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By Rob Coppinger
http://www.flightglobal.com/articles/2007/08/03/215924/nasa-plans-armageddon-spacecraft-to-blast-asteroid.html

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center has designed a nuclear-warhead-carrying spacecraft, to be launched by the US agency's proposed's Ares V cargo launch vehicle, to deflect an asteroid that could threaten all life on Earth.

The 8.9m (29ft)-long "Cradle" spacecraft would carry six 1,500kg (3,300lb) missile-like interceptor vehicles that would carry one 1.2MT B83 nuclear warhead each, with a total mass of 11,035kg.

Launched by an Ares V, the spacecraft would leave low-Earth orbit using a 45,359kg liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen fuelled "kick stage".

The spacecraft's target near-Earth object (NEO) is the Apophis asteroid, which will pass by the Earth within the orbit of the Moon in April 2029.

For the study, however, its orbit was changed to bring it into a "dead-centre" collision course with Earth and its mass was assumed to be 1,000,000kg. The spacecraft's possible launch dates were 2020 and 2021.

By the 2020s NASA concluded that "the nuclear interceptor option can deflect NEOs of [100-500m diameter] two years before impact, and larger NEOs with at least five years warning".

The Cradle would have solar arrays, radiators, a light detection and ranging (lidar) instrument, a set of wide and narrow field of view (W/NFOV) cameras for guidance, a reaction control system and an avionics and communications package.

Each interceptor vehicle, with a terminal rendezvous package (TRP), would have a hydrazine-fuelled engine, a nitrogen tetroxide reaction control system and a lidar, and W/NFOV cameras for guidance.

The first vehicle/TRP could be launched, for a stand-off detonation near the NEO, 5h before the last interceptor's release, or the six TRPs could arrive at 1h intervals where the Cradle is 100h from intercept.

The warheads would explode at a distance of one-third of the NEO's diameter and each detonation's X and gamma rays and neutrons would turn part of the NEO's surface into an expanding plasma to generate a force to deflect the asteroid.

"The Hollywood scenario solution of shooting several intercontinental ballistic missiles at the incoming rock is fraught with danger. It probably would not be sufficient to prevent impact, raising the additional hazard of radioactive materials from the blast being introduced into the atmosphere," says the report.

A kinetic "bullet" version would use this interceptor design, but have an inert warhead instead of a nuclear one. In both cases the lidar would acquire the target NEO at 5,000km (3,100 miles) distance, with TRP closing velocities of up to 10,000m/s (1,968,503ft/min).

The Marshall study also has a solar collector option that has a very different vehicle design to the warhead and kinetic vehicles. The collector, which is more like an orbiter probe, would maintain station near the NEO and use a 100m-diameter inflatable parabolic collector membrane to focus sunlight into a "thruster" that directs that energy on to the NEO's surface. The heating of surface material evaporates it generating thrust and deflection.

But before the solar, nuclear or kinetic missile-carrying spacecraft is launched, NASA concludes that a precursor mission is needed and would send a 1,500kg observer spacecraft to the asteroid to determine its composition.

Knowing its composition would help the agency determine if a solar, kinetic or nuclear spacecraft would have to be sent.

NASA's proposed Ares I crew launch vehicle would loft the 23,316kg, 14m-long, observer stack, consisting of a liquid-oxygen/liquid-hydrogen-fuelled RL-10 B-2 engine-powered "trans-asteroid insertion stage", a second bi-propellant rendezvous stage, and the spacecraft, into LEO.

The observer spacecraft would be based on the probe built for NASA's 2005 Comet encounter Deep Impact mission, using some of its payload instruments.

For its instruments, which include a laser range finder and a radar, the observer's main power source would be a radioisotope thermal generator. It would also carry a Lander and a box launcher for seismic impactors and gravity fly-by projectiles.

The Lander would have a constant thrust motor to keep it in contact with the NEO's surface in the low-gravity environment and have three seismic sensors on the end of three long legs with surface penetrating spikes. The seismic sensors would detect the effect of the observer's impactors' arrival.

