US Space Program, NASA Culture
Transcript of US Space Program, NASA Culture
US Space Program, NASA Culture
Karen J. Meech, Astronomy 281
Early History of Rocketry
! Chinese contribution ! 200 BC (lacking in proof!..?) ! Fire arrows (firecrackers)
! Late 13th century " first “rockets” ! 1240 earliest Arab text on refining salpetre
(potassium nitrate – burns fiercely) ! “Black powder” (gunpowder)
! 7:5:5 salpetre, charcoal, sulfur ! From 1247 Roger Bacon annotation on composition
! Sulfur & coal (fuel), salpetre (oxidizer) ! Only explosive until 19th century
! Guns in use in Europe by 1393
! Newton’s 3rd law " reaction devices ! For every action, there is an equal and
opposite reaction
SF: Star Trek Mythology . . .
Salpetre, KNO3
Charcoal, Carbon – residue from burning
Sulfur
Early History of Rocketry
! Military uses ! Spread from China in 13th century ! Used in Europe beginning in 16th century ! Use in the US 19th century
! Battle of New Orleans (Jan 8, 1815) ! Star Spangled Banner “rocket’s red glare . . .” ! “annoyance factors” " 25 hrs; 4 fatalities
! WW1 – used for signaling
Early Ideas – Space Travel ! Lucian of Samosata (2nd cent A.D.)
! Icaromennipus & Vera Historia – sailing vessel lifted from the sea toward the moon
! Edward Everett Hale (1869) ! Fiction “The Brick Moon” ! 1st description of an artificial satellite
! Jules Verne (1865) ! “From the Earth to the Moon”
! Moon Gun – engineering principles ! 2.74 m shell launched at 16.5 km/s ! Launch from 274 m deep well in Florida ! 0.3 m thick Al walls
! Similar to Apollo ! Florida launch ! 3 person crew ! Similar sizes ! “Columbiad” – Apollo 11 capusule:
Columbia
Rockets for Space Travel ! Science breakthrough
! Realization: rocket propulsion only feasible means for space
! Konstantin Tsiolkovsky (1853-1935) ! Mathematics of rocketry
! Hermann Oberth (1894-1989) ! Popularization of rocketry ! Developed ideas for space flight
! Robert Goddard (1882-1945) ! Rocket design & construction ’31 “Father of modern rocketry”
! Lunar travel “uninteresting”
! Early 20th Century advances ! Influence of science fiction ! Heat engine development ! Liquification of gases ! Developments in metallurgy ! Interest in “engineering” sciences
Pre-WWII Development – Germany ! VfR – late 1920’s – WWII end
! German Rocket Space Society ! PhD student von Braun (1930-1934)
! 1932 – head of German army rocket corp ! Design / production of V1, V2 (WWII)
! Precursor of long-range missiles ! Range 200 mi, 27,000 lbs ! 46 ft tall, diameter 65 in ! 1937 required to join the Nazi party ! 1940 joined the SS (political)
! 1945 Surrender to Americans ! Soviets close to his lab – feared Soviet take over "We knew that we had created a new means of warfare, and the question as to what nation, to what victorious nation we were willing to entrust this brainchild of ours was a moral decision more than anything else.“
Pre-WWII Development – US
! Historic Flight of the Wright Brothers (1903) ! US beginning to fall behind in Aeronautical research
! National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics NACA (1915) ! Formed as emergency measure in WW 1 to promote
industry-academic-government collaboration during war ! Congress passes legislation after a 2 year fight ! Goal: Scientific study of flight " practical solutions ! Budget $5000 / year ! 3 labs were set up in the U.S. in the 1920’s:
! 1920’s " Langley airfield ! 1939 " Ames, Moffett Field ! 1945 " Lewis (Cleveland): engines
! 100 employees in 1922, 426 by 1938
First meeting, 1915 NACA Credo
Post-WWII Era
! US hires 127 German scientists (1945) – Ft. Bliss TX ! Includes von Braun ! Continued V2 development ! Transferred to Huntsville (1950)
! US fear USSR ballistic missile superiority ! ABMA – Huntsville AL
! Army Ballistic Missile Agency ! Sub-orbital flight ! Jupiter rockets – Redstone Pgm
! Naval Research Lab ! Sounding rocket program ! Carries atm science packages
! Eisenhower (1955) ! Part of IGY 1957 (US)
! Satellite announcement ! Had to select where to build
! DoD Selection of NRL ! Vanguard Program
The USSR & Sputnik ! Sputnik – October 4, 1957
! USSR – First artificial satellite ! 83 kg, 58 cm sphere – broadcast radio pulses ! Spent 3 mo in orbit
! Sputnik 2 Nov 3, 1957 ! 508 kg, 4 m tall capsule with compartments ! Live passenger (Laika, dog) ! Detected van Allen radiation belts (significance unremarked)
