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Over the past couple of months, numerous status reports have been posted on the Shuttle Standup\/Integration reports \u2013 which SSP use to bring the teams up to date on vehicle and program status. The vast majority of updates have been positive, as the well-oiled Shuttle teams took a deeper look into the concept at the request of the Augustine Commission.<\/p>\n
The concept appeared to suffer from only one drawback \u2013 via the large mass its payload carrier \u2013 before that was cleared as part of the \u201cno showstoppers\u201d conclusion last month.<\/p>\n
Following a presentation of their findings to Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of the Space Operations Mission Directorate (SOMD), the HLV concept has since been presented to the directors of both the Johnson Space Center (JSC) and MSFC (this week).<\/p>\n
Space Shuttle models
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![\"A2\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/A215.jpg\" "\\"A2\\"")
The latest update also noted that the concept is now in a dialog stage with the Constellation Program, with the aim of receiving feedback.<\/p>\n\u201cHeavy Lift Launch Vehicle (HLV) (NASA\/JSC): HLV presented to the Center Director and had a good discussion. Got a bunch of questions and some actions,\u201d noted this week\u2019s opening Shuttle Standup\/Integration report (L2).<\/p>\n
\u201cOne action was to brief the Cx Program and other Centers about what they are doing. So, on Friday they presented to the Cx Program and had many questions from them. Starting to have a dialog.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis week, HLV will go to MSFC to brief the Center Director. Have put out a preliminary draft of a HLV FAQ (Frequently Asked Questions) document. Looking for feedback.\u201d<\/p>\n
HLV Special Team\/Jupiter:<\/p>\n
It was via an update on last week\u2019s Standup report that the first mention was made relating to a \u201cSpecial Team\u201d that has been ordered to evaluate the other HLV alternative vehicles. With the SSP HLV team asked to support this MSFC-based effort, the standup noted this had become the top priority.<\/p>\n
\u201cHLV has been asked to support a special team looking at evaluating HLV alternatives,\u201d noted the report. \u201cThe HLV Team is now treating this as a top priority. A report will be ready by Thanksgiving.\u201d<\/p>\n
Further inquires into the specific evaluations being carried out by the Special Team revealed that all viable \u2013 per the Augustine Commission\u2019s initial options \u2013 HLV alternatives are being looked at \u201cfairly\u201d, with General Bolden himself responsible for ordering the report.<\/p>\n
![\"A3\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/A314.jpg\" "\\"A3\\"")
Sources note that the DIRECT team\u2019s Jupiter launch system \u2013 an updated version of MSFC\u2019s very own NLS (National Launch System) concept from the 1990s \u2013 has dominated early discussions at the Special Team meetings.<\/p>\nThis runs parallels with the Augustine Commission, which presented the SD HLLV and Jupiter launch vehicle as the top two \u201cShuttle Derived\u201d options during presentations over the last couple of months. Both of the SD options are also deemed as the best route to cater for the extension of the Shuttle Program.<\/p>\n
Ironically, it was an earlier MSFC study which found \u201cserious issues\u201d with Jupiter\u2019s performance and capabilities, whilst claiming the vehicles lacked the \u201coperational safety and simplicity\u201d of Ares. Those findings led to a 100 page rebuttal document being published by the DIRECT team.<\/p>\n
The Special Team have also been asked to look into the CONOPs (Concept of Operations) for the HLV alternatives, although such an effort will be somewhat open-ended, as a final forward path for NASA\u2019s exploration strategy is yet to be confirmed.<\/p>\n
Waiting for the forward path:<\/p>\n
With job losses already being suffered by the shuttle workforce, managers continue to send out updates to their employees on when NASA can expect to have a clear forward path, which \u2013 according to SSP manager John Shannon \u2013 is not expected until December at the earliest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe entire conversation \u2013 at the JSC Senior Staff Retreat \u2013 revolved around workforce requirements over the next few years. There are a great deal of rumors floating around, but little hard information,\u201d noted Mr Shannon via the Standup report. \u201cThe week after Thanksgiving, the November Passback will be put out and this should clarify the near-term NASA budget.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Agency has demonstrated a strong commitment to exploration. SSP expertise will be tapped to support this goal. No decisions are being made at this time, as we await the budget information. Beginning in December and through the early part of next year, all of the stakeholders will convene to lay out the way forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
While Shuttle Extension remains on the cards \u2013 at least until the end of this year \u2013 as one of the options available to President Obama via the Augustine Commission\u2019s findings, Mr Shannon has been consistent in not intimating the likelihood of any addition to the six remaining flights on the manifest.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone must remain calm and focused on the task at hand. We have six flights ahead of us, with this coming year likely to be very challenging and filled with complicated missions,\u201d Mr Shannon added. \u201cWe must make sure that we continue to do everything to the best of our ability.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter this is accomplished, we can turn our eyes back towards exploration. All future plans are keyed on operating the SSP correctly and safely performing its tasks over the coming year. (I have) absolute confidence in the Team being able to accomplish this work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Altair Defunded:<\/p>\n
On the subject of exploration, the state of NASA\u2019s plans continue to deteriorate, with sources noting they were informed on Monday that the Altair Lunar Lander project has been defunded. No official statement has been made at this time.<\/p>\n
![\"A4\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/10\/A49.jpg\" "\\"A4\\"")
Very little has been heard from the Altair Program since heading into the opening development cycles (DACs) last year, which had been building from the Minimum Functionality Approach \u2013 as the relatively small team went about defining the lander concept.<\/p>\nThe last cycle of the lander baseline, which was known simply as the \u2018p711-b Lunar Lander\u2019, had visible heritage in the ESAS (Exploration Systems Architecture Study) \u2019spider lander\u2019. This concept was expected to change during downstream DACs \u2013 related to numerous elements, including the capabilities of the Ares V that was tasked to lift it into space.<\/p>\n
With large scale funding shortages across the Constellation Program, and no realistic \u2013 from a monetary and schedule standpoint \u2013 lunar plans being built, the decision to end or mothball the Altair Program may be strategic, although it is likely they simply ran out of money.<\/p>\n
With all of Constellation\u2019s efforts being focused on the Ares I program \u2013 a vehicle that won\u2019t be ready in time to launch to the ISS before it is currently scheduled to be deorbited and many years from playing a role in a Lunar mission \u2013 the need for increased funding is being made ever more apparent by decision makers at NASA, as the Agency continues to move towards a gap of up to seven years in human space flight capability.<\/p>\n
L2 members<\/em><\/em>: Documentation \u2013 from which the above article has quoted snippets \u2013 is available in full in the related L2 sections, now over 4000 gbs in size.<\/em><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden has asked for a \u201cSpecial Team\u201d at the Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) to evaluate the Heavy Lift alternatives \u2013 including DIRECT\u2019s Jupiter launch vehicle \u2013 as a \u201ctop priority\u201d. The team has been asked to create a report on their findings in time for Thanksgiving, in an apparent reaction to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[9099,9206,9034,8184],"class_list":["post-40959","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-altair","tag-direct","tag-hlv","tag-sls-orion"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40959"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40959"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40959\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40959"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40959"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40959"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}