Private companies building new spaceships to soar through orbital and suborbital space are looking forward to an action-packed year in 2013, with new flight tests, launches, wind tunnel tests and rocket technology trials all planned during the new year.
Of the many spacecraft being developed only one has already flown in space, the Dragon capsule built by Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) in Hawthorne, Calif.The unmanned cargo ship has flown in space three times so far, and carried supplies to the International Space Station twice in 2012 — first in May during a test and then again October.
SpaceX’s next cargo flight to the station is set for March 2013. But a new astronaut-carrying version of Dragon is also in the works. The crewed capsule will be different from its robotic predecessor in several key areas, with SpaceX set to advancing technology for the new ship in 2013.
“Dragon Version 2 won’t look like [today’s Dragon]. I think it looks pretty cool. Dragon one, we didn’t really know what we were doing so that’s why Dragon looks similar to things that have happened in the past,” SpaceX founder Elon Musk told an audience during a talk at the UK’s Royal Aeronautical Society in London on Nov. 21. Musk described Dragon version 2 as having “legs that pop out” and added that it uses parachutes and its eight SuperDraco thrusters for a “propulsive landing”. [SpaceX’s Dragon at the Space Station (Photos)]
The SuperDraco thrusters, located around the base of the Dragon, also act as the pusher launch abort system to move the capsule (and crew) clear of its rocket during a launch emergency.
While Musk was unavailable for to discuss SpaceX’s plans for 2013, company officials did provide SPACE.com details on its expected activities.
In March the company will review its Dragon pad abort test that is planned for later in the year December; in May SpaceX will perform its human certification plan review for the capsule; in June the crewed Dragon on-orbit and entry design review is expected to occur; July would then see an in-flight abort test review;
A safety review is slated for October; and before the December pad abort test, November will see a flight review of an upgraded version of SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket, which launches Dragon capsules into orbit.
SpaceX is developing the seven-person Dragon 2 capsule to compete for NASA’s International Space Station (ISS) crew transportation contract. NASA’s commercial crew program is helping industry develop competing space transportation systems to win this ISS contract. Ed Mango is the commercial crew program manager.
“2013 will be a huge year for us. In the first couple of months we’ll kick off work for our certification contract and we’ll award that shortly,” Mango told SPACE.com.
Companies selected for the certification contract will get $10 million each and have 15 months to demonstrate, with data, that their rockets and spacecraft can be considered for the space station transport mission. “The [contract winners] are not just making spacecraft and launch vehicles they are also doing it to meet a NASA mission, our mission to the [ISS],” Mango said.
( via news.yahoo.com )