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NASA NTRS2013

Woven Thermal Protection System Based Heat-shield for Extreme Entry Environments Technology (HEEET)

NASA's future robotic missions utilizing an entry system into Venus and the outer planets, namely, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, result in extremely severe entry conditions that exceed the capabilities of state of the art low to mid density ablators such as PICA or Avcoat. Therefore mission planners typically assume the use of a fully dense carbon phenolic heat shield similar to what was flown on Pioneer Venus and Galileo. Carbon phenolic (CP) is a robust TPS material however its high density and relatively high thermal conductivity constrain mission planners to steep entries, with high heat fluxes and pressures and short entry durations, in order for CP to be feasible from a mass perspective. The high entry conditions pose challenges for certification in existing ground based test facilities and the longer-‐term sustainability of CP will continue to pose challenges. In 2012 the Game Changing Development Program (GCDP) in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate funded NASA ARC to investigate the feasibility of a Woven Thermal Protection System (WTPS) to meet the needs of NASA's most challenging entry missions. This project was highly successful demonstrating that a Woven TPS solution compares favorably to CP in performance in simulated reentry environments and provides the opportunity to manufacture graded materials that should result in overall reduced mass solutions and enable a much broader set of missions than does CP. Building off the success of the WTPS project GCDP has funded a follow on project to further mature and scale up the WTPS concept for insertion into future NASA robotic missions. The matured WTPS will address the CP concerns associated with ground based test limitations and sustainability. This presentation will briefly discuss results from the WTPS Project and the plans for WTPS maturation into a heat-‐shield for extreme entry environment.

Chinnapongse, Ronald↗

NASA NTRS2013

Woven Thermal Protection System Based Heat-shield for Extreme Entry Environments Technology (HEEET)

NASA's future robotic missions utilizing an entry system into Venus and the outer planets, namely, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, result in extremely high entry conditions that exceed the capabilities of state of the art low to mid density ablators such as PICA or Avcoat. Therefore mission planners typically assume the use of a fully dense carbon phenolic heat shield similar to what was flown on Pioneer Venus and Galileo. Carbon phenolic is a robust TPS material however its high density and relatively high thermal conductivity constrain mission planners to steep entries, with high heat fluxes and pressures and short entry durations, in order for CP to be feasible from a mass perspective. The high entry conditions pose challenges for certification in existing ground based test facilities and the longer‐term sustainability of CP will continue to pose challenges. In 2012 the Game Changing Development Program (GCDP) in NASA's Space Technology Mission Directorate funded NASA ARC to investigate the feasibility of a Woven Thermal Protection System (WTPS) to meet the needs of NASA's most challenging entry missions. This project was highly successful demonstrating that a Woven TPS solution compares favorably to CP in performance in simulated reentry environments and provides the opportunity to manufacture graded materials that should result in overall reduced mass solutions and enable a much broader set of missions than does CP. Building off the success of the WTPS project GCDP has funded a follow on project to further mature and scale up the WTPS concept for insertion into future NASA robotic missions. The matured WTPS will address the CP concerns associated with ground based test limitations and sustainability. This presentation will briefly discuss results from the WTPS Project and the plans for WTPS maturation into a heat‐shield for extreme entry environment.

Ellerby, Donald↗

NASA NTRS2016

NH11B-1726: FrankenRaven: A New Platform for Remote Sensing

Small, modular aircraft are an emerging technology with a goal to maximize flexibility and enable multi-mission support. This reports the progress of an unmanned aerial system (UAS) project conducted at the NASA Ames Research Center (ARC) in 2016. This interdisciplinary effort builds upon the success of the 2014 FrankenEye project to apply rapid prototyping techniques to UAS, to develop a variety of platforms to host remote sensing instruments. In 2016, ARC received AeroVironment RQ-11A and RQ-11B Raven UAS from the US Department of the Interior, Office of Aviation Services. These aircraft have electric propulsion, a wingspan of roughly 1.3m, and have demonstrated reliability in challenging environments. The Raven airframe is an ideal foundation to construct more complex aircraft, and student interns using 3D printing were able to graft multiple Raven wings and fuselages into FrankenRaven aircraft. Aeronautical analysis shows that the new configuration has enhanced flight time, payload capacity, and distance compared to the original Raven. The FrankenRaven avionics architecture replaces the mil-spec avionics with COTS technology based upon the 3DR Pixhawk PX4 autopilot with a safety multiplexer for failsafe handoff to 2.4 GHz RC control and 915 MHz telemetry. This project demonstrates how design reuse, rapid prototyping, and modular subcomponents can be leveraged into flexible airborne platforms that can host a variety of remote sensing payloads and even multiple payloads. Modularity advances a new paradigm: mass-customization of aircraft around given payload(s). Multi-fuselage designs are currently under development to host a wide variety of payloads including a zenith-pointing spectrometer, a magnetometer, a multi-spectral camera, and a RGB camera. After airworthiness certification, flight readiness review, and test flights are performed at Crows Landing airfield in central California, field data will be taken at Kilauea volcano in Hawaii and other locations.

