4 ms·

As much as the Shuttle retirement was sorely needed, the inability to do servicing missions is very sad. I wonder what it would take to have a Commercial Orbit

As much as the Shuttle retirement was sorely needed, the inability to do servicing missions is very sad. I wonder what it would take to have a Commercial Orbital Servicing type system. Shove a Canadarm onto a X37B and fix the bastard

caconym_ 6y ago
I don't know much about how the STS or ISS EVA airlocks are configured, but I wonder if you could do it with a slightly modified Crew Dragon docking nose-to-nose with another one. One acts as a fallback and home for the non-EVAing crew, and stays pressurized, while the other is used to stage the EVA and ultimately evacuated so that the astronaut(s) can leave via the hatch. You could launch one unmanned and have it wait in orbit for the other one, with crew. There's a fair amount of room in those trunk sections for any gear or parts they need to bring up, too. I guess my biggest concern would be whether the hatches are big enough for real EVA suits to get in and out easily, and whether the life support system can support multiple repressurizations without significant modification. They might also need to modify the docking adapters, which are "supposed" to be androgynous but IIRC actually aren't.
skissane 6y ago
NASA's OSAM-1 (formerly known as Restore-L) mission is planned as a technology demonstrator of robotic servicing [0]. The target is the Landsat 7 satellite; but if the technology is successfully demonstrated by OSAM-1, it might be used for robotic servicing of space telescopes in the future. Originally targeted to launch in 2020, the project has encountered delays, and NASA is currently aiming for January 2025 as the launch date [1] [0] https://nexis.gsfc.nasa.gov/OSAM-1.html https://nexis.gsfc.nasa.gov/OSAM-1.html [1] https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/sma-disciplines-and-programs/smsr/smsr-intergrated-master-schedule_24feb2020aab4a269d2a865b9a1a0ff0f003ca228.pdf https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/sma-disciplines-and... page 4
devoutsalsa 6y ago
The shuttle was so expensive to launch, it might be cheaper to just launch a new Hubble.
- postingawayonhn 6y ago
  You could probably launch a new one every year.
- orbital-decay 6y ago
  EVAs are very expensive as well (compared to robotic servicing).
- avs733 6y ago
  The James Webb space telescope would disagree with that assessment.
  - devoutsalsa 6y ago
    Ha. The James Webb telescope is implementing a ton of new technologies and manufacturing techniques. Building a second one would presumably cost significantly less than the first, although I have no real basis for making that claim.
    - wereHamster 6y ago
      The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is basically a civilian version of the KH. And the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is launching one of those KH satellites every couple years. I bet the latest one (USA-290) has much better tech than Hubble and would make a good replacement for Hubble, with few modifications required. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen.
      - dylan604 6y ago
        Has the Hubble ever been used to image Earth?
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
    - 6y ago

caconym_ 6y ago

I don't know much about how the STS or ISS EVA airlocks are configured, but I wonder if you could do it with a slightly modified Crew Dragon docking nose-to-nose with another one. One acts as a fallback and home for the non-EVAing crew, and stays pressurized, while the other is used to stage the EVA and ultimately evacuated so that the astronaut(s) can leave via the hatch. You could launch one unmanned and have it wait in orbit for the other one, with crew. There's a fair amount of room in those trunk sections for any gear or parts they need to bring up, too. I guess my biggest concern would be whether the hatches are big enough for real EVA suits to get in and out easily, and whether the life support system can support multiple repressurizations without significant modification. They might also need to modify the docking adapters, which are "supposed" to be androgynous but IIRC actually aren't.

skissane 6y ago

NASA's OSAM-1 (formerly known as Restore-L) mission is planned as a technology demonstrator of robotic servicing [0]. The target is the Landsat 7 satellite; but if the technology is successfully demonstrated by OSAM-1, it might be used for robotic servicing of space telescopes in the future. Originally targeted to launch in 2020, the project has encountered delays, and NASA is currently aiming for January 2025 as the launch date [1] [0] https://nexis.gsfc.nasa.gov/OSAM-1.html https://nexis.gsfc.nasa.gov/OSAM-1.html [1] https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/sma-disciplines-and-programs/smsr/smsr-intergrated-master-schedule_24feb2020aab4a269d2a865b9a1a0ff0f003ca228.pdf https://sma.nasa.gov/docs/default-source/sma-disciplines-and... page 4

devoutsalsa 6y ago

The shuttle was so expensive to launch, it might be cheaper to just launch a new Hubble.

postingawayonhn 6y ago
You could probably launch a new one every year.
orbital-decay 6y ago
EVAs are very expensive as well (compared to robotic servicing).
avs733 6y ago
The James Webb space telescope would disagree with that assessment.
- devoutsalsa 6y ago
  Ha. The James Webb telescope is implementing a ton of new technologies and manufacturing techniques. Building a second one would presumably cost significantly less than the first, although I have no real basis for making that claim.
  - wereHamster 6y ago
    The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is basically a civilian version of the KH. And the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) is launching one of those KH satellites every couple years. I bet the latest one (USA-290) has much better tech than Hubble and would make a good replacement for Hubble, with few modifications required. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KH-11_Kennen.
    - dylan604 6y ago
      Has the Hubble ever been used to image Earth?
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
  - 6y ago