ESA Spacecraft

ESA's Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle. Credit: ESA

The European Space Agency announced that its re-entry spacecraft, called Intermediate eXperimental Vehicle (IXV), will be ready to fly in 2013. The agency first announced the vehicle concept in 2009. Now the detailed design and technologies are ready and the agency has partnered with Thales Alenia Space Italia to manufacture the vehicle. Its first flight will be in 2013.

According to the press release,

Europe's ambition for a spacecraft to return autonomously from low orbit is a cornerstone for a wide range of space applications, including space transportation, exploration and robotic servicing of space infrastructure.

This goal will be achieved with IXV, which is the next step from the Atmospheric Reentry Demonstrator flight of 1998. More maneuverable and able to make precise landings, IXV is the 'intermediate' element of Europe's path to future developments with limited risks.

The new spacecraft, which resembles a wing-less space shuttle and it s test vehicle, will launch aboard a small ESA rocket, reaching an altitude of 450 kilometers. It will test technologies like advanced thermal protection systems, new guidance, navigation and control systems, and will collect lots of data. It will operate autonomously. It could be proving ground for ESA to develop a vehicle that can travel to the space station or other destinations.

Moon Images

Credit: NASA

Data from seven instruments onboard NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), a spacecraft orbiting the moon since 2009, have provided amazing detailed images and maps of the moon's surface, showing craters and topography that have never before been seen.

According to the NASA press release,

The most precise and complete topographic maps to date of the moon's complex, heavily cratered landscape have been created from the more than 4 billion measurements -- and still counting -- taken by LRO's Lunar Orbiter Laser Altimeter (LOLA). These maps are more accurate and sample more places on the lunar surface than any available before. In fact, LOLA has taken more than 100 times more measurements than all previous lunar instruments of its kind combined, opening up a world of possibilities for future exploration and for science.

Already, researchers have used LOLA data to put together the first comprehensive set of maps of the roughness of the moon's surface. Like wrinkles on skin, the roughness of craters and other fetures on the moon's surface can reveal their age. By looking at where and how the roughness changes -- and by combining that information with contour maps that show where the high and low points are -- researchers can get important clues about the processes that shaped the moon.

Solar Electric Propulsion

To reach destinations beyond low Earth orbit spacecraft needs propulsion systems that are efficient and powerful. Chemical propulsion systems are most commonly used for spacecraft, but they require large amounts of fuel and are inefficient for deep space missions. Now NASA is seeking proposals for mission concepts of solar electric propulsion systems. The systems use solar panels to generate electricity that gives a positive charge to atoms inside a chamber, which are pulled by magnetism towards the back of the spacecraft and pushed out. The stream of atoms going out of the spacecraft gives it the thrust it needs to move through space. (The agency tested an ion-propulsion system it developed in 2009 and expects it to launch in 2013.)

According to the release,

Science missions could use solar electric propulsion to reach distant regions of the solar system, and commercial missions could use solar electric propulsion tugs to place, service, resupply, reposition and salvage space assets. NASA's strategic roadmaps for exploration, science and advanced technology all consider solar electric propulsion a vital and necessary future capability.

NASA is examining potential mission concepts for a high-power solar electric propulsion system demonstration. Flying a demonstration mission on a representative trajectory through the Van Allen radiation belts and operating in actual space environments could reveal unknown systems-level and operational issues. Mission data will lower the technical and cost risk associated with future solar electric propulsion spacecraft. The flight demonstration mission would test and validate key capabilities and technologies required for future exploration elements such as a 300 kilowatt solar electric transfer vehicle.

MPCV being tested and assembled at Lockheed Martin's facility in Colorado. Credit: Lockheed Martin

Today, NASA officially named the vehicle that could someday take its astronauts back the moon, as well as to Mars and asteroids. The Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) bears a strong resemblance to Apollo spacecraft and is based on the designs originally planned for the Orion crew exploration vehicle, which was being built to carry humans beyond low Earth orbit under the now-canceled Constellation program.

The new vehicle is being developed by Lockheed Martin, and it will carry four astronauts on missions lasting up to 21 days. It will have a pressurized volume of 690 cubic feet, with 316 cubic feet of habitable space, and is designed to be 10 times safer during ascent and entry than its predecessor, the space shuttle. (The space shuttles will retire this year, with the last launch currently planned for July.)

Thus far, NASA has invested over $5 billion in the design of MPCV, which "is the Orion-based concept" that the agency contracted Lockheed Martin to build for moon missions in 2006, said Douglas Cooke, associate administrator for the agency's exploration systems mission directorate in today's teleconference. He added that the agency studied alternative system designs and concepts and found that the "MPCV design approach is the best for beyond low Earth orbit."

Cooke also said that for longer missions, to destinations like Mars, the new spacecraft will have to rendezvous with another, larger module that can support humans. A timeline for the spacecraft's development has not been set, but Cooke said the agency won't have crew on board "until sometime after 2016." NASA must first decide on a heavy-lift rocket design that can carry the crew vehicle into orbit; an announcement on this is expected in late June.

While NASA focuses on deep space exploration, it is leaving low Earth orbit and transportation to the International Space Station to its commercial industry partners. It recently awarded $269 million to four commercial companies to build spacecraft to carry humans to orbit. Without this partnership, NASA would have to rely on Russia's help in ferrying its astronauts to the space station.

Last year, the Obama administration gave NASA a task: send humans to an asteroid by 2025 and Mars by the mid-2030s. But since then there has been no clear plan or decision on how the agency should send astronauts into deep space, and a lot of controversy over NASA's next heavy lift vehicle. Adding more uncertainty to NASA's future in human spaceflight, the leading commercial space company, SpaceX announced its plans for its own heavy lift rocket. Today's announcement is a step towards NASA redefining its role.

A cutaway view of the MPCV. Credit: NASA

Second test firing of Morpheus engine. Credit: Joe Bibby

Project Morpheus is making subtle, but noisy, progress at NASA. The experimental spacecraft is designed to carry cargo to the moon, an asteroid, or Mars, but the model shown here will never actually land on such surfaces. It is being used to test new technologies, such as propulsion, guidance, navigation, and control systems, and optical sensors that would allow for a safe descent and landing.

Morpheus recently conducted its first tethered flights at Johnson Space Center (JSC) in Houston (see the video below) and will be taking its first untethered flight this month, making it the first prototype spacecraft to fly at JSC since before man walked on the moon.

Morpheus is also testing a new, greener propellant, liquid oxygen and methane. The mixture is cheaper, lighter, and safer than than traditional spacecraft fuels. It can also be stored for longer periods of time in space, and the methane could perhaps even be made from ice on the moon or Mars.

The vehicle is also focused on testing safer landing technologies, specifically a system developed by NASA to detect hazards like craters or slopes in real-time. The system, called the Autonomous Landing and Hazard Avoidance Technology, uses beams of light and optical sensors to profile a landing surface.

But the project, designed and developed in less than a year, is more than a technology demonstration, it' also a cultural shift for NASA. It's a hands-on testing approach: get the technology developed quickly and efficiently and use failures to drive improvement. "Projects like Morpheus are invigorating and infectious," said Steve Altemus, director of Johnson's Engineering Directorate, in the NASA press release. "And they help us find better and cheaper ways to do things. To challenge our existing processes. To innovate."

At a time when NASA's future is filled with lots of questions and uncertainties, innovations with a clear purpose are exactly what the agency needs.

The burn zone around the pad after the second set of engine firings. Credit: Kris Kehe