Boeing and SpaceX to launch crews to ISS in 2017

Boeing CST-100 and SpaceX Dragon V2 will orbit manned spacecraft and rendezvous and supply the International Space Station starting in 2017, NASA announced Monday [NASA].

Ken Kremer
Universe Today

After a hiatus of six long years, US astronauts will finally launch to space in a revolutionary new pair of private crew capsules under development by Boeing and SpaceX, starting in 2017, that will end our sole source reliance on the Russians for launching our astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS).

Two years from now, crews will start flying to space aboard the first US commercial spaceships, launching atop US rockets from US soil, said officials from Boeing, SpaceX and NASA at a joint news conference on Monday, Jan. 26. The human rated spaceships – also known as ‘space taxis’ – are being designed and manufactured under the auspices of NASA’s Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

A two person mixed crew of NASA astronauts and company test pilots will fly on the first test flights going to the space station in 2017.

Read the full report, HERE.

Boeing Huntsville: 50 years in Space

Employees and dignitaries gather around as Boeing Huntsville site
Vice-president Tony Jones makes remarks during Boeing employees
celebrating the company's 50th year in Alabama celebration, Monday,
April 30, 2012 [Robin Conn/The Huntsville Times].

Lee Roop
The Huntsville Times

HUNTSVILLE, Alabama -- Huntsville almost lost Boeing once, but hundreds celebrating the company's golden anniversary in North Alabama Monday don't expect that to happen again. "We will continue to have a strong presence in Alabama," promised Roger Krone, president of Network and Space Systems for the world's largest aerospace corporation.

Boeing had 4,500 Huntsville workers in the 1960s, when it helped NASA build the Saturn V booster that took Americans to the moon and the lunar rover that ferried them across its surface.

When the Apollo program ended abruptly in the 1970s, Boeing's employment dropped to fewer than 100 people in Huntsville, local leaders recalled Monday. It remained small until the 1980s when work on the International Space Station began a steady growth.

"How many of you came back to Huntsville from Wichita in 1984?" Madison County Commission Chairman Mike Gillespie asked Boeing workers and retirees gathered at the company's complex near the Huntsville International Airport.

A few hands went up, including electrical engineer Dwight Potter's. He actually came from Wichita in 1981, a few years before the Wichita simulation engineers arrived in 1984.

Boeing has nearly 3,000 workers in Huntsville today, local site executive Tony Jones said, and it is working with NASA on the next-generation heavy-lift space rocket and with the Army on ground-based missile defense.

The support contract for the missile defense program will keep many Boeing employees here working for the next seven years.

Read the al.com post HERE.

What's next for US spaceflight, if not the moon?

‘Dragonlab’: Artist’s conception of the SpaceX ATV, a "reusable space ‘tug,’ designed to lift payloads to the space station" [SpaceX/Christian Science Monitor/AP].

Peter N. Spotts
Christian Science Monitor

The Obama administration has submitted budget proposals to Congress that give a new direction to the US space program, particularly its human-spaceflight activities.

During the next five years, the president proposes to boost spending for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration by $6 billion over 2010 levels. However, gone is the ambitious Constellation program, which aimed to build a replacement for the space shuttle and put US astronauts back on the moon by 2020.

In its place – if Congress is willing (and several key lawmakers don’t appear to be) – is a NASA that would instead develop partnerships w ith the private sector. These would support the ability among commercial companies – from veterans such as Boeing to upstarts such as SpaceX – to build and operate rockets to provide cargo and taxi services to and from low-Earth-orbit destinations such as the International Space Station.

Read the full Article, HERE.

Boeing-Bigelow CCCV Images

The Boeing/Bigelow Aerospace commercial crew capsule concept that is part of the Boeing company's $18 million funded space act agreement for the Commercial Crew Development initiative.

