SpaceX Dragon 1 - CRS-8: ISS resupply mission

[DocM]

Launch: NET April 4, 2016
Window: 1815 E, 2215 Z 

Landing: LZ-1

 

Ressurized: ISS logistics 

 

Unpressurized: Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) 

 

BEAM is a 2 year subscale space qualification mission of Bigelow Aerospace's expandable habitat technology.

 

 

 

 

 

[T3X4S]

So its a way to keep adding rooms to the ISS ?

 Thats pretty cool.

Person in space :

Im bored.

Another person
Hey!  Lets totally screw with Bob - we will change the layout of the entire place, then place him in a room and leave it on the crane - disconnected to everything ... when he wakes - he wont know what the eff is going on !!

[DocM]

Not so much to expand ISS but qualify it for use in new commercial stations and as habitats for long duration space missions, on other bodies (Moon, Mars, Ceres, Deimos etc., or on Battlestar style space cruisers like the NASA Nautilus X concept.

 

NASA has already said its next use of a station will leverage commercial space stations.

 

Of course SpaceX has their own idea how to do a Battlestar style spacecraft

 

Nautilus X concept visualization of its cislunar and exploration versions.

 

 

 

 

Edited March 11, 2016 by DocM

[Draggendrop Veteran]

Excellent...the start of CRS-8, and now that Doc set up a good thread, I'll litter it with the mission patches, now that we have a place for them.

 

 

 

 

This mission is going to be neat, the launch and return...plus the Beam installation and "inflation", for lack of a better word.

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

 

No big deal...was a bit close to Cygnus before and these require manpower to unload.   

[DocM]

Yeah, the Cygnus black mold delay royally fracked up the visiting vehicle schedule. 

 

I think part of the downmass will be the leaky spacesuit from several weeks back. Time for refurbing and relaunch July+

[BetaguyGZT]

Yep, and the traffic pattern at the ISS this Winter/Spring is booked up pretty solid. Delays are actually helpful right now. Let ATK get their CRS Orders filled -- they aren't going to be doing much of that the second half of this year, and the pattern is going to be almost all SpaceX, JAXA and Roscosmos. SpaceX is using the time right now to their advantage, make no mistake about it friends.  

 

Having said that, there really need to be some ... additions ... to the ISS.  I'd love to see a dedicated 3-port Docking Module added to the Station to replace the old Shuttle Docking Berth. That would really be helpful, and it's not like there'll be any more Shuttles using that space. Or is that where the new IDA-2 is going? And isn't the BEAM going to be an in-line Module, technically not taking up a Docking Port at all since it has a second one on the other end?

 

This isn't Kerbal Space Program, so we can't just plonk a 6-way Docking Hub with a Mechjeb, 4k Roundie (battery), MonoProp Tank and some RCS Thrusters into orbit with HyperEdit (with a 0.03 sec follow time so that it magically scientifically appears behind the ISS's orbital track at a mere 68 meters away).

[DocM]

BEAM's not inline.

 

IDA-2 goes up on CRS-9, and IDA-3 goes up on CRS-12.

 

 

[SALSN]

Since this is going to the station, we can expect a landing attempt, for the first stage, on land, correct?

[anthdci]

1 hour ago, SALSN said:

Since this is going to the station, we can expect a landing attempt, for the first stage, on land, correct?

yes

[Beittil]

There is a permit for the barge as well I believe and they are working like crazy to repair it! I wouldn't rule out a shot at the ASDS, they _really_ want a successful landing at sea!

[DocM]

They'll get the FCC frequency permits for both then if ASDS is ready choose depending on weather. Since the surface wind limit for launch is 35 mph and 50 mph for landing its hard to see landing off the table in 10-12 minutes.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I tend to lean on a RTLS as the need to start building an inventory of returned cores needs to be started. I would think that there are enough missions coming up which have tight margins and are ideal for ASDS. They will land one on an ASDS, just land the tough margin launches there where options become iffy.

[DocM]

On 3/17/2016 at 2:32 AM, DocM said:

IDA-2 goes up on CRS-9, and IDA-3 goes up on CRS-12.

 

IDA-3 bumped to CRS-14

 

On 3/17/2016 at 2:32 AM, DocM said:

 

 

 

[DocM]

Now April 8, 2016

T-0: 1643 Eastern

 

Moved because of Cygnus and Soyuz dates. 

 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2016/03/18/spacex-8-experiments-to-cover-habitat-drug-research/

 

Quote

 

SpaceX-8 Experiments to Cover Habitat, Drug Research

 

SpaceX plans to launch its Dragon spacecraft into orbit in early April, the company’s eighth mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract, CRS-8. The flight will deliver research experiments to the International Space Station that will help investigators test the use of an expandable space habitat in microgravity, assess the impact of antibodies on muscle wasting in a microgravity environment, use microgravity to seek insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale level and use protein crystal growth in microgravity to help in the design of new drugs to fight disease. Investigations like these demonstrate how the orbiting laboratory helps advance NASA’s journey to Mars while making discoveries off the Earth that can benefit life on Earth.

