Spaceport News John F

Dec. 2, 2013 Vol. 53, No. 22 Spaceport News John F. Kennedy Space Center - America’s gateway to the universe Morpheus lander arrives for testing By Linda Herridge south of the hazard field. The Spaceport News tethered lander will be raised 20 feet high to minimize risk to the ASA’s Project Morpheus vehicle while a checkout flight is prototype lander arrived N conducted to ensure it performs at Kennedy Space Center on as expected after being shipped Nov. 21 and was transported to across the country. The vehicle a support building at the Shuttle will ascend 10 feet, move later- Landing Facility to be prepared ally 10 feet, then return to center for tethered and free-flight test- and “land” at the bottom of the ing. The lander is a test bed to tether. demonstrate new green propel- On Dec. 10, the first of three lant propulsion systems and autonomous free-flight tests autonomous landing and hazard is planned. Morpheus will be detection technology, which loaded with propellants, lift could enable new capabilities off from a recently constructed for future human exploration of transportable pad containing a the solar system. flame trench, hover at about Nearly six months of 50 feet in altitude, then move Morpheus tethered tests were over and land on the second pad, accomplished at the Vertical a little more than 23 feet away. Testbed Flight Complex near “Over the next few months, NASA’s Johnson Space Center we will continually expand (JSC) in Houston before the NASA/Kim Shiflett Morpheus’ flight envelope with lander was packed and shipped Technicians position the Project Morpheus lander onto a transporter inside a support build- a goal of reaching over 800 feet to Kennedy. ing at the Shuttle Landing Facility at Kennedy Space Center Nov. 21. in altitude and moving more “All of the testing we ac- Greg Gaddis, the Kennedy than 1,500 feet downrange,” complished at JSC was prepar- More online Morpheus and ALHAT site Olansen said. ing us for the free-flight tests at For more about Morpheus, visit http://morpheuslander.jsc.nasa.gov/. manager said an in-field check- The Morpheus lander eventu- Kennedy,” said Jon Olansen, the out of Morpheus’ communica- ally will incorporate ALHAT, a Morpheus project manager at tion and safety systems will be technology that will allow it to demonstrated the capability of Johnson. completed Dec. 3 to confirm navigate to clear landing sites a number of Morpheus’ backup During its final test at John- they are functioning properly. amidst rocks, craters and other son, Morpheus was launched systems. On Dec. 4, Morpheus will be hazards during its descent. over a flame trench, ascended Now, Morpheus will be tested loaded with propellant, liquid Morpheus is being managed to a height of 21 feet, and flew at the north end of the Kennedy oxygen and liquid methane, to under the Advanced Exploration a course that landed the vehicle landing facility, where a realistic verify the systems are working. Systems Division in NASA’s on a separate pad 10 feet from crater-filled planetary scape “During the first flight cam- Human Exploration and Opera- its launch point. The vehicle re- awaits. The 100-square-meter paign, the team will conduct dry tions Mission Directorate. The mained loosely tethered, which field, called the Autonomous run operations to wring out any efforts in the Advanced Explora- provided the necessary range Landing and Hazard Avoidance Kennedy-specific challenges tion Systems pioneer new ap- safety at the center, but limited Technology (ALHAT) Hazard to support Morpheus testing,” proaches for rapidly developing flight distances. Field, contains rocks and other Gaddis said. prototype systems, demonstrat- Olansen said the Johnson hidden hazards designed to Morpheus’ first tether test will ing key capabilities and validat- tests helped the team understand mimic as closely as possible the take place Dec. 6 at the launch ing operational concepts for how the vehicle performs and landing conditions on surfaces pad constructed at the north future human missions beyond how to fine tune it. Testing also such as the moon or Mars. end of the landing facility, just Earth orbit. Page 2 SPACEPORT NEWS Dec. 2, 2013 Satellite servicing capability testing ongoing By Bob Granath sion,” Aranyos said. Spaceport News Erik Tormoen, also of NASA Engineering and Technology, ince the first satellites were added that it is crucial to know launched during the late S how things perform differently 1950s, daily life has become in microgravity. more and more dependent on Aranyos said the next step spacecraft orbiting the Earth will be demonstrating remote, From time to time, these teleoperated robotic transfer spacecraft experience failures or line-mating/disconnect tests simply run out of the propel- combined with hypergolic lant necessary to keep them propellant flow testing. These operating properly. Engineers at efforts are now scheduled for Kennedy Space Center are part- February 2014 at Kennedy’s nering with counterparts at the Payload Hazardous Servicing agency’s Goddard Space