remote sensing↗

NASA NTRS2017

Heatshield for Extreme Entry Environment Technology (HEEET) Enabling Missions Beyond Heritage Carbon Phenolic

Future NASA robotic missions utilizing an entry system into Venus and the outer planets, results in extremely high entry conditions that exceed the capabilities of state of the art low to mid density ablators such as PICA or AVCOAT. Previously, mission planners had to assume the use of fully dense carbon phenolic heatshields similar to what was flown on Pioneer Venus or Galileo. Carbon phenolic is a robust TPS material, however, its high density and relatively high thermal conductivity constrain mission planners to steep entries, with high heat fluxes and pressures and short entry durations. The high entry conditions pose challenges for certification in existing ground based test facilities and the longer-term sustainability of CP will continue to pose challenges. NASA has decided to invest in new technology development rather than invest in reviving carbon phenolic. The HEEET project, funded by STMD is maturing a game changing Woven Thermal Protection System technology. HEEET is a capability development project and is not tied to a single mission or destination, therefore, it is challenging to complete ground testing needed to demonstrate a capability that is much broader than any single mission or destination would require. This presentation will status HEEET progress. Near term infusion target for HEEET is the upcoming New Frontiers (NF-4) class of competitively selected Science Mission Directorate (SMD) missions for which it is incentivized.

thermal protection↗

NASA NTRS2014

Woven Thermal Protection System (WTPS) - a Novel Approach to Meet NASA's Most Demanding Missions

NASAs future robotic missions utilizing an entry system into Venus and the outer planets, namely, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, result in extremely high entry conditions that exceed the capabilities of state of the art low to mid density ablators such as PICA or Avcoat. Therefore mission planners typically assume the use of a fully dense carbon phenolic heat shield similar to what was flown on Pioneer Venus and Galileo. Carbon phenolic is a robust TPS material however its high density and relatively high thermal conductivity constrain mission planners to steep entries, with high heat fluxes and pressures and short entry durations, in order for CP to be feasible from a mass perspective. The high entry conditions pose challenges for certification in existing ground based test facilities and the longer-term sustainability of CP will continue to pose challenges. In 2012 the Game Changing Development Program (GCDP) in NASAs Space Technology Mission Directorate funded NASA ARC to investigate the feasibility of a Woven Thermal Protection System (WTPS) to meet the needs of NASAs most challenging entry missions. This project was highly successful demonstrating that a Woven TPS solution compares favorably to CP in performance in simulated reentry environments and provides the opportunity to manufacture graded materials that should result in overall reduced mass solutions and enable a much broader set of missions than does CP. Building off the success of the WTPS project GCDP has funded a follow on project to further mature and scale up the WTPS concept for insertion into future NASA robotic missions. The matured WTPS will address the CP concerns associated with ground based test limitations and sustainability. This presentation will discuss results from the WTPS heat-shield for extreme entry environment technology (HEEET) project

woven TPS↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

TPSAS-NF1676L-25778-DND

Testing required to design and certify aircraft structures has increased dramatically with the growth in use of composite materials, and the development time and cost have become an issue as industry looks towards the next generation of aircraft. To help address this challenge, NASA has formed an industry-spanning consortium with the goal of cutting by 30% today's 10-year timeline for developing and certifying composite aircraft structures. This goal is to be achieved by infusing leading edge, physics-based tools to improve the prediction of the response and failure of composite aerospace structures. The plan for the public-private partnership of NASA, the FAA, airframe manufacturers, aircraft engine manufacturers, and several universities is to conduct joint research under the five-year Advanced Composites Program (ACP). The emphasis of the ACP project is the development of damage prediction and non-destructive inspection methods capabilities that are sufficiently reliable to enable a reduction in the element and subcomponent testing necessary for design and certification. ACP also is expected to create rapid design tools to speed preliminary design and improve safety and performance. A critical element of this research concerns the residual strength of postbuckled stiffened panels with impact damage. This presentation will discuss different aspects of ongoing research on the prediction of structural collapse due to skin/stiffener separation. In particular, the presentation will examine issues that must be addressed in the analysis, such as R-curve toughening, delamination migration, bridging, as well as some unexpected effects of ply orientation.