By David Harris / Chris Bergin, 8/5/2007
http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/content/?cid=5187

NASA Constellation and Lockheed Martin have deleted the airbag landing system from the next Orion design cycle (Orion 607) in a weight saving measure, opting to return to an Apollo-style splashdown for the vehicle's end of mission.

Meanwhile, a list of shuttle facilities at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) that will be demolished between 2010 and 2012—including all three Orbiter Processing Facilities (OPFs) —has been produced.

Water landing scenario—previously only required during a launch abort—is one of several items that are being baselined into the next design cycle as a weight savings measure.

The deletion of landing airbags—and reduction of Orion structure—will aid the requirement Lockheed Martin engineers have been given to reduce the mass of Orion, allowable because of the 'softer' water landings.

Previously, the Orion was designed to land on large airbags at a landing range, although earlier hints that was no longer going to be the case came via documentation that showed a water landing—off the coast of Australia—for the Orion 3 unmanned test flight in September 2012. The first manned flight, Orion 4, was due to land at Edwards Air Force Base.

Also part of the mass saving design cycle—knocking off a total of 1,200 lbs from Orion—is the deletion of green propellants on the Crew Module, returning to the tried and tested hypergolic Reaction Control Systems (RCS). This weight savings measure was made in-line with the change to a water landing, due to salt water's neutralizing of potential hypergolic fuel spills after splashdown.

Other information acquired by NASASpaceflight.com's L2 section notes the continuing efforts of scheduling the transition between Shuttle and Constellation, referencing the changes that will be made to KSC, post-Shuttle.

Those evaluations have concluded with the decision that all three OPF's will be demolished between 2010 and 2012, in addition to the Hypergol Maintenance Facility (HMF) and SSME (Space Shuttle Main Engine) work shop.

At the Shuttle Landing Facility, the shuttle specific landing aids will be taken down in addition to the Orbiter Mate-Demate Device. All TAL sites will be abandoned, as they belong to the foreign nations.

Some facilities that may be modified to support Constellation include the STS Flight Simulator (Orion simulators), Space Station Processing Facility (Station support until de-orbit and possible use for Orion processing), and the Payload Canister Rotation Facility. Their fates are currently classed as 'undecided.'

Modifications to the sound suppression system at Pad 39B and the MLP (Mobile Launch Platform) are scheduled to be finished by the beginning of next year, ahead of the 2008 test flight of the Ares I-X. LCC (Launch Control Center) firing room 1 will be activated in August 2008.

The FSS (Fixed Service Structure) modifications to support interface with the dummy upper stage and flight monitoring equipment of the Ares I-X will be completed by Jan. 2009. The lightning mast on the FSS and the VAB high bay 3 work platforms are also scheduled for Jan. 2009.

Other information notes that the Mobile Launcher for Ares 1—currently at the 60 percent stage of its design review—will have a total rollout mass, including vehicle, of around 12.5 million pounds (567,000kg). For comparison, Saturn V had a total rollout mass of 12.63 million pounds and the shuttle has a rollout mass of 12.02 million lbs.

The dry weight of the Ares I will be 2.2 million lbs (1,000,000 kg), and the tower will weigh 2 million lbs (907,000 kg). The rest of the weight is in the MLP base, support systems, and ground support equipment.

The interstage design for Ares I is also progressing. At 5.5 meters in diameter and 5.7 meters in length, it will house four Booster Deceleration Motor pods (for SRB staging) and two RCS (Reaction Control System) pods for roll control.

The Preliminary Design Review (PDR) for Ares I is scheduled for mid 2008, with a Critical Design Review (CDR) in early 2010. Transition from Ares I design to Ares V design is to start in 2011 and fully transition in 2013. Ares V-Y (Dummy upper stage) is scheduled for mid 2018 with Orion 13/LSAM 1 being the first moon flight in late 2018, although that schedule is deemed ambitious, due to budget constraints.

MCC (Mission Control Center) will be conducting a flight, following on Ares 1-X, with some control on Ares 2, and full control on Ares 3 (first real flight). MCC and Crew procedure development will start early next year, and full flight crew training will begin in 2011.

