Going Ballistic

Interior of Soyuz spacecraft at Sydney's Powerhouse Museum

ISS Commander Peggy Whitson has spent a record-setting 377 days in Space. Her return with South Korean Yi So-Yeon and Russian Yuri Malanchenko was an adventure in itself. In 2003 the Marooned Expedition Six crew returned on a Soyuz that unexpectedly went into ballistic trajectory, landing them hundreds of miles off-target. Several tense hours passed before they were even known to be alive. In October 2007 the same glitch caused two Russians and a Malaysian to land 300 km off target. Oops, I did it again.

Peggy Whitson's Soyuz went into the same ballistic trajectory, complete with punishing gee forces. During descent Soyuz pitched so that the entry hatch instead of the heatshield faced forward. The hatch was seriously damaged; if it had burned through the crew would be shrimp on the barbie. An antenna failure left them out of communication. The pressure equalising valve was also damaged--failure of a similiar valve on reentry in 1971 killed three cosmonauts. They landed 260 km off target. Fortunately after Expedition Six the Soyuzes were equipped with a satellite phone. This is the second time in a row that the ballistic descent has occurred.

This year's mission to repair Hubble will be the last for Atlantis. After the Shuttles are retired in 2010, there will be a gap until Orion can carry people into Space (2015? 2016? Later?). NASA hopes that the commercial COTS programme will be able to fly crew and cargo to ISS. Let us wish Elon Musk and the other competitors good fortune. Relying on Soyuz creates both political and safety risks.

Endeavour Flies Again

Here's one way to watch your planet's climate! It's not the iPhone, but here's a bit of what this blogger has been working on. The climate display shows temperature, humidity, location, date and time. Putting barometric pressure here was considered, but that fits better on the navigation display along with altitude. Spacecraft displays should be graphical and easy to read.

The next Progress resupply mission to ISS has been rescheduled from August to July to bring replacements for the computers that crashed during Atlantis' mission. Launch of STS-118 has been moved up two days from August 9 to August 7. This will be the first flight of Endeavour since 2002. Since then she has received major upgrades including flat panel displays like this one and her own GPS navigation system.

Endeavour was built in the 1980's to replace Challenger. The three remaining shuttles are very precious, for today the parts do not exist to build another even if you wanted to. Captain Cook's Endeavour was the ultimate spare part, built from a converted collier. Perhaps someone will recognise where these parts came from. It is amazing what one can accomplish by hacking existing hardware and re-adapting it for a new function.

Endeavour's crew pose in training versions of their launch and entry suits. James Cook had a continual problem with islanders, who had never seen metal before, stealing nails from his boats. Humans love shiny things! Hopefully you will like the final product.

Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer In Limbo

Now that Atlantis has safely returned to Earth, she only has two scheduled missions left. Her last flight, STS-125, is scheduled for September 10, 2008. That will be the servicing mission for the Hubble Space Telescope. As part of the mission a docking adapter will be installed, making future servicing missions by Orion possible. Refurbishing HST was nearly cancelled, but was saved by support from both scientists and the public.

The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer is designed to be attached to ISS. It incorporates superconducting magnets to detect cosmic rays striking Earth. It may find the signatures of antimatter in the early Universe. A Space Station is an unprecedented platform for such observations. AMS is a collaboration of 16 countries who have spent 1.5 billion US on the project. It is the most important physics experiment planned for ISS.

Though they strike Earth constantly, relatively little is known about cosmic rays. These particles reach energies far higher than any human accelerator can achieve. The highest energy cosmic rays, nicknamed "Oh My God" particles, have energies far greater than physics can explain. These particles may have originated at a time near the Big Bang. Their immense energies are one more indicator that the speed of light has slowed.

Nearly everyone has experienced the power of a thunderstorm. We are taught in school that lightning originates from static discharges within storm clouds. What triggers those discharges is unknown. The tracks of cosmic rays, striking and scattering particles in the atmosphere, are very similiar to lightning. Some researchers have suggested that cosmic rays are the cause of lightning! Since cosmic rays fall nearly steadily across Earth's surface, that is a hypothesis that needs to be tested. If cosmic rays cause lightning, that is one more example of how our lives are intimately entwined with Space.

