With 6x more propellant and 4x the power of today’s Dragon spacecraft, SpaceX was selected to design and develop the U.S. Deorbit Vehicle for a precise, controlled deorbit of the @Space_Station https://t.co/GgtuplTwqQ pic.twitter.com/E23sS7CE4U
— SpaceX (@SpaceX) July 17, 2024
Source link: https://x.com/SpaceX/
SpaceX and NASA presented a deorbital ship that will take the ISS out of orbit
For the first time, SpaceX and NASA have demonstrated a design for an American deorbiter designed to dock with the International Space Station and launch it into the atmosphere, which will lead to its destruction and fall into the Pacific Ocean. This operation will be carried out at the end of the station's operational life, which is currently planned for 2030. This vehicle will be launched and docked at Node 2 of the ISS approximately a year and a half before official re-entry. The spacecraft, based directly on the Dragon capsule, was developed using an $863 million grant from NASA to SpaceX. The contract announcement was made on June 26, but the design of this ship was only revealed at a joint press conference on July 17, 2024.
The NASA press conference included Ken Bowersox, NASA's associate administrator for space operations, Dana Weigel, ISS program manager at NASA, and Sarah Walker, director of Dragon mission management at SpaceX. The program that finances this ship was developed separately for construction and launch. SpaceX will provide this US deorbital vehicle to NASA, and then separately SpaceX will provide launch services under a second contract with NASA's Launch Services Program. This was one of the open questions after the June announcement, as it was stated that the contract only covered development costs and not launch costs.
Plans for bringing the ISS to Earth
Dana Weigel said that they initially thought they could deorbit the ISS using three Progress capsules, but the Russian segment of the ISS (where those cargo capsules dock) does not have enough docking ports. In addition, Weigel confirmed that NASA is working to have a commercial station cover the final months of ISS operation.
That ship will be based on the Cargo Dragon, but Weigel said more than half of the spacecraft will be new. The capsule will remain on the ISS for about a year and a half before re-entry, during which time several corrective maneuvers will be carried out before final re-entry. For this reason, the capsule will carry much more fuel than is required just for re-entry.
NASA said the station's current target area for reentry is the South Pacific. Additionally, according to current models, none of the station's components should survive the impact with the atmosphere intact, but operations to possibly recover some parts are still being considered.
Technical characteristics of the American deorbital apparatus
The modified Dragon will be equipped with 46 Draco engines, which are already used on Dragon capsules for attitude control and orbit correction. 16 of these engines will be used for attitude control, and 22-26 will be used for orbital transfer maneuvers, that is, for descent into the ISS atmosphere. At the conference it was stated that no more than 22-26 of them will ever be launched simultaneously. Upon entry into the atmosphere, the total thrust of these engines will be 10 kN.
This Dragon capsule will also be able to carry 6 times more fuel than a regular Cargo Dragon and generate 3 times more electricity. At least these are the indicators they strive for.
Source link: New-Science.ru