June 25, 2007
http://science.nasa.gov/headlines/y2007/25jun_l2.htm

NASA's next moon rocket is still on the drawing board, but already scientists are dreaming up big new things to do with it.

"The Ares V rocket will be able to launch missions whose volume or mass or both can be handled no other way," says Philip Stahl, an internationally respected optical engineer now at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. Maybe, he says, we should use it "to launch big space telescopes."

How big? Consider the following: Ares V will be able to place almost 130,000 kg (284,000 lbs; 8% more than the Saturn V rocket of the 1960s) into low Earth orbit. Designed to deliver cargo to the Moon, the rocket would be large enough to carry primary mirrors 8+ meters wide. For comparison, Hubble's mirror measures 2.4 m.

Right: A 6- to 8-meter space telescope would dwarf the Hubble Space Telescope. Key missions would include searching for and exploring earthlike planets in deep space. (NASA)

"How does a typical astrophysicist work?" Stahl asks. "He builds a giant telescope on top of a mountain and uses it for decades, and every few months or years he swaps out instruments or does other upgrades to keep it going." The Hubble Space Telescope operates in this fashion, with the space shuttle doing the servicing and Earth-orbit playing the role of mountain peak.

But Stahl wants to go beyond Earth orbit, far beyond, to the L2 Sun-Earth Lagrange point.

A Lagrange point is, basically, a parking spot in space. If you put a spacecraft at a Sun-Earth Lagrange point, it remains in a fixed position relative to the Sun and Earth. 18th-century mathematician Josef Lagrange showed that there are five such points, illustrated in the diagram below.

L1, located 1.5 million km sunward of Earth, is a good place for solar observatories. The Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO), for example, is there now and enjoys a 24/7 view of the sun.

L2 lies in the opposite direction, 1.5 million km above the nightside of Earth. A key advantage of L2 is that the Sun, Earth and Moon are concentrated in one small part of the sky, giving any telescope located there a wide and unobstructed view of deep space. The Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP) is stationed at L2 and others will eventually join it.

Right: Earth-Sun Lagrange points.

"L2 is a place in space where we want to place a lot of telescopes," Stahl continues. So "why don't we treat it as a mountaintop?" with the telescope's satellite bus providing all the services of a real mountaintop facility.

Thus, Stahl, Marc Postman of the Space Telescope Science Institute, and others within the space science community are thinking big.

Wish-list missions for the Ares V range from a 150-meter-wide (492 ft) radio telescope dish to detect whispers from deep space to a 5-meter cube of super-pure water encased in light detectors to assay cosmic rays by their light flashes as they crash through the water. An optical telescope with a primary mirror up to 8 m (26 ft.) in diameter could search star populations in the Milky Way and nearby galaxies for the "fossil record" of their evolution. It could also hunt for "Earthshine spectra," faint signs of life in the light reflected by exoplanets.

The resolution of the telescope's images would be more than three times sharper than those of Hubble. More important, the mirror would see about 11 times fainter than Hubble because the area of the mirror would be 11 times greater.

Right: A cutaway diagram of the large monolithic space telescope shows that most of it is empty space, leaving designers plenty of margin in equipping the systems and instrument modules. (NASA)

Until now, such a mirror was too big to consider. The next-generation James Webb Space Telescope—also headed for L2—was regarded as the path for future large space telescopes. Its 6.5-m primary mirror will consist of carefully folded segments that precisely align once on station. But future Ares V payload shrouds up to 12 m (39.4 ft) have been envisioned by NASA planners. That allows Stahl to consider an off-the-shelf mirror, like the single-piece, 8-m (26.2 ft) primaries in the ground-based Gemini telescopes.

While increasing size, the Ares V would decrease risk. "The constraints of current launch vehicles place risks on technical performance, cost, and schedule to get a lot out of a small package," Stahl explains. The generous size and mass afforded by the Ares V all but eliminates those constraints for most payloads.

He also sees servicing as a key element.

"Why design for 10 to 15 years?" Stahl asks. "Let's design so you can swap the instruments periodically and go for 50 years." The bus section—controls and instruments—will be small enough that replacements could be sent by smaller launch vehicles and equipped to replace all the serviceable components and start a new scientific observing campaign.