Carlos G Davila↗

NASA NTRS2015

Forward Bay Cover Separation Modeling and Testing for the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle

Spacecraft multi-body separation events during atmospheric descent require complex testing and analysis to validate the flight separation dynamics models used to verify no re-contact. The NASA Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) architecture includes a highly-integrated Forward Bay Cover (FBC) jettison assembly design that combines parachutes and piston thrusters to separate the FBC from the Crew Module (CM) and avoid re-contact. A multi-disciplinary team across numerous organizations examined key model parameters and risk areas to develop a robust but affordable test campaign in order to validate and verify the FBC separation event for Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1). The FBC jettison simulation model is highly complex, consisting of dozens of parameters varied simultaneously, with numerous multi-parameter interactions (coupling and feedback) among the various model elements, and encompassing distinct near-field, mid-field, and far-field regimes. The test campaign was composed of component-level testing (for example gas-piston thrusters and parachute mortars), ground FBC jettison tests, and FBC jettison air-drop tests that were accomplished by a highly multi-disciplinary team. Three ground jettison tests isolated the testing of mechanisms and structures to anchor the simulation models excluding aerodynamic effects. Subsequently, two air-drop tests added aerodynamic and parachute elements, and served as integrated system demonstrations, which had been preliminarily explored during the Orion Pad Abort-1 (PA-1) flight test in May 2010. Both ground and drop tests provided extensive data to validate analytical models and to verify the FBC jettison event for EFT-1. Additional testing will be required to support human certification of this separation event, for which NASA and Lockheed Martin are applying knowledge from Apollo and EFT-1 testing and modeling to develop a robust human-rated FBC separation event.

Ali, Yasmin↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Flight Performance and Stability of Space Launch System Core Stage Thrust Vector Control

The Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage (CS) Thrust Vector Control (TVC) system is comprised of eight mechanical feedback Shuttle heritage Type III TVC actuators and four RS-25 engines, each attached to a Shuttle heritage gimbal block/bearing. The Core Stage TVC shares vehicle control authority with the SLS 5-segment Solid Rocket Boosters (SRBs) during boost phase flight, and is the sole means of vehicle flight control during in exoatmospheric flight following SRB separation. TVC responses during Green Run Hot Fire (GRHF) testing revealed that the TVC did not meet its performance specifications. Step and frequency responses exhibited unexpected departures from prior laboratory data and modeled behavior. Post-test analysis determined that the characteristics of the structure and gimbal friction are significantly influenced by the thrust-loaded conditions, and the command avionics exhibited a small but important gain nonlinearity. Using the available test data, the design team augmented the flight control TVC models to bound the observed results and include the additional fidelity needed for vehicle flight control analysis so as to build sufficient rationale for flight certification. Prior to the Green Run tests, “simplex” linear models typically used for flight control analysis did not include gimbal friction and other nonlinearities owing to long-standing assumptions that these effects were negligible in the Shuttle Orbiter TVC system. Following the Green Run findings, simulation analysis of the flight dynamics in the time and frequency domain revealed the propensity for a flight control limit cycle oscillation (LCO) if friction and structural compliances fell near the edges of test-predicted bounds. While the “most probable” models did not predict an in-flight LCO, the SLS Program conservatively proceeded with a system-wide evaluation and ultimate acceptance of the possibility for a small amplitude, low-frequency TVC LCO in flight. A final validation of the extensive test and modeling effort occurred when the first flight of SLS successfully demonstrated the fully integrated performance of the vehicle’s TVC system This paper is the final installment in a seven-paper series surveying the design, engineering, test validation, and flight performance of the Core Stage Thrust Vector Control system. In this paper, the development of flight rationale in light of the TVC responses observed in Green Run is discussed, along with a review of the flight telemetry illustrating the correlation of the preflight predictions with the observed performance.