Flight Facility. Center in Maryland to develop The recent testing at Kennedy systems to bring potential future is a crucial step in developing robotic “service tow trucks” to satellite servicing capability, as orbiting spacecraft in need of the project would be an im- aid. portant aid to an ever-growing Operating under Goddard’s number of orbiting spacecraft Satellite Servicing Capabilities NASA that play key roles in commu- Office’s (SSCO) technology In this artist’s concept, a servicing satellite (right) robotically repairs a client spacecraft. Sat- nications, science, defense and development effort, the project ellites are expensive to build and launch. There could be a tremendous savings by keeping them in good operating order for longer periods of time. weather monitoring. is now moving into the next “You must perform tests in phase with a team at Kennedy within required typical mission art navigation system, enhanced the environment the hardware developing a reliable and ac- operating parameters. robotic arms and tools, along will be in when operating in curate prototype high-pressure “Historically, we receive, with a supply of propellant. space,” said Syrus Jeanes of propellant transfer assembly us- process and launch spacecraft “As part of the Goddard team, NASA’s Engineering and Tech- ing lessons learned from recent developed at other centers,” we are performing the design, nology Directorate. “Then you testing. Aranyos said. “That’s given us development and qualification can correlate the test results with Tom Aranyos, technical an extensive knowledge base testing of the critical hypergolic computer models. This gave integration manager in NASA’s and diverse capabilities. The propellant pumping transfer us a high degree of confidence Fluids and Propulsion Divi- satellite servicing project gives system,” said Aranyos. “We’re that our designs will work as sion at Kennedy, is leading the us an opportunity to put that very confident that the technol- expected.” team of NASA and contractor experience to work.” ogy will work as designed.” Tormoen said, “This has the specialists that built and assess As now conceived by That confidence is based on potential to help enable a future performance of the propellant Goddard’s SSCO, the robotic NASA’s years of experience in U.S. industry providing servic- transfer system’s engineering servicer spacecraft would be satellite servicing and robotic ing spacecraft. Satellites are development unit (EDU). equipped with the technology it operations. expensive to build and launch. The system was designed to needs to autonomously ren- “The same approaches that There could be a tremendous demonstrate that a robotically dezvous with satellites needing were used in successfully servic- savings by keeping them in operated satellite could refuel assistance. The servicer would ing the Hubble Space Telescope good operating order for longer another orbiting spacecraft be equipped with a state-of-the- are being applied to this mis- periods of time.” NASA According to Tom Aranyos, technical integration manager in NASA’s Fluids and Propulsion Division, this team comprised of NASA and contractor specialists built the engineering development unit (EDU) of a propellant transfer system and “delivered on all promises for development and risk-reduction test efforts.” Dec. 2, 2013 SPACEPORT NEWS Page 3 NASA bolsters next phase of CCP with CCtCap By Rebecca Regan of a two-phased effort that Spaceport News began last year. It builds on the accomplishments of a ASA took another step first certification phase, called Nov. 19 to restore an N Certification Products Contracts American capability to launch (CPC). CPC required compa- astronauts from U.S. soil to the International Space Station by nies to deliver a range of prod- the end of 2017, subject to the ucts that establish a baseline for availability of adequate fund- their integrated system certifi- ing. The agency’s Commercial cation. CCtCap is open to any Crew Program (CCP) requested company with systems at the proposals from U.S. companies design maturity level consistent to complete development of with the completion of the first crew transportation systems certification phase. that meet NASA certifica- CCtCap contractors will tion requirements and begin plan, manage and execute long- conducting crewed flights to the term production and opera- space station. tional plans for their systems. “NASA is committed to The firm-fixed price contracts, launching American astronauts based on the Federal Acquisi- from U.S. soil in the very near tion Regulations (FAR), will in- future, and we’re taking a sig- NASA image/Greg Lee clude at least one crewed flight nificant step toward achieving This artist concept features a NASA astronaut, the Earth and the International Space Station. test to verify the spacecraft can that goal,” NASA Administra- The Earth focuses on the United States, from which NASA’s Commercial Crew Program dock to the space station and tor Charles Bolden said.

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