In Postman's words, that would "make L2 the ultimate astronomical summit."

by Steven Siceloff
http://www.space-travel.com/reports/Kennedy_Prepares_To_Host_Constellation_Launch_Vehicle_999.html

The Ares rockets that will take over for the space shuttle and carry humans to the moon are closer to lifting off from the drawing board. Designs and modifications are under way at Launch Pad 39B, the Launch Control Center and the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida to accommodate the first test flight of an Ares I rocket in April 2009. At the same time, workers in Kennedy's Assembly and Refurbishment Facility and Parachute Refurbishment Facility are working on the components for the first launch test.

It is all part of a plan to use rockets based largely on technology proven in the Space Shuttle Program as the foundation for America's next generation of crewed spacecraft. One rocket, the Ares I, will pick up where the shuttle leaves off as America's prime vehicle for launching humans. The other, Ares V, will launch everything else needed for trips to the moon.

The demonstration rocket for the 2009 test, Ares I-X, will look just like the rocket that will launch astronauts to the International Space Station in the next decade and on the first leg of trips to the moon beginning in 2020.

The test flight calls for a surplus shuttle solid rocket booster to be topped with an inactive fifth segment, a non-working upper stage and a boilerplate capsule built to the dimensions of the Orion spacecraft that will carry humans to Earth orbit.

But for the 2009 test flight, the capsule will carry only instruments and will launch on a ballistic trajectory into the South Atlantic Ocean. This will allow engineers to study the conditions Ares I will experience at liftoff, while the solid rocket is thundering toward space and when the second-stage rocket and spacecraft separate.

A second unmanned test flight with higher fidelity upper stage and Orion spacecraft simulators is planned for 2012. The first crewed flight of Ares I and Orion is scheduled for no later than 2015.

Although the rocket is a new design, NASA is following a plan that allows the agency to use many facilities that already exist.

"The infrastructure we have for shuttle is mainly what we're going to use," said Pepper Phillips, manager of Kennedy's Ground Operations Project in the Constellation Program.

Constellation encompasses the Ares rockets and the Orion capsules under development, as well as the lunar landers and surface systems that will be used by astronauts exploring the moon.

Here is a detailed look at the changes already under way around Kennedy to get ready for that test flight. It also is a look ahead at what needs to be done so the Constellation Program can begin Ares I crewed missions, as well as Ares V missions beyond 2015.

Launch Pad 39B

Role in Constellation: Launch complex for the Ares I-X and operational flights of the Ares I rocket.

Status: Launch Pad 39B has hosted its last planned space shuttle launch, though it will be kept ready in case an emergency flight is called for during the last Hubble Space Telescope repair mission in September 2008. Then major work will begin.

To be done: The fixed and rotating service structures standing at Launch Pad 39B will be dismantled sometime after the Ares I-X test flight. A new launch tower for Ares I will be built onto a new mobile launch platform.

The gantry for the shuttle doesn't reach much higher than the top of the four segments of the solid rocket booster. Pad access above the current shuttle launch pad structure will not be required for Ares I-X because the stages above the solid rocket booster are inert.

For the test scheduled in 2012 or for the crewed flights, workers and astronauts will need access to the highest levels of the rocket and capsule. When the Ares I rocket rolls out to the launch pad on the back of the same crawler-transporters used now, its launch gantry will be with it. The mobile launchers will nestle under three lightning protection towers to be erected around the pad area.

Kennedy's Constellation managers say the Ares' time at the launch pad will be significantly less than the three weeks or more the shuttle requires.

This "clean pad" approach minimizes equipment and servicing at the launch pad. It is the same plan NASA used with the Saturn V rockets and industry employs it with more modern launchers.

The launch pad will also get a new emergency escape system for astronauts, one that looks very much like a roller coaster. Cars riding on a rail will replace the familiar baskets hanging from steel cables.