John H. Wall↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Urban Air Mobility Noise: Current Practice, Gaps, and Recommendations

AN Air Mobility (UAM) is an opportunity for aviation to improve transportation systems across the world. Representative UAM vehicle attributes include electrical vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) vehicles that can accommodate up to 6 passengers (or equivalent cargo), are possibly autonomous, perform missions of up to 100 nautical miles at altitudes up to 3000 ft. above ground level, have flight speeds up to 200 knots, and weigh between 800 and 8000 pounds. Along with the many anticipated benefits, there will be noise issues that need to be addressed. In 2018, NASA formed an Urban Air Mobility Noise Working Group (UNWG) to assemble noise experts from industry, universities and government agencies to identify, discuss, and address UAM noise issues. This oral presentation summarizes technology gaps and goals associated with four areas of interest: Tools & Technologies, Ground & Flight Testing, Human Response & Metrics, and Regulation & Policy, and is drawn from a draft white paper [1] by the same title. Tools & Technologies include noise prediction tools and noise reduction technologies that have been developed for conventional rotorcraft and fixed-wing vehicles that may be applicable or need to be modified for UAM. Prediction tools need to be able to account for variable speed rotors and other temporal variation effects that impact community noise. A reprioritization of noise sources needs to be done since UAM vehicles include multiple rotors/propellers, often in proximity to one another and/or the airframe, with dynamic transition, and new noise sources such as electric motors or hybrid-electric propulsion. Scattering and propagation methods need to be developed that include the vehicle components and surfaces near a receiver such as buildings and vertiports. Validation databases are needed to quantify prediction uncertainties. Prediction tools used to evaluate community noise will need source models appropriate for a wide range of UAM vehicles. Existing noise reduction technologies need to be evaluated and new noise reduction technologies should be developed in anticipation of future noise requirements. Although the prediction and treatment of interior cabin noise is a secondary goal, it is recognized that new tools and methods may be needed due to the uniqueness of the vehicle design and the presence of both acoustic and structure-borne loads. Ground & Flight Testing has been a critical part of validating noise reduction technologies and verifying that an air vehicle is ready for certification. UAM vehicles introduce new challenges for test procedures such as different source noise directivity, unsteady sources due to maneuvers, and a variety of takeoff and approach trajectories. The operating environment will be more complex than current aircraft with the introduction of vertiports in populated areas with “urban canyons” making reflections an important part of noise prediction and annoyance. It is expected that new test procedures and measurement methods will be necessary. Consideration will need to be given for both piloted and autonomous operations. Human Response & Metrics may be very different for UAM noise compared to current experience with airport noise. Current metrics used to certify rotorcraft and fixed-wing aircraft may not be as useful for evaluating UAM noise. Operations at lower altitudes may influence annoyance. Psychoacoustic and community testing will be needed to quantify annoyance and assess appropriate metrics. In addition to conventional noise level metrics, considerations such as audibility and temporal variation of the sound may be required. Differences between indoor or outdoor exposure will have an impact with dependence on urban and residential flight paths. Aircraft noise is currently regulated at a national level and typically involves partnerships with the industry to establish regulations. Regulators realize that current policies and procedures may not be appropriate for some of the emerging air vehicles and new procedures may be needed to address UAM noise. Development of new policies and procedures are needed so that local communities do not hastily attempt to establish their own restrictions that will both limit growth of the market and create an inconsistent and confusing regulatory environment. To expedite this development, it is crucial early measurement data are shared through partnership arrangements to support both noise certification and noise modeling/noise assessment. At the same time, an effective engagement strategy should be developed to address local community noise issues associated with UAM vehicles and flight operations as they arise.

