SpaceX DragonRider updates (passes major review)

[Dr Mordrid]

One of Dragon's recent Commercial Crew milestones was to build a prototype cockpit and get feedback from the Astronaut Corps on the layout and any changes that need to be made. The below photos are of that prototype.

The main controls are digital touch panels above the upper (command) deck. Seats up to seven, or four with cargo in the lower deck instead of seats. The lighting is all LED for power savings. The safety belts are by G-Force Racing, and the seats are custom molded.

There is also a pic of 3 crowded souls inside of a Soyuz TMA for comparison.

[Jammrock]

And with SpaceX there's a 90% better chance you won't blow up on launch

[Dr Mordrid]

People are already talking about the Star Trek style Commander & Pilot interfaces. No word yet as to if they're customizable, but it wouldn't shock anyone.

[Dr Mordrid]

Update:

SPACEX COMPLETES IMPORTANT COMMERCIAL CREW MILESTONE | ENTER THE DRAGON--PLEASE TAKE YOUR SEATS

SpaceX continues to prepare for our upcoming test flight in which we will attempt to send the Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station. At the same time we continue making rapid progress in our efforts to prepare the Dragon spacecraft to carry astronauts.

You may have read our update on the initial tests of the SuperDraco engines that will power the launch escape system. Recently, SpaceX completed another important milestone – the first NASA Crew Trial, one of two crew tests as part of SpaceX’s work to build a prototype Dragon crew cabin.

For this milestone SpaceX demonstrated that our new crew cabin design will work well for astronauts in both nominal and off-nominal scenarios. It also provided our engineers with the opportunity to gain valuable feedback from both NASA astronauts and industry experts.


SpaceX and NASA conducted a daylong review of the Dragon crew vehicle layout using the Dragon engineering model equipped with seats and representations of crew systems. Photo: SpaceX

The engineering prototype includes seven seats as well as representations of crew accommodations such as lighting, environmental control and life support systems, displays, cargo racks, and other interior systems. During the daylong test, SpaceX and NASA evaluators including four NASA astronauts, participated in human factors assessments which covered entering and exiting Dragon under both normal and contingency cases, as well as reach and visibility evaluations.


Test crew included (from top left): NASA Crew Survival Engineering Team Lead Dustin Gohmert, NASA Astronaut Tony Antonelli, NASA Astronaut Lee Archambault, SpaceX Mission Operations Engineer Laura Crabtree, SpaceX Thermal Engineer Brenda Hernandez, NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim, and NASA Astronaut Tim Kopra. Photo: Roger Gilbertson / SpaceX

The seven seats mount to strong, lightweight supporting structures attached to the pressure vessel walls. Each seat can hold an adult up to 6 feet 5 inches tall, 250 lbs, and has a liner that is custom-fit for the crewmember.


With all seven crewmembers in their seats, Dragon has sufficient interior space for three additional people to stand and assist the crew with their launch preparations.


NASA Astronaut Rex Walheim, SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk and SpaceX Commercial Crew Development Manager and former NASA Astronaut Garrett Reisman standing inside the Dragon spacecraft during testing activities.

In fact, Dragon has so much interior volume, that we could place an entire three-person Russian Soyuz capsule descent module inside Dragon’s pressure vessel.

Stay tuned for more updates as we work towards making Dragon the most advanced spacecraft ever flown.

[Dr Mordrid]

A new update discusses an independent advisory panel SpaceX has set up to skull out potential issues neither they or NASA has thought of (smart IMO!) and includes an image showing they've added fairings over the SuperDraco launch escape / landing thrusters. Looks more to reduce drag on the way up than anything. Cropped, zoomed & rotated below.

http://www.spacex.com/press.php?page=20120329

[MultimediaMan]

There's an old saying in Russia: the seats used in Russian craft were for shaping the New Soviet Man.

The concept of legroom and working space is going to change things quite a bit.

[Dr Mordrid]

While Soyuz and Shenzhou have mission modules they have nowhere near the electrical power to run anything larger. OTOH one could easily see a Falcon Heavy launching both a Dragon and a Bigelow Sundancer or other hab in one launch using a custom fairing. Given SpaceX's monocoque fab method for stages they might even pull a Skylab and turn an upper stage into a mission module / hab.

[Dr Mordrid]

NASA astronauts and industry experts check out the accommodations in SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft under development. (see attached image for interior changes)

[Dr Mordrid]

From the Space Technology Expo we get pics of the DragonRider's SuperDraco thruster fairing, of which it will have 4. This is said to be the final profile, or extremely close to it.