 

Future space habitats for low-Earth orbit or in deep space should be lightweight and relatively simple to construct. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable capsule that attaches to the space station. After installation, the BEAM expands to roughly 13-feet-long and 10.5 feet in diameter to provide a large volume, where a crew member can enter. During the two-year test mission, astronauts will enter the module for a few hours three-to-four times a year to retrieve sensor data and conduct assessments of the module’s condition. There’s a lot more to the research story of CRS-8, and you can read it at http://go.nasa.gov/22riUPJ

 

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

bits and bytes

 

 

 

 

 

 

The second tweet stunned me a little. The RTLS would have been a close "gimme" for a reusable S1. Taking the riskier ASDS approach, in my mind, would only be to silence the "ill informed" from generating "bad press" from lack of understanding. I will proceed to remove my foot from my mouth now.

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

NASA Targets Early April for Eighth SpaceX Cargo Launch

 

Press release

 

Expedition 39 crew members captured this image of the arrival, capture and berthing of the SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule at the International Space Station April 20, 2014.
Credits: NASA

 

Quote

Media accreditation now is open for the April launch of a cargo resupply service mission to the International Space Station. SpaceX’s Dragon cargo spacecraft is targeted for launch at 4:43 p.m. EDT Friday, April 8.

 

The Dragon capsule will launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from Space Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station (CCAFS) in Florida, carrying science research, crew supplies and hardware to the orbiting laboratory in support of the Expedition 47 and 48 crews. The flight also includes the Bigelow Aerospace expandable habitat module that will be attached to the space station for testing. In its scheduled return to Earth in May, the Dragon capsule will bring back biological samples from astronauts, including those collected during NASA’s one-year mission. This launch is the eighth contracted mission by SpaceX under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract.

 

Media prelaunch and launch activities will take place at CCAFS and at nearby NASA Kennedy Space Center. The deadline to apply for media access to Kennedy is 5 p.m., March 24 for non-citizens and 5 p.m. March 31 for U.S. citizens. The registration deadline for international media access to the Air Force station has passed for this event.

 

All media accreditation requests must be submitted online. International media are required to upload a scanned copy of their visa and passport or green card when submitting their online accreditation request. To apply for media accreditation, visit:

https://media.ksc.nasa.gov

https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-targets-early-april-for-eighth-spacex-cargo-launch

 

[BetaguyGZT]

This ASDS Landing has a probable chance of success; on the order of 85% or better. There's nothing to stop it from going right this time besides the weather/sea conditions. It's a nice, straight flight track down the pipe to the deck. They need these to go right for FH Core Landings -- and the only way to retrieve those is downrange.

 

Can we assume the fallback plan will be RTLS?

[Draggendrop Veteran]

I believe, it was like Doc had mentioned...If the weather is good, it will be the same for the next 10 minutes, or so, for re-entry. The only issue will be sea state, and this will be known at launch, and will be the same for the 10 minute period as well. The call can be made just prior to launch.

 

At least we won't be dealing with the velocity of the SES launch...and a few extra fuel cans to boot....

[DocM]

They want to get ASDS landings down for FH center cores.

 

Dragon 1 #10 - CRS-8 and members of the SpaceX integration crew

 

[Draggendrop Veteran]

It just seemed particularly different, to me, to use the ASDS at this time. FH demo is a ways off with a few F9FT heavy payloads in the manifest which would be ideal for the ASDS. I don't think it is an issue to land on the ASDS since they have demonstrated pin point accuracy, it was just that they had an older version on Jason 3 (leg design) and a very high velocity ( and fuel depletion) on the last one.

 

In hindsight, they may be practicing for a FH demo that also includes landing all 3 stages....thoughts.....

[DocM]

I'd bet the FH #1 plan will be a 3 core landing; the boosters at LZ-1 and the center core downrange on ASDS.

[Draggendrop Veteran]

SpaceX-8 Experiments to Cover Habitat, Drug Research

 

 

Quote

SpaceX plans to launch its Dragon spacecraft into orbit in early April, the company’s eighth mission under NASA’s Commercial Resupply Services contract, CRS-8. The flight will deliver research experiments to the International Space Station that will help investigators test the use of an expandable space habitat in microgravity, assess the impact of antibodies on muscle wasting in a microgravity environment, use microgravity to seek insight into the interactions of particle flows at the nanoscale level and use protein crystal growth in microgravity to help in the design of new drugs to fight disease. Investigations like these demonstrate how the orbiting laboratory helps advance NASA’s journey to Mars while making discoveries off the Earth that can benefit life on Earth.

 

Future space habitats for low-Earth orbit or in deep space should be lightweight and relatively simple to construct. The Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM) is an experimental expandable capsule that attaches to the space station. After installation, the BEAM expands to roughly 13-feet-long and 10.5 feet in diameter to provide a large volume, where a crew member can enter. During the two-year test mission, astronauts will enter the module for a few hours three-to-four times a year to retrieve sensor data and conduct assessments of the module’s condition. 

https://blogs.nasa.gov/spacex/2016/03/18/spacex-8-experiments-to-cover-habitat-drug-research/

 

[DocM]

Casual observers may notice much space hardware, suits etc. has a white fabric covering it, including BEAM. This is known as Beta Cloth, which is a silica based fabric which is infused with Teflon. 

 

Beta Cloth was developed after the Apollo 1 fire, which killed 3 astronauts. The fire melted their nylon suits, so in response NASA, Dow Corning and DuPont developed a fire resistant cloth good to 650°C. Teflon was added mainly to prevent wear and rips.

 

Obviously BEAMS outer layer wontt be subject to a fire, but it is subjected to direct sunlight induced temperatures over 125°C, radiation etc. which would degrade most other fabrics. It's been improved over the years, but here it is again.

 

 

Edited March 21, 2016 by DocM

[DocM]