eugene@ames-lm.UUCP (Eugene Miya) (06/21/84)
On the subject of thermal protection, the tiles and the new system were developed here at Ames. I will check for references (technical) as I need to visit another office in the same building where the protection systems were developed. As requested, I am posting one article from NASA Activities v15 n5, May 84: Hitchhiker to Carry Payloads of Opportunity Aboard Shuttle Goddard Space Flight Center has received the go-ahead from NASA Headquarters to build a "hitchhiker" capable of carrying packages aboard the Shuttle that are too small to pay their way as principal payloads but too big to fly as Getaway Specials. The hitchhiker, properly known as Hitchhiker-G (for Goddard) is NASA's new Shuttle Payload of Opportunity Carrier (SPOC). It consists of a series of detachable mounting plates which can be fitted to the side of the Shuttle to carry scientific instruments up to 750 lbs on short notice. The service will be available to NASA and (on a reimbursable basis) to other agencies, private industr, and foreign governments. The new carrier should be ready for its first flight in March 1985 and is expected to fly at least twice a year, according to Ted Goldsmith, SPOC Mission Manager in the Attached Payload Project at Goddard. Hitchhiker uses room in the Shuttle's cargo bay that goes unfilled by principal payloads during many missions. Currently, the orbiter is equiped to carry up to four full-sized payloads (each averaging 13,000 lbs) for an average cost of $24 million each. Smaller payloads fly aboard the Shuttle in canisters through Goddard's Getaway Special Program (up to 200 lbs for $10,000), or on discipline oriented scientific labs having long lead times. "The hitchhiker represents a tremendous savings in cost and lead time for users now caught between these capabilities," Goldsmith predicts. The price schedule, which will be appropriately higher than Getaway Specials, is being developed by HQ. Hitchhiker will carry enough avionics to support up to six user payloads. The avonics are attached to the systems 50 by 60 foot key plate. Other plates the same size can be added or subtracted as needed, tying into the first plates avionics. Up to 250 pounds of user hardware can be attached to the avionics plate, with supplementary plates carrying an addition 500 lbs each. If the full surface area of a plate is not used, a user payload up to 750 lbs can be mounted directly to the side of the orbiter through an attach fitting. For instruments requiring pressurization or protection in the open cargo bay, hitchhiker can provide modified canisters developed by the Getaway Special project. The canister carry 170 lbs each and have openign lids, allowing their interiors to be exposed to space if desired. Hitchhiker provides electrical services for user payloads up to 500 watts of 28 volt power and 1200 baud uplink communications capability. The communications can be routed directly to a user's ground support equipment for realtime command and data service. Higher rates up to 50 megabits per second can be arranged as an optional service. According to Goldsmith, Goddard's current plans call for building the central plate, an additional bare plate and providing two modified Gateway Special canisters. The first payloads to use the hitchhiker have not been identified, but two future users will be Goddard's own OSS-2 payload and the Multi-Linear Array. On most future Shuttle flights, there should be room for a hitchhiker. The limiting factor is whether the Shuttle's principal cargoes require the orbiter's full electrical services or crew time. This is most likely to occur when the Shuttle is carrying its full complement of four payloads or is flying a particularly labor intensive mission such as Spacelab. While Goddard is preparing for Hitchhiker-G, Marshall SFC in Huntsville, ALa. is designing a similar but larger version of the same concept known as Hitchhiker-M (for Marshall). Proposed to carry heaver payloads of opportunity assocated with such tasks as materials processing or space manufacturing, Hitchhiker-M would fit across the cargo bay rather than along one side. Send inquies to NASA HQ, not me. --eugene miya NASA Ames Res. Ctr.
barryw@pesnta.PE3230.UUCP (Barry Wenger) (06/23/84)
Consider this as a nomination to change the name of the
SPOC (Shuttle Payload of Opportunity Carrier) to
SPOCK (....... Kit)
[ Beam me up Scotty, no intelligent life down here. :-) ]
--
Barry Wenger
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