posted 07-18-2011 02:43 PM               

NASA Begins Commercial Partnership With United Launch Alliance

Through a new agreement, United Launch Alliance (ULA) will provide technical information to NASA about using the Atlas V rocket to launch astronauts into space. The announcement was made Monday at the agency's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

"I am truly excited about the addition of ULA to NASA's Commercial Crew Development Program team," NASA Administrator Charles Bolden said. "Having ULA on board may speed the development of a commercial crew transportation system for the International Space Station, allowing NASA to concentrate its resources on exploring beyond low Earth orbit."

NASA and ULA’s unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA) requires ULA to provide data on the Atlas V, a flight-proven expendable launch vehicle used by NASA and the Department of Defense for critical space missions.

NASA will share its human spaceflight experience with ULA to advance crew transportation system capabilities and the draft human certification requirements. ULA will provide NASA feedback about those requirements, including providing input on the technical feasibility and cost effectiveness of NASA's proposed certification approach.

"This unfunded SAA will look at the Atlas V to understand its design risks, its capabilities, how it can be used within the context of flying our NASA crew and maturing ULA's designs for the Emergency Detection System and launch vehicle processing and launch architectures under a crewed configuration," said Ed Mango, NASA's Commercial Crew Program manager.

The majority of the work will be completed by the end of this year. As part of the agreement, NASA will:

• participate in milestone and technical review briefings and provide technical feedback on milestone completion
  
• assist in identification of risks and possible mitigation strategies

ULA will:

• continue to advance the Atlas V CTS concept, including design maturation and analyses
  
• conduct ULA program reviews as planned
  
• perform a Design Equivalency Review
  
• develop Hazard Analyses unique for human spaceflight
  
• develop a Probabilistic Risk Assessment
  
• document an Atlas V CTS certification baseline
  
• conduct Systems Requirements Review

"We believe this effort will demonstrate to NASA that our systems are fully compliant with NASA requirements for human spaceflight," said George Sowers, ULA’s vice president of business development. "ULA looks forward to continued work with NASA to develop a U.S. commercial crew space transportation capability providing safe, reliable, and cost effective access to and return from low Earth orbit and the International Space Station."

In 2010, NASA awarded $6.7 million to ULA to accompany its own $1.3 million investment to develop an Emergency Detection System prototype test bed. The EDS will monitor critical launch vehicle and spacecraft systems and issue status, warning and abort commands to crew during their mission to low Earth orbit. EDS is the sole significant element necessary for flight safety to meet the requirements to certify ULA's launch vehicles for human spaceflight.

posted 11-22-2011 08:57 AM               

United Launch Alliance Completes Crucial Milestone
Toward Certifying Atlas V for Human Spaceflight

United Launch Alliance (ULA) today announced the completion of a key milestone that could lead toward the certification of the Atlas V launch vehicle for human spaceflight.

ULA successfully completed the second required major performance milestone of its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA). The Design Equivalency Review (DER) completes a rigorous assessment of the flight-proven Atlas V launch vehicle's compliance with NASA human spaceflight requirements. Three of the four current NASA CCDev partners offering commercial crew integrated services have chosen Atlas V as their launch vehicle.

To successfully complete the DER, NASA human spaceflight experts and ULA engineers worked over a span of several months to perform a detailed review of all NASA requirements and processes, and identified the extent to which the Atlas V meets those requirements. Because Atlas V is already certified to fly the nation's most complex exploration and national security missions, the need for any lengthy and inherently risky launch vehicle development program is expected to be avoided.

ULA possesses a great amount of detailed system and sub-system qualification, certification and flight data from 27 successful missions, which when taken together formed the basis of the DER, according to George Sowers, ULA vice president of business development and advanced programs.

"The Design Equivalency Review allowed the NASA team to compare their stringent human spaceflight requirements against the Atlas V design and demonstrated performance," Sowers said. "The ULA team benefited greatly from NASA's insight and expertise. The completion of the DER is one more step towards confirming that Atlas V is the best choice for providing near-term, safe and affordable launch services for NASA human spaceflight."

The flight-proven Atlas V, which has already been certified to launch high-value NASA robotic missions, reduces the risk of launch vehicle development and early flight failures inherent in new, unproven designs, Sowers added.

