AV hopes to birth new spacecraft

Valley Press on ^ | Friday, October 14, 2005. | ALLISON GATLIN

[BenLurkin]

As plans are announced for the possible successor to the space shuttle, area supporters are stepping up efforts to ensure that this spacecraft shares the same birthplace as the soon-to-be-retired orbiters. NASA has announced plans for a new system for manned space travel to take the place of the space shuttles, set to end their service in 2010.

The same criteria that brought development of the space shuttles to the Antelope Valley - all five space orbiters and their prototype were built at Air Force Plant 42 in Palmdale - remain viable reasons for that craft's successor to be built here as well, supporters say.

California, and specifically the Antelope Valley, has the workforce, technological knowledge, favorable climate and other resources necessary for building the manned spacecraft, said Cathy Hart, executive director of the Antelope Valley Board of Trade. The organization is helping spearhead efforts to bring work on NASA's next spacecraft, the crew exploration vehicle, CEV, to the Antelope Valley.

The Board of Trade is joined by other organizations, as well as legislators such as Lancaster Republicans Sen. George Runner and Assemblywoman Sharon Runner, in mounting a coordinated effort for the CEV project.

"California needs to get in the game here. Manufacturing jobs are important to California and to our economy," Hart said.

Earlier this year, the state formed an action team specifically to attract the CEV work to California. Formation of the team is through the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency and the Labor and Workforce Development Agency and will involve numerous local and regional economic development organizations as well.

The team is led by the California Space Authority, a private, nonprofit organization created to promote and support the state's space industry.

Last week, members of the state's congressional delegation sent a letter to NASA Administrator Michael Griffin emphasizing California's capabilities and historic contributions to the nation's space program.

"As you may know, the space shuttle fleet was designed, developed and manufactured in California facilities by a California work force with unique training and experience," the letter stated.

"Today, California continues to offer world-class space manufacturing and testing facilities as well as an experienced work force capable of designing, developing and manufacturing the CEV.

"We believe that NASA's utilization of these existing California facilities and trained California work force can result in cost savings to the CEV program and ensure a high level of expertise on a project that requires high levels of exactitude," the letter states.

Two teams are in competition to develop and build the CEV for NASA, with a prime contractor expected to be selected next spring.

Both teams, one headed by Lockheed Martin Co. and the other a joint project of Northrop Grumman Corp. and The Boeing Co., have facilities in the Antelope Valley and elsewhere in California.

Lockheed has indicated that the bulk of its CEV work will be at its Colorado facility, but the Northrop Grumman-led team has yet to determine where it will base its efforts.

That team is waiting for further clarifications to the program, expected in November, before making a decision on where to base its program among the company's sites in California, Texas, Alabama and Florida, among other places.

"When we get a clearer view of the CEV program requirements, we'll be in a better position to identify the most cost-effective mix of locations and facilities for development of the CEV," said Northrop spokesman Brooks McKinney.

On Wednesday, the Northrop team announced their proposal for the CEV, a capsule design based on those used in the Apollo program and intended to carry astronauts to the International Space Station by 2012 and to the moon by 2018.

While similar in concept to the Apollo capsules, the CEV will be considerably larger, capable of carrying up to six astronauts, as opposed to the three carried in Apollo.

It will also be capable of operating as an unmanned cargo vehicle, carrying supplies to and from the International Space Station.

"Early on we concluded that this modular, capsule-based approach would establish an ideal foundation for a successful, sustainable human and robotic exploration program," said Doug Young, program manager for the Northrop Grumman-Boeing CEV team.

The CEV will be boosted into space on a rocket propulsion system based on the solid-rocket boosters used by the space shuttles.

On returning to Earth, the capsule will descend using parachutes to a ground landing, using air bags or some other form of cushioning rather than the water landings used during the Mercury, Gemini and Apollo programs.

In announcing NASA's requirements for the CEV, Griffin named Edwards Air Force Base as a likely landing site.

Unlike earlier capsules, the CEV will be able to operate autonomously in lunar orbit for up to six months, while astronauts operate on the moon's surface using a lunar lander carried aloft with the CEV.

"The CEV we plan to build will benefit not so much from a single, technical breakthrough but rather from evolutionary improvements in structural technologies, electronics, avionics, thermal-management systems, software and integrated system-health-management systems over the past 40 years," said Leonard Nicholson, deputy program manager for the team.

Lockheed's competing design, revealed earlier this year, is based on the lifting body concept proven in flight tests by NASA at Edwards AFB in the 1960s and 1970s.

[BenLurkin]

"ARTIST CONCEPT - A Northrop Grumman-Boeing team has unveiled its plans to design and build NASA's proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle, a successor to the space shuttle that will carry humans to the International Space Station by 2012 and back to the moon by 2018. Shown in this artist concept, the new, modular space vehicle comprises a crew module reminiscent of the Apollo spacecraft, a service module and a launch-abort system. Northrop Grumman MODULAR VEHICLE - A Northrop Grumman-Boeing team unveils its plans to design and build NASA's proposed Crew Exploration Vehicle, a successor to the space shuttle that will carry humans to the International Space Station by 2012 and back to the moon by 2018. Shown in these artist concepts, the new, modular space vehicle comprises a crew module reminiscent of the Apollo spacecraft, a service module and a launch-abort system." Northrop Grumman

[anymouse]

This isn't specific to the Northrop Grumman-Boeing proposal, but more so about NASA's whole Moon exploration plan. Here goes:

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They could have named this Apollo Retread or Project Desperation - NASA's Search for Relevancy.

The public's (thus Congress') reaction to this is a big yawn or at best "30 years later and that's the best that you can come up with?"

This is the old guard's "safe" plan. This is as if an architecture student traced over a Frank Lloyd Wright drawing and submitted it for his senior project.

I can't believe that Mike Griffin would have accepted this, even if he did get in on it late in the game.