Launch Pad 39A

Role in Constellation: Launch Pad 39A will be the home of the Ares V rocket, a behemoth vehicle almost as tall as the Saturn V, and even more powerful. The Ares V will not carry a crew, but is slated to loft a lunar lander and a fueled upper stage that will connect with an Orion capsule in Earth orbit. The upper stage from the Ares V will ignite to send the Orion and lander toward the moon.

Status: The launch complex that saw the liftoff of Apollo 11 to the moon will be used for the space shuttle until the orbiters are retired around 2010.

Vehicle Assembly Building

Role in Constellation: The giant hangar used to stack the Saturn V rocket and space shuttles will retain that role in the Constellation Program. It is the only structure at Kennedy tall enough to accommodate the Ares rockets.

Status: The building's high bay 3 is undergoing minor changes to handle the Ares I-X rocket. The new vehicle is about 150 feet taller than the shuttle orbiter, so bigger changes will be needed for the final Ares I design. Work platforms similar to those used in Apollo will give workers the access they need to stack the pieces and process the rocket for launch.

To be done: After the shuttle fleet retires, high bay 1 will be converted to handle the mammoth Ares V rockets. Cranes that assembled the last rockets destined for the moon will again be used to attach pieces for a moon ship.

Launch Control Center Firing Room 1 Role in Constellation: Firing Room 1 already holds the distinction of overseeing the first launch of a space shuttle and supporting the Apollo Program. Now it is poised to take on the task of controlling the first launch of the shuttles' replacement.

Status: The expansive room inside the Launch Control Center is gutted and the windows on the doors are papered over. It won't stay that way for long, though, because NASA wants members of its launch team to begin practicing with the new equipment and procedures in summer 2008.

About that launch team: While it takes more than 200 people in the Launch Control Center at Kennedy to launch a space shuttle mission, Phillips said the Ares launch team is targeted to number fewer than 50.

"This vehicle is far less complex than a shuttle system," Phillips said. "We recognize it's a less complex vehicle, so we're looking to use a simpler launch control system."

Assembly and Refurbishment Facility

Role in Constellation: The Assembly and Refurbishment Facility processes the nosecones and aft skirts of the shuttle solid rocket boosters before they are bolted onto the fueled segments. The Ares 1 doesn't require a booster nosecone, but the aft skirt for the test flight is already being prepped.

Status: Engineers are modifying the aft skirt so it can behave a bit differently as the main booster for the Ares I. C.J. Smith of United Space Alliance noted the small rockets that push a booster away from a shuttle during launch will be used to help separate the upper stage from the solid rocket after the first part of the flight.

Parachute Refurbishment Facility

Role in Constellation: Parachutes will allow controlled returns to Earth for both the Orion capsule and the Ares I solid rocket booster. The refurbishment center is getting the first parachutes of the program ready and will overhaul them for reuse.

Status: Parachutes are already being stitched for upcoming drop tests in Yuma, Ariz.

Mobile Launch Platforms

Role in Constellation: NASA will stick with mobile launch platforms throughout the Constellation Program, the same concept it has used since the Saturn V. Earlier rockets were small enough to be assembled at the pad.

For the 2009 test flight, workers will modify one of the three existing launch platforms to handle the Ares I stack. The 2012 test flight and subsequent launches will use a new mobile platform design.

Status: NASA has awarded a contract to Reynolds, Smith and Hills Inc., located at Merritt Island, Fla., for the design of a new mobile launcher structure dedicated to the Ares I. The platform will hold the rocket and the service structure.

Crawler-transporters

The work of the crawler-transporters is far from finished. After hauling Saturn Vs to the launch pad during Apollo and Skylab and carrying space shuttles back and forth from the Vehicle Assembly Building to the launch pads for almost 30 years, the crawlers are nowhere near retirement. The vehicles are planned to carry the new rockets, launch platforms and service gantries to the launch complexes.

Status: There are no major overhauls planned for the beefy vehicles, but they will need a little more muscle in the form of reinforcement to carry the Ares rockets. NASA is working to use the crawlers "as-is" for Ares I, but the Ares V will require more carrying capacity. Phillips said studies are ongoing to determine exactly how much work the crawlers will need.