skywalker@fred.qci.bioch.bcm.tmc.edu (04/08/90)
When will the construction start (on the ground) start ? Also when will the first segments fly onboard the shuttle ? My opinions are my own..Who am I to speak for the dead... Timothy...
dbm0000@DOMAIN_2.lerc.nasa.gov (Dave McKissock) (04/12/90)
In article <494@gazette.bcm.tmc.edu>, skywalker@fred.qci.bioch.bcm.tmc.edu writes: >When will the construction start (on the ground) start ? >Also when will the first segments fly onboard the shuttle ? Being a rather wordy engineer, my response to your simple questions is on the long side. My apologies. For those of you who don't want to wade through the following disertation, the short answers are 1) "Construction" starts after March 1992, 2) first segment flies on shuttle on March 31, 1995. === QUESTION #1 === Your first question is a little difficult to answer. It's not like we are constructing a new building, & have a ceremony where the big cheeses get to have their pictures taken during ground-breaking as they stick their shoves in the ground. In Space Station, we are following the standard NASA procedure of having a series of reviews for each Station distributed system (i.e. power system, thermal control system, communications, etc.) and each element (node 1, habitation module, solar power module, etc.). The "biggies" in the reviews are: PDR - Preliminary Design Review. A technical review of the basic design approach. Lewis Research Center is having our PDR for the Station electrical power system in July. CDR - Critical Design Review. The purpose of CDR is to determine the compliance with NASA requirements of the completed design. CDR results in authorization to the Contractor to release to manufacturing all engineering drawings, and the approval of test procedures. Our CDR is scheduled for March 1992, so I guess you could say "construction begins" on the power system after March 1992. To fill out the review list, in case you are interested, ... DCR - Design Certification Review. Ensure that all system designs have been verified and are ready for flight. DCR for flight 1 of the Station is May 1994. OPR - Operations Readiness Review. Provides a critical review and assessment of operations plans and processes, and operations capabilities not reviewed in the DCR process. OPR for flight 1 of Freedom is scheduled for August 1994. FRR - Flight Readiness Review. Formally certify the flightworthiness of the assembly hardware. The FFRR (First Flight Readiness Review) is January 1995. === QUESTION #2 === The currently baselined Space Station Freedom assembly sequence takes 29 shuttle flights. 14 of the flights deal with assembly of Station elements. 11 of the flights are Logistics & resupply, and the remaining 4 are outfitting flights (where racks are added inside the nodes & the lab modules, for example). Highlights of the assembly sequence are as follows (with a focus on the early flights as you specifically asked about the first segments): Flight Date What Goes Up 1 3/31/95 Solar array, truss structure, assembly work platform for the astronauts, astronaut positioning system, docking adapter, mobile transporter, Flight Telerobotic Servicer, & Passive Dampers (I believe they are like the kind used on LDEF to maintain Station attitude). This is a PASSIVE spacecraft. The solar arrays are not deployed until flight 2. NASA is currently studying an active spacecraft for flight 1. 2 6/15/95 More Truss bays, Starboard Ku antenna pallet with avionics, 2 propulsion pallets, starboard central Thermal Control System pallet, passive dampers. 3 8/31/95 Starboard & Port thermal control system radiators & condensors, power management and distribution pallet, Guidance Navigation & Control pallet, Attached Payload Accommodation Equipment stuff 4 11/15/95 Forward Port node, pressurized docking adapter, cupola 5 1/31/96 O2/N2 repress tanks, port thermal control pallet, propulsion pallet, Port Ku antenna pallet, more truss 6 3/31/96 Port solar array, propulsion pallet 7 6/15/96 U.S. Laboratory Module added. After this flight, the Station is "man-tended". That means when the Shuttle docks, folks can enter a pressurized module & do useful work, but the visitors must leave when the Shuttle leaves. 13 7/30/97 Freedom is permanently manned (peopled?) after this flight. The configuration includes all U.S. modules, all nodes, airlock associated power and subsystems, attached payload, the Canadian Mobile Servicing Center, and one full logistics module. 17 2/1/98 Japanese Experiment Module added. 20 6/15/98 European Space Agency Module added. 29 7/30/99 Assembly Complete. All elements of the approved Space Station Freedom Program baseline configuration are in orbit & functional. -- ----------------------------------------------------------------------- Dave McKissock sakissoc@csd.lerc.nasa.gov = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = NASA LeRC: Responsible for the remarkable & ingenious Space Station Freedom Electrical Power System = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = = Opinions expressed herein probably bear absolutely no resemblance to the official NASA position. -----------------------------------------------------------------------