Spaceflight A British Interplanetary Society Publication Vol 58 No 3 March 2016 £4.50 www.bis-space.com 81.indd 81 1/28/2016 12:23:32 PM INBOX 82 Spaceflight Vol 58 March 2016 82.indd 82 1/28/2016 12:24:00 PM CONTENTS Editor: Published by the British Interplanetary Society David Baker, PhD, BSc, FBIS, FRHS Sub-editor: Volume 58 No. 3 March 2016 Ann Page Production Assistant: 84-88 NASA rejigs Orion/SLS plans Ben Jones Future plans for sending astronauts beyond Earth orbit rest at present Spaceflight Promotion: with NASA’s Orion spacecraft, sent on its way by the Space Launch Suszann Parry System. But it may take longer than expected to get astronauts flying around the Moon on the first crewed flight, a mission that might not Spaceflight Arthur C. Clarke House, happen before 2023 at the earliest. The Editor explains why. 27/29 South Lambeth Road, London, SW8 1SZ, England. 90-96 ISS Operations Tel: +44 (0)20 7735 3160 Events have conspired to give George Spiteri more than double his Fax: +44 (0)20 7582 7167 Email: [email protected] usual allocation of pages in this issue. Well, there is little else you can do when the first British ESA astronaut flies to the ISS and completes a www.bis-space.com successful spacewalk all in his first month! George takes us through the ADVERTISING six weeks to mid-January to catch up with an exciting four weeks for Tel: +44 (0)1424 883401 Email: [email protected] Tim Peake aboard the International Space Station. DISTRIBUTION Spaceflight may be received worldwide by 97 A plea from the Editor mail through membership of the British Spaceflight is going multi-platformed, and if you don’t know what that Interplanetary Society. Details including Library means the Editor explains all as he outlines the broad and diverse range subscriptions are available from the above address. of news, information and analysis now available, not only in the print magazine but also on the BIS website and in the members-only section * * * where there never was a better reason to join the BIS. Spaceflight is obtainable from UK newsagents and other retail outlets in many countries. In the event of difficulty contact: Warners 98-99 What doomed Mars Polar Lander? Group Distribution, The Maltings, Manor Lane, Writing one of the blackest chapters in NASA history, in December 1999 Bourne, Lincolnshire PE10 9PH, England. Mars Polar Lander was destroyed when it impacted the surface of the Tel: +44 (0)1778 391 000 Fax: +44 (0)1778 393 668 Red Planet. An enquiry determined that the retro-rockets had shut down too early when the landing gear deployed prematurely. Now, space sleuth * * * Joel Powell has uncovered a different and more satisfactory conclusion Spaceflight is a publication which promotes the – from a man who should know! mission of The British Interplanetary Society. Opinions in signed articles are those of the contributors and do not necessarily reflect the 100-104 ESA at Mars views of the Editor or the Council of the British With the European Space Agency little more than a month away from the Interplanetary Society. launch of its ExoMars 2016 mission, Spaceflight reviews the long and * * * chequered history of this flagship programme, first in a two-segment Back issues of Spaceflight are available from plan to put a roving vehicle on the surface before the end of the decade. the Society. For details of issues and prices go to www.bis-space.com or send an sae to the address at top. Regular Features * * * Published monthly by the British Interplanetary 89 Briefing notes – news shorts from around the world Society. Registered Company No: 402498. Registered Charity No: 250556. Printed in the 105-107 Satellite Digest – 518 December 2015 UK by Latimer Trend & Company Ltd. * * * 108-109 Flashback – A regular feature looking back 50 years ago this month Copyright © British Interplanetary Society 2016 ISSN 0038-6340. All rights reserved. 110-111 Off the Shelf – Pioneering American Rocketry: The RMI Story – Spaceshots No part of this magazine may be reproduced and Snapshots of Projects Mercury & Gemini/Spaceshots and Snapshots of Project or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photo- Apollo – German Rocketeers in the Heart of Dixie – Bigelow Aerospace: Colonizing copying or recording by any information storage Space One Module at a Time – How We’ll Live on Mars or retrieval system without written permission from the Publishers. Photocopying permitted 112-113 Obituaries – Fred Durant (1916-2015) by license only. * * * 114 Correspondence – Musings on Imagination The British Interplanetary Society is a company limited by guarantee. 