Bigelow: Aerojet Supplies Aft Propulsion for Sundancer

[Chris Bergin]

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

Chris Reed - Bigelow Aerospace

http://www.bigelowaerospace.com

Aerojet Supplies Aft Propulsion for Sundancer

Bigelow Aerospace Continues Development of Human-Crewed Space Habitat

LAS VEGAS, NV 05/28/08 – Continuing development of the first commercial space habitat capable of supporting a human crew, Bigelow Aerospace, LLC has reached agreement with aerospace leader Aerojet to supply the propulsion system for the aft end of Sundancer.

Under the $23 million deal completed at the beginning of May, Aerojet, a GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) company, will provide the system that will handle rendezvous and docking, as well as the end-of-life controlled deorbit of the module. The aft propulsion will also compliment the forward-end propulsion system provided by Orion Propulsion, Inc. towards attitude control and momentum-wheel desaturation.

 “We’re looking forward to working closely with Aerojet on this exciting program,” says Bigelow Aerospace Program Manager Eric Haakonstad. “Sundancer is a great opportunity for fast paced private industry to team with a world leader in space propulsion to further Bigelow Aerospace’s goal of developing sustainable commercial space stations.”

The Aerojet system for Sundancer is of a monopropellant hydrazine design and consists of hardware that has been well-proven on numerous missions. A similar system was used on May 25 to help NASA’s Phoenix probe become the first spacecraft in more than 30 years to successfully land on Mars using rockets alone.

Sundancer, planned for launch early in the next decade, will be the first module built by Bigelow Aerospace capable of manned operation. It would support a crew of up to three for varying mission durations and eventually provide the backbone for the first commercial space station. It follows the successful and continuing missions of the unmanned Genesis I and Genesis II, which continue to test and verify systems for future commercial space habitats.

About Aerojet:
Aerojet, a GenCorp Inc. (NYSE: GY) company, is a major space and defense contractor specializing in missile and space propulsion, and defense and armaments. Since the company was founded in 1942, it has led the way in the development of crucial technology and products that have kept America strong and furthered human's exploration of space.

About Bigelow Aerospace:
The mission of Bigelow Aerospace is to open the frontier of space to all of humanity by dramatically reducing the cost of conducting human spaceflight activities. To this end, Bigelow Aerospace is developing orbital complexes utilizing innovative expandable space habitat technology. The Las Vegas-based firm’s affordable and flexible space complex architecture can be adapted for virtually any crewed or autonomous mission requiring a large pressurized volume. For more information, go to www.bigelowaerospace.com or call (702) 688-6600.

[Danderman]

http://www.andrews-space.com/news.php?subsection=MzEy

"Seattle, WA, August 19, 2008 - Andrews Space, Inc. (Andrews) announced today that it has signed a contract with Aerojet of Sacramento, CA to develop aft propulsion system controllers for Bigelow’s Sundancer spacecraft. 

Sundancer will be the third inflatable prototype orbited by Bigelow Aerospace and the first designed to be human tended.  Aerojet is under contract to Bigelow Aerospace to provide the aft propulsion system, capable of three-axis attitude control and a controlled de-orbit maneuver.  Under the 18 month effort, Andrews will develop, test and deliver three ship sets of custom electronic controllers to Aerojet responsible for commanding the aft propulsion system thrusters and propulsion system elements."

[Norm Hartnett]

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/080825-busmon-bigelow-genesis.html

Looks like BA will be assembling the propulsion and docking bus themselves. "Bigelow said the new facilities are needed to set up an assembly line for producing large space modules and associated propulsion buses and docking nodes."

Long pole seems to be transport to orbit.

"The plan is to have at least six launches in one year. "When we start to rock and roll, we need to really move out," Bigelow explained. The intent of the company is to bundle the purchasing of six launchers, both medium-lifters and a heavy-lifter, to loft all elements of their first commercial space complex, including crew and cargo."

"What bothers Bigelow about boosters is, "If we're going to put our clients on boosters, I want to damn well be sure that there's significant amount of seconds on testing of a motor configuration," he said."

"'The crew transportation issue is certainly challenging, and it keeps me up at night more often than my infant son ... and that's saying something,' said Mike Gold, director of Bigelow Aerospace's Washington office."

[ChefPat]

Long pole seems to be transport to orbit.

If you build it they will come.
 The first habitable module up will only accommodate 3 people, but by his current plan he could accommodate up to 13 people within a couple of years, if he can get it to orbit.
 It's been two years since Bigelow & Lockheed inked their deal. A company with their track record & abilities could do quite a bit of work in that time frame, & I think they may have something up their sleeves that we, the ignorant public, know nothing about.
I don't for a second believe that the new Soviet Union are going to be the only ride in town. There are enough companies that can reliably launch good rockets besides Soyuz, they just need the market to make it profitable, & Bigelow is very close to providing that.

