Spaceflight Now: Breaking News

Second generation RLVs will pave 'Highway to Space'
NASA-MSFC RELEASE
Posted: June 22, 2000

  X-37
An artist's concept of Boeing's X-37 carried into orbit aboard the space shuttle. Photo: NASA
 
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, is leading an effort to help NASA get into space more safely and for less money in the future than it does today using the Space Shuttle.

"We are preparing the roadbed for the 'highway' on which the next generation space vehicle will travel into orbit," says Dan Dumbacher, manager of the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle Program at Marshall.

"The roadbed consists of the space transportation foundation technologies - propulsion, airframes, advanced sensors and the like - that will give industry and us the confidence we need before we begin development of the next full-scale launch system," Dumbacher said.

NASA is also upgrading the Space Shuttle to keep it flying safely and efficiently until at least 2012. These upgrades are designed to extend the life of the Space Shuttle, a first generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV), until a second-generation vehicle is ready to fly.

"Our goal is to substantially reduce the technical and business risks associated with developing safe, reliable and affordable RLV's. " Full-scale development of any new RLV systems would begin after 2005," Dumbacher said.

Through the second generation program, NASA and its industry partners will build on the success and progress of the ongoing development of the X-33, X-34 and X-37 technology demonstrators to reduce the technical risk while creating increased competition.

"The second generation program is in the early phases of formation. It is based on what's been going over the previous six years or so in the RLV program. We learned in some cases how to do things and in other cases how not to do things. Now, we need to take the next step, the second generation program," Dumbacher said.

Dumbacher believes the second generation program will bring expanded knowledge to industry and government when NASA conducts a second- generation RLV competition in 2005. Industry will know more about investing in the space program. Government will know more about investing in a launch system that will meet NASA's safety and cost goals, he said.

"We want to get a hundred times safer than Shuttle in the second generation, more in line with the odds of losing a jet fighter," said Dumbacher, "and we want to get the cost of lofting a pound of payload into orbit down from $10,000 to $1000."

X-33
An artist's concept of Lockheed Martin's X-33 in space. Photo: NASA
 
 
Plans to upgrade the Shuttle are directly in line with NASA's second generation program, according to Dumbacher. "Shuttle engineers are doing things like advanced health monitoring on Space Shuttle Main Engines and other elements. Engineers working on the second generation program will build on the knowledge gained from Shuttle upgrades," he explains.

The second generation RLV program, the centerpiece of NASA and the Administration's "Space Launch Initiative," is a result of NASA's industry-led Space Transportation Architecture Studies in 1998 and 1999 and NASA's Integrated Space Transportation Plan developed in the fall of 1999. In addition to the second generation program, the integrated plan also includes the Shuttle upgrades, alternate means of access to International Space Station, and a third-generation element that looks 25 years into the future. The latter aims toward a one-in-a-million loss-of-crew safety goal and a hundred-dollars-per-pound price-to-orbit goal.

As a result of a NASA Research Announcement released earlier this year, NASA selected nine companies as participants in the first round of second generation work, requirements definition. Preceding even concept drawings, requirements are the starting point for systems engineering. The advance work by these companies will put the second generation program on a path leading to accomplishment of the goals of improvement by a factor of 100 in launch safety, and a factor of 10 in launch cost.

According to Dumbacher, there is a fundamental difference regarding the way the second generation program approaches full-scale launch vehicle development and the way the United States previously addressed similar challenges. "We call second generation a technology advanced development program," he says. "The second generation program is something we need before we start a full-scale launch vehicle development program. It will help us make sure that the technologies we plan to incorporate in a full-scale vehicle can actually be achieved within the time-frame and cost required for full-scale development and for making a viable business case."

He says NASA - through the second generation program - will do increased preparation work prior to starting a full-scale development program where the major costs are incurred. " We are doing work up front that will demonstrate the technologies needed in order to make a full-scale development program happen according to plan."

To illustrate his point, Dumbacher recalls the development approach used in the 1970s to build the Space Shuttle. "The Space Shuttle Main Engine was the first major element started in the Shuttle program. It was a completely new engine although somewhat based on Apollo technology. It was built and tested in parallel with all of the other activities that were required for the complete Shuttle system. As a result, technical challenges arose which meant schedule and cost growth for the rest of the program," he said.

"We are doing something different with the second generation program. Before we ever start a full-scale launch vehicle development program we want to make sure we have built and tested the right kinds of rocket engines. When we start another full-scale launch vehicle development program we won't be looking at a blank sheet of paper when it comes to the engines or other technologies."

  X-34
An artist's concept of Orbital Sciences' X-34 in space. Photo: NASA
 
He said the goal of the program is make the technology investments ahead of the development program. "We need to make initial investments in engine technologies, thermal protection system technologies and propellant tank technologies. We need to test out prototypes of these pieces and make sure we understand how well they perform. This will make us more confident that we can meet the budget and schedule that is set for developing the actual flight vehicle system."

"Our work will also further systems requirements definition work necessary for the second generation program and let us begin technical risk reduction activities in fiscal year 2001. "We want to reduce the business and technical risk associated with closing a commercial business case - that is, projecting a profitable balance of cost and revenue. We also want to reduce the risk the government will face in investing tax dollars in development of the next launch system."

According to Dumbacher, NASA is taking the next step beyond Shuttle and beyond the X-vehicles to open the highway to space. " We have to do this kind of work to develop the transportation infrastructure to get to space so that the market opportunities open up. The business market for payloads and other activities in space represents the next frontier for economic growth," he said.

"The first 'gold' from that frontier, mined with the help of communications satellites and the microelectronics they required, is information," said Dumbacher. "Second Generation RLV Program represents a National reinvestment in our early success in space, and can pay dividends for many years to come."

Dumbacher pointed out that "the big cost of doing anything in space is how much it costs to get you there. The costs associated with what you do once you get there are relatively minor compared to launch cost. "

He said the priority is "to find out what it will take to meet our safety and cost goals." As an example he points to life-cycle costs such as those associated with propellant tanks. "Commercial business cases are calling for future vehicles that are good for 500 missions." The Space Shuttle uses one External Tank for each flight.

"There are a lot of challenges ahead. What we want to do is use the second-generation program to make access to space less expensive and safer and thus expand the commercial development and civil exploration of space," Dumbacher said.