urban air mobility↗

NASA NTRS1988

Stiffnesses of a solid-rocket motor from an ambient vibration survey

Experience with many spacecraft configurations boosted by a variety of launch vehicles indicates that the maximum loads experienced throughout most of the structure are inertial in origin. These loads arise from the dynamic elastic response of the flight vehicle to the transient disturbances of launch and flight, and are highly dependent on the dynamic characteristics of both the spacecraft and the launch vehicle. It has proved to be most advantageous, in the analysis of this critical dependency of loads upon vehicle dynamic properties, to establish a mathematical model in terms of normal mode characteristics. In this way, the vibration behavior of an elastomechanical structure (or substructure) can be described by means of the so-called modal or natural degrees of freedom. The conduct of a mode survey test and the use of a suitably test-verified model in loads analyses is essential to the flight worthiness certification process of space systems. The desirability of such tests is confirmed by the fact that, almost invariably, significant deficiencies in the analytical models are revealed by the results. Therefore, this experimental program was undertaken to determine those properties of a solid-propellant rocket motor (SRM) which are required to characterize a dynamic model. Random ambient-excited accelerations were measured at a series of stations along the motor for the purpose of identifying the motor beam-like stiffnesses in bending, shear, and torsion. From a system identification point of view, it is significant that stiffness properties of a subsystem (the motor) are determined from modes of the full system (motor/stand configuration) using mode shape data of the subsystem only. This contrasts with traditional system identification approaches which rely upon complete system mode shapes.

Rubin, S.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Development of Standardized Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials

Carpenter, P.↗

NASA NTRS2006

Development of Standardized Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials

Lunar exploration requires scientific and engineering studies using standardized testing procedures that ultimately support flight certification of technologies and hardware. It is necessary to anticipate the range of source materials and environmental constraints that are expected on the Moon and Mars, and to evaluate in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) coupled with testing and development. We describe here the development of standardized lunar regolith simulant (SLRS) materials that are traceable inter-laboratory standards for testing and technology development. These SLRS materials must simulate the lunar regolith in terms of physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties. A summary of these issues is contained in the 2005 Workshop on Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials [l]. Lunar mare basalt simulants MLS-1 and JSC-1 were developed in the late 1980s. MLS-1 approximates an Apollo 11 high-Ti basalt, and was produced by milling of a holocrystalline, coarse-grained intrusive gabbro (Fig. 1). JSC-1 approximates an Apollo 14 basalt with a relatively low-Ti content, and was obtained from a glassy volcanic ash (Fig. 2). Supplies of MLS-1 and JSC-1 have been exhausted and these materials are no longer available. No highland anorthosite simulant was previously developed. Upcoming lunar polar missions thus require the identification, assessment, and development of both mare and highland simulants. A lunar regolith simulant is manufactured from terrestrial components for the purpose of simulating the physical and chemical properties of the lunar regolith. Significant challenges exist in the identification of appropriate terrestrial source materials. Lunar materials formed under comparatively reducing conditions in the absence of water, and were modified by meteorite impact events. Terrestrial materials formed under more oxidizing conditions with significantly greater access to water, and were modified by a wide range of weathering processes. The composition space of lunar materials can be modeled by mixing programs utilizing a low-Ti basalt, ilmenite, KREEP component, high-Ca anorthosite, and meteoritic components. This approach has been used for genetic studies of lunar samples via chemical and modal analysis. A reduced composition space may be appropriate for simulant development, but it is necessary to determine the controlling properties that affect the physical, chemical and mineralogical components of the simulant.

Carpenter, P.↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Proof Testing Aluminum and Titanium Thin-Walled Tubes for Aerospace Applications

Proof testing aerospace components aids in verifying the structural integrity of flight hardware. This process is often an important step in the certification process for critical parts. Though proof testing is a common practice at NASA and in industry, there is often a need to understand better the effectiveness of proof testing pressure systems discovering cracklike flaws or defects. Often proof tests are used in requirements and in practice as technical rationale for screening critical defects in a part in lieu of performing a non-destructive inspection. The intent of this work is to define proof test failure envelopes for thin-walled tubes composed of two materials: aluminum and titanium. Both materials are common in aerospace thin-walled tubing applications which is why these were the materials chosen for this study. The fracture mechanics software NASGRO was used to perform a parametric study on the effect of defects in thin-walled tubes subjected to proof testing. For both materials, the parameters varied in the NASGRO analyses were aspect ratio, proof test pressure, thickness, diameter, and flaw multiplier. With each case defined as a through crack or failure, the results were then pulled into MATLAB in order to parse through the data and produce failure envelope plots. Failure envelopes were created by meshing a surface in between the minimum proof pressure failing data points. As expected, based on material properties, the plots indicated the aluminum material would fail at much lower proof tests than the titanium. The parametric data and failure envelopes may be used as general qualitative insight on the effectiveness of proof testing thin-walled tubes of similar alloys.

