Space Access Update is Space Access Society's semi-weekly publication. Space Access Society's goal is to promote affordable access to space for all, period. We believe in concentrating our limited resources at whatever point looks like yielding maximum progress toward this goal.
For the moment, our main focus is on supporting BMDO's "SSRT" (Single Stage Rocket Technology) program, DC-X and its planned-but-not-yet-funded followon, SX-2. Space Access Update is thus for the moment largely about the technology and politics of DC-X and SX-2.
We anticipate a change of focus in a couple of months, if all goes well. Once SX-2 startup funding is (with your help!) assured, we plan to begin working on establishment of a healthy second X-rocket development track at NASA, and on getting development of suitable engines started for the fully reusable orbital ships that should come after SX-2 and NASA's X-rocket.
With luck and hard work, we should see one or more fully reusable SSTO testbeds flying to orbit toward the end of this decade, with production prototypes entering test a couple of years after that. Join us and help us make this happen.
Henry Vanderbilt, Editor, Space Access Update
[For more info on Space Access Society, write us at 4855 E Warner Rd #24-150,
Phoenix AZ 85044, or email hvanderbilt@bix.com.]
[Editors note -- For those of you seeing this for the first time who need a
bit more context, look for the subsequent post titled "DC-X Background".]
It turns out that last Thursday's third flight of DC-X was a bit less routine than originally reported. Chances are the flight crew got some new gray hairs during the first few seconds off the pad, before the flight control system compensated for an engine problem and flew the rest of the mission profile correctly.
The test began around 10:28 am local time, with everything apparently normal though engine startup, right up until throttle-up for takeoff.
For some reason as yet unknown, DC-X's engines didn't throttle up as rapidly as expected, with thrust ramp-up delayed several seconds. As a result, DC-X spent considerably longer than planned hanging right over the pad area until engine thrust built up. Once that happened, the flight control system ran thrust up to 95% to catch up with the programmed flight profile.
The rest of the flight went as planned, the main features being a 180 degree around-axis roll of the vehicle using main engine gimballing for control, and a peak altitude of 1200 feet. DC-X landed within two feet of the target position and within one second of the target flight duration.
We hear the lag in engine response is being looked at, but we don't have any information yet as to the cause. We're told though that the launch stand did take some damage from rocket blast during the extra hang-time over the pad. This may or may not affect the schedule for the next pair of flights, the turnaround test pencilled in for October 13th and 16th. We'll probably have more about this a week from now.
Pure speculation department: This was the 16th firing of DC-X's RL-10-A5 engines -- two test-stand runs before installation, nine test-stand runs installed in DC-X, two DC-X static pad firings, and now three DC-X flight tests. The RL-10-A5 is a new RL-10 variant, and one of its new features is the provision of wide-range throttling (30%-100%). It's possible that some portion of the redesigned throttle machinery will turn out to need maintenance after fifteen firings, perhaps maintenance as simple as disassembly and regreasing of some mechanical throttle component.
Whatever Thursday's problem turns out to have been, the way to bet is that it was something hard to predict but easy to fix. Finding such is what flight test is for.
It's not clear yet, by the way, whether the throttle-up lag was the same for all four of DC-X's engines, or whether the lag varied by engine. In the latter case particularly, the successful recovery and completion of the test was a triumph for DC-X's designers, and especially for the people who wrote the flight control software.
[Editor's note - Surviving engine glitches at takeoff is one of the tougher requirements in designing a rocket SSTO, and is the main reason operational vertical-takeoff SSTO's will likely have a minimum of six to eight engines, to reduce the impact of unplanned thrust variations. DC-X with only four engines is marginal in this regard -- not enough engines for thrust variations to average out much at all. DC-X's recovery from Thursday's shaky takeoff speaks well for her designers and for the VTOL wingless reusable rocket concept.]
We finally got hold of official first and second DC-X flight videotapes, plus a BMDO "Delta Clipper" promo piece and amateur video from the second flight and from various DC-X talks. Drop a note to Space Access Society, 4855 E Warner Rd #24-150, Phoenix 85044, or to hvanderbilt@bix.com, for details. If you've already asked for info, we do have your name and will get back to you with no further action on your part. We've been holding off until we had all the expected material before making any promises. Orders will be filled in the order received.
David Anderman called this evening and mentioned he's trying to get as big a pro-space demonstration as possible going in Los Angeles, Saturday November 6th, 11 am, outside the Westwood Federal Building (corner of Sepulveda and Wilshire) in Century City. He has a bunch of SoCal pro-space organizations supporting him and a bunch of proposed space missions to be demonstrated for.