Rob Coppinger
Hyperbola

NASA selects Boeing and Lockheed Martin for Commercial Crew Development Program

[Editor's Note: After the understandable enthusiasm for the Obama administration's proposed NASA program changes and 2011 budget wains a bit, it will be fair to ask if some some people might be confusing the new commercial space initiative with "privatization." It would be foolish to suspend critical judgment because of a passionate desire, because the new NASA initiative appears to match a certain assumption of what commercial space ought to be.

The end of Constellation probably means an end to Orion, certainly Altair; vehicles being designed and built by Northrup Grumman and Boeing. Along with Lockheed Martin, these are commercial companies, also. Despite being latecomers whose joint initiative ultimately lost out to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences for the first twenty ATV launches to ISS, it would be foolish to underestimate their competitve ability if the new initiative gains congressional approval.

United Launch Alliance (ULA) is a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Boeing formed in December 2006.]

February 2. NASA announced today its selection of United Launch Alliance to participate in its new Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Program. NASA created the CCDev Program to develop system concepts, key technologies, and capabilities that ultimately will be used in commercial crew space transportation systems. ULA was awarded $6.7 million to develop an Emergency Detection System (EDS), which is a significant element necessary for a safe and highly reliable human rated launch vehicle.

"ULA is pleased to participate with NASA on the CCDev Program," said Michael Gass, ULA President and Chief Executive Officer. "We look forward to supporting NASA as they embark on a new initiative that emphasizes commercial access to space. We are confident that our flight-proven Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles can help NASA achieve its goals."

The EDS monitors critical launch vehicle and spacecraft systems and issues status, warning and abort commands to the crew during their mission to low Earth orbit. ULA studies show that the development of the EDS will help meet the requirements for human rating the Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles.

The CCDev Program will allow ULA to build upon its heritage launch systems and its on-going company investments toward commercial human space flight. ULA will work closely with NASA to identify critical failure modes of the flight-proven Atlas V and Delta IV launch vehicles. ULA will then develop the hardware components and software processes that will detect these modes allowing for rigorous and exhaustive testing on a prototype EDS before an initial crewed flight.

With ULA's unparalleled heritage and experience in expendable launch vehicle development and operation, ULA is uniquely qualified to support NASA in developing and demonstrating the EDS for a Commercial Crew Program. ULA's goal is to develop a system for NASA that builds upon the proven reliability of both the Atlas V and Delta IV for safe human space flight.

ULA program management, engineering, test and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colo. Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Ala., Harlingen, Texas, and San Diego, Calif. Launch operations are located at CCAFS, Fla., and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.

For more information on the ULA joint venture, visit the ULA website at www.ulalaunch.com, or call the ULA Launch Hotline at 1-877-ULA-4321 (852-4321).

X-37 scheduled for launch, again

Artist's concept of the X-37 Advanced Technology Demonstrator, gliding to landing. Its design features a rounded fuselage topped by an experiment bay; short, double delta wings and twin stabilizers forming a "V" at the vehicle's aft. [NASA/Dryden (1999)]

Leonard David
FoxNEWS

"There is an air of vagueness regarding next year's Atlas Evolved Expendable launch of the unpiloted, reusable military space plane. The X-37B will be cocooned within the Atlas rocket's launch shroud — a ride that's far from cheap.

"While the launch range approval is still forthcoming, SPACE.com has learned that the U.S. Air Force has the X-37B manifested for an April 2010 liftoff.

"As a mini-space plane, this Boeing Phantom Works craft has been under development for years. Several agencies have been involved in the effort, NASA as well as the Defense Advanced Projects Research Agency (DARPA) and various arms of the U.S. Air Force."

Read the Story, HERE.

Boeing throws hat in with Bigelow

Robert Block
The Write Stuff
Orlando Sentinel

Undaunted by Congressional skeptics of commercial space ventures, aerospace heavyweight Boeing Co. submitted a proposal Tuesday to NASA requesting the agency to speed up development of commercial human spaceflight capabilities.

