What will the next generation of astronauts fly to Space?
At present, the crucial important question is being decided who will be the master of the space for the next 2 for ten years. Almost half a century, when humanity poked in the immediate vicinity of the Earth, not fully understanding what it is doing, except perhaps to outrun its competitors, they came to an end. During this time, a huge amount of money was thrown into the airless space. Only one Apollo project with 6 successful expeditions to the moon cost the US budget 25 billion dollars (and this is in 1970's prices). In addition, each launch of the space shuttle shuttle is estimated at almost 500 million dollars.
He did not lag behind the United States and the USSR, only one still unrealized lunar program cost the country 2,5 billion rubles (this is at a time when the average wage was 90 rubles per month). Even more impressive amount - 16 billion rubles was, in fact, thrown on the system "Energy - Buran." The Soviet analogue of the shuttle flew into space only 1 times. The return on many space projects was minimal. But this return in the form of velcro on clothes, filters and tomographs was very useful later on Earth.
ISS - already yesterday
In recent years, the very strategy of space exploration has changed, the space powers (and China, India, Japan and the European Union have joined Russia and the United States over the years) consider money perfectly and meticulously think through their prospects. Navigation, telecommunications and other satellites themselves are well paid for. But the most interesting thing is, of course, manned cosmonautics. And here there are already a number of questions: where to fly, and whether these projects are affordable.
In this case, it is necessary to deal with those on which to fly. After the devastating programs with shuttles, it became clear that the Soviet model, when a small spacecraft with astronauts was put into orbit by a rocket, and then the crew landed in a descent capsule, is very profitable (saving compared to launching shuttles 7-8 times). Moreover, such launches were more reliable. On the Soyuz ships, only the cosmonaut's 4 died, while the Shuttles took the lives of 14 people. From this we can conclude that the next generation of spacecraft will not be fully reusable. Most likely, the rocket - ship - descent vehicle will be implemented. In this case, the descent capsule can be sent into orbit more than once.
The second main question, why actually fly. It is dominated by a mixture of romance and calculation. Mankind has always wanted to look beyond the edge of the universe, while space flights are very well developing state technologies. Today, the mass of the ISS weighs 420 tons (this is the weight of the train from 8 passenger cars), but at the same time it can be called yesterday. The experiments conducted at the station were performed by cosmonauts at the Mir station. The main thing that the ISS can give is the experience of assembling and subsequent long-term operation in orbit of a structure similar to a Martian ship. But this experience is primarily useful to the United States.
USA trusts construction of new 4 spacecraft to private companies
The main priority of its space program in the United States chose Mars. This goal is very ambitious and gives a serious impetus to the development of modern technologies. The Americans even closed their Constellation program - the establishment of a colony on the Moon, and also closed the expensive flight program of shuttles and, thus optimizing their expenses, began to prepare for an expedition to the red planet.
Spacecraft "Soyuz"
In the US, they are well aware that 60 million dollars that NASA pays for delivering each of its cosmonauts to the ISS with the help of the Russian Soyuz is more profitable than driving outdated shuttle traders. And the money saved in this way at NASA is going to be spent on the creation of new devices. At the same time, 4 companies are simultaneously working on the development of manned systems (in this case, a launch vehicle will also be needed for a new ship). Private companies were not chosen by chance. They work more flexibly, are not so blinkered when making various technical decisions and are also used to counting their money.
As a result, the first ship called the Dragon of the private company SpaceX with the Falcon rocket of the same company already on April 30 should start and dock with the international space station. In fact, it will be the world's first private spaceship. According to SpaceX founder Elon Mask, in the next couple of years his ship will be able to deliver astronauts to the ISS in 2 times cheaper than Roscosmos is doing now. In parallel with SpaceX, grants for the creation of manned spacecraft by NASA issued 3 to firms:
- the company Boeing, creates the spacecraft CST-100;
- Sierra Nevada Corporation is completing the Dream Chaser shuttle, the first test flight of which can take place in the summer of 2012. The outlines of this ship very much resemble the Clipper manned spacecraft, which was created in Russia at RSC Energia;
- Blue Origin is working to finalize the ship New Shepard (named after the first American cosmonaut Alan Shepard). The layout of the ship was tested in 2006 year.
