The Space Congress® Proceedings 1980 (17th) A New Era In Technology Apr 1st, 8:00 AM German Near Term Spacelab-Utilization - Activities with Special Emphasis on the Mission D-1 (Technology Lab) Helmut Bruecker Deputy Project Manager, Material Science- Double Rack (SL1) Follow this and additional works at: https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings Scholarly Commons Citation Bruecker, Helmut, "German Near Term Spacelab-Utilization - Activities with Special Emphasis on the Mission D-1 (Technology Lab)" (1980). The Space Congress® Proceedings. 5. https://commons.erau.edu/space-congress-proceedings/proceedings-1980-17th/session-5/5 This Event is brought to you for free and open access by the Conferences at Scholarly Commons. It has been accepted for inclusion in The Space Congress® Proceedings by an authorized administrator of Scholarly Commons. For more information, please contact [email protected]. STS UTILIZATION IN GERMANY WITH SPECIAL REGARD TO THE SPACELAB MISSION D-1 HELMUT BRUECKER, Dipl.-Ing. Deputy Project Manager Material Science- Double Rack (SL1) & Ground System Operations Manager D 1 Deutsche Forschungs- und Versuchs- anstalt fuer Luft- und Raumfahrt (DFVLR) D 50OO Koeln 9O, W-Germany ABSTRACT -Spacelab to accommodate users's laboratory-type equipment with The Spacelab mission project D1 is the minimum costs for modification most ambitious and most important effort or adaptation in the present German STS utilization program. Primarily intended for "micro- -provision of maximum resources for gravity research" in the fields of the user far beyond any current material sciences and life sciences,the launch technique, D1 project serves to prove the STS -spacelab to have specific equipment, capabilities, and to develop and intro­ devices and procedures to protect duce cost-decreasing principles/ Spacelab, Shuttle & Crew from what­ methods and tools in exploitation of ever hazards my be generated by the space by means of Shuttle and Spacelab. experiments activities and to relieve Based on the needs of the user commu­ the user as much of the cost of space nity, the payload has been defined qualifying and man-rating his equip­ following the "payload element ap­ ment as practical. proach" . Main technical problems result from the marginal use of STS resources. Based on these optimistic assumptions For D1 it is intented to have the total of the capabilities of STS, its re­ payload integrated in Germany and to quirements and contraints and the control payload operations during the associated costs, and by systematically mission in Germany as well. investigating the needs of the German user community, we have developed Germany contributes remarkably to the through 1975 a mission model showing Spacelab 1 payload, and -in preparing a sequence of dedicated German mis­ and supporting the D1 Mission-performes sions and missions, in which Germany projects like TEXUS and MAUS. was planning to participate. INTRODUCTION In the meantime, a more realistic understanding of STS capabilities was In Germany the analysis and planning gained during the development of Shuttle of STS utilization started back in 1974 and Spacelab. The fact of increase of based on the announced STS utilization STS launch and operation costs, the features present mission assurance and safety requirements is often conflicting with - to significantly reduce the time from low cost design and development goals. experiment approval to availability And finally the intensified functional of mission results and reduce the dependence of payload elements and costs in comparison with any current STS-System impose additional hardware/ techniques, software effort on the user. All these - the applicability of commercial facts do force us to concentrate our avionics and military equipment planning and preparatory activities on (off-the-shelf-equipment), our participation in the Spacelab 1 Mission and on the first and most im­ portant dedicated German mission of the mentioned mission model:the SPACELAB MISSION D1. 5-8 THE GERMAN SPACELAB MISSION D1 approach is to combine experiment facilities into Payload Elements, which Objectives can be controlled through standard CDMS The general aim of the Mission is to features. This implies the use of Dedi­ make use of the microgravity environment cated Element Processors (DEP) carrying in space for basic and applied research out all tasks exceeding any of the programs. One group of experiments standard CDMS services. A Payload Ele­ concentrate on investigations in the ment should be housed by a standard ex­ fields of metals, mono-crystals and periment rack in the Module or should materials for electronic applications, be a group of experiment-facilities problems of boundary layers and of on a pallet/carrier either