The company said in a press release that the company has joined a total of four teams of commercial space ventures vying for a share of $50 million of Recovery Act funds given to NASA to develop technologies and processes so that commercial rocket companies can begin transporting astronauts to orbit.

The money is essentially for a study contract that will be awarded to a number of companies to develop subsystems and technologies for commercial crew transport, said Boeing spokesman Ed Memi.

Boeing already has a capsule design that it has proposed to NASA before.

According to the press release, one of the projects has Boeing joining forces with Las Vegas-based Bigelow Aerospace, which has created self-expanding space modules that can be used as labs or hotels in orbit. The plan would be to design a system that could take crew and cargo to Bigelow’s facilities or even the international space station, Memi said in an email.

Read the Write Stuff post, HERE.

OSEWG talks joint human & robotic sortees

Brian Enke

Denver Space Industry Examiner

On August 5 and 6, the Optimizing Science for Exploration Working Group (OSEWG) held a workshop at the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston and discussed ways robots and humans could cooperate in future lunar missions.

Experts from the science, exploration, and robotics communities walked through various lunar mission scenarios and offered insights into how each group could support the overall mission objectives while reducing budgets and risk.

The all-star lineup of presenters included Chip Shearer (LEAG), Jim Head (Brown University), Chris Culbert (NASA-JSC), Rob Ambrose (NASA-JSC), Brian Wilcox (NASA-JPL), and David Wettergreen (Carnegie Mellon University). Private industry interests and abilities were represented by one presenter (Chel Stromgren - SAIC) and several conference attendees from aerospace companies like Boeing and Lockheed Martin.

Read the review HERE.

Sealaunch goes belly up?

June 23 (Reuters) - Satellite-launch services provider Sea Launch Co along with 5 affiliates filed for Chapter 11 protection, Tuesday. In U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the District of Delaware, Sea Launch listed assets of up to $500 million and liabilities of more than $1 billion. In Sea Launch Co LLC et al, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, District of Delaware. No. 09-12153 representatives cited liquidity "concerns" and operational losses.

The Long Beach, California-based company said in the filing it intends to explore the sale of one or more of its divisions, according to Reuters.

Sea Launch, which offerred equatorial launch services on ocean-going platforms and commercial launch services from Baikonur is owned by Boeing, Energia and Norway's Aker ASA, among others.

Boeing: Contrators face layoffs unless NASA moves faster on Constellation

By Andrea Shalal-Esa

Colorado Springs - March 31 (Reuters) - A senior Boeing official said March 31 American contractors working on manned spaceflight capabilities will have to lay off up to 10,000 workers unless NASA accelerates orders for Constellation.

"The Gap," the period between the end of the Shuttle program in late 2010 and the follow-on Constellation program's first flight in 2015 is a challenge for the companies involved, said Brewster Shaw, vice president and general manager of Boeing Space Exploration.

Shaw said the five biggest contractors in the sector faced combined layoffs of 8,000 to 10,000 workers, the largest among them Boeing, Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems, United Technologies, Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne and United Space Alliance (a Boeing-Lockheed joint venture.

The companies and their smaller suppliers were urging lawmakers and NASA to accelerate work on Ares 5, the cargo heavy-lift booster, as well as Altair, the Constellation's lunar lander., Shaw said.

Read the Story HERE.

Aerospace Giants targeting competition through Florida Legislature?

Democrats did not take over state government in Florida. Republicans retain a super majority in both the state House and Senate, 75-44 and 26-14 respectively, maintaining GOP control of the legislature and the Governor's Mansion.

The reported problems legislative-appointed auditors are having with Space Florida, a 2006 creation of the legislature, cannot immediately be traced to any Party vendetta or witch hunt. Whether some intra-party changeover in Tallahassee is involved, a change in legislative committee chairmanships or staff is not immediately clear on first glance.