[stockman]

Long pole seems to be transport to orbit.

If you build it they will come.
 The first habitable module up will only accommodate 3 people, but by his current plan he could accommodate up to 13 people within a couple of years, if he can get it to orbit.
 It's been two years since Bigelow & Lockheed inked their deal. A company with their track record & abilities could do quite a bit of work in that time frame, & I think they may have something up their sleeves that we, the ignorant public, know nothing about.
I don't for a second believe that the new Soviet Union are going to be the only ride in town. There are enough companies that can reliably launch good rockets besides Soyuz, they just need the market to make it profitable, & Bigelow is very close to providing that.

I have no doubt there are many potential LAUNCH options now and on the horizen - The one missing piece that I just can't seem to grasp is - What do they expect to delivery these people to orbit in???  Besides government, the only in work manned spacecraft that has potential is Dragon but that is years away. Does anyone have anything close that can provide human life support and allow for safe re-entry and landing?

[William Barton]

This seems tailor-made for a commericialized Atlas V using imported RD-180s. Of course, someone is still going to have to come up with a recoverable live-cargo payload element...

[ChefPat]

I have no doubt there are many potential LAUNCH options now and on the horizen - The one missing piece that I just can't seem to grasp is - What do they expect to delivery these people to orbit in???  Besides government, the only in work manned spacecraft that has potential is Dragon but that is years away. Does anyone have anything close that can provide human life support and allow for safe re-entry and landing?

I don't have time to look for it right now, but Lockheed has a PDF File out on the "interwebz" somewhere that has their plan for a manned capsule that could carry 8 passengers & crew.
 SpaceDev/Dreamchaser also has some kind of agreement with ULA to look at the possibility of launching with an Atlas.
There are very talented companies & people working on this beside SpaceX.
 If Bigelow is successful in getting a working module up, somebody will be capable of getting to & from it, if not immediately, in the very near term.

[stockman]

I have no doubt there are many potential LAUNCH options now and on the horizen - The one missing piece that I just can't seem to grasp is - What do they expect to delivery these people to orbit in???  Besides government, the only in work manned spacecraft that has potential is Dragon but that is years away. Does anyone have anything close that can provide human life support and allow for safe re-entry and landing?

I don't have time to look for it right now, but Lockheed has a PDF File out on the "interwebz" somewhere that has their plan for a manned capsule that could carry 8 passengers & crew.
 SpaceDev/Dreamchaser also has some kind of agreement with ULA to look at the possibility of launching with an Atlas.
There are very talented companies & people working on this beside SpaceX.
 If Bigelow is successful in getting a working module up, somebody will be capable of getting to & from it, if not immediately, in the very near term.

This is no way intended to be a slam however my question to this is how much of the items you outlined above are nothing more than power point drawings vs real hardware? Spacex as an example is barely over the PP drawing themselves but at least have mockups and I assume are bending metal as I type this. Are these other companies actually building test flight h/w or just drawing pretty pictures? I hope they are building but I fear its all pretty sketches.

[ChefPat]

I have no doubt there are many potential LAUNCH options now and on the horizen - The one missing piece that I just can't seem to grasp is - What do they expect to delivery these people to orbit in???  Besides government, the only in work manned spacecraft that has potential is Dragon but that is years away. Does anyone have anything close that can provide human life support and allow for safe re-entry and landing?

I don't have time to look for it right now, but Lockheed has a PDF File out on the "interwebz" somewhere that has their plan for a manned capsule that could carry 8 passengers & crew.
 SpaceDev/Dreamchaser also has some kind of agreement with ULA to look at the possibility of launching with an Atlas.
There are very talented companies & people working on this beside SpaceX.
 If Bigelow is successful in getting a working module up, somebody will be capable of getting to & from it, if not immediately, in the very near term.

Here is a thread about the Lockheed capsule right here in this section.

http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=4482.0

Companies are not governments. They can keep all the secrets they want (or are capable of keeping). SpaceX built the Dragon in secret & rolled it out after they had the first one completed. Lockheed/ULA or Dreamchaser could very well be doing the same thing.

http://cosmiclog.msnbc.msn.com/archive/2006/09/28/4985.aspx

[antonioe]

SpaceX built the Dragon in secret & rolled it out after they had the first one completed.

SpaceX has a COMPLETE Dragon spacecraft???  That is big news!  How come the NASA C3PO (COTS Program Office) has not made a big announcement?  Are they waiting for the San Diego conference to announce it?  Do you have any additional details?

[ChefPat]

SpaceX built the Dragon in secret & rolled it out after they had the first one completed.

