CCiCap Update and Boeing Completes all Milestones
NASA and Commercial Partners Review Summer of Advancements, NASA
“NASA’s spaceflight experts in the Commercial Crew Program (CCP) met throughout July with aerospace partners to review increasingly advanced designs, elements and systems of the spacecraft and launch vehicles under development as part of the space agency’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) and Commercial Crew Development Round 2 (CCDev2) initiatives.”
… “In August or September, NASA plans to award one or more contracts that will provide the agency with commercial services to transport astronauts to and from the International Space Station by the end of 2017.”
Boeing Commercial Crew Program Completes Critical Design and Safety Reviews, NASA
“Boeing recently completed the Phase Two Spacecraft Safety Review of its Crew Space Transportation (CST)-100 spacecraft and the Critical Design Review (CDR) of its integrated systems, meeting all of the company’s Commercial Crew Integrated Capability (CCiCap) milestones on time and on budget.”
So Boeing has completed all its milestones but still has no prototype vehicle, no production facility and no real skin in the game. Incumbency hath its privileges.
As I understand it, the rumors are that there will be two full awards. Does that mean one gets nothing? If that the case it will be sicking if Boeing gives forward at the expense of either of the other two.
On the latest Bigelow info I understand Boeing’s capsule is the only one in the presentation?
Duh! Budget does’t matter a fig when the amount you’re paid is dependant solely on successfully meeting the relevant milestone.
NASA doesn’t care how much a company spends since the payment is fixed. Timeliness is also secondary since the object is to complete the milestone successfully. NASA knew that there would be delays as companies developed the necessary in-house expertise and systems to achieve the desired results. Hence the milestones can be regarded as steps along the way to the end game. Unlike SLS and Orion both of which have no end game.
Cheers
Boeing and SpaceX appear to be on different laps in this race.
Adding “estimated date of the first flight to the ISS” to the reported information about each spacecraft may give a better status report.
DC is changing to an liquid Orbitec engine. I checked their website and their engine is like nothing else. It uses a vortex combustion. It is supposed to confine the high temps to the center, away from the walls. Keeps the walls cool for longer life. I hope it works in DC ok. The change also should be lighter and lower the wing loading. The balance should be hard. All the weight will now be on the rear. I am sure they have all this figured out. This should really delay DC. They will have to redo a lot.
Interestingly the NasaWatch poll on the program shows the following for likelihood for receiving funding:
Boeing 36.7%
Sierra Nevada 37.46%
SpaceX 25.84%
Would be interesting to understand the reasoning behind the voting.
Cheers