Looks a bit like a fire-breathing dragon's nose at that

[Dr Mordrid]

A better pic of the DragonRider testbed from a different angle.

Take note that the iLIDS (International Low Impact Docking System) docking adapter cover at the top is off-centered. This opens up space at one side for a small window, cameras and other docking sensors.

We also get a better look at the SuperDraco thruster "noses." With 8 independent and highly throttle-able SuperDraco's there are 2 levels of redundancy for propulsive ground landings, plus a mortar-fired parachute system as a backup.

The C1 Dragon from 2010 used a silicone foam thermal protection material for its external shell called ACUSIL, made by ITT-Aerotherm. It is the same material used to protect the data link antenna's on the back-shell of the Mars Science Laboratory that's on it's way to Mars. Its also used on missiles. ACUSIL's surface was scorched a bit after C1's re-entry, which isn't what is needed for a re-usable spacecraft.

To solve this problem SpaceX (surprise-surprise) brought things back in-house and made their own aeroshell thermal protection material for Dragon C2+: SPAM (SpaceX Proprietary Ablative Material) - which while darkened after this last mission by heat shield residue it cleaned up well in those areas where it was tried. It's looking like SPAM, or a further evolution of it, is what'll be used for DragonRider's aeroshell panels.

[Dr Mordrid]

Ramping up towards integrated real-world tests -

RELEASE: 12-233

NASA COMMERCIAL PARTNER SPACEX COMPLETES DRAGON DESIGN REVIEW

HAWTHORNE, Calif. -- NASA partner Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) has completed an important design review of the crewed version of its Dragon spacecraft. The concept baseline review presented NASA with the primary and secondary design elements of its Dragon capsule designed to carry astronauts into low Earth orbit, including the International Space Station.

SpaceX is one of several companies working to develop crew transportation capabilities under the Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) agreement with NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP). Through CCDev2, NASA is helping the private sector develop and test new spacecraft and rockets with the goal of making commercial human spaceflight services available to commercial and government customers.

In the June 14 review conducted at the company's headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., SpaceX provided details about each phase of a potential crewed mission. This included how the company plans to modify its launch pads to support such missions, Dragon's docking capabilities, the weight and power requirements for the spacecraft, and prospective ground landing sites and techniques. The company also outlined crew living arrangements, such as environmental control and life support equipment, displays and controls.

"SpaceX has made significant progress on its crew transportation capabilities," NASA CCP Manager Ed Mango said. "We commend the SpaceX team on its diligence in meeting its CCDev2 goals to mature the company's technology as this nation continues to build a real capability for America's commercial spaceflight needs."

Safety was a key focus of the review. The SpaceX team presented NASA with analyses on how its SuperDraco launch abort system would perform if an emergency were to occur during launch or ascent. The review also outlined plans for getting astronauts away from danger quickly and safely on the way to low Earth orbit, in space and during the return home.

"The successful conclusion of the concept baseline review places SpaceX exactly where we want to be -- ready to move on to the next phase and on target to fly people into space aboard Dragon by the middle of the decade," said SpaceX CEO and Chief Designer Elon Musk.

All of NASA's industry partners, including SpaceX, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities under CCDev2.

While NASA works with U.S. industry to develop commercial spaceflight capabilities to low Earth orbit, the agency also is developing the Orion spacecraft and Space Launch System (SLS), a crew capsule and heavy-lift rocket, to provide an entirely new capability for human exploration of deep space. Designed to be flexible for launching crew and cargo missions, Orion and SLS will expand human presence beyond Earth and enable new missions of exploration across the solar system.

For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew

[Dr Mordrid]

Now that it's official that SpaceX has won a full CCiCAP award they've put out a new video. Propulsive landing all the way down....

http://youtu.be/MZJk4CrxctQ

[Dr Mordrid]

Discovery News story with news about DragonRider -

http://news.discovery.com/space/spacex-cargoreturn-dragon-station-121026.html

>
In addition to its cargo missions for NASA, SpaceX has a separate $440-million partnership agreement to upgrade the Dragon the capsule and its Falcon 9 launcher to carry humans.

"The cargo is just a steppingstone," said Garrett Reisman, a former NASA astronaut who now oversees SpaceX's commercial crew programs.

"The next steppingstone is working on carrying people in the Dragon and the Falcon 9. They were designed with human-rating standards in mind," he said.

The key part of the upgrade is an emergency escape system so astronauts can be sprinted away from the rocket in case of an accident during launch.

SpaceX plans a launch pad abort test next year and an inflight abort test in 2014.