SpaceX has a COMPLETE Dragon spacecraft???  That is big news!  How come the NASA C3PO (COTS Program Office) has not made a big announcement?  Are they waiting for the San Diego conference to announce it?  Do you have any additional details?

"As part of a top secret project, we've already built a prototype flight crew capsule, including a thoroughly tested 30-man-day-life-support system, which is sitting on our factory floor right now," Musk told Space News. "It doesn't meet all the NASA requirements, so it will probably not see flight, but it has served as a valuable learning experience."

The prototype lacks a reaction control system for maneuvering in space and a heat shield that would prevent it from burning up upon re-entry, Musk said, but could otherwise be launched into space.

http://www.space.com/spacenews/businessmonday_060306.html

"yawn"

[Swatch]

wow that is an ancient bit of news....


worry not antonio, I don't think you missed anything the rest of us haven't.

[antonioe]

The prototype lacks a reaction control system for maneuvering in space and a heat shield that would prevent it from burning up upon re-entry, Musk said, but could otherwise be launched into space.

Still, if it "could [...] be launched into space" implies it's not just a mock-up, but that the components (electrical power system, TT&C, thermal control system, etc.) use space-qualified parts, and have been qual- and acceptance-tested, the Integration and Test has been completed, thermo-vac-ed, etc. etc.  It probably represents an investment of many, many tens of millions of dollars. 

[A_M_Swallow]

Here is an article about the Magic Dragon capsule that SpaceX purchased.
http://www.rocketeers.co.uk/?q=taxonomy/term/10

Since it was a demonstrator from a balloon manufacturer the parts may be aircraft rated rather than space-qualified.  The space-qualification could be going on as we speak.

[antonioe]

Ah!.. thanks... if that's the unit ChefPat was referring to, it is described as a "full-scale testbed (somewhere between a mockup and an engineering test model)".  That's quite different from a spacecraft that "could [...] be launched into space", though.

[Ronsmytheiii]

This seems tailor-made for a commericialized Atlas V using imported RD-180s. Of course, someone is still going to have to come up with a recoverable live-cargo payload element...

RD-180s are already imported, and Atlas V started out as a commercial rocket.  The first launches were run by ILS for commercial payloads.

[Comga]

The Dragon capsule seen in photos over the last two years and in the recent Musk video from the shop floor is distinct from the "Magic Dragon" in the article.  That was from the Falcon 5 days.  In fact, the second link is titled "Falcon 5 Nose Cone..."

This does not argue for or against any of the opinions on the maturity and utility of the Dragon prototype or systems.

However, doesn't this discussion belong in the "Elon Musk Q&A - Update.."  thread?

[William Barton]

This seems tailor-made for a commericialized Atlas V using imported RD-180s. Of course, someone is still going to have to come up with a recoverable live-cargo payload element...

RD-180s are already imported, and Atlas V started out as a commercial rocket.  The first launches were run by ILS for commercial payloads.

I don't know why it is so hard to communicate on-line. I suppose the person who solves that will join the ranks of the suddenly wealthy. Anyways, this was the entire point of my comment: RD-180 is imported now, has always been imported, and despite assertions by some to the contrary, shows no signs of ever being anything other than imported. Since it seems likely an imported RD-180 will stand in the way of Atlas V being the only EELV, despite being so much cheaper than Delta IV, due to political reasons (e.g., the current flap over Georgia), the future of Atlas V seems to be as a comemrcial LV.

[William Barton]

Ah!.. thanks... if that's the unit ChefPat was referring to, it is described as a "full-scale testbed (somewhere between a mockup and an engineering test model)".  That's quite different from a spacecraft that "could [...] be launched into space", though.

I do not have a link (so this could be mere faulty memory), but I seem to remember a SpaceX statment that the engineering test model could be launched into orbit, and would function, but that it lacked RCS and TPS, so would not be able to do anything other than orbit around uncontrolled. If that's all that was meant, it doesn't say much, as it covers what Sputnik I did.

[pippin]

Ah!.. thanks... if that's the unit ChefPat was referring to, it is described as a "full-scale testbed (somewhere between a mockup and an engineering test model)".  That's quite different from a spacecraft that "could [...] be launched into space", though.

Hm.. Isn't "Could be launched into space" just a function of the launch vehicle?
I mean... theoretically... you could launch my armchair into space if you've got a LV with enough capability, wouldn't you? It wouldn't do a lot up there, but it would be "Launched into space"...

[Swatch]

Hm.. Isn't "Could be launched into space" just a function of the launch vehicle?
I mean... theoretically... you could launch my armchair into space if you've got a LV with enough capability, wouldn't you?

Haha, I can picture the mythbusters now...  "First we did the armchair baloon, now we're gonna do the armchair spaceship!"  "This is gonna be fun!"