Commercial Crew and Cargo Program
The Commercial Crew and Cargo Program (also known as C3P ) represented by the NASA will support the commercial efforts to secure, reliable and cost-effective space transportation capabilities for cargo and people into a low Earth orbit to the International Space Station to develop. Ultimately, a private space industry is to emerge, which offers its services to both the economy and the state.
C3P includes the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) and Commercial Resupply Services (CRS) programs as well as the Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) program for the development of commercial space capsules for manned space travel to and from the ISS.
C3P is the responsibility of the NASA Commercial Crew and Cargo Program Office (= C3PO).
Programs
freight
CRS 1
The successful development of the cargo combination Falcon 9 rocket with the Dragon spaceship from SpaceX from 2012 and the Antares rocket with the Cygnus spaceship from Orbital Sciences Corporation (now Orbital ATK ) from 2014 onwards, which was funded by the COTS program, led to specific freight orders that were the Commercial Resupply Services program.
CRS 2
On January 14, 2016, in the second round of the Commercial Resupply Services program (CRS 2), NASA placed an order for six cargo flights to the Sierra Nevada in addition to the order for at least six more flights to each of the two previous contractors SpaceX and Orbital ATK Corporation for the period 2019 to 2024. The small spacecraft Dream Chaser from the Sierra Nevada Corporation missed out on development funds for the COTS freight development program and was actually funded through the program for manned flights. Overall, during CRS 2, NASA can order additional flights in addition to the 18 firmly booked flights depending on the needs of the ISS operations until it has spent a maximum of 14 billion dollars,
According to Orbital ATK, the enlarged Cygnus spacecraft for flight OA-6 from CRS 1 has a capacity of approximately 3.5 tons of cargo. Depending on the composition, weight and spatial configuration (bulkiness) of the loads to be transported within the six firmly booked flights, Orbital ATK plans to deliver a total of between 22.5 and 26.5 tons of freight for 1.2 to 1.5 billion US dollars to the ISS .
Target achievement
As a result, NASA enabled the development of three competing providers of cargo flights to the ISS.
Current status of cargo flights
Dragon and Falcon 9
- By May 2018, SpaceX's Dragon had completed thirteen successful cargo flights to the ISS, NASA CRS-1 to NASA CRS-6 and NASA CRS-8 to NASA CRS-14.
- One, the NASA CRS-7 mission, had failed.
Cygnus with Antares or Atlas V
- At the end of 2017, Cygnus had completed seven successful cargo flights to the ISS for Orbital ATK, or its predecessor Orbital Sciences Corporation, Orb-1, Orb-2, Orb-4 and OA-5 to OA-8.
- The Orb-3 mission failed when the Antares rocket exploded. Until the problem was solved, Orbital ATK for the OA-4 and OA-6 missions has switched to using the United Launch Alliance's Atlas V rocket to launch the spacecraft . Then the OA-5 mission will be launched with the improved Antares missile. The reversal of the order of flights OA-5 and OA-6 results from the fact that the second flight with the Atlas V was only inserted afterwards in order to be able to meet the requirements of NASA.
See also
- List of Dragon missions
- List of Cygnus missions
Web links
- Commercial Crew & Cargo Program Office website of NASA (English)
Individual evidence
- ^ Commercial Crew Program - The Essentials. NASA, accessed February 7, 2016 .
- ↑ Stephen Clark: NASA splits space station cargo deal three ways. Spaceflight Now, January 14, 2016, accessed February 3, 2016 .
- ↑ Orbital ATK: NASA Selects Orbital ATK for New 8-Year Contract to Deliver Cargo to the International Space Station. (No longer available online.) January 14, 2016, archived from the original on February 9, 2016 ; accessed on February 9, 2016 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ SpaceX: Launch Manifest . In: SpaceX . ( spacex.com [accessed May 14, 2018]).
- ^ Commercial Resupply Services. Retrieved May 14, 2018 .
