SpaceX continues to make progress towards
launching crews into orbit, but several critical
tests remain before those plans can come to
fruition.
The company is developing the Crew Dragon
spacecraft to transport crews to and from
the International Space Station as part of
NASA’s Commercial Crew Program.
SpaceX has posted a video showing the static
fire test of a pod of Crew Dragon SuperDraco
abort thrusters, indicating that the complex
system has been successfully redesigned and
upgraded to fix the faults that caused a Dragon
capsule to explode in April 2019.
The capsule, known as SpaceX Crew Dragon,
is SpaceX’s spacecraft to carry as many
as seven people to the International Space
Station and more.
In this video Engineering Today will discuss
SpaceX's next Crew Dragon test which could
happen next week.
SpaceX preps upgraded Crew Dragon for the
static-fire test.
Why this test is a critical milestone for
SpaceX after April explosion?
Let’s get into details.
2019 has seen substantial progress from SpaceX.
The company successfully completed the Demo-1
mission in March.
That mission saw SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule
fly into orbit atop a Falcon 9 rocket for
the first time, dock with the International
Space Station, and then return home with a
splashdown in the Atlantic Ocean.
But amongst the success have also been setbacks.
SpaceX has been working two primary technical
challenges over the past year.
These include a major test stand anomaly and
continued problems with the spacecraft’s
parachutes.
After a successful Demo-1 test flight to the
space station and back– SpaceX performed
a “static fire” of the capsule’s SuperDraco
engines, which would be used only in the event
of an emergency.
A static fire is a term in the space industry
for a specific type of test, where a rocket
engine is strapped down to the ground and
fired up, to simulate the motor during flight
and show it operates smoothly.
But near the end of the April test there was
an anomaly, creating an explosive chain reaction
that resulted in the destruction of the Demo-1
capsule.
The static fire anomaly occurred during pressurization
of the abort system – a process that occurs
just milliseconds before the SpaceX Crew Dragon’s
SuperDraco engines ignite.
After months of investigation alongside the
company’s government partners, the anomaly
was traced to a valve leaking propellant into
high pressure helium lines.
The valve has since been replaced by burst
disks to resolve the problem.
SpaceX issued a full statement on its website
detailing that it discovered a leaking component
set off the anomaly.
That investigation is now wrapping up, meaning
that SpaceX is nearly ready to move forward
with the inflight abort test.
But first, the company must redo the static
fire test.
A successful static fire of the abort sequence
will help to verify that the redesigned system
is safe for crewed spaceflight.
With a new SuperDraco system on a new Crew
Dragon capsule, SpaceX is set to conduct its
next static fire on Nov. 2 at the Cape Canaveral
Air Force Station in Florida.
While the specific date may change if there
are any last moment delays, the test and its
results will be closely watched by SpaceX,
NASA and its astronauts, the U.S. Air Force,
the Federal Aviation Administration and the
National Transportation Safety Board.
Like the previous test, the static fire of
SpaceX Crew Dragon will be conducted at a
test facility located at SpaceX’s Landing
Zone 1 or LZ-1 in Cape Canaveral, Florida.
A temporary test stand is being set up at
LZ-1 for the capsule.
As indicated by SpaceX’s name for the facility,
the company typically uses LZ-1 to land the
boosters of its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
rockets.
SpaceX founder Elon Musk recently hosted NASA
Administrator Jim Bridenstine at the company’s
headquarters in Los Angeles, as the SpaceX
Crew Dragon program is in its final stages
of development.
Musk noted that the primary mission for Demo-1
was a success, as the anomaly happened as
SpaceX conducted additional testing looking
to push the capsule’s boundaries.
“You’re trying to find extreme corner
cases of where things go wrong,” Musk said.
“You don’t do tests because you think
everything’s going to be fine, you do tests
to find out what’s not going to be fine,”
Musk added.
“I think there’s a fundamental principle:
Make sure you fail on the test stand so you
do not fail in flight.”
If SpaceX Crew Dragon static fire test goes
well, SpaceX could be ready for its next milestone
by mid-December, Musk has said.
SpaceX would test Crew Dragon in what is called
an “in flight abort.”
That means SpaceX will launch an uncrewed
capsule on top of one of its Falcon 9 rockets
and then, shortly after liftoff, intentionally
trigger Crew Dragon’s SuperDraco emergency
escape system.