The AMS is nearly completed and sitting in a clean room. Unfortunately, with the shuttle program scheduled to end in 2010, there is no longer a flight scheduled to take AMS into Space. Alternatives have been studied, but adapting the experiment to another spacecraft would cost hundreds of millions. Grounding the experiment would be a major disappointment for scientists and international partners. Physicists have not given up; the experiment is still scheduled to be received by NASA in 2008 and prepared for flight.

There are one, possibly two hopes left. NASA has allowed two "contingency" flights to ISS in case something goes wrong with a scheduled mission. If these flights are not used up, one of them could be used to orbit AMS. More ISS missions are a good thing, for they allow more supplies and crew changes. This may mean extending the shuttle program past 2010, but with all the delays that may happen anyway.

Adding a flight will also narrow the "gap" between shuttle retirement and the first Orion flights. If shuttle is retired in 2010 and Orion does not fly until 2013 (2014? 2016?) it will be the longest gap in US human spaceflight since 1975-81. During that period ISS would be completely dependent on Russian spacecraft. We can only hope that private spacecraft can help fill the gap.

Just as scientists and the public successfully lobbied to repair Hubble, now is the time to start lobbying for AMS. As before, NASA may examine alternatives before concluding that a shuttle mission is needed. This is a very important experiment that international partners have already paid for. Leaving AMS on the ground would remove one scientific justification for ISS. The Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer deserves to fly.

A Spacecraft Is Taking Shape

ISS photographed by a departing Atlantis on June 19. The two spacecraft parted ways somewhere over the Coral Sea. With installation of the last truss and deployment of its solar arrays, the station is finally assuming its shape. Turning on the solar arrays was not without problems; it somehow caused the computers to crash. They were reportedly rebooted via a bypass of the surge protectors, a very risky step. A planned Progress flight in August may be moved to July 23 to bring updated computers.

Space stations have been in people's dreams since the beginning of the rocket age. Wehrner Von Braun pubished designs for an orbiting wheel in the 1950's, which inspired 2001: A SPACE ODYSSEY. In 1983 President Reagan proposed Space Station Freedom, involving the US with Japan and European partners. Station was intended to be a steppingstone toward the Moon and planets.

During Clinton's administration the space station was very nearly cancelled. It was revived with Russian participation as Space Station Alpha. Political justification for the project went from staying ahead of Russia to fostering cooperation with them. To allow servicing from Russian spaceports, the orbit was moved to a high inclination. This made ISS useless as a fuel stop for the Moon or Mars. From its launch site in Florida, shuttle Atlantis needed 2 days to catch up with ISS. Problems in Russia delayed the launch of the first modules, but Russian assistance was invaluable after Columbia.

The project's usefulness for science has always been doubted. Originally ISS was designed for a crew of 8, but the 8-person rescue vehicle was cancelled because of budget. Crew size is limited to three using Soyuz as an escape pod, like Expedition Six. That is barely enough people to keep the station clean, much less do a lot of science. There is still room for valuable experiments, particularly the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer. Currently AMS is sitting in a clean room, its future uncertain. Amazingly ISS has survived all these hurdles.

Station is already invaluable for research on long-duration flights. Construction experience will be valuable for any large objects to be built in Space. From visions of orbiting wheels, real space stations have evolved to resemble dragonflies. The delicate network of solar panels and radiating fins has been called beautiful. It is certainly satisfying to see a big project near completion.

(On my own Space project, the parts are also being assembled. Like ISS, this was a pile of raw materiels and ideas for a years. Presently some very late nights are spent integrating the life support system and electronics. It is hard to describe how it looks, but it is quite pleasing to the eyes. This may be the only example of the technology in existence. It may change the way humans visualise spaceflight.)

Stepping Out

NASA has decided to try repairing the loose flap on Atlantis' thermal blanket. This will be done on a fourth EVA that has just been added to the three for ISS construction. Engineers on the ground are busy testing various repair scenarios. Every Shuttle mission carries at least two EVA spacesuits, called Extravehicular Mobility Units. Three EMU's are kept onboard ISS, in addition to Russian suits.

The EMU's are composed of individual parts that are assembled to fit each spacewalker. NASA is currently down to just 12 functioning portable life support systems. The EMU is simply too big to fit onboard Orion. At the end of the Shuttle program several EMU's will be kept permanently on ISS until they wear out. Museums are concerned that there may not be shuttle-era spacesuits left on Earth to display.

