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Spaceport
2004
The Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group
"Space provides new exploration frontiers for the human spirit, and yet today, the United States continues to rely on old infrastructure and its laurels when it comes to space exploration. The 21st century is upon us, and it is now time to explore space and make space accessible to all walks of life. By providing this low-cost, safe, routine access to space, more substantial opportunities will be available to help the nation grow as a whole with commerce, technology, aerospace leadership, and new economic opportunities for every citizen.
The Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group (ASTWG) grew iteratively in response to a desire that has been around for decades – to improve the efficiency of ground operations".
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The Vision Spaceport Partnership
Papers & Presentations ¦ The Project ¦ Contact
In 1998, the Kennedy Space Center entered into a Joint Sponsored Research Agreement (JSRA), with Ames Research Center, the Institute for Simulation and Training of the University of Central Florida, Barker-Ramos & Associates, the Boeing Company, Command and Control Technologies Corporation, Lockheed Martin Corporation and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) / Pat Rawlings. All parties contributed to the partnership and worked towards achieving the objectives of the agreement through the partnership.
Vision Spaceport was dedicated to promoting an R&D partnership between government, industry and academia to help conceive revolutionary new spaceport architectures and space launch operations capabilities. This R&D partnership aimed to promote the development of design tools or models for the purpose of guiding and thus advancing the state of the art in spaceport performance.
A vision of ground infrastructure and operations for future space travel:
Vision Spaceport Partnership Year 2001 Report:
This report summarizes the R&D activity of the Vision Spaceport Partnership from 1998 through 2000 and coincides with the first release of the Strategic Planning Tool. In addition to providing top-level findings, the NASA Technical Manager provides a long range, “quick-look” vision of ground infrastructure and operations for future space travel.
- April 2001 - VSP Final Report - Download (8MB) as .doc file or download (1.2MB) as .pdf file. "Renewing America’s Space Launch Infrastructure & Operations", Carey M. McCleskey, Technical Manager Spaceport Technology Development Office NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center.
- November 2000 - FINAL REPORT to the NASA Space Solar Power Exploratory Research and Technology (SERT) Program - "Spaceport Concept and Technology Roadmapping" (1.8MB .doc file) -Investment Steps to Routine, Low Cost Spaceport Systems", Prepared by the Vision Spaceport Partnership. For further information on this report contact Edgar Zapata, NASA Kennedy Space Center.
- September 1999 - Summary article on Vision Spaceport as reported in NASA Tech Briefs business forum.
- October 1999 - "Strategic Space Launch Concept and Technology Roadmaps to Develop Visionary Spaceports", McCleskey, C.M., International Astronautical Federation (IAF-99), Amsterdam, The Netherlands.
- September 1998 - "Designing for Annual Spacelift Performance", McCleskey, C. & Zapata, E., International Astronautical Federation (IAF-98), Melbourne, Australia.
Established the foundation of methods for calculating the costs of future space transportation systems ground operations in a manner that usefully married operability characteristics with available data. Operability characteristics were those descriptive features, such as the number of tanks or thrusters, or the different fluids and their types, that are not just incidental vehicle and ground system features of a concepts design, but also drivers likely to alter and control outcomes and consequences such as ground operations cost, turnaround time and launch rate productivity per year. "Available" data too meant that new systems could be understood relative to the data at hand, rather than awaiting data still to be found or distilled from past systems ground operations.
Avoided weight based calculation schemes, arriving more closely at true ground operations cost drivers.
Began the momentum towards accumulating Shuttle data, understanding what was useful and what was not, so as to over time connect the puzzle pieces of human space flight difficulties into a coherent set of drivers vs. outcomes.
The Software:
The VSP software related complexity to costs methodically. The issues of margin and standardization were also key drivers.
The Vision of the future spaceport is one of high productivity & high launch rates at affordable scales enabled by the right design, technology, knowledge and organization.
The advantages of the multi-modal transportation hub and of horizontal take-off systems that advance affordable access to space - in this generation.