Meanwhile, SpaceX is also conducting 10 or
more test of the capsules parachute system,
to verify that it can reliably and safely
return to Earth.
This is other key technical issue that SpaceX
must address.
The company has experienced a couple of failures
during the dozens of drop tests it has performed
with its four-parachute system.
The company is seeking to balance the robustness
of the parachute system while keeping its
overall mass down.
"We had to reallocate some resources to speed
this up & received great support from Airborne,
our parachute supplier," Musk said on Twitter.
"I was at their Irvine factory with the SpaceX
team.
Musk explained that although the current parachute
design iteration – designated Mk2 – was
“probably safe,” SpaceX has made the decision
to switch to the improved Mk3 design.
“We’re focusing on the advanced Mk3 chute,
which provides highest safety factor for astronauts."-
Musk said.
The Mk3 upgrade features stronger lines – made
of zylon as opposed to nylon – and an improved
stitching pattern, according to Musk.
In order to validate their safety, the Mk3
parachutes must prove themselves during a
robust test campaign, he said.
Commercial Crew is NASA’s solution to once
again launch U.S. astronauts from U.S. soil.
The United States has not launched humans
into orbit since the Space Shuttle program
ended in 2011.
Since then, NASA has been relying on the Russian
Soyuz rocket and spacecraft to launch American
crew members to the International Space Station.
This has come at a steep cost – with Russia
charging NASA as much as $85 million per seat.
While NASA had hoped the Commercial Crew program
would be ready to fly astronauts before the
end of the year, Bridenstine said at an industry
conference on Thursday that it is “highly
likely” the agency will purchase at least
one more seat on a Soyuz spacecraft.
“We would rather have it be a true partnership
where we launch on their rockets, and they
launch on our rockets,” Jim Bridenstine
said, at an event on Oct. 10 at SpaceX’s
headquarters.
The first Commercial Crew launches have been
delayed from the original target of 2017,
as delays have mounted for both SpaceX and
Boeing.
The latter company is building its own Starliner
capsule for Commercial Crew.
Notably, Boeing received almost 40% more funding,
having won $4.2 billion under the 2014 contract.
Boeing also suffered a number of setbacks
while testing its capsule, including a failure
of Starliner’s propulsion systems.
However, a lack of funding from Congress in
the early years of the program, combined with
technical setbacks in recent months, has caused
the first crewed flights to slip into 2020.
Boeing plans to conduct an uncrewed test flight
of Starliner on Dec. 17, which will be similar
to SpaceX’s Demo-1 mission.
SpaceX Crew Dragon – designated C205 – for
the two upcoming tests is already at the Cape
Canaveral for final processing.
The C205 spacecraft was originally assigned
to the Demo-2 mission instead– the spacecraft’s
first NASA astronaut launch – and C206 would
support Post-Certification Mission 1 (PCM-1),
meaning Dragon’s first operational delivery
of astronauts to the ISS.
However, after the April anomaly, C205 was
reassigned to perform the abort testing.
This was because the original capsule for
the abort test – C201 – was destroyed
in the April static fire incident.
Due to C205’s reassignment, C206 is now
SpaceX Crew Dragon for the Demo-2 mission.
That C206 vehicle is undergoing final preparations
in SpaceX’s Hawthorne California factory.
If all goes to plan, it will be shipped to
Florida for final processing by the end of
the year.
Two NASA astronauts will be on SpaceX’s
Demo-2 mission: Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley.
The flight will be SpaceX’s first with crew
on board and the pair have been working closely
with the company to prepare.
When Bridenstine toured SpaceX headquarters
two weeks ago, Behnken and Hurley were along
and spoke to media about their preparation.
Most notably, the astronauts addressed the
April explosion, explaining how they experienced
it and what they sought from SpaceX to give
them confidence to fly on Crew Dragon.
Behnken said he and Hurley had been at the
Florida site just before the test failure
happened, explaining SpaceX kept the astronauts
informed during the investigation and cleanup
of the anomaly.
“The team mobilized incredibly – both
on the NASA side and the SpaceX side – to
come up with why did this happen, what can
we do to fix it, how can we rebuild the capsule
and make it safer for crews and the future,”
Hurley said.
“And that’s exactly what they’ve done.”
