” the NASA Mars rover whose estimated mission cost is $2.5 billion. Tito has committed to fund the first two years of development “no matter what is costs,” he said, and then will raise money for the rest.
The project also has support—technical, not financial—from NASA. MacCallum said they have signed a reimbursable Space Act Agreement with NASA to help in areas like development of the capsule’s thermal protection system. They have also briefed NASA leadership, including administrator Charles Bolden, as well as select members of Congress and officials with the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) at the White House. All, MacCallum said, have had a “very positive” response to their plans, and don’t see the mission as competing in any way with NASA’s own long-term human space exploration plans.
But why do this in the first place? MacCallum suggested that Tito, 72, “is at a time in his life when it’s time to give back and time to figure out how he contributes to society, and feels very deeply that this mission will contribute to the American spirit.” A mission like this, they believe, will “reignite a time of daring and exploration,” encouraging people to take risks to pursue great things. “We could get America back to taking those kinds of risks that really push the boundaries and inspire people to greatness.”
This is, in many respects, a one-off effort: there are no plans for follow-on missions if the 2018 Mars flyby mission is successful. “It’s a philanthropic mission,” he said. Technologies developed for the mission and any data collected will be made freely available. “It really is a contribution for America.”
 The first stage of an Antares rocket conducts a “hot fire” test at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport in Virginia on February 22. (credit: Orbital Sciences Corp.) A successful “hot fire” test Friday night is expected to clear the way for the first launch, in just over a month, of a new medium-class launch vehicle. Orbital Sciences Corporation fired the two AJ26 engines in the first stage of an Antares rocket Friday evening, holding the stage down on the pad at the Mid Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) in Virginia. The test, which lasted for 29 seconds, confirmed that the engines and the other systems in the rocket’s first stage worked as planned.
“Our initial assessment of the test data shows that we were successful in achieving each of the primary objectives we had hoped to accomplish going into the test,” said Antares program manager Mike Pinkston in a statement released by the company after the test.
More analysis of the data collected in the test is planned for the coming days, but assuming there are no problems, the company will proceed with rolling out the first full Antares rocket for launch in about six weeks, or early April. That launch will carry an instrumented test payload designed to simulate a Cygnus cargo spacecraft. If that is successful, Orbital will launch the first Cygnus mission to the International Space Station, likely in the middle of the year. That flight would be the final milestone in Orbital’s award from NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program, closing out that program.
The other company that developed a launch vehicle and spacecraft under COTS, SpaceX, closed out its award when a Falcon 9 launched a Dragon spacecraft to the ISS last May. SpaceX followed that with the first mission under its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract in October. The second CRS mission by SpaceX is slated for launch the morning of March 1 from Cape Canaveral.
Last night I wrote here about news of a proposed private Mars mission slated to be announced on February 27th, involving Dennis Tito and others. I was skeptical last night that this would be, as some have reported, a human mission, given the technical and financial challenges involved. That original speculation, though, might be wrong.
The IEEE Aerospace Conference is taking place next month in Big Sky, Montana. If you look closely at the conference schedule on Sunday, March 3, you’ll see this session at 9:50 pm (!): “8.0105 Feasibility Analysis for a Manned Mars Free Return Mission in 2018″. The speaker listed is none other than Dennis Tito, with several co-authors: John Carrico, Grant Anderson, Michael Loucks, Taber MacCallum, Thomas Squire, Jonathan Clark. MacCallum and Clark are slated to join Tito at the February 27th Inspiration Mars Foundation press conference in Washington.
This publication obtained a copy of the paper Tito et al. plan to present at the conference, discussing a crewed free-return Mars mission that would fly by Mars, but not go into orbit around the planet or land on it. This 501-day mission would launch in January 2018, using a modified SpaceX Dragon spacecraft launched on a Falcon Heavy rocket. According to the paper, existing environmental control and life support system (ECLSS) technologies would allow such a spacecraft to support two people for the mission, although in Spartan condition. “Crew comfort is limited to survival needs only. For example, sponge baths are acceptable, with no need for showers,” the paper states.