connected transport phenomena, physical chemistry with the same DEP, or with standard and processing. The second group consist EGOS requirements only. In other words, of experiments in the field of life each Payload Element is designed in a sciences, i.e. medicine,biology and way that botanies. Furthermore we intend to - it uses only standard EGOS elements perform experiments of the conmunication/ in the Experiment Computer, navigation technology. - any further application task is to be Besides these basic scientific objec­ carried out by a DEP which communica­ tives we want (a) to study and test tes with the Experiment Computer the STS capabilities of a controlled through the standard DEP-protocol of return of experiments, the repeated EGOS and through a standard serial useability of instruments, and direct RAU interface. involvement of scientists on board,(b) to increase the efficiency and economy The DEP will be used for of space operations, and (c)investigate - sequencing and monitoring the PE- how and to what extend expensive prin­ components in response to commands sent ciples, concepts and procedures of by the CDMS (Crew, ground, timeline) space programs can be skipped or deleted. - control of PE-components, and inter­ nal resource management Pay load Design and Integration Policies - data acquisition, formatting and The experience gained whilst partici­ data transfer to the CDMS, processing pating in the Spacelab-1 mission pre­ PE-keyboard commands and displaying paration and results of several studies on the PE-display, if available. lead us to establish the following The DEP's memory will be loaded by policies for D1: EGOS from the CDMS-Mass Memory Unit as o limitation of mission objectives a standard service. o no excessive use of resources As a great advantage of such Payload Element approach, the payload element o minimum technical complexity testing is less dependent of CDMS o acceptance of technical risk, but hardware and software availability. no safety compromise This approach permits to decrease the technical and operational complexity o Payload Element Policy of the total payload and the compifexity The latter policy means that the of the project organization as well, payload is to be composed of payload because the individual payload elements elements which have minimum and can be handled and developed almost -wherever possible- standard interfaces independently from each other whitin to Shuttle, Spacelab and other payload different authorithies. elements. A typical example for such a payload Our Present knowledge forces us to element is represented by the Material especially avoid the extensive use Science Double Rack (MSDR), which is of the present CDMS in its complexity, presently under development in Germany since it suffers from two major disad­ and is to be flown on Spacelab 1 as vantages: the high cost for development well as on the D1 Mission: and test of Experiment Computer Applica­ tion Software (EGAS) and the dependence THE MATERIAL SCIENCE DOUBLE RACK (Fig.1) of experiment testing from the availa­ is the pilot project of the present German bility of CDMS hardware and software. Shuttle/Spacelab-utilization program. To reduce EGAS costs and to simplify It is designed as a multipurpose and test procedures for the user, our multi-use laboratory for material science and space processing experiments 5-9 under microgravity. It accommodates 8 -the "Material Experiment Assembly" (MEA) different experiment facilities which of NASA-MSFC is included in the D1- all rely on Spacelab-resources via MSDR- payload configuration and is to be internal-modular-supply- equipment . accommodated on the pallet, This "common support equipment" consist of -two " Exobiological Units" and two small "Life Stack" Experiments will be hand­ - Vacuum Supply, incl. a turbomolecular led as separate elements on the pallet, pump using the Spacelab vent line as too. a pre-vacuum source -finally, as a single exception from the - Gas Supply to flush facilities with microgravity mission objective, a one­ nobel gas way navigation and automatic clock - Cooling System, consisting of water synchronization experiment, called cooling provisions via the Spacelab "NAVEX" , will be performed on the Heat Exchanger and air cooling loop pallet. - Power Conditioning Unit connected Technical Problem Areas to the Spacelab 28V DC Bus and pro­ viding different regulated and un­ Our on-going accommodation studies have regulated voltages to the MSDR faci­ found main technical problem areas re­ lities and, last but not least, sulting from the limited STS resources and the present deviation from one of - the MSDR internal data management our D1 policies, i.e. "not to use re­ system, the so-called "Central Con­ sources excessively", the reason of sole"