Nevertheless, politicians in Tallahassee may be going after Space Florida at the bidding of industry giants with deep pockets who may or may not have legitimate problems with launch facility design at KSC but whose real problem may be with having SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corporation and competitors for NASA plums.

Instead a report in preparation by Tom Roth of the Florida Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability, the "Florida Monitor," is listed as having as a project underway, "an analysis of Space Florida's performance the requirements of the Space Florida Act of 2006."

From SmartBrief we read, "State auditors are urging Florida lawmakers to freeze funding for Space Florida until the agency can show it has a clear mission and master plan. After completing only one-quarter of its economic development agenda since 2006, Space Florida's "efforts to promote Florida's space industry are hindered by its failure to develop a comprehensive master plan," according to the Legislature's Office of Program Policy Analysis and Government Accountability." Lawmakers appropriated $14.5 million to rebuild Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, but no commercial companies have yet signed on to use the facility. Orlando Sentinel (Fla.) (01/30)

Space Florida president Steve Kohler seems to have read a different report a day earlier, releasing a statement on the Space Florida website

Space Florida president Steve Kohler released a statement one day earlier saying he was "satisfied" with the "Government Accountability Review."

"We were happy to support this requested review of how Space Florida is tracking in its responsibilities with the numerous statutory requirements," Kohler wrote. "Space Florida concurs with OPPAGA's findings as it supports the actions and decisions we have pursued. We thank the OPAGGA team for their very thorough and professional review of Space Florida's operations and processes. From the beginning, Space Florida's goals and strategic activities have been designed around creating and establishing the competitive edge for the State of Florida and Space Florida."

"As part of our statutory requirements, Space Florida completed Phase I of the Spaceport Master Plan update. At that time, Space Florida did not have the LC-36 assignment, and Spaceport planning was being undertaken by he 45th Space Wing for the Eastern Range, and separately by NASA/KSC. It made sense to suspend further development of a Spaceport Master Plan update in isolation of the work being done by the other entities involved in civil, military and commercial launch."

"Space Florida does not see these recommendations affecting its current timeline for the construction of Launch Complex 36. The architectural and design and associated environmental studies are underway and no construction can begin until those are completed," Space Florida reports. "In the meantime, the Spaceport Master Plan updates will be integrated into the Space Florida Spaceport Master Plan and Space Florida's strategic business plan and all will be published upon completion."

From the January 30 report in the Orlando Sentinel "several legislators saw the report as damning -- and an indication that the $14.5 million they appropriated to rebuild Launch Complex 36 at the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station was in danger of being wasted."

"It's essential that we get to the bottom of this," said Sen. Mike Haridopolos, R-Indialantic, a budget writer who is in line to be Senate president in 2010. "If they can't improve it, we need to figure out some way to do it better."

"Money for a rebuilt launchpad, intended to lure commercial ventures, has failed to attract a company willing to launch there. And the study found "there is some disagreement over the feasibility" of plans to have one pad serve different rockets."

"For example, United Launch Alliance, jointly owned by Lockheed Martin Corp. and Boeing Co., uses four pads at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for its three types of rockets that launch military, NASA and commercial satellites. Its Delta II-class rockets use separate pads because one is bigger and heavier than the other."

"Rocket-company executives also worry about potential conflicts with other users of a shared pad. That's one reason that Space X, the largest new commercial spaceflight company launching in Florida, uses a pad it leases directly from the Air Force."

"And Orbital Sciences Corp., which is developing a rocket to resupply the international space station, last year chose to launch from Virginia instead of the Cape."

"But Space Florida defended its plan last week, writing to the Legislature's analysis and accountability office that the multiuse pad "not only can be done, it has been done." And Space Florida spokeswoman Deborah Spicer said Thursday her agency has "a number of potential customers" interested in launching rockets as well as putting payloads on any spacecraft that take off from Launch Complex 36.

