Commercial
Space Shuttle Freighter
Key to 21st Century Space Transportation
Developed by Concerned American
Aerospace Engineers
Interested members of the aerospace community please contact: ( caae@wt.net ) Nelson Aerospace Consulting
March 2017
Executive Summary
The Commercial Space Shuttle
Freighters will be designed to: support near earth space transportation
requirements, provide the capability for deep space exploration, support
mankind’s need to obtain deep space resources, provide rapid response to deep
space threats, and establish populated safe havens in deep space. Affordable
and sustainable space transportation for the 21st century must be
based on commercially operated reusable launchers and space based vehicles.
This requires a space transportation system that has the capability to return
commercial quantities of near-earth and deep space resources to the Earth’s
surface…a commercial space shuttle (CSS) freighter. The CSS freighter using the decommissioned Space Shuttle’s
configuration and reduces the NASA concept mission cost to $205 million;
however there are many existing technologies that will reduce the freighter’s
operational cost to a profitable level for commercial enterprises. The launch cost will be significantly lower than those of an expendable
launch vehicle, primarily because of increased reliability and lower insurance
costs for the CSS freighter.
The CSS freighter uses the
orbiter airframe profile and will be autonomously operated. Passengers will be
flown only on missions requiring their presence. For these missions, they will
be provided escape pods which provides protection for launch, on-orbit, and
entry anomalies. Launch pad assembly of the freighter will reduce operations
cost and turnaround time. Rapid turn-around is a unique CSS freighter feature
which reduces operation’s cost, provides the capability for timely intercepts
of threating asteroids/comets, and supports USAF rapid deploy missions.
No NASA support will be required for
the operations of the CSS freighter or space based vehicles. NASA’s role in
space transportation will be to develop advanced concepts for the space
freighters and space based vehicles needed for near earth and deep space
operations. NASA, however will/or can be in charge of research space probes
delivered by the CSS freighter transportation system.
The payload delivery capability,
landing weight limits, and launch cost of the CSS freighter will establish the
design boundaries of the future space based vehicles. Therefore the CSS
freighter’s operational capability will be the cornerstone for planning and
development of the 21st century’s space transportation system.
CSS Freighter Design Reference
Mission
· Deliver and return
20 metric tons to and from a circular orbit of 240 nm at an inclination of 28.5
degrees.
· All mission phases
conducted by autonomous operation with ground control backup flight guidance.
· Provide escape
pods for up to 4 passengers. Passengers will have no flight control authority.
· Provide 4 days
nominal on-orbit operation plus 8 days in power down mode for contingency
passenger retrieval. Dormant (no passengers) on-orbit systems will be designed
for 60 days in gravity gradient attitude for repair or retrieval of disabled
freighter.
· Orbiter return to
launch status will not exceed five days.
Business Model
The business model considered by
Lockheed Martin for the VentureStar commercial launch
vehicle fleet may still be the best option. Lockheed Martin proposed to build a
minimal commercial fleet of vehicles. One cost estimate for the fleet was $8
billion in 2014 dollars. NASA and other U.S. government customers were expected
to make a certain guarantee for a specific number of payloads (launches).
Unfortunately the VentureStar had unsolvable
development problems. In reality this is the same business model that the USAF
has with United Launch Alliance and unfortunately the extreme operating cost of
their expendable launch vehicles has made this an untenable business contract.
Since the flight systems for the CSS
freighter are still being evaluated development cost cannot be made at this
time. However, by selecting existing subsystems with little or no development
requirements, it is believed that the launcher can be finance with funding from
the private sector.
CSS Freighter Development Concepts and
Operational Cost Analysis
The following chart shows the launch
cost breakdown of the decommissioned NASA space shuttle and the expected cost
of a CSS without NASA civil service personnel and government purchasing cost.
Also discussed are existing technology achievements that have applications
which can be expected to reduce the CSS freighter launch cost of $205 million
to less than the current cost of existing heavy lift expendable launch
vehicles.
Following is a
description of existing technologies and improved operations procedures that
make the CSS freighter cost competitive:
Flight Operations
(FLT OPS)
The CSS freighter flight operation
costs are reduced by removing civil service support. Additional FLT OPS cost
reductions are made by the following innovations:
· Orbiter Configuration: The airframe exterior will not be
significantly altered. However, since no crew windows will be required a
ballistic nose cone similar to that of the X-37B will be investigated.
Composite material will be used to reduce weight as was accomplished for the
Boeing 787. Composite material can
reduce the orbiters weight by 20 percent (approx. 15,000 lbs.). Initially this
weight saving should be used to reduce landing loads and the size of the
external tank. Composite materials are expected to reduce the maintenance
costs.