"With 27 consecutive successes — 98 for the Atlas program as a whole — Atlas V provides the highest confidence, lowest risk solution for human spaceflight," Sowers said.

As NASA moves forward into the first phase of the Commercial Crew Integrated Design Contract (CCIDC), ULA will offer human-certified Atlas launch services to meet the needs for the crew transportation system providers.

"The CCIDC is the critical first step towards creating a robust commercial crew transportation capability to low-Earth orbit (LEO). ULA looks forward to continued work with our customers and NASA to develop a U.S. crew space transportation capability providing safe, reliable and cost-effective access to LEO and the International Space Station." Sowers said.

ULA program management, engineering, test and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colorado. Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Ala., and Harlingen, Texas. Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., and Vandenberg AFB, Calif.

posted 02-02-2012 10:48 AM               

United Launch Alliance Completes Critical Milestones Toward Certifying Atlas V for Human Spaceflight

United Launch Alliance (ULA) today announced the completion of two key milestones leading toward the certification of the Atlas V launch vehicle for human spaceflight.

ULA has successfully completed the third and fourth milestones of its Commercial Crew Development (CCDev) Unfunded Space Act Agreement (SAA). In December, ULA conducted a series of detailed reviews that reflected the culmination of efforts involving technical experts and representatives from NASA's Commercial Crew Program (CCP).

A Tailored System Requirements Review (TSRR) was successfully conducted which summarized months of work with ULA and NASA. The team reviewed the detailed evidence that demonstrates how the existing, flight-proven Atlas V meets the intent of NASA's Human Spaceflight Certification requirements. The team paid particular emphasis to requirements traceability, verification and certification planning. Because Atlas V is already certified to fly the nation's most complex exploration and national security missions, ULA was able to provide a wealth of detailed system and sub-system analysis, qualification, certification, and flight data resulting from 28 successful missions.

"The TSRR was the result of an extensive effort with NASA and our commercial spacecraft partners during which we cooperatively reviewed the details of Atlas V design, analyses and operations," said George Sowers, ULA's vice president of business development and advanced programs. "This was the first time that we were able to share detailed Atlas V design and flight data with NASA Human Spaceflight experts."

A Probabilistic Safety Analysis (PSA) Review also was conducted to evaluate safety-critical launch vehicle systems. This included the details of existing Failure Modes and Effects Analysis (FMEA) data, Probabilistic Risk Assessment (PRA) results, explosion modeling analyses, system hazard analyses and fault coverage assessments. The PSA leveraged similar data developed in support of Atlas V launches of critical NASA missions including Pluto New Horizons, Juno and the Mars Science Laboratory.

"The PSA provided a firm foundation to show how the demonstrated reliability of the Atlas V offers significant benefits towards meeting NASA's stringent crew safety requirements," Sowers said. "We received invaluable insight from the NASA's Commercial Crew Program while allowing us to provide the details behind the reliability and robustness of the Atlas V design."

"ULA gave us an invaluable opportunity to get to know its Atlas V systems and subsystems through our unfunded partnership," said Commercial Crew Program Manager Ed Mango. "And we are happy to share our knowledge and expectations to keeping our crews safe."

"With the recent launch of the Mars Science Laboratory for NASA, Atlas V once again demonstrated the highest confidence, lowest risk solution for human spaceflight," Sowers added.

Three of the four current NASA CCDev partners providing commercial crew integrated services have selected Atlas V as their launch vehicle.

"The flight-proven and NASA-certified Atlas V eliminates all risk of launch vehicle development and early flight failures inherent in new, unproven designs," Sowers said.

As NASA moves forward with the Commercial Crew development Program, ULA will offer human-certified Atlas launch services to meet the needs for the crew transportation system providers.

"The Commercial Crew Development Program is on a path to create a robust commercial crew transportation capability to low-Earth orbit (LEO). ULA looks forward to continued work with our spacecraft customers and NASA to develop an early U.S. crew space transportation capability providing safe, reliable, and cost-effective access to LEO and the International Space Station," Sowers said.

ULA program management, engineering, test and mission support functions are headquartered in Denver, Colo. Manufacturing, assembly and integration operations are located at Decatur, Ala., and Harlingen, Texas. Launch operations are located at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., and Vandenberg AFB, Calif.