An Orion mission will need up to six EVA suits because Orion will have no airlock. If one person needs to go out, the entire crew must suit up and depressurise the ship. Where will they keep six EVA suits? Has anyone factored a ton of spacesuits in the weight of a 10-ton spacecraft? That will be in addition to the suits crews will wear for launch and landing. NASA wants a single suit system for Low Earth Orbit Access and EVA's, but so far the contractor community has fallen short. You're Going Out in That?

Thank the crews' bravery, for the Space Transportation System is in a fragile state. Atlantis' flight was delayed three months because the external tank was damaged by a hailstorm. Falling foam from the tank doomed Columbia and its crew. The tiles of the TPS frequently fall off--whose idea was it to cover a spacecraft with tiles? NASA is returning to the old Apollo solutions with Orion. Future Space hardware should be built tougher.

Marooned

Sorry about the interruption. Often the best work is accomplished out of publicity's glare. In Martin Caidin's novel and the movie, three astronauts from an orbiting laboratory are MAROONED by a spacecraft malfunction. (Caidin also originated THE SIX MILLION DOLLAR MAN.) Thursday I met with journalist Chris Jones. His new book TOO FAR FROM HOME tells the gripping and little-known story of Expedition Six. Astronauts Ken Bowersox, Don Pettit and Cosmonaut Nicolai Budarin were the crew stuck on ISS in the aftermath of the Columbia accident.

On November 23, 2002 three men rode as passengers in Endeavour's mid-deck to take over station. They were originally intended to return after 14 weeks in another shuttle. On February 1, 2003 Columbia's accident nixed that plan. TOO FAR FROM HOME includes many details the press omitted, like a Texas farmer finding the astronaut's recognisable bodies in a field. The shuttle squadron was grounded until July 2005. Keeping Bowersox, Pettit and Budarin alive until rescue suddenly became a big problem.

Sending another shuttle up in Columbia's wake would have been foolhardy. The crew always had an option of using the Soyuz docked at ISS as an escape pod. Abandoning ship would have been disastrous, for ISS was not designed to survive without a crew. With no humans aboard, the station would have drifted out of orbit until docking was impossible, then its orbit would decay until it fell into the atmosphere. The goal of a permanent human presence in Space would have gone down in flames.

Finally NASA and the Russians put together a plan to keep ISS alive with a minimum crew until Shuttle returned. For the relief crew, two men were chosen for their low food requirements. One of these was Edward Lu. This crew would fly up with a new replacement Soyuz, leaving Expedition Six to return in their old ship. The return to Earth was truly a rough ride, with forces exceeding 8 G's. During atmospheric entry, the plummeting Soyuz lost all radio communication.

Expedition Six landed hundreds of miles off target, somewhere in Central Asia. It would be hours before the crew would have contact with anyone. With fresh memories of Columbia, those were agonising hours for NASA and their families. After realising that rescue was not near, the three men cracked the hatch and crawled onto an alien Earth. For hours the men lay on their backs on the grass, whose very smells and sounds had become unfamiliar. Despite their trials, all three men yearn for a return to Space..

How did the US get into this mess? After the 1969 Moon landings, Von Braun designed an Apollo Applications Programme. It would have built giant space stations and a Moon base with Apollo hardware and the giant Saturn rockets. Skylab, which orbited a 3-person lab in one piece, was the only survivor. (MAROONED featured an early version of Skylab.) As Armstrong and Aldrin were stepping on the Moon, the Nixon administration was taking steps to junk Apollo in favour of the Shuttle. When I spoke with Michael Griffin in December 2005, he acknowledged what a huge mistake this was.

The US General Accounting Office concluded that Shuttle would only be cost-effective if it were the only US launch vehicle. In response NASA stopped production of Saturn and every other launch vehicle! The Air Force was forced to adopt Shuttle, which in turn forced the orbiter to have a larger diameter and wings. Serving every customer made the vehicle bigger, heavier and more expensive than it needed to be. As the old saying goes, an elephant is a horse built by committee. Since that time, our picture of Space travel has included the Shuttle.

From the disarray following Columbia, came a Vision for the Moon, Mars and Beyond. This has given NASA a true goal going where no one has gone before. It may lead to unexpected benefits, like a mission to an asteroid. After all the risks and trials that people have undergone learning to live in Space, it would be foolish to abandon ship on the Vision. Captain Kirk would say, "We've come too far to be stopped by this."