Consider X-37B Nose Cone Configuration
· Integrated Vehicle
Health Management System (IVHM): A major contributor to the high costs of current space vehicle
systems is the operations, maintenance, and infrastructure portion of the
program’s total life-cycle costs. Incorporation of IVHM with distributed remote
health nodes, fiber optic distributed strain sensor, and fiber distributed data
interface communications components will result in significant program life
cycle savings by improving reliability and lowering operational costs. Computer
technology has advanced to the state that an onboard IVHM computer system can
verify the status and control all vehicle systems. It has been proved to be extremely effective
on modern aircraft and spacecraft. The ground and flight software developed for
the Lockheed Martin VentureStar and X-37B could be a
baseline design for reducing the cost and development time of the IVHM system.
· Modular Flight
Subsystems: Subsystems must be a modular
concept, designed for unconstrained replacement. The spare parts operation must be based on
modular replacement of the subsystem.
Modular replacement is required to reduce the time for replacing flight
failed subsystems from days to hours.
Modular replacement designs must consider launch pad and on-orbit
replacement of failed equipment.
· Orbiter Propulsion: All Hydrazine is removed from the
orbiter. The attitude control propellant
is replaced with a “green” propellant such as AF-M315E. The orbital maneuvering system for major
altitude changes is a hybrid engine with liquid oxidizers and a solid fuel such
as hydroxyl-terminated polybutadiene (HPPB).
These fuels decrease processing time and increase safety. The Dream
Chaser hybrid rocket motor is being considered to replace the orbiter’s hydrazine
OMS.
· Thermal Protective
System (TPS): The NASA Space Shuttle TPS
is not acceptable. However, the TPS is
not believed to be a development issue with the current available materials.
Use of metallic tile, mechanical fasteners, carrier panels, carbon-carbon,
rigid ceramic and other current technology will be considered. The TPS must be
able to withstand impacts and/or be repairable on-orbit. The vehicle health monitoring system will
monitor the TPS for any breach. On orbit repair of TPS will be developed.
Other TPS considerations:
· Toughened unipiece fibrous re-enforced
oxidation-resistant composite, (TUFROC), to cover the wings’ leading edges.
· Toughened unipiece fibrous insulation,”
(TUFI), to replace ceramic tiles and reduce weight.
· Design a robotic flight vehicle system to repair on-orbit TPS failures.
Lockheed
Martin VentureStar TPS
IN-FLIGHT TPS INSPECTION AND REPAIR:
In-flight inspection using the integration of
thousands of sensors into a pattern of fibers located in the TPS will provide
real-time structural health of the freighter. Any breach in the TPS will be
repaired by an on-board free fly spacecraft designed for multi-purposes repair.
TPS repair kits fall into two basic categories, mechanical or chemical.
Mechanical repairs systems rely on prefabricated materials and fasteners.
Chemical repairs rely on materials that are applied in a raw form and develop
into a chemical adhesive bond to the TPS.
· Electrical Power
System:
Consist of solar arrays and ion batteries and/or an Electric Auxiliary
Power Unit (APU) system designed to replace the Orbiter’s existing Hydrazine
APU. The Electric APU consists of a battery, associated 270-volt power,
distribution and control, electro-hydraulic drive unit, and cooling system. Electromechanical
Actuators (landing gear, body flaps, elavons, gimbals) will be designed for those functions.
X-37B Solar Array
Electric Auxiliary Power Unit
CSS Freighter Passenger Escape
Pod
The
CSS will transport passengers to and from space in pods. Escape pod weigh is
estimated at 700 pounds per pod. The pods provide protection for all phases of
flight. At launch pad abort and lower altitudes escapes, a ballute
deploys to slow the pod for parachute deploy. The pod’s life support system
provides on-orbit safe haven in the event the cabin pressure is breached.
Target lifetime for life support is 20 days to allow for on-orbit rescue. Pods
are located behind the nose cone heat shield wake to reduce excessive thermal
loads in the event of a Columbia type entry failure. The pod is also equipped
with a heat shield system. The pod must be a “smart pod” ... it must have
knowledge of the environment.
Launch
Operations
Removing
civil service support significantly reduces launch operations (OPS). Additional
launch cost reductions are made by the following:
· The CSS freighter will
consolidate ground and flight operations at the launch site. The support launch team personnel will be
responsible for both preflight and flight operations.
· Pre-Mission
Planning: Flight planning design
computer programs have been developed that incorporate common databases, total
vehicle environment modeling, and internal iteration processes. These flight design computer programs
(incorporating sequential quadratic programming) have reduced the flight design
from months to a few days and significantly reduced manpower requirements.
