The CST-100 (Crew Space Transportation) crew capsule is a spacecraft design proposed by Boeing in collaboration with Bigelow Aerospace as their entry for NASA’s Commercial Crew Development (CDev) program. Its primary mission would be to transport crew to the International Space Station, and to private space stations such as the proposed Bigelow Aerospace Commercial Space Station.
Outwardly it would look much like the Orion, a spacecraft being built for NASA by Lockheed Martin. The exact dimensions have not been released, but the capsule would be larger than the Apollo command module and smaller than the Orion capsule. The CST-100 would be able to support larger crews of up to 7 people as the result of greater habitable interior volume and the reduced weight of equipment needed to support an exclusively low-Earth-orbit configuration. It is designed to be able to remain on-orbit for up to seven months and for reusability for up to ten missions.
In the first phase of its CCDev program NASA awarded Boeing $18 million for preliminary development of the spacecraft. In the second phase Boeing was awarded $93 million for further development. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) Program.
The CST-100 would be compatible with multiple launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, Delta IV and Falcon 9. The initial launch vehicle would be the Atlas V.
History
The initial Boeing press releases did not state a name for the CST-100. The name CST-100 was first revealed to the public by Bigelow Aerospace CEO Robert Bigelow, who referred to the capsule as the CST-100 in June, 2010. The letters CST stand for Crew Space Transportation and the number 100 in the name stands for 100 km, the height of the Karman line, which defines the boundary of space.
Receiving the full fixed-price payments for the CCDev Phase 1 Space Act Agreement required a set of specific milestones to be met during 2010:
Boeing was awarded a $92,300,000 contract by NASA in April 2011 to continue to develop the CST-100 under CCDev phase 2. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) Program.
Design Heritage
The design draws upon Boeing's experience with NASA's Apollo, Space Shuttle and ISS programs as well as the Orbital Express project sponsored by the Department of Defense. The CST-100 has no Orion heritage, but it is sometimes confused with the earlier and similar Orion-derived Orion Lite proposal that Bigelow was reportedly working on with technical assistance from Lockheed Martin. It will use the Androgynous Peripheral Attach System for docking and use the Boeing Lightweight Ablator (BLA) for its heatshield. For its launch escape system it will use the RS-88 (Bantam) engine.
Testing
A variety of validation tests are underway on the test article.
In September 2011, Boeing announced the completion of a set of ground drop tests to validate the design of the air bag cushioning system. The air bags are located underneath the heat shield of the CST-100, which is designed to be separated from the capsule while under parachute descent at about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) altitude. The air bags are deployed by filling with a mixture of compressed Nitrogen and Oxygen gas, not with the pyro-explosive mixture sometimes used in automotive air bags. The tests were carried out in the Mojave Desert of southeast California, at ground speeds between 10 and 30 miles per hour (16 and 48 km/h) in order to simulate cross wind conditions at the time of landing. Bigelow Aerospace built the mobile test rig and conducted the tests.
In April 2012, Boeing dropped a mock-up of its CST-100 commercial crew capsule over the Nevada desert at the Delamar Dry Lake near Alamo, Nev., successfully testing the craft's three main landing parachutes from 11,000 feet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CST-100
Outwardly it would look much like the Orion, a spacecraft being built for NASA by Lockheed Martin. The exact dimensions have not been released, but the capsule would be larger than the Apollo command module and smaller than the Orion capsule. The CST-100 would be able to support larger crews of up to 7 people as the result of greater habitable interior volume and the reduced weight of equipment needed to support an exclusively low-Earth-orbit configuration. It is designed to be able to remain on-orbit for up to seven months and for reusability for up to ten missions.
In the first phase of its CCDev program NASA awarded Boeing $18 million for preliminary development of the spacecraft. In the second phase Boeing was awarded $93 million for further development. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) Program.
The CST-100 would be compatible with multiple launch vehicles, including the Atlas V, Delta IV and Falcon 9. The initial launch vehicle would be the Atlas V.
History
The initial Boeing press releases did not state a name for the CST-100. The name CST-100 was first revealed to the public by Bigelow Aerospace CEO Robert Bigelow, who referred to the capsule as the CST-100 in June, 2010. The letters CST stand for Crew Space Transportation and the number 100 in the name stands for 100 km, the height of the Karman line, which defines the boundary of space.
Receiving the full fixed-price payments for the CCDev Phase 1 Space Act Agreement required a set of specific milestones to be met during 2010:
- trade study and down-select between pusher-type and tractor-style LAS (Launch Abort System)
- system definition review
- Abort System Hardware Demonstration Test
- Base Heat Shield Fabrication Demonstration
- Avionics Systems Integration Facility demonstration
- CM Pressure Shell Fabrication Demonstration
- Landing System Demonstration (drop test and water uprighting test)
- Life Support Air Revitalization demonstration
- Autonomous Rendezvous and Docking (AR&D) hardware/software demonstration
- Crew Module Mockup demonstration.
Boeing was awarded a $92,300,000 contract by NASA in April 2011 to continue to develop the CST-100 under CCDev phase 2. On August 3, 2012, NASA announced the award of $460 million to Boeing to continue work on the CST-100 under the Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCAP) Program.
Design Heritage
The design draws upon Boeing's experience with NASA's Apollo, Space Shuttle and ISS programs as well as the Orbital Express project sponsored by the Department of Defense. The CST-100 has no Orion heritage, but it is sometimes confused with the earlier and similar Orion-derived Orion Lite proposal that Bigelow was reportedly working on with technical assistance from Lockheed Martin. It will use the Androgynous Peripheral Attach System for docking and use the Boeing Lightweight Ablator (BLA) for its heatshield. For its launch escape system it will use the RS-88 (Bantam) engine.
Testing
A variety of validation tests are underway on the test article.
In September 2011, Boeing announced the completion of a set of ground drop tests to validate the design of the air bag cushioning system. The air bags are located underneath the heat shield of the CST-100, which is designed to be separated from the capsule while under parachute descent at about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) altitude. The air bags are deployed by filling with a mixture of compressed Nitrogen and Oxygen gas, not with the pyro-explosive mixture sometimes used in automotive air bags. The tests were carried out in the Mojave Desert of southeast California, at ground speeds between 10 and 30 miles per hour (16 and 48 km/h) in order to simulate cross wind conditions at the time of landing. Bigelow Aerospace built the mobile test rig and conducted the tests.
In April 2012, Boeing dropped a mock-up of its CST-100 commercial crew capsule over the Nevada desert at the Delamar Dry Lake near Alamo, Nev., successfully testing the craft's three main landing parachutes from 11,000 feet.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CST-100
No comments:
Post a Comment