Leah B Davis↗

DOE OSTI2020

Advanced Materials Program Summary

Materials solutions - enabling design, construction, and operation of licensable Advanced Nuclear Material, design, fabrication, installation, examination, testing, overpressure protection, inspection, stamping, and certification

11 NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE AND FUEL MATERIALS↗

NASA NTRS2005

Human Systems Integration: Unmanned Aircraft Control Station Certification Plan Guidance

This document provides guidance to the FAA on important human factors considerations that can be used to support the certification of a UAS Aircraft Control Station (ACS). This document provides a synopsis of the human factors analysis, design and test activities to be performed to provide a basis for FAA certification. The data from these analyses, design activities, and tests, along with data from certification/qualification tests of other key components should be used to establish the ACS certification basis. It is expected that this information will be useful to manufacturers in developing the ACS Certification Plan,, and in supporting the design of their ACS.

Source record↗

NASA NTRSDate not supplied

Design and Fabrication of the Langley Aerodrome No. 8 - Distributed Electric Propulsion VTOL Testbed

The Langley Aerodrome No. 8 (LA-8) is a distributed electric propulsion, vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) aircraft that is being used for wind tunnel testing and free flight testing at the NASA Langley Research Center. The intent of the LA-8 project is to provide a low-cost, modular test bed for technologies in the area of Advanced Air Mobility which includes electric urban and short regional flight. The methods used on the LA-8 provide a rapid means to verify aerodynamic, acoustic, and flight dynamics analysis of new electric VTOL and short takeoff and landing (STOL) designs. In addition, the flight vehicle will be used to help develop test processes for FAA flight vehicle airworthiness certification and for the development of robust flight control algorithms that are tolerant of failures. A new approach is being used on test vehicle design that makes extensive use of 3-D printing. Although materials used in 3-D printing have less strength than traditional materials used for NASA’s wind tunnel and flight models, strategic placement of load-carrying structures allows the aircraft to meet structural criteria while also enabling easy changes to be made in the vehicle design, such as the outer mold line. Modularity of the vehicle’s main components allows rapid changes to the vehicle configuration for comparative evaluation of alternate designs. Finally, a description is given of detailed inertia measurements of the flight vehicle using compound pendulum swing methods.

Urban air mobility↗

NASA NTRS2005

DEVELOPMENT OF STANDARDIZED LUNAR REGOLITH SIMULANT MATERIALS

Lunar exploration activities require scientific and engineering studies that use standardized testing procedures and ultimately support flight certification of hardware and the development of technologies for their use on the lunar surface. It is necessary to anticipate the full range of source materials and environmental constraints that are expected on the Moon and Mars, and to evaluate in-situ resource utilization (ISRU) coupled with testing and development. Historical use of lunar simulants has focused on physical aspects of the lunar regolith for landing and transportation activities. Lunar mare simulants MLS-1 and JSC-1 have been developed, but supplies have been exhausted. Renewed emphasis on exploration and ISRU activities requires development of standardized simulant reference materials that are traceable interlaboratory standards for testing and simulate the lunar regolith in terms of physical, chemical, and mineralogical properties. This new generation of lunar regolith simulants must therefore support both technological development and testing methods. These issues were extensively discussed at the 2005 Lunar Regolith Simulant Materials Workshop.

Carpenter, P.↗

NASA NTRS2013

NASA's Commercial Crew Program, the Next Step in U.S. Space Transportation

The Commercial Crew Program (CCP) is leading NASA's efforts to develop the next U.S. capability for crew transportation and rescue services to and from the International Space Station (ISS) by the middecade timeframe. The outcome of this capability is expected to stimulate and expand the U.S. space transportation industry. NASA is relying on its decades of human space flight experience to certify U.S. crewed vehicles to the ISS and is doing so in a two phase certification approach. NASA certification will cover all aspects of a crew transportation system, including: Development, test, evaluation, and verification. Program management and control. Flight readiness certification. Launch, landing, recovery, and mission operations. Sustaining engineering and maintenance/upgrades. To ensure NASA crew safety, NASA certification will validate technical and performance requirements, verify compliance with NASA requirements, validate that the crew transportation system operates in the appropriate environments, and quantify residual risks. The Commercial Crew Program will present progress to date and how it manages safety and reduces risk.

Mango, Edward J., Jr.↗