Round 9: The Space Age

Past, present and future

of

international space development

National Space Society’s Milestones"People living and working in thriving communities beyond the Earth."

Earth Orbit

• Commercial Launch Volume– The emergence of an adequate-sized launch market, with efficient vehicles and

turnaround times measured in days rather than weeks, will lower the cost of access to space.

• Legal Protection of Property Rights– ...will be enacted to provide prospective off-Earth settlers with the

security to take risks.

• Land Grants or Other Economic Incentives– ...will be provided to encourage private investment on off-Earth settlements.

• Technology for Self-Sufficiency– People will leave Earth with the technology and tools needed to settle, survive,

and prosper.

To The Moon• Robotic Confirmation of Ice

– Robots will determine if water ice is present in adequate quantity.

• Research Facility– ...will be established to study human habitation and conduct

lunar investigations. If appropriate, development, testing, equipment checkout, and training for Mars missions may also be performed here.

• Government/Industry Base– The research facility will begin as a government base and

evolve to an industry base. The first longer-term residents will begin performing commercial functions.

• Moon Settlement– Settlement will grow with the base as the commercial center.

To Mars

• Mission Goal for Settlement– Exploration will accelerate with the clear purpose of eventual settlement.

"Flags and Footprints" will not be the objective.

• Robotic Exploration– ...will precede human explorers.

• Research Facility– Development, testing, equipment checkout and training for Mars missions

will likely be performed close to home, in Earth orbit or on the Moon. Effects of long space missions will also be studied close to home before sending humans such a great distance.

• Human Explorers to Mars– Human explorers will follow robots to Mars after field testing on the Moon,

in low Earth orbit, or directly from Earth. A base will be established.

• Mars Settlement– Settlers will follow the explorers.

To The Asteroids

• Exploration & Settlement of Asteroids– Robots will identify the asteroids for potential settlement and

development. Human explorers will follow and confirm robotic information. Settlers will follow to those asteroids offering economic opportunity.

– Asteroids may prove to be practical sources of resources including metals, nonmetals, and volatiles.

To O’Neill Habitats

• Construction of O'Neill Habitats– Once settlers can leave planetary bodies, these "cities in

space" will be built.

– In 1974, Dr. Gerard O'Neill proposed the construction of large pressurized habitats in space from resources obtained from the Moon.

– These habitats will be something like giant space stations, but large enough that the interior will be treated as real-estate land on which crops will be grown and houses constructed.

– The habitats will be cylindrical, rotating around their axes so that the inner surfaces will experience centrifugal acceleration similar to the gravity force on the surface of Earth.

To the Stars

• New Propulsion Methods – ...will be developed to carry humans to the stars– Solar-electric systems quickly run out of sunlight beyond Mars' orbit, and chemical

propulsion systems have too low specific impulse. – Some sort of advanced approach involving nuclear energy or off-board energy

sources is clearly required.– NASA currently has a modest program seeking scientific breakthroughs in

propulsion physics concepts such as • compact efficient fusion, • antimatter, • and even gravitational effects.

– These are not necessarily needed for settlement of the Moon and Mars, exploitation of asteroid resources, or construction of O'Neill-style habitats from lunar or asteroid resources.

– They are needed to open up the Mars transportation windows so that travel to and from Mars becomes possible other than during the optimal, "low-energy" Mars-Earth alignments occurring every 2.2 years.

NSS Barriers to Space Settlement• Technological Barriers

– Lack of affordable space transportation to space– Launch vehicle reliability– No closed-loop life support system

• Political Barriers– US Policy Space Limitations– Government Obstacles to commercialization– Lack of Sovereignty– Moon Treaty and Common Heritage Principle

• Economic Barriers– No long term government funding mechanism– Lack of incentives for capital investment– Liability Insurance costs and conditions

• Social Barriers– Lack of Public Interest– Potential Passenger Restrictions– Perceived Risk of Space Activities

How and when did it all begin?

• 1952 International Council of Scientific Unions established July 1, 1957-December 31, 1958 as International Geophysical Year (IGY)

• Times of increased solar flares; mapping of earth’s surface via satellite proposed

• July 1955 US announces intention to launch satellite during IGY; solicits proposals

• Naval Research Laboratory’s Vanguard project accepted

• Vanguard to carry 3.5 pound payload

Sputnik, October 4, 1957

• World’s first artificial satellite

• Size of basketball, weighing 183 pounds

• Took 98 minutes to orbit the earth using an elliptical path

• Marked the beginning of the space age and space race

• Sputnik II launched in November carrying dog named Laika

Space Race between the US and USSR

• Soviet Union launched the world’s first space craft, October 1957

• January 31, 1958 Army Balistic Missile Agency’s Redstone Project successfully launches Explorer I

• October 7, 1958 NASA announces Project Mercury with three objectives– Place piloted space vehicle into orbit– Observe human performance in such conditions– Recover human and vehicle safely

• Soviet Union sent the first human into space orbit, Yuri Gagarin, April 1961

• NASA sent first American into sub-orbital flight, Alan Shephard May 1961

Explorer I

• Successfully launched January 1958

• Carried small scientific payload that discovered magnetic radiation belts surrounding the earth

• These belts named after principle investigator, James Van Allen

• Explorer project produced series of lightweight scientifically useful spacecraft

The Team of Scientists

• Dr. William H. Pickering• Dr. James A. Van Allen• Dr. Wehrner von Braun

First men in space for the USSR and US

•

Yuri Gagarin Alan Shephard

The Mercury Astronauts

Friendship 7 Mission

• February 20, 1962, John Glenn becomes first American to orbit the earth.