NASA would also have a role in this mission in terms of supporting key ECLSS and thermal protection system technology development, although the paper makes clear this would be a private-sector effort. (The paper’s co-authors include NASA Ames director Pete Worden.) The paper makes no attempt to estimate the cost of the mission, beyond concluding that it “would be significantly less than previous estimates for manned Mars missions” and be financed privately. The paper adds that if they miss this favorable 2018 opportunity, the next chance to take advantage of this favorable trajectory would be in 2031.
On Wednesday, publicists for a new organization called Inspiration Mars Foundation sent out a media advisory for a press conference planned for next Wednesday, February 27. This new organization apparently has some audacious plans in store:
The Inspiration Mars Foundation, a newly formed nonprofit organization led by American space traveler and entrepreneur Dennis Tito, invites you to attend a press conference detailing its plans to take advantage of a unique window of opportunity to launch an historic journey to Mars and back in 501 days, starting in January 2018. This “Mission for America” will generate new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration. It is intended to encourage all Americans to believe again, in doing the hard things that make our nation great, while inspiring youth through Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education and motivation.
Besides Tito, the press conference will feature Taber MacCallum and Jane Poynter, the CEO/CTO and president/chairwoman, respectively, of Paragon Space Development Corporation (the two also were part of the original Biosphere 2 crew). Also at the press conference will be Jonathan Clark, an expert in space medicine.
That lineup of speakers, and the language in the media advisory, have led some to speculate that Inspiration Mars is planning a human mission to Mars, although the advisory makes no explicit mention of that. “Dennis Tito To Announce Private Human Mars Mission” is the headline at NASA Watch, while Wired News reports “Space Tourist to Announce Daring Manned Mars Voyage for 2018″. The “unique window of opportunity” the advisory refers to may be a reference to the 2018 Mars launch window, which is particularly favorable (NASA had planned to use it for a Mars lander and rover mission in cooperation with ESA before terminating those plans a year ago in favor of what became a 2020 Mars rover based on Curiosity.) Paragon, meanwhile, is known for its expertise in life support systems, while Clark has worked with private ventures, including the Red Bull Stratos high-altitude jump last year.
However, at first blush there would be a lot of obstacles to a human Mars mission like what Inspiration Mars appears to be proposing. There’s obviously the cost, which would run in the billions of dollars (10? 20? 50?). Tito, the first self-funded private space traveler, is a wealthy man, but not that wealthy: his estimated net worth is in the hundreds of millions of dollars. He certainly has a network of contacts that could bring in additional money, but enough to mount a human mission?
There’s also the technical issues of putting together a spacecraft that can handle a 500-day mission to Mars and back without the steady stream of resupply lights bringing up propellant and spare parts, as is the case today with the International Space Station. A 500-day mission would also set human spaceflight endurance records and raise medical issues (something Dr. Clark would be very knowledgable about). And getting it done by 2018? Keep in mind NASA slipped a Mars rover that is, to first order, a copy of Curiosity to 2020 because it didn’t have the time and budget to get it ready for the more favorable 2018 opportunity.
What if, though, Inspiration Mars is planning not a crewed mission to Mars, but instead an inhabited one? That is to say, instead of sending people to Mars, they’re instead planning to send plants and/or animals on a mission there? Such a mission could be a critical pathfinder for a later human mission, by governments or private organizations, and could, as the advisory stated, offer “new knowledge, experience and momentum for the next great era of space exploration.” It’s also something that would be far more affordable and easier to complete in time for a 2018 launch without having to solve a lot of technical and medical issues associated with crewed mission.
What could that non-human biological payload be? One possibility is that it may be some kind of Martian greenhouse, a project that has been proposed in the past. And, four years ago, Paragon announced plans to develop a lunar greenhouse that would be flown to the Moon on a lander developed by Odyssey Moon, a Google Lunar X PRIZE competitor that has since merged with another team, SpaceIL, last November. This might be something similar, and the favorable 2018 launch window would make it easier to send either a lander or an orbiter with the ability to return to the Earth. The press conference attendees given no hint at any technical details, like who would build the spacecraft and who will launch it. However, SpaceX has been working on a “Red Dragon” Mars mission concept using its Dragon spacecraft that might work here. And, interesting enough, Elon Musk started SpaceX when he encountered problems finding an affordable launch of a pet project of his: a small Martian greenhouse.