· Launch Vehicle
Assembly: Launch pad assembly of the CSS
will reduce operations cost and turnaround time. The assembly complex will be
on rails and be moved away from the launch platform prior to launch. The
orbiter will be prepared for launch in a hangar facility and towed to the
launch site for assembly. The freighter’s launch complex will be similar to the
Vandenberg SLC-6 (Slick Six), however it will be
designed for freighter launch operation. There has never been a shuttle launch
complex specific designed for space shuttle operations.
·
Assembly Pad Preliminary Design Requirements:
· Building will meet
locality wind loads limitations.
· Cooling tower water
will be recycled.
· External building
dimensions will support one freighter.
· Meet safety operation
for current shuttle launch constraints (open building segment configuration).
Encapsulated
Payloads:
Payloads will be "encapsulated" cargo;
that meets the power supply and berthing configuration requirements. The CSS
will not serve as an on-orbit payload service platform. The CSS freighter is a
"ship and shoot" and retrieval cargo operations. Nominal mission
operation will not exceed 7 days. Payloads will have an allotted power usage
limit.
Orbiting Processing Building:
· No significant change
is expected for the building’s external configuration or floor space. Internal layout is TBD by the selected
orbiter systems. Note: It is not a frim requirement to use any exist NASA
facilities for CSS freighter oerations.
Solid
Rocket Motors (SRM):
Past studies indicate that the thrust vectoring
control system may not be required and that the SSME/RCS could provide all
attitude control. Recovery of the SRM
casing is not cost effective and will be discontinued. These two changes will significantly reduce
the cost of the SRM. The four segments
SRM will be sufficient for the initial CSS operations.
Fly-back Boosters:
Reusable fly back boosters will significantly
reduce operations costs and increase reliability. However the initial cost to develop the booster
may require that the space transportation market be established before
development. SpaceX recent successful
recovery of the Falcon first stage has proven that the booster recovery
capability exists.
Civil
Service:
NASA will not at any time be an operator of the
CSS Freighter.
External
Tank (ET):
It is expected that the composite cyro-tank will be available and reduce the manufacturing
costs. Manufacturing cost, not payload
to orbit will be determining factor in the design of the CSS freighter external
tank. The freighter thermal protective
system must be impact resistant and on orbit repairable which permits the
removal of the foam insulation from the ET.
Reversing the hydrogen and oxygen tanks should be revisited. It is
possible that the CSS freighter will demand higher flight rates, permitting
more than one external tank manufacturing supplier. Tank manufacturing should
be within trucking distance of the launch site.
The external tank can also be a storage container for near earth and
deep space requirements.
18 ft. (5.5 m.) Composite Cyrotank
The composite cyrotank is expected
to reduce the tank weight by 30 percent and have a 25 percent cost saving over the external metal tank which results
in a launch cost reduction of approximately $13 million.
Government Furnished
Equipment (GFE):
No GFE is required except that required
for range safety.
Logistics (LOG):
Logistics cost includes network, facilities overhead, and
administration costs are averaged for 12 annual flights. This cost is
significantly reduced as flight rate increases.
Space Shuttle Main
Engine (SSME):
The existing engine
will be used for the initial CSS freighter.
For future use the engine could adopt extensive use of integrated health
monitoring and single cast construction of large components. High pressure pumps could be incorporated
that can be flown 50 times before overhaul.
Studies have projected that an advanced engine can be turned around in
58 hours as compared to the current time of 160 hours.
Miscellaneous (MISC):
Miscellaneous includes the cost of propellants and vendor supplies.
================================================
Supporting
Information:
This NASA chart shows that flight rate
is key to lowering launch cost. It indicates that a
launch rate of 12 flights per year reduces the decommissioned NASA shuttle
mission’s cost to $400 million.
Removing NASA from launch operations
reduces the launch cost to $205 million and incorporating existing technology
to the CSS freighter make the vehicle a competitive commercial launch vehicle.
Commercial
Launch Market for CSS Freighter
The predicted average commercial medium to
heavy launches for the next 10 years is 11 per year. The CSS freighter has the potential to
capture a majority of these launches by offering the unique capability of
satellite on-orbit checkout before release and returning faulty satellites for
repair. Once the space tug is
operational, satellites can be serviced on-orbit or retrieved. The Freighter can offer tourist flights to
reduce cost of cargo delivery.
It is recognized that economic
conditions will dictate the launch market; however significantly lowering the
launch cost will attract other unidentified users
The
Space Transportation Plan for the 21st Century
Commercial Space Shuttle Freighter and
Space Based Fleet
“To get somewhere... we have to know where we’re going!”
Ed Stein’s 2012 caricature captures the path
of this nation’s manned space flight. The Space Based Transportation Plan can
change that Path.