Sputnik and NASA Formation ! Vanguard (NRL)
! December 1957 ! US 3.5 lb satellite (JPL) ! Amid press " rises 4 ft &
explodes
! Explorer 1 – Second try ! January 31, 1958 ! US first science satellite ! ABMA Jupiter C rocket
Early JPL Tracking station
Early “Computers” at JPL – orbit calculation
Movie of Explorer 1 launch: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:1958-02-03_First_US_Satellite_Launched.ogv
Sputnik and NASA Formation ! Panic caused by Vanguard
! Soviet superiority ! Eisenhower forms NASA 10/1/1958
! National Aeronautics & Space Administration ! Client: military ! Product: basic research ! Decisions: based on science
! Marshall Space Flight Center ! Huntsville AL ! Von Braun as director ! Goal: vehicle into space
NASA – 1958
! NACA ! 3 research labs ! Langley ! Ames ! Lewis
! ABMA ! Redstone Pgm ! 4500 employees
! JPL ! Jet Propulsion Lab ! Army Contractor
under Caltech
! NRL ! Vanguard
satellites
NACA: Ames, Lewis, Langley ABMA: NASA Marshall
NRL: Naval Research Lab JPL: Jet Propulsion Lab
Houston, Kennedy, Goddard, Glenn, Mars Lab
The Mercury Program
! First Human Space flight program ! Put human in orbit around Earth ! Do it before the Soviets
! Proceeds in 3 phases: ! Redstone missiles " Ballistic flight ! Jupiter missiles (longer flights) ! Atlas ICBMs: orbit manned capsule
! Test flights begin 1959 ! 1960 – Manned flights postponed
! Rockets 75% reliable ! Apollo program conceived
The Race to the Moon ! 4/12/61 – Yuri Gagarin (Vostok 1)
! Orbits earth once ! 5/5/61 – Alan Sheppard
! Mercury Freedom 7 ! First sub-orbital flight
! US worries: USSR superiority ! US options
! Quit ! Stay in 2nd place ! Do something dramatic
Kennedy Speech 5/25/61 “I believe that this nation should commit itself to achieving the goal, before this decade is out, of landing a man on the moon and returning him safely to earth. No single project in this period will be more exciting, or more impressive to mankind or more important for the long-range exploration of space, and none will be so difficult or expensive to accomplish.”
Reactions
! Accelerated space program was expected ! Some thought the announcement was a joke ! NASA director “aghast”
June & July ! s/c hardware specs complete for the rocket development
Aug ! first hardware contract awarded ! FL spaceport site bought
Sep ! Saturn V production facility chosen ! Manned space center site acquired
Oct ! Land acquired for Saturn V test site
Nov ! First Saturn C-1 launched ! Award contract for command modules
Dec ! Award contract for Saturn 1st stage
Jan ! Construction begun at all sites ! Development at all contractors
The Race
! 2/20/62 – John Glenn ! 1st US astronaut in orbit – Mercury 7
! 5/24/62 – Carpenter (3 orbits) ! US Gemini Program
! 3/23/65 – 3 orbits: Young/Grissom ! 6/3/65 – E. White space walk ! 12/4/65 – Gemini 7 – 206 orbits ! 12/15/65 – Gemini 6 & 7
! 1st space rendezvous ! 1965 – US logs 1353 space hrs ! Jan 1967 – Apollo 1 fire ! 10/11/68 – Apollo 7 (1 earth orbit)
! First manned Apollo mission ! 12/21/68 – Apollo 8
! 1st Saturn V launch ! 7/20/69 – Apollo 11 Moon Landing
! 8/6/61 – Vostok 2 ! Titov day-long orbit
! 6/16/63 – Vostok 6 ! 1st woman – V. Tereshkova ! Earth orbit 48 times
! 3/18/65 – Voskhod 2 ! First space walk – Leonov
! 2/3/66 – Luna 9 ! First to soft land on Moon
! 9/15/68 – Zond 5 ! First to orbit the Moon
! Jan 1969 – Soyuz 4 & 5 ! First s/c docking & transfer
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 Science ! Photographic studies ! Lunar field geology
! Collection & documentation of lunar rocks ! 21 kg collected
! Solar Wind Composition ! Elemental & isotopic comp of nobel gases
! Passive Seismic study ! Lunar seismology ! Meteoroid impacts
! Laser Ranging retro-reflector (LRRR) ! Precise lunar-Earth distances ! Continental drift on Earth
! Lunar dust collector ! Dust accumulation ! High E radiation damage measurements
! Soil Mechanics
Legacy of the Moon Race ! Motivations
! US prestige – first in Space means first in world technology ! Defense of the US ! Science of the Lunar surface ! Human exploration / curiosity
! Costs ! $25 billion ! Lives of 3 men
! Successes ! New technologies / spin offs (computers, medicine !..) ! Culmination on 7/20/69 with manned moon landing ! Inspired a generation of scientists
! Last Lunar mission 1972
For Discussion – What made the US Space Program So Successful?
