Cygnus-Derived Exploration from ISS to the Moon and Beyond
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Cygnus-derived Exploration from ISS to the Moon and Beyond Mike Fuller Future In-Space Operations (FISO) Director, Business Development Propulsion Systems 22 April 2020 Derek M. Hodgins Director, Business Development Human Exploration 1 Introduction to Northrop Grumman 2 Northrop Grumman Space Systems • Northrop Grumman Space Systems (NGSS) brings together NG’s comprehensive space capabilities from its former Aerospace Systems, Mission Systems, and Innovation Systems sectors • Headquarters: Dulles, Virginia (Washington, D.C., area) • Approximately 23,000 Employees • Facilities in 48 states and several overseas locations • NGSS is an industry leading provider of end-to-end space and launch systems and capabilities serving national security, civil and commercial customers. • NGSS Launch Systems is providing the five segment boosters for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) and the main launch-abort motor and the attitude control motor for the Orion Crew Vehicle’s Launch Abort System (LAS). • In addition NG propulsion systems are employed in the company's Pegasus, Minotaur, Antares and OmegA rockets as well as in Delta IV and commercial launch vehicles. • NGSS Tactical Space covers Civil & Commercial Satellites (CCS) and National Security Space, including CCS’s NASA Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) and Science, and Commercial Satellites 3 Cygnus • NG is the prime contractor and developer of the Cygnus spacecraft, providing logistics support to the International Space Station (ISS) under NASA’s Cargo Resupply Service (CRS) contract, including commercial and science payloads – Developed in an innovative Public-Private Partnership with NASA, over 50% of its development was privately funded • Cygnus is designed to be an advanced maneuvering spacecraft, incorporating elements drawn from Northrop Grumman and its partners’ existing, flight-proven spacecraft technologies. • The primary mission objectives of Cygnus flights to ISS are cargo delivery and trash removal with additional capabilities for NASA and Commercial payload operations • It is a semi-autonomous delivery system for pressurized and unpressurized payloads and cargo, that meets NASA’s human spaceflight rated vehicle requirements • The Cygnus system is a flight-proven low-risk design with 13 highly- successful missions to-date and provides a basis for future evolved and derived vehicles to support NASA exploration and science 4 Continued Evolution of Cygnus • Since its first flight, we have continued to evolve Cygnus, increasing its capabilities for providing logistics support to ISS, and for providing additional capabilities – The Enhanced Cygnus Pressurized Module enabled increased delivery and disposal capability for Cygnus, with a larger volume Initial CRS Cygnus – Long-Duration Cygnus • During its NG-11 mission, Cygnus proved long-duration free-flyer operations • NG proved the capability to fly multiple Cygnus vehicles at the same time with launch of NG-12 while NG-11 continued its free-flight demonstration – Secondary and Hosted Payloads • Cygnus provides deployment capabilities for secondary payloads for customers including hosting cubesat deployers for NanoRacks and SEOPS • Cygnus additionally provides locations for external and internal payloads Enhanced Cygnus – Cygnus Lab • Cygnus on-station capabilities enable extension of the ISS with added utilization space – Cygnus Reboost • During its NG-10 mission, Cygnus demonstrated the capability for ISS reboost – Secondary Missions • Cygnus provides the unique platform to perform hazardous tests, including three SAFFIRE missions, testing flammability in microgravity CRS-2 Cygnus 5 6 Northrop Grumman Proprietary Level I The Next Step: Augmentation Module • The Augmentation Module concept was developed concurrent with the NextSTEP Phase-2 Habitation effort to support the cislunar Gateway – Derived from heritage, flight-proven Cygnus systems with a larger pressurized volume and increased capabilities to support a wide variety of missions • Transfer or “offload” systems or functionality from other station elements – Augmentation Module provides offloaded habitat systems from a larger 4.4- meter diameter habitat – Can augment crew hosting capability for early phases of the Gateway to support lunar exploration • Provides a modular and distributed approach and dissimilar back up for power, ECLSS, GN&C and Propulsion to PPE • Leverages heritage from flight proven Cygnus ISS resupply vehicle (reliability, affordability) • Logistics includes subsystems, crew support, payloads, unpressurized hardware, etc. • Modular and reconfigurable configuration enables alternative missions: – Airlock, Logistics, Habitat, Science, Node 7 NG NextSTEP Mockups at JSC 1. 4.4-meter diameter Habitat 2. 3-meter diameter Augmentation Module 3. Airlock/Tunnel 4. Mockup Support / Test Area. NG’s Habitat and Augmentation Module mock-ups underwent day-in-the-life testing at Johnson Space Center, informing the design of the Gateway’s HALO module 8 A Platform with Synergy for LEO and Deep-Space • Leveraging Cygnus, the Augmentation Module, and the in-development HALO module, NG is formulating and developing next-generation evolved and Cygnus-derived vehicles to support NASA exploration and commercialization • Participant in Commercialization of LEO Study, proving the highly-capable, multi-mission abilities for future Cygnus-derived vehicles to support LEO and deep-space – Variants include: Habitation, Logistics, Utilization, Node, and Airlock – Modular system with Service Module and Pressurized Module that can be aggregated • Enables synergy across human spaceflight products and reduces costs to NASA and commercial industry 9 Cygnus-derived Solutions for Multiple Missions • Building off of the Augmentation Module, Cygnus-derived vehicles can support multiple missions, with numerous configurations to support a wide variety of NASA and commercial needs • The Habitation and Logistics Outpost (HALO) is the first of this line, as the first crew module of Gateway • Additional vehicles to support utilization, logistics, airlock, and refueling for LEO and deep-space 12 HALO: First Crew Module for Gateway • HALO will be the first pressurized module to support crew operations at Gateway, beginning with support for Artemis’ return of humans to the lunar surface – Awarded to Northrop Grumman, completed SRR toward delivery ahead of Artemis 3 to support a 2024 landing • NG’s HALO, builds off of Cygnus, and the crew-tested design for day-in-the-life operations of the Augmentation Module, to provide a highly-capable system with lower-risk, and higher schedule-certainty – Increases habitable space – Provides two radial docking ports for modules and visiting vehicles – Flexible for delivery with a Service Module or co-manifested 13 Cygnus provides the basis for the future of space exploration, from LEO to deep-space 14 15 Northrop Grumman Proprietary Level I 16 Northrop Grumman Proprietary Level I.