suborbital research platforms of the future

© Telespazio VEGA Deutschland

COMPANY UNCLASSIFIED – Proprietary Information

Telespazio VEGA Deutschland

Suborbital Research Platforms of the Future – Suborbitale Forschungsplattformen der Zukunft

12 December, 2014

14. Gravimeeting, Erlangen

Dr. Olympia Kyriopoulos



COMPANY PRESENTATION

TELESPAZIO VEGA DEUTSCHLAND – AN OVERVIEW

Headquarter:

Darmstadt

Offices:

Gilching, Hamburg

Revenue:

ca. 48 M€ p.a. Employees:

~ 350



Suborbital Research Platforms

of the Future



What is a suborbtial space flight…

TERMINOLOGY

Suborbital flights

flights that follow parabolic arcs

and reach above 100 km

altitude providing several

minutes of micro-g

Space Tourism

commercial activities that offer

customers a direct experience

of the space environment

SUBSPACE




of the Future



SUBSPACE

There is a market with

explicit need for

research under

microgravity

Nowadays, a multitude

of campaigns realised

per year with Drop

Tower in Bremen,

Parabolic Flights and

TEXUS (MAXUS)

Each platform has its

strength

They complement

each other



SUBSPACE

New commercial

access provided with

sRLV (suborbital

Reusable Launch

Vehicles)

Routine daily flights

above 100km into the

near-space

environment, with

accompanying short

periods of

weightlessness

Main advantages:

flexible, repetitive,

inexpensive related to

micro-g time




of the Future



Google search results

FUTURE SPACE VEHICLES…

SUBSPACE



SUBSPACE

Who is trying to change the paradigm?

MAIN ACTORS AND THEIR VEHICLES

Virgin Galactic XCOR Aerospace

Armadillo/EXOS

Aerospace

Whittinghill

Aerospace

Blue Origin UP Aerospace



SUBSPACE




SUBSPACE


STATUS QUO



XCOR Aerospace



LYNX MARK I MOCK-UP 1:1

SUBSPACE

XCOR Aerospace

XCOR XR-5K18 "Lynx" main engine test

on the flight weight fuselage



LYNX MK. II – MISSION PROFILE

SUBSPACE

XCOR Aerospace



LYNX PAYLOAD INTEGRATION

SUBSPACE

XCOR Aerospace

Secondary Payload A – Behind-Pilot

Primary Payload B – Right-of-Pilot

XCOR Pre-Flight Review

Payload integration in Mojave, CA

Final Safety Review

Flight Readiness Review



UP Aerospace



UP Aerospace

SPACELOFT XL

SUBSPACE

Operations at Spaceport America, New Mexico (NM)

9 years of professional aerospace integration and launch

management services

Highly reliable, low-cost access to space

Minimal on-pad effort, simplified pre-launch and launch

operations

Payload access prior to launch for testing, updating and

final preparations

On-land experiment and payload recovery

Single-stage unguided suborbital launch vehicle

Overall height 6.10 m, max. diameter 0.26 m

Standard mission liftoff weight (incl. payloads) 354 kg

Sourc

e:

UP

Aero

space



UP Aerospace

MISSION SCHEDULING

SUBSPACE

Standard mission payloads up to 36 kg

Standard mission apogee ~115 km

Standard microgravity time ~3 min.

Source: UP Aerospace

Higher apogee and more microgravity

time with lower payload mass

Suborbital space access also with 50 kg



UP Aerospace

NOSE CONE (NC) & PAYLOAD TRANSPORTATION SYSTEM (PTS)

SUBSPACE

NC-1 NC-2 NC-3 PTS4-X PTS10-X

Maximum Inside Height (cm) 35.6 34.3 21.6 8.3 23.5

Maximum Inside Diameter (cm) 8.4 15.9 20.3 24.8 24.8

Maximum Payload Volume (cm3) 868.5 5915.7 6980.9 3982.0 11323.4

Maximum Useable Payload Weight

(kg) excluding the PTS module 0.9 3.2 4.5 1.5 3.2

Payload weight including the PTS

Module or Bulkhead (kg) 1.1 3.7 5.3 3.4 5.8

Access to Space No No No Yes Yes

PTS4 module

(Al) and access

opening to

space

PTS10 module

(Al) and

customizable

access panel

window to space

Source: UP Aerospace

NC modules for

autonomous payloads

(no power, electronics) ©

UP

C



Our Services…



Communication with VG

ALMOST 20 YEARS AGO…

SUBSPACE



Our Services…

…TPZV OBJECTIVE WAS/ IS

SUBSPACE

providing a ‘one stop

shop’ for all customer

services during every

key step to flight,

from initial enquiry

through to payload

integration and return

offering sRLV flights

via a range of systems

and operators to

ensure both,

optimum and cost

effective service

solutions

To be THE preferred

agent /broker for

suborbital Reusable

Launch Vehicle (sRLV)

services

by:



SUBSPACE

Our Services…

MINIMUM SERVICE REQUIREMENTS

For us to ‘broker’ an all-inclusive service package, we had to be able to

provide at least the following:

the optimal suborbital flight among the providers

logistics services to transport the payload and researchers to/from the

launch site

integration services to ensure the payload can operate as expected

aboard the vehicle

contractual services to ensure all legal, regulatory and fiscal

requirements are fully met

consultation services to tailor current and future customer needs to

specific flight services



What have we

achieved so far?



SubSpace Meeting, 11/11/11

ONCE UPON A TIME IN 2011…

SUBSPACE



How is TPZV involved?

OUR ACHIEVEMENTS TO DATE…

SUBSPACE

Contract for 1st ‘pilot’ flight opportunity with AA’s STIG-B Signed in May with TU Braunschweig for the MEDEA experiment

Contract for 2nd ‘pilot’ flight opportunity with AA’s STIG-B Signed in July with TU Magdeburg for the GAGa experiment

Suborbital flight opportunities for MEDEA Combined System Test (CST) at Armadillo’s facility & three launch attempts

with STIG-B at Spaceport America (NM) in Oct/Nov 2012 and Jan 2013

2012

2013

Marketing activities, presentations and workshops Promotion of ‘SubSpace’ services within TPZV, to European space agencies

and industries, identify research needs, purchase of PTS 10 unit from UP

Finalise the business case Consolidate the business case via market analysis and discussions with

potential customers (in collaboration with TPZ Strategy)

Strategic partnership with sRLV providers and potential customers Sign agreements of intent / MoUs with a limited set of prime operators/ customers

2014 Tailor contractual basis for suborbital flights UP pricing proposal for entire SL flight campaign, XCOR suborbital flight

payload integration and support agreement; negotiate terms and conditions



TPZV Broker Checklist

TO SUM UP…

SUBSPACE

As a ‘broker’ we achieved the following:

the optimal suborbital flight among the providers (e.g. AA, UP, XCOR)

logistics services to transport the payload and researchers to/from the

launch site

integration services to ensure the payload can operate as expected aboard

the vehicle

contractual services to ensure all legal, regulatory and fiscal requirements

are fully met

consultation services to tailor customer needs to specific flight services

…and all of it in only 5 months, from contract to launch!

© A

rmadill

o A

ero

space



What can we expect in the future?

…FUTURE ACTIVITIES & FLIGHT OPPORTUNITIES

SUBSPACE

Suborbital flight opportunity for GAGa CST & Launch with Lynx Mk. I at XCOR’s Mojave facility in Spring 2015

Open up the SubSpace market Leverage flight experience to stimulate interest and then demand from ‘future’

experiments, eventually build experiments for industry

Fly your experiments / pathfinder flights Fly follow-on experiments funded via DLR and/or ESA on-board e.g.

SpaceLoft XL, Lynx Mk. I and other sRLV systems, as they become available

2015



SUBSPACE

Thank you for your attention…

…questions/ comments?

© DLR

Olympia Kyriopoulos: [email protected]

Head of New Space Section, TPZV D, Europaplatz 5, 64293 Darmstadt



Backup slides…



Armadillo Aerospace

(EXOS Aerospace)



Armadillo (EXOS) Aerospace

LAUNCH OF FIRST EUROPEAN PAYLOAD

Flight opportunities with the suborbital reusable launch vehicle

(sRLV), Armadillo Aerospace’s STIG-B, realized on Oct/Nov

2012 and Jan 2013 from Space Port America in New Mexico

Payload is MEDEA experiment, built by Technische Universität

Braunschweig with funding from DLR

SUBSPACE

* Early vehicle capabilities; expected to significantly improve with later versions

© A

rmadill

o A

ero

space



Virgin Galactic



SPACESHIPTWO

SUBSPACE

Virgin Galactic

Payload information form available

Payload safety document (templated by VG)

Payload rack hardware developed by

NanoRacks (19‘‘ Racks)



Blue Origin



Blue Origin

NEW SHEPARD

SUBSPACE

Interface cabin payload bay (CPB) or

customized

Standard-height (~23 cm) but also

double-height available (~49 cm)

Length (~51 cm) and width (~42 cm)

Payload weight limit ~11 kg or for double

CPB ~23 kg

suborbital research platforms of the future

Technology

pilot xcor

review payload integration

parabolic flights

nearspace environment

main actors

pilot primary payload

parabolic arcs

direct experience