OSP
TECH SUMMARY:
Flight Demonstrators
NASA's
Orbital Space Plane program under the Space Launch Initiative
focuses on supporting the U.S. International Space Station
requirements for crew rescue, crew transport and contingency
cargo.
Before
a safer, more reliable and cost-effective new space transportation
system can be built, it is critical to flight-test selected
hardware and software technologies -- in relevant ascent,
on-orbit and reentry environments -- to reduce the risk of
future launch system development.
The
Orbital Space Plane program plans to develop and flight test
key enabling technologies during the first half of this decade.
NASA will incorporate the knowledge gained from these tests
into an Orbital Space Plane system design to provide crew
rescue capability as soon as practical but no later than 2010.
The new system also will provide transportation capability
to and from the International Space Station by 2012 or sooner
if possible.
Enabling
technologies to be flight-tested include avionics, advanced
guidance, navigation and control systems, thermal protection
systems, high temperature structures, integrated vehicle health
management systems, autonomous flight operations and crew
escape systems.
Technology
experiments will be integrated into flight vehicles able to
accommodate technologies that can be added-on, and/or embedded
-- technology which is built in as a permanent part of the
flight vehicle during construction.
Currently, three flight demonstrators are being used to mature
critical Orbital Space Plane risk reduction technologies:
the Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART);
the Pad Abort Demonstrator (PAD); and the X-37 vehicle.
The
Demonstration for Autonomous Rendezvous Technology, or DART,
is a flight demonstrator vehicle designed to test technologies
including an advanced video guidance sensor required for U.S.
space vehicles to locate and autonomously rendezvous with
other spacecraft. The DART mission is unique in that all operations
will be autonomous -- there will be no astronaut on board
at the controls, only computers performing automated functions.
Launched on a Pegasus rocket, DART will test rendezvous, close
proximity operations and its control between the vehicle and
a stationary satellite in orbit. The DART mission provides
a key step in establishing autonomous rendezvous capability
for the United States.
PAD
is a reusable launch pad abort demonstrator, which includes
a full-scale reusable system enabling NASA to test crew escape
technologies. The launch pad abort demonstrator will use fully
instrumented mannequins in the crew cabin to measure acceleration
and motion resulting from the forces generated during different
mission abort scenarios. Simulated mission events will include
tests of the crew escape propulsion systems, parachute deployment,
various vehicle configurations and landing techniques. The
vehicle may be upgraded to test additional launch pad abort
technologies as they mature, to further improve crew safety
and survivability.
The
X-37 flight demonstrator will test and validate technologies
in the environment of space, as well as test system performance
and demonstrate autonomous orbital flight, reentry and landing.The
X-37 project includes development of two vehicles: the X-37
Approach and Landing Test Vehicle and the X-37 Orbital Vehicle.
An initial list of experiments and technologies to be tested
includes advanced guidance, navigation and control; thermal
protection systems; high temperature structures; conformal
reusable insulation; and high-temperature seals.
The
performance of the flight technology experiments will be closely
monitored and reviewed, ensuring that safety and reliability
goals of the Orbital Space Plane are clearly addressed. Test
results from each of the flight demonstrators will aid in
the full-scale development of the Orbital Space Plane.
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