Other Factors Inspiring a Generation . . . .
! Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek (1966-1969) ! 6 series ! 10 films ! 100’s of books ! conventions
Development a Shuttle Program
! Benefits of a strong space program ! Prestige, profit, power, productivity
! The challenge ! Need an economic, versatile space transportation system ! Need to maintain world leadership in space program ! At the end of 1987
! 1736 payloads in space " 1045 from USSR!
“Whatever impedes the intercourse of the extremes with this, the center of the republic, weakens the nation . . . Let us then bind the republic together with a perfect system of roads and canals. Let us conquer space.” – John Calhoun, 1816
Shuttle Development ! Von Braun (1970)
! Proposed original shuttle design ! VP Spiro Agnew – 4 stage plan
! Rejected by Congress ! Cost $14 billion (Actual $209B)
! NASA downsizes ! Limits reusability ! Drove up per mission costs
! Nixon’s Announcement ‘72
“ . . . All these possibilities can never be more than fractionally realized so long as every trip from Earth to orbit remains a matter of special effort and staggering expense!..”
! Purpose
! Deliver payload to LEO ! Mission duration 7 days ! Re-useable ! Replace US expendable LV ! Contracts awarded in 1972-3
Payload to Orbit Capabilities
Engine Thrust [kg] Payload [kg]
Delta IV 3.4x105 2.6x104
Proton 7.7x105 2.0x104
Energia 3.6x106 8.8x104
Saturn V 1.2x107 1.3x105
Space Shuttle 1.3x106 2.4x104
HLLV >2.5x105
Launch Capability
The Saturn V Rocket
Space Shuttle Design ! Orbiter
! Payload 15 tons ! SRB (solid rockets)
! Thrust: 5.3x 106 lbs ! External Tank
! LOx, LH2 8.5min burn ! Not reused
Space Shuttle Interior
Soviet Shuttle – Buran / Energya End of an Era ! Early termination of Apollo program 1975
! Cancelled all other launch vehicle development ! To save money for Shuttle program ! Hiatus from 1975-1981
! Jan. 28, 1986 – Challenger disaster ! Failure of O-ring in SRB in cold weather
Leading to a Space Station
1984 – R. Reagan – Space Station initiative ! Motive
! An economic / scientific resource for the west ! An orbital research observatory / facility
! $8 billion ceiling from Congress ! Design
! Dual keel, 500 feet long ! 50 ft long, 14 ft diam. science modules ! Free flying science platforms
Space Station Freedom
Space Station History Station Launch Mission Description
Salyut 1 1971 ! 20.4 tons, mission 24 dys ! Cosmonauts died on return
Salyut 2 4/3/83 ! Fell into Earth’s atm & burned up
Skylab 5/14/73 ! 82.2 tons (Saturn booster) ! 3 successful missions (28, 59, 84 dys) ! Supposed to be rescued by Shuttle ! Not competitive with Soviets
Salyut 3 6/24/74 ! 1 successful mission
Salyut 4 12/26/74 ! 2 missions (incl. Apollo-Soyuz docking)
Salyut 5 6/76 ! 2 successful visits of 18 and 49 dys
Salyut 6 9/77 ! 2 docking ports – allows re-supply ! operated until mid 1981
Salyut 7 1982 ! additions in 1983 increase size 2 times
Mir 1986 ! Enlarged to Mir II: still in orbit
SkyLab – Shuttle Space Lab
! Goals ! To prove humans could
live & work in space ! Duration: 171 dys
! 300 experiments ! Return – 7/11/1979
Inside SkyLab
MIR – Russian Space Station
! 1986-1996 longest in space ! Humanities first continuously
inhabited station in space ! Reentry 3/23/2001
Space Station Chronology 4/19/85 ! Preliminary contract awarded, design complete in 1985 1/28/86 ! Challenger accident " new NASA director
! Decision to make station an international effort 1987 ! Congress cuts back funds; NASA scales down design
! Firms selected for building in Dec 1987 " “Freedom” 1993 ! Clinton upheaval – cancellation (current costs at $11.2B – would
cost $17.4 to complete) ! Further scales back " renamed ISS
1995 ! Construction begins ! Shuttle – Mir program