On 4 project data from 2012 to 2014 years, NASA is ready to spend 1,6 billion dollars (the cost of 3 shuttle flights). Someone may ask why Americans immediately 4 ship? The answer is simple, Americans never "put all their eggs in one basket." Consider the almost finished Dragon ship in more detail.
Dragon spacecraft
The "dragon" consists of 2 modules: a command-unit compartment having a conical shape and a trunk adapter for docking with the second stage of the launch vehicle, which acts as an untight container to accommodate disposable equipment and goods in it, as well as system radiators cooling and solar panels. The power supply of the spacecraft, as well as on the Soyuz, is provided with the help of batteries and solar batteries. Unlike many developments, including the Boeing CST-100 and the Russian project of the Perspective Manned Transport System, Dragon is almost a monoblock device. He also has another unique feature - fuel tanks, propulsion and other equipment of the aggregate compartment are returned to the ground with the ship.
The spacecraft “Dragon” is created in several versions: cargo (in this version it will be used for the first time), cargo and passenger (crew of 4 people + 2,5 tons of cargo), manned (crew up to 7 people), as well as modifications for autonomous flights (DragonLab). In the DragonLab ship version, it will have a sealed volume of 7 cubic meters and an unpressurized volume of 14 meters. The payload delivered to orbit will be 6 tons. Flight duration from one week to 2 years.
How will Russia respond?
RSC Energia is already working on 3 of the year to create a new spacecraft under the acronym PPTS - a promising manned transport system. The first and so far the only public appearance of the Russian spacecraft took place as part of the MAKS-2011 air show, where the audience got acquainted with its layout. The technical design of the TCP should be submitted in July 2012. Tests of the device in an unmanned version are scheduled to begin in the 2015 year, and the first manned flight is planned at all no earlier than the 2018 year.
The orbital terrestrial version of PPTS - the docking version - must have a mass of 12 tons and accommodate a crew of 6 people and at least 500 kg. payload. This option should be autonomously in space for 5 days. The stand-alone orbital version of the device will already weigh 16,5 tons and contain a group of 4 astronauts and 100 kg. payload. The cargo version of the ship should put into orbit up to 2 tons of payloads and lower to the Earth at least 500 kg.
Perspective manned transport system
Roscosmos states that all manned vehicles will be reusable, and their useful life can be about 15 years, but taking into account the characteristics and shape of the PCA, the capsule itself can hardly withstand more than 10 space flights and back. According to experts, the most complex and expensive version of the spacecraft will be designed for the lunar program, while intermediate options will be able to solve a wide range of tasks. With the help of a manned version of the ship, it is planned to fly in orbit around the Earth, but not only in the horizontal plane (from west to east), but also in the vertical plane (from north to south). That is, flying through the north and south poles of the planet. To date, only satellites have worked in these orbits with a large angle of inclination, and even then by no means all (for the most part military).
At present, there is no complete certainty in Russia with the Angara launch vehicle, which is to put a new ship into orbit. The project, since 1995, is in the testing phase. However, it is clear why Roscosmos is not particularly in a hurry with the creation of a new manned vehicle. At the age of the ISS (up to 2020 of the year), the “Unions” designed as far back as the 60s of the last century should suffice. But then everything is foggy. According to the presented strategy of development of the national astronautics, Russia, more than in 50 years, is going to repeat the feat of the Americans after landing on the Moon. We have Martian ambitions only in the form of a joint project of an automatic station with the European Space Agency.
In conclusion, I would like to say that this year the Chinese are planning to occupy their first own space station, and by the year of 2025 they want to deploy their own base on the moon. It is no coincidence that the current head of NASA, Charles Bolden, believes that it is with China that the United States will be competing through 15 for years, not with Russia.
Sources used:
www.kp.ru/daily/25867.3/2832623/
www.faki.fizteh.ru/index/space_and_robotics/n_d8wj.html?&xsl:onlynew=1
www.membrana.ru/particle/3245
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