Boeing Plans Changes for Upper Stages NASA's Space Launch System Megarocket

Boeing Plans Changes for Upper Stages NASA's Space Launch System Megarocket

Boeing Plans Changes for Upper Stages NASA's Space Launch System Megarocket







BREMEN, Germany - With NASA's decision to continue using an interim upper stage for additional flights of the Space Launching System, Boeing is working on the changes.Both for that stage and for a more powerful upper stage.



	

	In a call with reporters on October 3, John Shannon, vice president and program manager of the Boeing Space Launching System, said NASA asked Boeing to examine the changes in the Upper Exploration Stage (EUS) to improve its performance.

		Those changes were motivated by the decision that NASA took earlier this year to delay the introduction of EUS. That stage was originally planned to be used with the second SLS mission, Exploration Mission (EM) 2. In contrast, the first flight of what is known as the SLS Block 1B configuration was delayed until the fourth SLS launch, probably not before 2024.

The[[Photos: NASA's space launch system for deep space flights]

		"That has slowed the work of the Higher Stage of Exploration," he said. "We were quickly approaching critical design review."





						


With the Block 1 version of the SLS now planned to be launched three times instead of just once, NASA has asked Boeing to slow down the work in the more powerful upper stage of exploration and optimize its payload performance.

            						    Credit: NASA 


NASA has asked Boeing to spend some time trying to "optimize" the EUS in order to increase the amount of additional payload it can carry. Such co-manifested payloads, such as modules for The lunar portal proposed by NASA, it would be carried in the SLS under the Orion spacecraft.

		"We are actively working through additional design opportunities to lighten the stage and increase its performance and further exploit the lunar area, so that the Gateway can be built and we can retrieve human boots on the surface of the moon." he said.

		Shannon said later that neither the company nor NASA had a specific goal to increase EUS performance. "It's a very open discussion with NASA," he said, describing it as an opportunity created by the delay in introducing the scenario. "We have some guys really ready, they come and go with some really cool options for NASA to consider." Those options include changes to the scenario itself, as well as orbital mechanics techniques.

		While he said there was no specific goal for that performance increase, he mentioned later in the call "all the work we're going to do to try to get an extra ton or two of co-manifest cargo." NASA has previously announced a co-manifested payload capacity of approximately ten tons for Block 1B of SLS.

		The decision to delay the introduction of EUS means flying two additional missions of Block 1 of SLS with the original Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Phase (ICPS). One of those missions will be for EM-2, the first Orion flight with crew, while the other is reserved for the launch of NASA's Europa Clipper spacecraft to Jupiter's moon Europa.

		Shannon said NASA is managing the acquisition of the two additional ICPS units of the United Launch Alliance, which were based on the upper stage of Delta 4. That should be completed in the "next two months," he said.

		Originally, the ICPS was not planned to be evaluated by humans, but will undergo some changes to be used in the EM-2 mission. The biggest change is the addition of an emergency detection system similar to that used in the upper stage of Centaur of the Atlas 5 in commercial crew missions. Additional sensors and instrumentation will be added to the stage for redundancy and to give Orion astronauts more information about the stage status.

		During the call, Shannon also addressed the schedule for the development of the SLS. The central stage, for which Boeing is the main contractor, has been on the critical path for the EM-1 launch in mid-2020. It has been running "neck and neck" with the Orion service module, as Mark Kirasich , manager of NASA's Orion program, described it at a briefing that same day.

		"That's a good characterization of that," Shannon said. The goal is to complete the central stage and deliver it to the Stennis Space Center in Mississippi "early next summer." It will spend about six months in tests, including a full-length trip of its four RS-25 engines.

		Once these tests are completed, the central stage will go to the Kennedy Space Center to integrate with its solid rocket boosters, ICPS and the Orion spacecraft for six additional months of testing. "It seems that everything is aligning and we are synchronizing with Orion from a programmed point of view," he said. "We can support the needs of the program."

		He admitted that the program had underestimated the amount of effort that would be required to develop the vehicle, which has suffered several years of delays. "We underestimated that to some extent, we thought we could reuse the hardware without a [qualification] as we have done in some parts, "he said." But when we put ourselves to the test and understood the environments in an SLS, we had to go back and do additional qualification work. "



	This story was provided by SpaceNews, dedicated to cover all aspects of the space industry.



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