The following is a summary of this RLV Operations Concept, developed from the President's National Space Transportation Policy, which directs a goal of "reliable and affordable access to space". This "operations vision" was developed from experience gained during a variety of previous space transportation programs.
1. Provide a simplified, very-highly automated vehicle enabling minimum periodic and repetitive maintenance (airplane-like) and resultant short turnaround time between missions (hours, not months).
2. Strive to isolate vehicle ground processing from dependence on facilities and GSE. Routine, scheduled turnaround should replenish consumables only.
3. Promote vehicle health monitoring/management systems and self-test at a level which supplies only O&M-anomaly-related information that requires corrective action prior to next flight. Let the vehicle "talk" to the ground remotely during processing. Incorporate special vehicle engineering instrumentation only on specifically assigned technology demonstration vehicles.
4. Eliminate "flight readiness-style" vehicle recertification for every flight. Provide aircraft-style vehicle-type certificate for repetitive commercial flight operations
5. Design-in performance margins and flight hardware allowances to eliminate processing impact, i.e., strive to eliminate unscheduled work. Mission design and flight operations are very highly autonomous by design. No dedicated software maintenance function is required to support operations.
6. Reduce operations and hardware complexity for maximum utilization of resources and eliminate opportunity for human-induced system failures: Less "hands-on", less human error.
7. Employ near autonomous ground management planning at top levels. Focus on automatic interactive scheduling of flight vehicle, ground support facilities, and support logistics.
8. Adapt minimum standardized payload interfaces to assure maximum flexibility and affordability. The most affordable vehicle will be blind to payload needs; like a truck, not like a hospital life support system. Eliminate payload impact on the launch vehicle system infrastructure.
9. Ensure joint participation AND application of the synergism available between Operations, Avionics, Propulsion, Payloads, and Vehicle Design, to the preliminary architecture/vehicle-concept, and operations-development process. This entails identification of technologies that can enable development of a vehicle system meeting attributes of the National Space Transportation Policy.
10. The role of engineering (concept, development, and technology) during the operational era will be to perform continuous improvement and technology advancement for future market driven needs.
This Operations Concept, and its still-valid references, provides VISION to the RLV development process.
Return to KSC Next Gen Site
Edgar Zapata, NASA Kennedy Space Center
Shuttle Process Engineering Directorate, Fluid Systems Division