• Glenn circled the earth three times on a flight that lasted 4 hours, 55 minutes, 23 seconds

• Mercury program lasted 5 years produced six piloted flights and paved the way for Gemini and Apollo programs

From Mercury to the Moon

• May 1961 President Kennedy committed the United States to landing on the moon within the decade

• Gemini Program announced January 1962– Three major objectives

• Subject man and equipment to flight of 2weeks in space• Rendezvous and dock with orbiting vehicles and maneuver the

docked combination• Perfect methods of entering the atmosphere and landing on land

– Launched 12 vehicles with enlarged capsules and using Titan rockets

– All goals accomplished except the land landing (cancelled goal in 1964)

Gemini 4: First Human Space Walk

                                                                                                                                                        

Astronaut Ed White who would perish January 1967 in the Apollo 1 fire

Apollo

• Goals– To establish the technology to meet other national interests in space. – To achieve preeminence in space for the United States. – To carry out a program of scientific exploration of the Moon. – To develop man's capability to work in the lunar environment.

• A three-part spacecraft: – command module (CM), the crew's quarters and flight control section; – service module (SM) for the propulsion and spacecraft support

systems (when together, the two modules are calledCSM);

– lunar module (LM), to take two of the crew to the lunar surface, support them on the Moon, and return them to the CSM in lunar orbit.

Apollo 8

December 24 1968

Apollo 11

July 20, 1969

Apollo 15

July 1971

Skylab Missions

• launched into orbit on May 14, 1973 as part of the Apollo program.

• 91 metric ton structure was 36 meters (four stories) high, 6.7 meters in diameter

• When Skylab was launched it lost a solar panel and part of its external shielding.

• Skylab astronauts had to rig a "golden umbrella" to keep their habitat comfortable.

• Skylab re-entered the Earth's atmosphere in 1979 over Australia, a year or two earlier than expected.

Skylab: First Experimental Space Station

• Program objectives: – To prove that humans could live and work in space for extended

periods– to expand our knowledge of solar astronomy well beyond Earth-based

observations. • Crews visited Skylab and returned to earth in Apollo spacecraft • Three three-man crews occupied the Skylab workshop for a total

of 171 days, 13 hours. It was the site of nearly 300 scientific and technical experiments: – medical experiments on humans' adaptability to zero gravity– solar observations– detailed Earth resources experiments.

A Bold New Partnership:Apollo Soyuz Test Project

• First space mission undertaken as a joint project between US and USSR

• Planned since 1970, flight lasted nine days July 15-24, 1975

• Designed to test the compatibility of Soviet and US docking systems

• Envisioned as a way to facilitate international space rescue

• Techniques for joint space exercises were practiced and joint experiments were conducted

Artist’s Rendering

• The Soyuz was launched just over seven hours prior to the launch of the Apollo CSM.

• Apollo then maneuvered to rendezvous and docking 52 hours after the Soyuz launch.

• After separation, Apollo remained in space an additional 06 days.

• Soyuz returned to Earth approximately 43 hours after separation.

Shuttle-Mir• From early 1994 into 1998, American

astronauts spent nearly 1000 days living in orbit with Russian cosmonauts.

• Space exploration no longer a competition between nations

• The U. S. Space Shuttle orbiter and Russia's Mir space station combined to create the largest structure ever placed into orbit, with a combined mass of 250 tons.

• Called "Phase 1," the Shuttle-Mir Program prepared the way for the International Space Station and began an era of cooperation and exploration

Goals

• The Shuttle-Mir Program provided NASA with opportunities, challenges, and lessons to learn, in preparation for building the International Space Station.

• Four goals were identified to guide the program's development and management. – Goal 1: Learn How to Work with International Partners – Goal 2: Reduce Risks of Developing and Assembling a

Space Station – Goal 3: Gain Experience for NASA on Long-Duration

Missions– Goal 4: Conduct life science, microgravity, and

environmental research programs

Shuttle-Mir Accomplishments• Developed flexibility by operating in space with several launch vehicles and a

space station. • Conducted long-term operations with multiple control centers and U.S. and

Russian teams. • Conducted space walks with astronauts and cosmonauts testing each other's

suits, preparing to assemble the International Space Station. • Trained astronauts, cosmonauts and other team members in each other's

language, methods and tools.• Created a joint U.S./Russian process for analysis, safety assessment, and

certification of flight readiness. • Led to refinements in software, hardware and procedures to be used in

operations on ISS. • Established that non-critical systems may fail and be replaced through routine

maintenance, without compromising safety or mission success. • Showed that multiple oxygen generation systems are essential for safe,

uninterrupted operations. • Mated U.S. and Russian hardware in orbit and verified complex robotics

operations during the delivery and assembly of the Russian-built Docking Module.

• Collected data on the effects of long-duration exposure of hardware to space. • Learned how to conduct long-term research and maintenance on a space station. • Developed a process for mission planning and psychological support for

astronauts on orbit for extended periods.

Fire Aboard the Mir

• February 24, 1997 – small fire extinguished onboard Mir

• Crew members were examined by physician onboard

• Heat generated by oxygen producing device damaged some equipment

The Collision

• On June 25, 1997, an unmanned Progress supply vehicle collided with the Mir space station

• Initially depressurization occurred but was later stabilized

• Some systems had to be shut down to conserve power following the collision

• Soyuz capsule to be used in return to earth was unaffected

International Space Station

• 16 Participating Nations

• 14th mission presently taking place with space walks scheduled for February 22

• Please go to http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/main/index.html