Space Based Transportation Plan
The following chart outlines the development
and operation of the CSS freighter that enables the construction of a space based
fleet. The stair step approach provides a long range plan for needed
technologies and space vehicle development. Each step is a building block for
the next phase of development. It allows the next phase to begin before the
previous step is operational. For example the space based transport stage
(Trans Stg.) commonly referred to as a space tug, can be started before the CSS
freighter becomes operational. The Lunar Transfer vehicle can be used as
cis-lunar transfers or asteroid/comets interceptions. The modular system design
permits in-space subsystems upgrades.
Space Based… Space Tug to Space
Cruiser
The space transportation system for the 21st century must be
developed as an evolutionary process using "space based" vehicles.
The initial space based vehicles would be small unmanned vehicles supporting
robotic missions. The development schedule for large crewed spaced based
vehicles will accelerate or decrease as the funding and needs for space
exploration requirements dictate.
Space tugs must be a top priority for the
space transportation system. They are a key factor for reducing mission cost
and increasing mission success. Tugs can be supplied by the CSS freighter and
expendable launch vehicles. Tugs can support near earth, lunar, and deep space
missions. The
first step to a “Star Trek Enterprise” space cruiser is the unmanned space
based tug. NASA’s future is in the development of these space based vehicles to
be operated by the commercial sector.
Russian Space Based Tug to Star Trek
The proposed Russian vehicle called the Parom is a space based inter-orbit “tug”. The Parom will rendezvous with the launch vehicle, capture the
new payload and/or transfer the old payload. Then transfer the new payload to
the next phase of its mission.
Future space based tugs can conduct the
following missions at significantly reduced operation cost and reduced chance
of mission failure:
Deep space missions could be designed for a
thermal aero-brake entry system. The aero-brake conducts several skip entry
maneuvers to slow to low earth orbit velocity where the CSS freighter
rendezvous with it for cargo retrieval and deploy. The NASA proposed VASIMR
plasma rocket and NERVA nuclear engine are concepts for deep space propulsions
systems.
However, these future concepts will remain
paper studies until the launch cost to orbit is significantly reduced. There
must be a defined affordable launch mass capability before any deep space
transportation vehicle can be developed. The CSS freighter is the first step to
deep space operations.
Justifications
for space based vehicles:
1.) Space based vehicles are the logical and mandatory requirement in the
establishment of a baseline concept for a cost efficient advanced space
transportation systems. Lifetime of these vehicles would be expected to be 10
to 20 years and therefore would significantly reduce the cost of deep space
transportation.
2.) Development of space based vehicles provides an exciting and meaningful
endeavor for NASA and its contractors.
3.) Space based vehicles will reduce the orbital debris problem.
4.) The inert weight of the expendable upper stage would not have to be
orbited.
5.) Provides a test platform for testing and recovering hazardous advance
concept space engines (nuclear, toxic, etc.).
6.) Of particular interest is the capability to provide affordable access to
unmanned space commercial laboratories and space manufacturing facilities.
Why
Expendables Launch Vehicles are Obsolete
Expendable
launch vehicles suffer from an unsolvable problem…every launch is the first
test flight which can have unknown flight terminating manufacturing
defects. Only reusable launch vehicles
like the CSS freighter can solve this problem!
History
of Expendable Launch Vehicle Failures
FAA
data
Expendable
launchers have a historical flight rate of around 5 percent. Reusable launch vehicle has the potential to
reduce the flight to less than 2 percent.
The CSS freighter has the capability to save the payload and the vehicle
in the event of a flight terminating failure and return to the land…in addition
to significantly lower launch cost. To
continue development of expendable launch only invites more failed launch
programs.
Coordinator’s
Biography and Contact Information
Don A. Nelson is
an aerospace consultant and writer. Mr. Nelson retired from NASA in January 1999
after 36 years with the agency. He participated in the Gemini, Apollo, Skylab,
and Space Shuttle Projects as a mission planner and operations technologist.
Mr. Nelson was a supporting team member for the first rendezvous in space,
first manned mission to the moon, first manned lunar landing, and the first
flight of the Space Shuttle. During his last 11 years at the NASA Johnson space
Center, he served as a mission operations evaluator for proposed advanced space
transportation projects. Mr. Nelson is a graduate of Southern Methodist
University School of Engineering. He is a certified private pilot and holds a
Phase VI Pilot Proficiency Wings
award from the Federal Aviation Administration.
Mr. Nelson is the author of: “NASA New Millennium Problems and Solutions” and “The NASA letters.”
For information or to
offer support contact:
Email:
caae@wt.net
Mail:
Nelson Aerospace Consulting
1407 Moller Rd
Alvin TX 77511-3248