In (his) statement, Space Florida President Steve Kohler said the agency has begun work on a more detailed master plan. The agency wrote to the analysis and accountability office last week that it might even enlist the help of visiting Yale University architecture students "to assist us in our on-going planning needs, particularly during these very difficult financial cutbacks." The agency said it planned to have the plan finalized by December.

Big Space stops SpaceX & Orbital Sciences ISS cargo contract awards

Mere days after NASA awarded twin ISS cargo contracts to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences, the thinly disquised start-up created by Boeing, Lockheed-Martin and Alliant Techsystems (aka "Planet Space") has filed a complaint with the GAO (Government Accountability Office) forcing NASA to suspend work.

The contracts, between them worth $3.5 billion, was awarded to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences last month for 20 ATV cargo flights to the International Space Station after the Space Shuttle is presently scheduled for retirement in 2010.

The GAO gave NASA 30 days to comment on the protest and said it would issue a ruling April 29.

According to a Reuters report, "Planet Space" claims their proposal, "represented better value to the government," and "we believe the GAO will find flaws in the procurement that justify awarding the contract to PlanetSpace. We look forward to the GAO's review of this case."

"NASA decided to use commercial contractors for deliveries to the space station rather than relying on the Russian Progress cargo vehicles, which also transport cargo to the $100 billion orbital complex, a project of 16 nations that has been under construction for more than a decade.

Russia will transport U.S. astronauts to and from the station on its Soyuz capsules after the shuttles are retired in 2010. The proposed shuttle replacement will not be ready to fly until about 2015."

The possibility that an award to the Military-Industrial might represented by "Planet Space" as a combined effort of three corporate giants fed by federal contracts for generations might represent an anti-trust violation has not yet been addressed.

In addition, the legal efforts by these companies, well-represented in Washington, and the possible opening of unexpected opposition to true commercial space start-ups from established companies has presented a new and unexpected concern for NewSpace entrepreneurs.

NASA Rejects Trojan Horse

Rick Smith
The Motley Fool

On Christmas Eve-Eve, NASA finally announced the results of its long-running Commercial Resupply Services competition, and as the tidbit above correctly points out, neither Lockheed nor Boeing (nor Alliant Techsystems (NYSE: ATK), for that matter) wound up in the winners circle. What you may not know, is that none of these three companies were actually bidding for the contract at all, at least not directly.

Instead, these three giants of the aerospace industry chose to hitch their carts to a foal of a company named PlanetSpace, which acted as the prime contractor in the bid. Turns out, NASA was not amused -- nor impressed.

Instead of awarding its $3.5 billion in cosmic-milk-run contracts to "Big Space" in the person of little PlanetSpace, NASA went with trusted workhorses this time:

• Orbital Sciences (NYSE: ORB) will make eight deliveries to the International Space Station, and be paid $1.9 billion for its trouble.
• SpaceX -- the cosmic project that Elon Musk took up after selling his beloved PayPal to eBay (Nasdaq: EBAY) -- gets $1.6 billion to make a dozen runs.

Now, Reuters may consider these two firms "start-ups", but the fact is that unlike PlanetSpace, both have already been vetted by NASA, and found superior. In the recent Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contest, for example, Motley Fool Rule Breakers recommendation Orbital (25 years old, and so hardly a start-up) received $171 million worth of funding. Meanwhile, SpaceX got off to a running start with a $278 million contract of its own. (Not bad for a start-up, eh?)

Read More HERE.

For further Motley reading on the final frontier:

• Lost in Space ... Again
• Frogs in Space
• Virgin Starts (70) Mile-High Club
  

Various Stories, Soulless Corporations and powerful Senators

Along with a flood of information of varying quality about the ever-buzz worthy reports of the agenda-driven GAO drumming up harsh criticism of the Constellation, news related to lunar exploration includes a few other blurbs interesting enough for me to make mention:

For example, the University of Maine will begin actual experimentation of the inflatable lunar habitat concept fairly soon.

