Space

Formation of such a company would spur investment in the potentially viable space base project while enabling the Soviets to look towards a far more productive long-term commercial launcher programme than they presently are able to. Ironically, while many Australians see the proposed Cape York space base as somewhat of a fantasy, overseas observers give it high marks for potential long-term success.

The most recent indications are that the proposed Cape York spaceport has found many supporters. Surprisingly it appears that the three US commercial ELV suppliers, General Dynamics, McDonnell Douglas and Martin Marietta may seek access if the facility goes ahead. This is as a result of the new US Administration’s policy of not subsidising commercial launches; the use of NASA’s facilities must now be paid for.

In contrast to overseas, Australia has seen growing opposition to the programme by special interest groups, primarily environmentalists. Objections are centred on the use of 10,000km2 of land which surrounds the proposed site; while it represents a very small fraction of the area of Cape York, conservationists believe that the installation would threaten crocodile breeding grounds. Australian Heritage Commissioner, Don Henry, has been quoted as stating that the spaceport would be an ‘environmental disaster’ if implemented without an extensive land use study. The Queensland State Government has disagreed strongly.

The space base is proposed to straddle the small mining community of Weipa in northwest Cape York. The port of Weipa already has a secure deepwater infrastructure capable of handling Ships of up to 70,000t while the airport is slated for development as an RAAF secondary bare base ultimately capable of taking 747 and C-5 class aircraft. To the east lies the Pacific Ocean with downrange radar tracking out to some 6000km while to the south west lies 3000km of central Australia, ideal for the firing of sounding rockets and larger polar orbit payloads.

It is known that British Aerospace are interested in using the facility for their proposed Hotol spaceplane and vertical launch interest has also come from several US private launcher companies and the Chinese. As Cape York is situated only 12 degrees south of the Equator the site would effectively allow a 12% + payload bonus in comparison with the Kennedy Space Centre or Vandenberg.

Phase Two, covering amongst other things, the cost of the facility and its market potential in comparison with mooted rival sites is due for release by the study team assigned to the Cape York project this August. When this is released much more will be known about the long-term feasibility of the operation. In the meantime though, Australian and Soviet officials will meet in Moscow in the coming weeks to discuss ways in which the aims of both country’s commercial space endeavours can be mutually satisfied.

Soviets Flight Test Saturn V Class Heavy Lift Vehicle

The long awaited first flight of Russia’s Saturn 5 class booster took place from the Tyuratam launch facility on the 15th May this year. This vehicle was reported initially in the 1985 edition of Soviet Military Power, with the first reasonably accurate sketches appearing a year later.

The booster, designated Energia, is the end product of a development programme initiated at the end of the seventies. Attempts to challenge the US Saturn 5 ended in costly failures, thus severely limiting the payload size available to the Russians.

The Energia ELV, designated by the US as the SL-W is a 60m tall, 2 million kilo launch weight vehicle with a low earth orbit payload of about 100,000kg. The configuration of the vehicle demonstrates a blend of traditional Russian ELV design philosophy and some Shuttle influence; the core of the vehicle is a large LOX/LH2 tank much like that of the US Shuttle, at the bottom of which four large main engines are situated. Four large LOX/Kerosene strap-on boosters are mounted symmetrically in pairs about the core vehicle, the nett thrust of the configuration is estimated at 30 MN.

The primary engines are the first Russian attempt at a liquid oxygen/hydrogen powerplant of this size and have been described as comparable to the technology used in the Saturn 5. The engines are more powerful than the US Shuttle main engines but are not reusable. The Energia carries its payload piggyback and will serve as an ELV and as a launcher for Russia’s new Space Shuttle. The Soviet Shuttle unlike the US Shuttle carries no powerplants and thus must use an expendable booster.

At launch, the Energia uses the full thrust of all of its engines, the kerosene strap-ans being jettisoned after burnout which occurs at about Mach 4-6. The core main engines then propel the core vehicle with its piggybacked Shuttle or payload pod up to a low orbital altitude. The main engines are then shut down and the payload separated. The Energia vehicle typifies Russian design philosophy in that it uses relatively old technology and achieves an acceptable cost/launch by virtue of low hardware costs (and implicitly low man-hour costs). In this respect they have followed the opposite path to the US who prefer costlier but fully reusable vehicles, the expendable main tank on the US Shuttle, for instance, is a concession to a limited development/production budget.

The use of single launcher design to support both shuttle and heavy payload launches was a clever strategy as it will reduce support costs and allows considerable flexibility in scheduling launches.

The US are somewhat alarmed at the prospect of the Russians launching 1Oat class payloads. The Saturn 5 programme was cancelled in the mid seventies primarily as a part of the rundown of NASA in the post Apollo period, a comparable US ELV will not become available until the early 1990s. The difficulties with the Shuttle Orbiter, it is also worth noting, can be directly related to decisions made in that period. At this instant in time the Russians are reaping the benefits of stable long-term funding, something Western legislators seem unable to appreciate.

Industry sources in the US have indicated growing support within NASA for the development of a Shuttle Derived Vehicle (SDV), a heavy lift ELV using hardware based upon the Shuttle. The only current development programme for a heavy lift vehicle is the USAF sponsored ALS program which aims at developing a completely new design with a projected IOC in the late nineties. NASA is seeking a vehicle available to launch Space Station hardware by the mid nineties, while the USAF prefers a more cost-effective vehicle at the expense of IOC. It is this issue which may lead to funding problems as the two programmes would be seen by legislators as redundant. NASA are seeking about US$1,000 million over five or more years.

The SDV would be conceptually similar to the Russian SL-W, using a Shuttle main tank with strap-on SRBS, a payload pod and a boat-tail powerplant section carrying a cluster of Shuttle Orbiter main engines (SSME); the boat-tail would be attached to the rear of the payload pod. If approval is gained for the SDV, an RFP could be issued this year. Contractors seeking involvement include Martin Marietta. Boeing Aerospace, GD, Rockwell and United Technologies.

Anu and Baea Participate in Hotol Development

Two prominent Australian organisations, British Aerospace Australia and the Australian National University, have become actively involved in Hotol development work.

In late June BAe commenced a series of high-velocity wind tunnel tests on the Hotol design using the ANU’s Hypersonic Shock Tube. The present unavailability of this type of facility outside Australia has led to work being conducted here rather than overseas; a senior BAe aerodynamicist travelled to Canberra to carry out an extensive series of tests.

The ANU Shock Tube was used to simulate re-entry conditions at altitudes of the order of 75km and velocities of the order of 8,000m/sec. These simulations are necessary to support work with the existing mathematical model. This model does have some gaps which will need to be filled with empirical measurements, while in its known areas of validity it will need to be calibrated. The model will then provide a representation of the skin heating rate of the vehicle. The interaction of the nose and inlet under re-entry conditions is critical to the design of the vehicle.

Queensland University, which is commissioning its own shock tube, will also be involved in the interpretation of the measurements. The Hotol programme is meanwhile proceeding at a steady pace, with Rolls-Royce recently announcing the confirmation of its initial estimates of the Hotol powerplant’s weight and performance. The classified RB-545 air breathing rocket power- plant entered a preliminary design and proof of concept programme in February last year. Rig testing of key components of the Hotel powerplant is proceeding on schedule.