SAS recommends that if you do decide to go, dress comfortable-but-neat, bring an easy-to-carry sign that can be read and grasped in a one-second TV shot ("Space = Growth - But You Can't Get There From Here" and "Space - Affordable Access NOW!" come to mind) and be utterly shameless about getting your signs out in front of any TV cameras that do show up. The ideal would be to present a sharp focus on the most pressing space problem, lack of affordable access.
Practically speaking, the message is likely to be a bit more diffuse, but demos can be a good excuse to get out in the autumn air and meet new people. Speaking from early '70's experience, simple rhythmic chants ("We want to GO! We want to GO! We want to GO!", "Space NOW! Space NOW! Space NOW!" and suchlike) are a great way to pass the time, and they'll make you far more impressive on the evening news than would be a bunch of sheepish-looking people standing around holding incomprehensible signs. If you do go, think of it as a thinking-person's pep rally, and cut loose a bit.
It's been a busy week on Capitol Hill, with significant developments in both House and Senate in the effort to fund a DC-X followon.
[Editor's note - think of Congressional "Authorizations" as a shopping list for the coming year, and "Appropriations" as going through the list, writing down how much of each Authorized item to actually buy.]
The news in the House is overall good. The House Defense Authorization is finally approved, so the House-Senate Defense Authorization conference should be going forward next week. We still don't have a final list of conferees, but there's no reason to believe our list of HASC and SASC (House and Senate Armed Services Committee) leaders won't be pretty close to the mark. The House Defense Authorization still contains the most favorable language on SSRT we've gotten so far, authorizing $79.88 million for it in FY '94.
In a bit of a surprise, the House Defense Appropriations bill was also passed this week. Apparently it went through so quickly because Representative Murtha (House Appropriations Committee, Defense subcommittee chairman) worked with the House leadership to ram it through with minimum changes from his HAC Defense version.
The bad news is that this means the stealth SSTO-killer language (see SAU #21) is still in the accompanying report. The good news, and this is very good news, is that when Representative Walker attempted to fix the SSTO language in a "colloquy" on the House floor, Representative Murtha asked him to hold off, promising Walker that he, Murtha, would fix the SSTO language in the House- Senate Defense Appropriations conference. Murtha by all reports keeps his promises.
Meanwhile, over in the Senate, things aren't going so well. Senator Inouye's Senate Appropriations Committee, Defense subcommittee (SAC Defense) "marked up" last Thursday, and reports are they zeroed out the $30 million combined NASP- SSTO-Spacelifter line item from the Senate Defense Authorization.
That combined line item wasn't perfect, but it was far better than no line item at all for purposes of negotiating an acceptable compromise in the House- Senate Defense Appropriations conference due a week or two from now. The full Senate Appropriations Committee is due to meet Monday to mark up the Senate Defense Appropriation. This is our last chance before the conference to get SSRT reinserted in the Senate version of this funding bill.
We recommend calls or faxes ASAP to Senator Robert Byrd, chairman of the full Senate Appropriations Committee, to Senator Daniel Inouye, chairman of the SAC Defense subcommittee, and to any SAC members from your state.
Ask them to fund BMDO's Single Stage Rocket Technology (SSRT) program at the House Defense Authorization level of $79.88 million.
-- full Senate Appropriations Committee (SAC) list --
("Senator XYZ", office#, "Washington DC 20510" will get mail to them.)
(* = voted for the Domenici Amendment favoring full funding for SSRT.)
(note - Phil Gramm of Texas did not vote either way on the amendment.)
SENATOR STATE FAX PHONE Office#
-----------------------------------------------------------
*Bond, Christopher R MO 224-7491 224-5721 SR293
Bumpers, Dale D AR 224-6435 224-4843 SD229
*Burns, Conrad R MT 224-8594 224-2644 SD183
Byrd, Robert D WV 224-4025 224-3954 SH311
*Cochran, Thad R MS 224-9450 224-5054 SR326
*D'Amato, Alfonse R NY 224-5871 224-6542 SH520
DeConcini, Dennis D AZ 224-2302 224-4521 SH328
*Domenici, Pete R NM 224-7371 224-6621 SD434
*Feinstein, Dianne D CA 228-3954 224-3841 SH331
*Gorton, Slade R WA 224-9393 224-3441 SH730
Gramm, Phil R TX 228-2856 224-2934 SR370
Harkin, Tom D IA 224-9369 224-3254 SH351
Hatfield, Mark R OR 224-0276 224-3753 SH711
Hollings, Ernest D SC 224-3573 224-6121 SR125
Inouye, Daniel D HI 224-6747 224-3934 SH722
*Johnston, J.Bennett D LA 224-2952 224-5824 SH136
Kerrey, Robert D NE 224-7645 224-6551 SH316
Kohl, Herbert D WI 224-9787 224-5653 SH330
Lautenberg, Frank D NJ 224-9707 224-4744 SH506
Leahy, Patrick D VT 224-3595 224-4242 SR433
*Mack, Connie R FL 224-9365 224-5274 SH517
*McConnell, Mitch R KY 224-2499 224-2541 SR120
Mikulski, Barbara D MD 224-8858 224-4654 SH320
Murray, Patty D WA 224-0238 224-2621 SDB34
Nickles, Don R OK 224-6008 224-5754 SH713
Reid, Harry D NV 224-7327 224-3542 SH324
Sasser, Jim D TN 224-8062 224-3344 SR363
Specter, Arlen R PA 224-1893 224-4254 SH303
*Stevens, Ted R AK 224-2354 224-3004 SH522
Meanwhile, the House-Senate Defense Authorization conference should get underway this week. We have a tentative list of conferees (SASC & HASC committee and subcommittee heads and RRM's) attached. Call, write, or fax:
Ask them to support the House Defense Authorization language on BMDO's Single Stage Rocket Technology (SSRT) program in the Defense Authorization conference.