The Team:
Management Support
- R. Bridges/KSC Director
- L. Shriver/KSC Deputy Dir.
- J. Morgan/KSC Assoc. Dir.
- D. Hendriksen/KSC Dpty. Chief Counsel
- J. Hattaway/Dir. KSC Procurement
- M. Freeman/NASA Ames
- G. Allen/NASA KSC SE&T
- B. Melnick/Boeing
- R. Davis/CCT
- B. Atkins/Lockheed Martin
- R. Hofer/UCF-IST
- K. Ramos/Barker-Ramos
JSRA/Project Administration
- M. Duenas/NASA Ames
- B. Vrioni/KSC Patent Counsel
- D. Shelton/NASA KSC Engineering
- S. Colloredo/KSC Engineering
- B. Collins/KSA KSC Procurement
- L. Euell/KSC Resources
- N. Buchert/Boeing
- C. Shea/Boeing
- P. Simons/CCT
- D. McGhee/Lockheed Martin-Michoud
- B. Wick/UCF-IST
Project Team
- C. McCleskey/NASA KSC SE&T, Govt Co-Chair
- R. Byrd/Boeing, Industry Co-Chair, 1997-2000
- K. Ingoldsby/Lockheed Martin, Industry co-chair, 2001
- P. Rawlings/SAIC, Space Concept Artist
- R. Rhodes/NASA SE&T
- J. Huether/Boeing
- K. Brown/CCT
- K. Ingoldsby/Lockheed Martin
- E. Zapata/NASA SE&T
- R. Vargo/Boeing
- J. Horn/CCT
- W. Lattin/Lockheed Martin
- A. Ruiz-Torres/FGCU
- M. Sklar/Boeing
- J. Judkins/CCT
- P. Jogelkar/LaSalle Univ.
- C. Urrutia/Boeing
- B. Collins/CCT
- J. Parsons/IST-UCF
- R. Cutri-Kohart/Ga Tech
- C. Besset/Boeing
- G. Martin//IST-UCF
- S. Malsom/NASA Ames
- (and many UCF students-great job!)
Contacts, Further Information, Distribution:
- For further information on this project contact Carey McCleskey of NASA KSC at carey.m.mccleskey@nasa.gov.
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1999-2000
- November 2000: Graph: Global and Domestic Trends in Spacelift - Tons per Year to Orbit - In Continued Decline
- National Spaceport Testbed, Brown, K., & McCleskey, C.M., 37th Space Congress, Canaveral Council of Technical Societies, Cape Canaveral, Florida, May 2000
- February 8,
2000 (.pdf) - "Report of the
Interagency Working Group on the Future
Management and Use of the U.S. Space Launch Bases
and Ranges" (OMB, DoD, DoC, DoT,
USAF, FAA, NASA, NRO).
- Also includes (page 70 of prior) graphical no growth launch forecasts, Western and eastern ranges, this coming decade.
- January 2000 (.pdf)
- Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of
Commercial Space Transportation (AST) "1999 Year in Review
Report".
- Notably, "A Total of 78 Orbital Launches were conducted worldwide in 1999 for commercial, civil and military purposes."
- Continued decline in worldwide launches as charted for the last 10 years.
- January 2000 (2.4 MB .pdf) - Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Office of Commercial Space Transportation (AST) "2000 Reusable Launch Vehicle Programs and Concepts - With a Special Section on Spaceports".
- November 1999
(.pdf) - "ELV Broad Area
Review" (at the AF Library) including:
- Graphic of previous launch forecasts (failing to materialize) and actual throughput
- Graphic of low, approximately ~ 9 in 10 Titan 4 reliability over the years
Moonport: A History of Apollo Launch Facilities and Operations By Charles D. Benson and William Barnaby Faherty
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Also see:
- Launches by Month, Globally, Last 10 Years, Since the End of the Cold War, A Graphical View - 6/24/99
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Website Contact: Edgar Zapata, NASA Kennedy Space Center