Space Life Boats

Here is a problem which technologists, scientists and programmers might consider, particularly in light of the recent shuttle disaster:

Suppose the following:

A) That you are to design an Orbital Emergency Rescue System [OERS} and are to make recommendations as to a number of possibilities and capabilities.

B) That the OERS be composed of several capabilities which will make space operations safer, allowing for several rescue modes without the need for a large ground-based rescue system. That options include both a first mode, short-term orbital survival module (provisioned for up to two weeks), as well as a longer-term second mode vehicle which has sufficient fuel and rations to make significant orbital changes such as to be able to dock with the short term orbital survival capsule, then make such changes as to either stay in orbit waiting for a rescue shuttle, or dock with the international space station, or re-enter on its own. The preferable option is to remain in orbit rather than re-enter, making the vehicle available for later emergencies. Each scheduled shuttle launch would be so scheduled that a succeeding shuttle could be made ready for launch within two weeks, equipped with appropriate rescue and repair capabilities.

C) That you would calculate the size of the first and second mode modules, with the first mode module taking from one tenth to one fifth of the existing cargo bay of the shuttle. (To be attached at the Crew Cabin end). That the second mode modules be from one to five prepositioned orbits, with the first one attached to the international space station.

D) That you make further modifications to the above parameters to extend and modify the system over the next 25 years to include rescue and recovery modes for lunar or planetary vehicles life boats.

E) Add further conditions and solutions: If the period necessary be longer than the first second mode vehicle can sustain, that provision for docking of another second mode vehicle be envisioned.

Solutions:

How many and how large would the second mode vehicles be and what would be the optimum orbits which would accommodate normal shuttle operations and the international space station?

What about the possibility of a third robotic, powered and fueled module which could dock with a shuttle vehicle and provide enough power to take a disabled or damaged repairable shuttle to the international space station after the crew had been rescued and either transferred to the space station or de-orbited?

Both the first and second mode vehicles would be designed only for survival mode, no mission-related functions would be included. Consideration should be made for additional provisions which might be gathered from the disabled vehicle and either stored within, or secured on the outside of the rescue vehicle.

Existing Solution

It seems we already have work underway which is related and could be adapted for the above:

X-40A an 85 percent scale risk reduction version of the proposed X-37, proved the capability of an autonomous flight control and landing system in a series of glide flights at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center in California. NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, manages the X-37 project. At Dryden, the X-40A underwent a series of ground and air tests to reduce possible risks to the larger X-37, including drop tests from a helicopter to check guidance and navigation systems planned for use in the X-37. The X-37 is designed to demonstrate technologies in the orbital and re-entry environments for next-generation reusable launch vehicles that will increase both safety and reliability, while reducing launch costs from $10,000 per pound to $1,000 per pound. The X-37, carried into orbit by the Space Shuttle, is planned to fly two orbital missions to test reusable launch vehicle technologies.

Nasa's X-40A
Closer view

The X-40A test vehicle was built in 1998 for the Air Force by The Boeing Company at its Seal Beach, CA, facility. It has a fuselage length of 22 feet (about 6.7 meters), a wing span of 12 feet (about 3.65 meters) and weighs about 2,600 pounds (about 1179 kilograms). It is an 85-percent-scale version of the X-37.

NASA's X-37

is a reusable launch vehicle designed to operate in both the orbital and re-entry phases of flight. The advanced technology flight demonstrator will operate at speeds up to Mach 25.

The X-37 will demonstrate dozens of advanced airframe, avionics and operations technologies that can support various launch vehicle and spacecraft designs. A major focus of the X-37 is improved thermal protection systems.

The vehicle is 27.5 feet long - about half the length of the Space Shuttle payload bay - and weighs about 6 tons. Its wingspan is about 15 feet, and it contains an experiment bay 7 feet long and 4 feet in diameter.

Its on-orbit propulsion is provided by the AR-2/3, a high reliability engine with a legacy stretching back to the 1950s. Hydrogen peroxide and JP-8 fuel the engine.

The X-37 is capable of being ferried into orbit by the Space Shuttle or an expendable launch vehicle. After it's deployed, it will remain in orbit up to 21 days, performing a variety of experiments before reentering the atmosphere and landing on a conventional runway.

Flight testing 

 The X-37 program consists of three phases of flight testing:
  Phase one - X-40A free-flight series
  Phase two - X-37 unpowered flights
  Phase three - orbital test flights 


 The X-40A free-flight test series began in March. 
 The X-40A, an 85 percent scale version of the X-37, was built in 1998 for the Air Force 
 by The Boeing Co. of Seal Beach, Calif.


 X-40A free-flight and landing tests are intended to reduce the risk of flight testing the X-37. 
 The vehicle is lifted by an Army Chinook helicopter to an altitude of about 15,000 feet and 
 then released and guided by onboard systems to landing at Edwards Air Force Base in California.
The X-37 government team, led by NASA Marshall, also includes NASA's Ames Research Center, Kennedy Space Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Langley Research Center, Dryden Flight Research Center and the US Air Force Flight Test Center at Edwards Air Force Base. The X-37 industry team is led by The Boeing Co. of Seal Beach.

Unpowered flights of the X-37, when the vehicle will be attached to NASA's B-52 carrier aircraft then released to glide to Earth, could begin as early as 2002, with orbital missions beginning in 2004.

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