Boeing's CST-100 Program

[Satanic Mechanic]

I am sure you guys saw the article in Spacflight.com: http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n1009/15boeingtourism/



-This is a lofty goal but I have some doubts about some of the specs.  I noticed that they want to deliver seven people to the ISS.  That capsule looks a little cramped with seven people and does the capsule have enough consumables to support that many people for launch and landing?

-It takes about a day from launch to dock with the ISS, can that many tourists be crammed into the capsule and sit still for a day?

-I know this is a concept but will they have enough power?  I noticed no photovoltaics.  I know the Apollo had a big service module with three fuel cells and had no need of photovoltaics but this CST-100 has a pretty small service module.

-I can see Boeing making money off of this as a lifeboat though.  Kind of like that ESA CRV from the 90's.


Your guy's thoughts on this,

SM

[LunarOrbit]

It seems more exciting to me than a sub-orbital Virgin Galactic flight (not that that wouldn't be exciting).

The service module is shorter than Apollo's, but I'm assuming it has a larger diameter, so maybe they can fit more consumables in that space. And maybe more life support capability is held inside the larger command module.

I'm sure it would be uncomfortable for seven people, but it couldn't be much worse than having three people packed like sardines inside a smaller Soyuz capsule. And a "real spaceflight experience" is probably exactly what the tourists want, even if it's not comfortable.

[Ottawan]

I agree with Kelly to a degree . . . I realize we can make computers that don't take up a whole room now, but that IS one small service module. Consumables aside I think it could fit seven comfortably. . . three up top like the old Apollo CM and four below, all prone should work, no knees to your chin Soyuz stuff!!

If I recall, transfer orbits to ISS are about two days currently.There must be a way to do that faster.

The comfort level would not be high on the way up or down, but the stay on ISS would be well worth it!!

[DonPMitchell]

Seven people might fit in there, twelve if they are clowns.

Seriously, I like this development.  There has to be some economic incentives for space, and right now the only real money maker is the satellite launch business.

[Ottawan]

Twelve if they are clowns!!!!

There goes Don spouting against manned spaceflight again!!!!!!!

Too funny

[ijuin]

It's probably bearable for the passengers to be stuck in their seats for the 72 hours or less needed to rendevous with an orbital station or other larger craft--Gemini 7 had even less space per person than this capsule, and the crew endured sixteen days in it. It would be sucky to spend a week or two with more than three people in it, though.

However, it does appear that Boeing has learned the lesson of Soyuz--namely, minimalism. Instead of using a 25-ton monster like Orion as a one-size-fits-all (or even worse using the 120 ton Space Shuttle used for crew transport only without carrying much supplies in its payload bay), we have a capsule meant to be as light (and hopefully, cheap) as possible while carrying out its LEO ferry function. Hopefully it can be launched on the Atlas V-552 (20 tons capacity to LEO).

I, for one, feel encouraged by this development, as it means that we are starting to see the beginning of real produced-for-commerce manned spacecraft as opposed to the made-to-government-order stuff of the past. If this goes well, then perhaps 20 years from now we will see any organization with $100 million a pop to spare buying one of these to run their own spaceflights (e.g. universities).

[LunarOrbit]

The biggest problem I see the passengers facing is the lack of privacy. There isn't a toilet in this spacecraft like there is in the Space Shuttles, and some of these tourists are likely going to be women. But I guess that hasn't been a problem for the women who flew in a Soyuz.

Each of these spacecraft could bring up an inflatable habitat module that gets left in orbit and built upon. The first tourist flight would only have a single module, but eventually a whole hotel could be built. Very exciting!

[ijuin]

AFAIK they are probably going to get something like the Soyuz toilet, but I get what you mean in that there won't be a "stall" where they can have total privacy. That's the price of riding in a space that cramped--you want something roomy like Orion, then you'll have to be prepared to have it weigh twice as much. What I like about Boeing's design is that for once it's built around the concept of being as cheap as possible for a given safety factor rather than built-to-order, which means that there's a good chance of seeing it in mass production (possibly several dozen units per year if projects like the Bigelow Space Hotel become fully operational).

[evancise]

If I recall, transfer orbits to ISS are about two days currently.There must be a way to do that faster.

It's actually not a requirement to take 2 days to rendezvous.  It's quite possible to do what we call a "ground up rendezvous.  In fact, Gemini did it when they rendezvoused with Agena.  Shuttle could do it to ISS as well.  It just comes at a cost.  You basically have to have a perfect phase angle with the target and no launch window - you'd have to launch precisely on time.  I suspect you'd also spend more prop doing this vs. doing the correction burns we do over the course of our multi-day rendezvous.  A final consideration is that most launch vehicles also make use of the multi-day rendezvous to activate and check out all their systems before pressing in for the complex and critical docking time frame.

[Ottawan]

Makes sense. . . . . as opposed to trying to beat the Russians . . .  we are now co-operating.

Thanks Ed.