On the Senate side, pay particular attention to giving at least one good reason to support SSRT to the Senators who voted against the Domenici SSRT Amendment. Thank the Senators who voted for that amendment, and ask the ones who didn't (politely) why not.
-- Likely Conferees from the Senate Armed Services Committee --
("Senator XYZ", office#, "Washington DC 20510" will get mail to them.)
(* = voted for the Domenici Amendment favoring full funding for SSRT.)
Name office# phone fax (AC 202)
Sam Nunn (D-GA) SASC Chair SD-303 224-3521 224-0072
James Exon (D-NE) "Nuke" Chair SH-528 224-4224 224-5213
John McCain (R-AZ) SR-111 224-2235 224-8938
*Richard C. Shelby (D-AL) SH-509 224-5744 224-3416
William S. Cohen (R-ME) SH-322 224-2523 224-2693
Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA) SR-315 224-4543 224-2417
Carl Levin (D-MI) SR-459 224-6221 224-1388
Dan Coats (R-IN) SR-404 224-5623 224-1966
*Trent Lott (R-MS) SR-487 224-6253 224-2262
*Bob Smith (R-NH) SD-332 224-2841 224-1353
*Jeff Bingaman (D-NM) SH-110 224-5521 224-1810
*John Glenn (D-OH) SH-503 224-3353 224-7983
Strom Thurmond (R-SC) SR-217 224-5972 224-1300
John Warner (R-VA) SR-225 224-2023 224-6295
-- Likely Conferees from the House Armed Services Committee --
(all phone #'s in 202 area code, all addresses are Washington DC 20515,
in either the Cannon, Longworth, or Rayburn House Office Buildings.
Rep. Dellums' address, for instance, would be written as:
Representative Dellums
2136 Rayburn HOB
Washington DC 20515 )
phone fax address
Ron Dellums, D 9 CA HASC Chair 225-2661 225-9817 2136 RHOB
Floyd Spence, R 2 SC HASC RRM 225-2452 225-2455 2405 RHOB
Patricia Schroeder, D 1 CO 225-4431 225-5842 2208 RHOB
Earl Hutto, D 1 FL 225-4136 225-5785 2435 RHOB
Dave McCurdy, D 4 OK 225-6165 225-9746 2344 RHOB
Bob Stump, R 3 AZ 225-4576 225-6328 211 CHOB
Duncan Hunter, R 52 CA 225-5672 225-0235 133 CHOB
John R Kasich, R 12 OH 225-5355 ? 1131 LHOB
James V Hansen, R 1 UT 225-0453 225-5857 2466 RHOB
Ike Skelton, D MO 225-2876 225-2695 ?
Jon Kyl, R AZ 225-3361 225-1143 ?
Norman Sisiky, D VA 225-6365 226-1170 ?
This should all be wrapped up one way or another before October is over. It's hard to say what our chances are right now, but pushing hard over the next couple of weeks will definitely improve the odds. Once more unto the breach, dear friends...
[Note from the editor: If you've never contacted your elected representatives in Washington before, now is a good time to start. It's painless, it can actually be pretty effective, and if you don't believe developing the means of affordable space access is a good cause, chances are you wouldn't be reading this, eh? For some tips on making effective contact, see the Politics section of the subsequent "DC-X Background" posting. -HV]
Henry Vanderbilt "Reach low orbit and you're halfway to anywhere Executive Director, in the Solar System." Space Access Society - Robert A. Heinlein hvanderbilt@bix.com "You can't get there from here." 602 431-9283 voice/fax - Anonymous -- Permission granted to redistribute the full and unaltered text of this -- -- piece, including the copyright and this notice. All other rights -- -- reserved. In other words, intact crossposting is strongly encouraged. --