1999 ! Russian Service module ready for launch 2000 ! First international crew to live on ISS 2005 ! Goal for completing construction!!. 2010 ! Construction MUST be complete (shuttle retire). Total costs $35-
$100 Billion 2013 ! Total cost to date: $150 Billion. Assuming 20,000 person-days of
use this is $7.5 million / dy (Skylab = $19.6 million / day)
The International Space Station
! Design ! 360 ft long, 290 ft wide ! Orbit: LEO (400-460 km) ! Mass 1.04 x 106 lbs ! 6 laboratories ! 470 ton structure ! House crew of 7
International Space Station
ISS
Inte
rior
Hubble Space Telescope ! Begun 1971 – Launched 1990
! 2.4m diameter mirror in LEO ! Location for 6 instruments ! Diffraction limited imaging: UV-IR ! Original cost: $400M, now $2.5 Billion ($10B
with operations costs) ! Servicing missions in 1993, 97, 99, ’02, ‘09
! Fix the optics, new solar panels, new gyros ! 2 new instruments (NICMOS, STIS) FGS repair ! Replace gyros, FGS, computer ! Attitude control sys., new power, NICMOS cooler ! 2 new instruments (COS, WFC3), gyros, batteries ! Orbit will decay between 2019-2032
! James Webb Space Telescope 2018? ! 6.5m mirror, primarily IR ! Original cost $4.5B, now ~$8.7B
Hubble Optics ! Mirror ground wrong ! 3 tests done ! 2 showed
discrepancies ! Could have been
fixed during launch delay
! SM1 installed corrective optics
NASA Culture 1958 ! Formed by Eisenhower after Russian Sputnik
1961-1975 ! Complete Mercury, Gemini, Apollo, Skylab, Apollo-Soyuz ! 31 consecutive missions to space ! Perfection of Saturn V – 130,000 kg to LEO ! Successful Moon Landing ! Weather / communications satellites – revolutionary ! Pioneer 10, 11 and Voyager to the Outer Solar System ! Mariner to the inner solar system ! Viking to Mars
1980-1990’s ! Management/development delays Shuttle ! Shuttle fails to meet goal of low cost transportation ! 1990 Challenger Accident ! Galileo Antenna problem ! HST Mirror flaw ! Loss of Mars Observer, Mars Climate Orbiter ! Columbia Accident ! Cassini launch
2000-now ! 24 Earth satellite missions, 14 solar missions ! 19 planetary missions including Discovery ! “Cheaper, Better, Faster” mission line (PI lead) – 12 so far ! 13 astrophysics missions ! No manned missions – only shuttle
For Discussion – What do you think has been the cause for the change in success from the Early NASA
missions to the present?
NASA Motivations
! Early Era ! Failure is part of risk ! In-house mentality ! Drew highly competitive
creative talent ! Hands on / real time ! Intellectual superiority ! Technical challenges ! Pushing the envelope
Adequate Resources
! Evolving over Time ! Outside forces "
contractors (lack of control) ! Oversight " bureaucracy ! Tighter budgets " “risk
adverse” ! Harder to compete for
public funds ! “Science vs security”
! Workforce Ages
NASA Funding / Staffing Evolution
Bush Moon-Mars Initiative Impact Federal Budget
$701B
$689B
$793B; 23%
$197B
Discretionary 19% $660B
FY 2010 $3,456B
Discretionary Spending FY2010E (Billions)
NASA – What does it Cost You? Agency / Program Budget (FY08 Dollars) Cost per Person today NASA Moon Race $125 billion $51/yr for 8 years Medicare & Medicade $500 billion $1655 Department of Defense $440 billion $1457 (Iraq War) $100 billion (increasing) $331 Welfare $254 billion $841 Interest on Nat. Debt. $106 billion ($530 in ‘11) $351 Nat. Inst. Health $28 billion $92 Social Security $20 billion $66 NASA $17 billion $56 FEMA $8 billion $26 Nat. Science Found. $5.5 billion $18 State of Hawaii $5.5 billion $18 UH Manoa $0.5 billion $1.65
The Future?
! Congress and the Sequester – 2013 ! An 8.5% hit could really hurt NASA Science ! Current missions won’t be cut ! Might wipe out at least one year of new research funding ! Will delay future missions
NASA – What does it Cost You? NASA – What does it Cost You?
NASA – What does it Cost You?