Of course, perhaps Tito and his team are indeed planning a human Mars mission, and have found the right combination of funding and technology to make it possible in five years. But simply sending life to Mars would be fascinating enough.
Orbital Sciences Corporation plans to perform a hot fire test of the first stage of its new Antares rocket as soon as next Tuesday, a key milestone before the rocket’s first launch next month. Speaking at the FAA Commercial Space Transportation conference in Washington on Wednesday, Frank Culbertson, executive vice president and general manager for advanced programs at Orbital, said the company had just completed some fueling tests of the Antares first stage on the pad at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) on Wallops Island, Virginia. “We will do our first hot fire next Tuesday,” he said.
A successful static hot fire test would clear the way for Orbital to perform an initial demonstration launch of the full Antares rocket. That launch would take place about month later (“maybe five weeks later,” Culbertson said), carrying an instrument mass simulator of a Cygnus cargo spacecraft. That would be followed about three months later with the first full Cygnus mission to the ISS, a demonstration flight that would wrap up Orbital’s Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) agreement with NASA. That mission would carry about 800 kilograms of cargo to the station, in addition to demonstrating its ability to safely rendezvous and berth with the station. The first of eight cargo missions to the station under its Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) contract would follow three to four months after the COTS demo flight. That schedule is similar to what the company posted in January, when it said it expected the COTS demo flight would take place in May or June and the first CRS mission in the third quarter.
The two companies with International Space Station commercial cargo delivery contracts, Orbital Sciences Corporation and SpaceX, are at different stages in their efforts to carry out those contracts, with SpaceX having already completed one of its twelve contracted missions while Orbital continues to prepare for the first launches of its Antares launch vehicle and Cygnus spacecraft. Both companies, though, will be active over the next several months.
SpaceX is preparing for its second Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) cargo mission, CRS-2, now planned for March 1. “I don’t see anything that would keep that from happening,” NASA ISS program manager Mike Suffredini said at a press conference last week in Houston about upcoming ISS activities. The Dragon will berth with the station two days later, ISS flight director Tony Ceccacci said at the same press conference, and is currently scheduled to remain at the station until April 2.
The CRS-2 launch was originally scheduled for January, but was delayed by the investigation into the failure of an engine on the first stage of the Falcon 9 that launched the CRS-1 Dragon mission in October. Last month SpaceX officials said the investigation into the engine shutdown was wrapping up, but few additional details regarding the cause of the problem have been released.
Suffredini said the investigation was not “completely closed” but sounded confident that the problem was resolved. “It was hard to find a specific smoking gun to point to, but a number of things were believed to be contributors that have been looked at,” he said, without going into much detail about those contributing factors. One factor, he suggested, might have been the large amount of testing done on the engine prior to launch. The engines on the CRS-2 mission have been limited to acceptance testing, he said.
Another issue with the CRS-1 flight was the loss of power to a freezer carrying biological samples on the spacecraft upon splashdown. Suffredini said that none of the samples were compromised by the loss of freezer power. He said SpaceX was working to limit water intrusion into those systems. “The fix that was necessary was to a better job of sealing up the boxes,” he said. Those components will be sealed up better for CRS-2, with an “ultimate” redesign planned for CRS-3.
While SpaceX makes fixes to its launch vehicle and spacecraft, Orbital is making slow progress towards demonstrating its systems. Orbital earlier this week released an updated test schedule for the Antares and Cygnus, starting with a hot fire test on the pad now planned for February. A test flight of the Antares, carrying a “heavily instrumented mass simulator” in place of a Cygnus spacecraft, is slated for March, four to six weeks after the hot fire test. The full Antares/Cygnus COTS demo mission to the ISS would follow in April and May, and the first of eight CRS missions in the third quarter.
Those scheduled have been slipping, in part because of delays in getting the Antares launch site at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS) completed, but Suffredini sounded confident those launches would take place close to the current schedule. “That’s going very well,” he said of the current Antares pad tests. “Many things have come together with getting the pad ready and the vehicle ready to go fly. They’ve overcome a number of hurdles, so the schedule’s started to stabilize on that system.”
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