Boeing has been hog-tied into a NASA Mentor-Protege agreement with Orion Propulsion, a one-woman start-up near Marshall Space Flight Center. According to Space Market, Orion "currently supports Boeing on Ares I reaction control system (RCS) development. Potential future activities include integration of flight hardware, production of test equipment, tooling and provision of technical-support services. The RCS includes multiple small rocket engines and their supporting subsystems to provide control over the orientation of the Ares I (first stage and upper stage) during its ascent to orbit.

"Boeing is under contract to NASA to produce the Ares I upper stage and instrument unit avionics. It will build the upper stage at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in late 2009.

"Boeing will help Orion with much of their internal training to deal with propulsion system processes and items needed in producing the RCS for Ares I," said Ray Robin, a supplier management official in Boeing's Exploration Launch Systems group. "We will also share some of our best Lean manufacturing practices with them to ensure they have efficient production processes." Boeing will also provide support with business development, human resources and supply chain management.

"The benefit to Boeing is that we get a partner who meets our schedule and cost requirements and provides technical expertise in reaction control systems -- it's a win-win for everyone," said Robin.

And here's some more Mega-company PR-poop that could have been computer generated - and probably was:

"We are very excited to be chosen as NASA's first Mentor-Protege this year and are grateful to have the opportunity to grow our business with the support of Boeing," said OPI Chief Executive Officer Tim Pickens. "This agreement will help us become a more cost-effective and viable subcontractor to NASA, Boeing and other customers. We look forward to making the most of this historic opportunity to contribute to our nation's new launch vehicle."

Boeing, 2 California Aerospace Suppliers Receive Nunn-Perry Awards for Outstanding Teamwork on Department of Defense Mentor-Protege Program The Boeing Company [NYSE: BA] and two of its California-based suppliers, Pacific Contours and KAP Manufacturing, received Nunn-Perry Awards from the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) last month in Daytona Beach, Fla., at the DOD Mentor-Protege Conference. Pacific Contours is located in Anaheim, and KAP Manufacturing operates in San Dimas.

The Nunn-Perry Award, named in honor of former U.S. Sen. Sam Nunn and former Secretary of Defense William Perry, recognizes outstanding teamwork in the DOD Mentor-Protege Program. Both men were instrumental in creating the program, which is designed to encourage DOD contractors to help diverse small businesses develop technical and business capabilities. Winners are selected based on the companies' success in creating cost efficiencies, enhancing the protege company's capabilities and increasing business opportunities with DOD suppliers.

"The innovation and enterprising spirit that small and diverse suppliers bring is crucial to Boeing remaining the leader in aerospace," said Janell Bursac, director of Supplier Diversity for Boeing Integrated Defense Systems. "The tools and skills shared and the objectives met through programs such as Mentor-Protege are essential to Boeing's focus on growth and productivity."

And here's some other award that follow a pattern of diversity sure to prove to Senator Barbara Mikulski that Boeing is not the soulless corporation designed to make money for we who have owned stock in here since they rolled out the Dash-80:

Read on. See the pattern here? (Remind me to add the links later...)

"Pacific Contours, a woman-owned small business and a supplier to Boeing for more than 10 years, manufactures bulkheads, escape hatches, jettison cockpit doors, and upper and lower cabin doors for the CH-47 Chinook helicopter program. The company's mentor-protege relationship with Boeing has focused on Lean manufacturing improvements and augmenting the skills of its craftsman machinists by providing technology training through California State University (CSU). Additionally, an internship for CSU students provided computer training to Pacific Contours employees and help with revamping the supplier's Web site. Since entering the mentor-protege agreement, Pacific Contours has doubled its work force, increased its physical space and added equipment to support Boeing's growing business needs. As further indication of a successful partnership, Boeing recognized Pacific Contours as its 2006 Supplier of the Year in the Diversity/Boeing Protege category.

