SpaceX's New Crew Escape System Saves Both Lives and Money

By Clay Dillow Posted 04.27.2011 at 4:21 pm 7 Comments

The End of Pointy Rockets New crew escape systems like the one on SpaceX's Dragan capsule are powered from behind rather than pulled by an escape rocket, dispensing with the escape "tower" that graced the tip of space race-era rockets. via SpaceX

The earliest American astronauts were lauded for their bravery, but even those early Project Mercury crew capsule designs had a backup plan in the launch abort system (LAS) that, if a rocket began to explode on the launch pad, would throw the crew capsule clear of danger. The Space Shuttle has no such LAS. So now that we are returning to rocket-launched crew capsules for space travel, new methods of launch escape are emerging.

Today, we learn a little more about how SpaceX plans to keep crews aboard its Dragon capsule safe during the dangerous launch phase and beyond via New Scientist. SpaceX and Boeing have both developed schemes that dispense with the LAS towers that sat atop the crew capsules of the Saturn V and Atlas rockets of yesteryear (and that still grace the Soyuz and Shenzhou launch vehicles).

That pointy nose on those older rockets was actually another smaller rocket. In an emergency, this rocket would fire it’s motors and pull the crew capsule clear of the doomed rocket below. But if the launch went well, this LAS rocket was ditched, wasting perfectly good motors and expensive rocket fuel.

Boeing engineers already unveiled the escape mechanism for their Crew Space Transportation vehicle, CST-100, which integrates the LAS into the capsule itself via a so-called “pusher” design. Thrusters mounted beneath the capsule do the firing, pushing rather than pulling the capsule out of harm’s way. Bonus: no wasted motors, no wasted fuel. But that fuel has to be carried into orbit, and that spells added weight--weight being the arch-nemesis of any economical space launch.

SpaceX’s new LAS design is similar, but by mounting escape thrusters on the side of the capsule (still blasting downward of course), it’s possible to integrate that extra fuel into mission activities, like on orbit maneuvers or--at some point--retro rockets for landing the capsule on an extraterrestrial body.

More importantly, it furthers one of SpaceX’s most important goals: cost reduction. If the fuel can be used on-orbit, great. Even if it can’t, SpaceX’s design (as well as Boeing’s) at least save their pricey rocket motors, which can be used again. Makes those Apollo missions look wasteful by comparison.

[New Scientist]

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7 Comments

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Navy1270

04/27/11 at 6:00 pm

Personally, I don't exactly trust this system yet and I will continue to not trust this until it has been proven in real life. Not only that, but the rockets actually look cooler with the escape towers on them.

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Moon born

04/27/11 at 10:41 pm

@Navy1270

So instead of trusting a system that only needs to work in an emergency you choose to put your faith in a system that must work 100% of the time or you will die. On Apollo style missions if the LAS fails to function properly and stays on top of the capsule instead of flying off it would kill you during reentry. I accept your other objection, risking lives is totally worth looking cool.

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docmordrid

04/28/11 at 2:43 am

SpaceX's demo clip shows 8 thrusters arranged in pairs, 90° apart with each pair centered between the Draco maneuvering thrusters. Having many of them in pairs gives redundancy, something a solid rocket based LAS seldom offers. As such it should be much safer.

Chris Bergin of NASASpaceFlight.com - a site where a lot of NASA & other space types hang out - mentioned the other day that the NASA guys he's talked to think Dragon is "the best thing since sliced bread."

Good enogh for me!

Post link: http://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=23538.msg728051#msg728051

DocM

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Navy1270

04/28/11 at 10:06 am

@Moon born
I get that. I just don't trust the system YET since it hasn't been proven. I just want to see it work just this once.

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Moon born

04/28/11 at 12:48 pm

I am certain there will be several tests on ground and probably one in flight before people will ever ride in it.

The space shuttle was never tested before it carried people, that was a huge risk.

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B.V.

04/28/11 at 1:00 pm

@Moon born,

*lights a cigarette*

Wait, what was it you said about risking lives and looking cool?

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docmordrid

04/30/11 at 12:47 pm

One of SpaceX's CCDev 2 milestones is that Dragon's LAS engines, their tanks and controls have to be ground tested by May 12, 2012. Eventually there will be tests of the fully integrated system flown from the ground and atop a Falcon 9 at Max-Q (maximum dynamic stress during launch) to determine its effectiveness at that critical juncture.

DocM

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