Commercial Crew & Cargo
Program Status
Conference on Quality in the Space and Defense Industries
Cape Canaveral, Florida
March 15, 2011
Mark Erminger
Chief Safety and Mission Assurance Officer
Commercial Crew & Cargo Program
Exploration Systems Mission Directorate
Johnson Space Center
Program Objectives
 The Commercial Crew & Cargo Program was established in
November 2005 to accomplish the following objectives:
 Implement U.S. Space Exploration policy with
investments to stimulate the commercial space industry
 Facilitate U.S. private industry demonstration of cargo
and crew space transportation capabilities with the
goal of achieving safe, reliable, cost effective
access to low-Earth orbit
 Create a market environment where commercial
space transportation services are available to
Government and private sector customers
Extending human presence in space by enabling an expanding and robust
U.S. commercial space transportation industry
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Safety is Built Into the Design and
Development Process
 NASA Reviews S&MA Products During Partner Design Reviews
 Safety and Mission Assurance Plan
 Quality Plan
 Hazard Analysis
 Safety Assessments
 Risk Assessments
 Probabilistic Risk Assessment
 Software Assurance
 COTS partners are required to obtain an Federal Aviation
Administration license for all of the demonstration missions
 COTS partners are required to meet all Space Station visiting
vehicle requirements and be approved by the Space Station
Safety Review Panel (SRP) before being allowed to rendezvous
and berth with the ISS
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SpaceX COTS System
Description and Features:
 Falcon 9 Medium Class Launch Vehicle
 Dragon Crew/Cargo Spacecraft
 Recoverable launch vehicle and spacecraft
Dragon
Cargo Capsule
 Cape Canaveral LC-40 Launch Site
 ISS Flight Demonstration
 NASA Investment:
Falcon 9
Rocket
Dragon
Dragon
Crew
CrewCapsule
Capsule
 Cargo Demonstration – up to $278 M
 Crew Demonstration Option– up to $308 M
(not funded)
SpaceX Launch Site at Cape SLC 40
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SpaceX COTS Demo Mission 1
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Orbital COTS System
Description & Features:
 Taurus II Launch Vehicle – derivative of
Taurus I with Aerojet AJ-26 engines (2) &
Castor 30 2nd stage
 Cygnus Service Module used for all missions
– derived from STAR™ & Dawn spacecrafts
 Pressurized Cargo Module (PCM):
Heritage - ISS MPLM
Taurus II Rocket
 Wallops Flight Facility Launch Site
 ISS Flight Demonstration
Pressurized Cargo Module
& Service Module
 NASA Investment:
Wallops Flight Facility (WFF)
Launch Site & Key Facilities
 Cargo Demonstration – up to $170 M
Virginia Eastern Shore
Pad 0B
Bldg H-100
COTS Visiting Vehicle
& Payload Processing
Horizontal Integration
Facility (HIF) Site
Bldg H-100
(WFF Main Base)
Bldg H-100
(7 Miles)
794’
Pad 0A
Launch Pad 0A
Atlantic Ocean
Taurus II
Pad 0A Taurus-II
Launch Site
MARS/Wallops Launch Site
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Orbital COTS Mission Visualization
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WFF Pad 0A Construction Progresses
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Taurus II First Stage Test Article
Arrives at WFF
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PCM Integration & Testing
PCM 1
PCM 2
PCM 0
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AJ-26 Engine at Stennis for Testing
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ULA CCDev1 Project
• Developed a modular Emergency Detection
System (EDS) which can be used with Atlas V,
Delta IV, and other LVs
• CCDev1 tasks:
• EDS definition
• Identified LV failure modes and how measured
• Algorithm development, software coding,
validation
• Crew interface design
• Prototype EDS tested and demonstrated
• Real-time monitoring demonstration
• NASA invested $6.7M
Partners & Subs
Pratt & Whitney
SAS
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ULA Emergency Detection System
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Blue Origin CCDev Project
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System concept is bi-conic space vehicle launched
on Atlas V 402
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Matured Pusher Escape System
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Conducted TVC ground testing
Matured Composite Pressure Vessel
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Manufactured structural test article of a
suborbital capsule as a subscale demonstrator
for the orbital Space Vehicle
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Over-pressurized the test article
Conducted pressure vessel drop test
NASA investment $3.7M
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Blue Origin Composite Crew Pressure Vessel
and Thrust Vector Control Testing
Paragon CCDev Project
• Developed Air Revitalization System (ARS) for
commercial crew
• Matured its ARS concept under CCDev
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Requirements development with 4 potential
vehicle providers
Designed through PDR level
Manufactured and tested an engineering
development unit
• NASA investment $1.44M
Partners & Subs
Micropore
TDA Research
Perma Pure
Barber Nichols
Vista Photonics
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Paragon CCDev 1 Air Revitalization System
Engineering Development Unit
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Boeing CCDev1 Project
• Commercial Crew Transportation System
concept:
 Flexible crewed vehicle concept with maximum of seven crew
 Light-weight design compatible with Atlas, Delta, and Falcon 9
 Integrated operations & crew training center
• Matured system architecture and design through
SDR and demonstrated key technologies and
capabilities via 9 tasks
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Partners & Subs
SDR
Abort System Hardware Demonstration
Base Heat Shield Fabrication Demonstration
Avionics Systems Integration Facility Demonstration
CM Pressure Vessel Fabrication Demonstration
Landing System Demonstration
Life Support Demonstration
AR&D Integrated GNC Demonstration
Crew Module Mockup Demonstration
• NASA investment $18M
Bigelow Aerospace
Aerojet
Airborne Systems
ATK
Spincraft
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CST-100 CM Pressurized Structure
Fabrication & Test
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Sierra Nevada CCDev1 Project
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Partners & Subs
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Commercial STS based on NASA HL-20
launched on Atlas V
Requirements defined for Dream Chaser
systems design & major subsystems
Built & Tested Spacecraft Primary Structure
Integrated Loads Defined & CFD studied
Main Propulsion Motor Built & Tested
RCS Thruster Prototype Built & Tested
Developed Atmospheric and Orbital GN&C
architecture
Flight Algorithms & Software Assurance Plan
TPS Trades completed
Atlas V Integration analyses
Scale Dynamic Model Flight Tested
NASA investment $20M
Boeing Draper Lab
ULA Aerojet
AdamWorks MDA
University of Colorado
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SNC Dream Chaser Structural &
Propulsion System Testing
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