"KAP Manufacturing is a woman-owned small business specializing in custom machine parts and assemblies for the aerospace and defense industries. The company manufactures machine parts that support numerous Boeing programs, including F-15 and F/A-18 fighter aircraft, the AH-64 Apache attack helicopter and Airborne Laser. The mentor-protege agreement with Boeing has focused on improving the company's capabilities and affordability. Training provided by Cerritos College and Florida International University as part of the program has reduced cycle time, increased capacity and efficiency, and improved quality and delivery performance.

"Helping suppliers like Pacific Contours and KAP Manufacturing develop is good for them, good for Boeing and good for our customers," Bursac said. "And the Mentor-Protege Program is just one of many ways we foster mutually beneficial relationships with our suppliers. We feel honored that the Department of Defense once again has recognized our supplier-diversity successes."

"Boeing, which has received 10 Nunn-Perry honors since the award's inception in 1995, currently has active DOD mentor-protege agreements with 17 suppliers. The company also has seven Department of Homeland Security mentor-protege agreements, one NASA mentor-protege supplier relationship and many informal supplier-mentoring programs across the enterprise."

Altair: Expanding for the 10m shroud

Rob Coppinger

Flight: Global (Hyperbola)

Below are my expanded notes from my Thursday 20 March interview with Altair project office deputy manager, Clint Dorris. I haven’t included everything. There were a couple of facts that came up that warrant further investigation for stories on flightglobal.com

NASA received more than 30 proposals for the lander study. Industry should provide their own concepts. We’re onto next design cycle, LDAC-2 for safety features. The minimum functionality lander [already arrived at] may not have global capability.

Altair project is embracing the [Ares V cargo launch vehicle] 10m shroud for the lander, the primary impact being on structures, we can widen and squat the descent module. Doesn’t change subsystems but gets the deck closer to the surface.

Biggest challenge is getting the payload to the moon. We are justifying every functionality and system we add so we do not have to strip down the design later and then buy back functions.

We think it could drive a different safety paradigm, where you don’t assume that two tolerance means its safe.

The Lunar Architecture Team's (LAT) work will impact LDAC-2.

Our design can be indifferent to that [what cargo demands LAT needs]. If we are maximising that capability then we are giving them everything we can with the lander configuration that meets three missions, sortie, outpost and cargo.

The cargo lander has 14,000kg capability to the surface right now, so the regolith mover or the habitats have to fit that 14,000kg.

The [contract winning] companies have been given a one page lander requirements document. It is what the Altair project office team had at the beginning.

Industry is out of phase by one cycle but they are going to evaluate LDAC-1 and propose changes while project office is working on LDAC-2, which is to add safety features to the lander.

We want a scalable, point of departure design to be the outcome of LDAC-2 and industry input.

Dorris didn’t recall the JSC/MSFC Phase b cost estimate. The project office asked JSC and MSFC engineering for pre-Phase A, Phase A and Phase B work estimates, along then lines of how NASA has always done business.

The lander is exclusively a US responsibility but there has been interest from European companies.

We have looked at a drop stage. So have some of our industrial partners. [Boeing has and one of its designs is the embedded image in this posting.]

“Concept I’ve seen more frequently [from industry] is it [the drop tank] would perform [Lunar orbit insertion] burn and then it would drop off. It’s not complete ruled out.”

But when you get to a detailed design they tend to see the drop tank dropped.

Although the study announcement asked how would companies perform the work, during some conversations with industry some wanted to bring drop tank to the table.

Apollo Sages – it has been fantastic. I would like an independent technical assessment by the government and contractor sages. We had a question and answer session with three to four Apollo astronauts. None of them were present at the design review stage.

We are addressing the LOX/LH2 boil off issue. Amount of [Earth orbit] loiter time affects whether it is a problem or not. Looking at a similar mechanism to Ares V EDS, a passive capability, it is still in the trade zone.

Landing areas and scavenging hydrogen issues are in the trade space for surface systems people.