"We're going to launch a Falcon 9 with a Dragon on top and go up to around max Q (the point of maximum aerodynamic pressure on a vehicle) and show that we can punch it off the top and safely bring the crew away even in that critical flight regime," Reisman said last week at the International Symposium of Personal and Commercial Spaceflight in New Mexico.

If all goes as planned, SpaceX plans to test fly a Dragon capsule with its own astronauts aboard in May 2015.

"We're going great guns, we're working real hard and we hope to have people flying very soon inside the Dragon," Reisman said.
>

[Dr Mordrid]

http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/spacex-completes-system-requirements-review-for-crewed-launches-378446/

SpaceX completes system requirements review for crewed launches

SpaceX has completed the third milestone of its commercial crew integrated capability (CCiCap) contract, finishing the integrated system requirements review (SRR) for a crewed launch system.

The SRR, which was completed at a meeting at SpaceX's Hawthorne, California headquarters on 29 October, signify that NASA is satisfied that the Dragon capsule, Falcon 9 launch vehicle and other components of SpaceX's proposal can meet the CCiCap requirements, and that questions raised at the project kickoff meeting in August have been answered or mooted.

"These initial milestones are just the beginning of a very exciting endeavour with SpaceX." says Ed Mango, NASA's commercial crew programme manager. "We expect to see significant progress from our three CCiCap partners in a fairly short amount of time."

Successfully completing the milestone earns $50 million for SpaceX, the largest in the CCiCap programme to date.

An uncrewed version of the Dragon capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean on 28 October, successfully completing the first commercial cargo resupply flight to the International Space Station.

SpaceX has 14 milestones under the CCiCap programme, worth a total of $440 million upon completion, excluding additional optional milestones.

[Dr Mordrid]

Yet another major milestone passed -

NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Completes Orbit and Entry Review

RELEASE 13-255

NASA Commercial Crew Partner SpaceX Completes Orbit and Entry Review

NASA Commercial Crew Program (CCP) partner Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) recently reviewed the systems critical to sustaining crews in orbit and returning them safely to Earth aboard the company's Dragon spacecraft.

SpaceX is one of three commercial space companies working under NASA's Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) initiative to develop spaceflight capabilities that eventually could provide launch services to transport NASA astronauts to the International Space Station from U.S. soil.

During the preliminary design review at SpaceX headquarters in Hawthorne, Calif., company engineers presented NASA representatives and aerospace industry experts detailed analyses of Dragon systems critical to keeping crews safe in orbit and during re-entry operations. From basic life support functions, including pressurizing Dragon with breathable air, to stocking the capsule with enough food and water for as many as seven crew members, the spacecraft must be designed to protect humans in the harsh conditions of space. Company designers and NASA engineers dissected the plans carefully to make sure no details were overlooked.

"NASA has learned a lot about keeping our astronaut crews safe throughout a mission, and we don't want those lessons to be forgotten," said Ed Mango, NASA's CCP manager. "So, we're sharing a lot of what we already know, and the company is adding its own innovations to suit its needs and meet its challenges."

The review detailed equipment and software aboard Dragon that would help guide crews to the International Space Station for rendezvous and docking operations. This included discussion on SpaceX’s planning for software code which, in this modern era of spaceship design, is just as critical as the hardware design. The company also described how the spacecraft will be operated both by its onboard crew and by ground controllers.

While SpaceX works to further develop its crewed Dragon spacecraft, it also is preparing for the upcoming launch of the third of at least 12 cargo missions to the space station with a remotely controlled Dragon under NASA's Commercial Resupply Services contract.

"SpaceX’s Dragon spacecraft was designed from the outset to accommodate the upgrades necessary to safely carry people, so we’re excited to have reached the halfway point in our agreement with NASA to design those features,” said Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX president and chief operating officer. “As we leverage our experience successfully delivering cargo both to the International Space Station and back to Earth, SpaceX remains committed to providing the safest manned flights ever conducted."

In December, the company completed preliminary design reviews covering the ground systems and ascent, which are the first two phases of flight. Completion of the orbit and entry review clears the way for SpaceX to proceed with detailed designs for its integrated space transportation system, comprised of its Dragon spacecraft, Falcon 9 rocket and supporting ground systems.

The review was the seventh milestone for SpaceX under CCiCap. The company is on track to complete all 15 of its CCiCap milestones by the summer of 2014. All of NASA's industry partners, including SpaceX, continue to meet their established milestones in developing commercial crew transportation capabilities.

For more information about NASA's Commercial Crew Program and its aerospace industry partners, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/commercialcrew