115-117 Society News – IS-Italia progress report – Visions of Space: IAAA artists in Somerset Mission The British Interplanetary Society promotes the 118 What’s On exploration and use of space for the benefit of humanity, by connecting people to create, Cover image: British ESA astronaut Tim Peake on his way across the truss assembly to his place of educate and inspire, and advance knowledge in work 15 January. Inside front cover: Tim Peake waves to the camera on a rare moment to briefly all aspects of astronautics. pause as Tim Kopra takes his picture. NASA Spaceflight Vol 58 March 2016 83 83.indd 83 1/28/2016 12:35:35 PM EXPLORATION NASA rejigs Orion/SLS plans By the Editor Kennedy Space Center, 30 September 2018 and the first SLS Block 1 rocket lifts off with a total thrust of 39,440kN sending Orion on a three-week mission to the Moon, as depicted in this artist’s view. NASA ith increased funding from The story so far… back; Skylab, to provide US astronauts with Congress for NASA’s human space NASA’s previous manned flight programmes a laboratory in orbit; ASTP, to demonstrate flight initiatives and plans to send were defined by objectives and targets: international cooperation; and the Shuttle, WOrion, on the first Space Launch System to launch multiple payloads to Low-Earth Mercury, to get a man into space; Gemini to (SLS), to the Moon and back no later than 30 develop operational procedures necessary for orbit and provide heavy lift for assembling a September 2018, you may think that all was a broad range of space capabilities; Apollo to space station. Goal-orientated, each set of on track for a new age of exploration involving send two men to the surface of the Moon and programme hardware was defined by the initial machines and people working together beyond requirement. Earth orbit. You would be wrong. It may well yet The only spacecraft designed in conjunction with On 14 January 2004, less than a year after be more than six years before astronauts once a particular launch vehicle, Orion is the essential Columbia was destroyed during re-entry, element in getting humans into deep space but it again fly a NASA spacecraft from the Kennedy President George W Bush announced the will fly in conjunction with the European Service Space Center. decision not to proceed with further Shuttle Module. NASA While technical progress has been good, modifications and hardware development. development of the SLS rocket going much Instead, NASA would develop a twin-track more smoothly than the Ares I launcher a programme: the Constellation programme for decade ago, uncertainties are entrenched human exploration of the Moon and Mars. The within a programme which is hardware- Shuttle would be retired in 2010, followed by orientated and so far devoid of a missions plan. US withdrawal from the International Space Whereas all previous US human space flight Station to clear a funding path for Constellation. programmes have been goal-orientated, the Constellation supported development of Orion and SLS hardware has been designed four vehicles: Orion as a larger version of to fulfil a broad requirement for heavy-lift the Apollo design concept for ISS and deep- capability devoid of mission definition. space missions; Altair as the Moon lander for The challenge has been to fit a set of goals extended surface stays; Ares I as a launch within a realistic budget and to structure vehicle for Orion to low Earth orbit; Ares V a flight test and operations agenda based as a heavy-weight cargo lifter for Moon and around launch and flight capabilities defined Mars flights, Altair and habitats to low Earth by the vehicle already being built. In times orbit where they would be met by an Ares past, specific objectives determined the 1-launched Orion and its crew. Once again, a specification of the hardware; today that goal-orientated programme. clarity of foresight is missing and this factor is By 2009 the Constellation programme was beginning to take its toll on decision-makers clearly unaffordable and a lengthy analysis by and managers alike. an independent review committee concluded 84 Spaceflight Vol 58 March 2016 84-88.indd 84 1/28/2016 12:24:38 PM EXPLORATION The resulting decision, following an appeal for anyone to give him an answer, was for President Kennedy to tear-up NASA’s existing von Braun paradigm – sequential development of space stations/Moon missions/Mars landings – and head straight for the lunar surface with intrepid astronauts. It got the job done, raising the prestige of the President, restoring US honour and increasing its standing in a world rocked by ideological division. Redefinition More than 40 years on, as conceived Orion was defined as a Crew Exploration Vehicle for carrying astronauts to low Earth orbit, supplying the ISS and for deep-space flights, envisaged as a spacecraft capable of carrying out three functional roles. When Orion was resurrected as a deep-space exploration vehicle in 2011 it gathered up those roles into a single specification and its name morphed into the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) before regaining its original title when the spacecraft The Orion Crew Module and its ESM displays the aft propulsion elements which will manage orbital, survived the night of the long knives.