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NOTE: "ULA" = United Launch Alliance, a joint venture of Lockheed and Boeing
LiveScience: ULA edging towards commercial space travel....
LiveScience: ULA edging towards commercial space travel....
Atlas Boost for Space Tourism, Space Colonization
If it was good enough for Mercury astronaut John Glenn back in 1962, it must be good to go to hurl tourists into Earth orbit and beyond.
That was the one-two punch delivered at the recent Space Technology & Applications International Forum (STAIF) held February 11-15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jeff Patton of the Business Development & Advanced Programs of the newly formed United Launch Alliance (ULA) spotlighted that a “potential new market for construction, crew and cargo delivery to low Earth orbit†can be serviced by the Atlas V 401 booster.
ULA’s Patton detailed a capsule-based passenger transfer vehicle that sits nicely atop the Atlas - a craft based on the design work and reentry technology used in the Genesis, Stardust and several Mars missions.
NASA has identified a term that is used for human flight called “Black Zones†Patton said, a phrase that defines any period of flight when an abort would be unsafe for the passengers.
A great deal of effort was spent during work on the Orbital Space Plane - a precursor design to the current Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle - an exercise that identified potential Black Zones and eliminating them by modifying the Atlas Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV).
Patton’s bottom line: Atlas V 401/402 boosters are well suited for low Earth orbit human spaceflight and taking on a roster of commerical human spaceflight needs.
Also at STAIF, Michael Holguin of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation pointed to using the Atlas and the Centaur upper stage to propel people, habitats and hardware to the Moon and Mars, calling it a reliable, robust, and safe approach to space colonization.
If it was good enough for Mercury astronaut John Glenn back in 1962, it must be good to go to hurl tourists into Earth orbit and beyond.
That was the one-two punch delivered at the recent Space Technology & Applications International Forum (STAIF) held February 11-15 in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Jeff Patton of the Business Development & Advanced Programs of the newly formed United Launch Alliance (ULA) spotlighted that a “potential new market for construction, crew and cargo delivery to low Earth orbit†can be serviced by the Atlas V 401 booster.
ULA’s Patton detailed a capsule-based passenger transfer vehicle that sits nicely atop the Atlas - a craft based on the design work and reentry technology used in the Genesis, Stardust and several Mars missions.
NASA has identified a term that is used for human flight called “Black Zones†Patton said, a phrase that defines any period of flight when an abort would be unsafe for the passengers.
A great deal of effort was spent during work on the Orbital Space Plane - a precursor design to the current Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle - an exercise that identified potential Black Zones and eliminating them by modifying the Atlas Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV).
Patton’s bottom line: Atlas V 401/402 boosters are well suited for low Earth orbit human spaceflight and taking on a roster of commerical human spaceflight needs.
Also at STAIF, Michael Holguin of Lockheed Martin Space Systems Corporation pointed to using the Atlas and the Centaur upper stage to propel people, habitats and hardware to the Moon and Mars, calling it a reliable, robust, and safe approach to space colonization.