ULA CEO Tory Bruno reports that Blue engine is not exclusive to anyone
This implies that blue could bid this engine to the Air force RFP.I have asked Tory Bruno if means Blue origins can Bid the BE-4 to the Air force RFP?
EDIT
via twitter with me this morning
I wonder who owns the intellectual property rights to the RS-25 AKA the SSME ? NASA or Aerojet?
https://yellowdragonblog.com/20…
Could this engine be bid for the Air Forces EELV RFP?
The RFP states a bidder can submit two bids so Aerojet could submit two bids one of them the RS-25 expandable.I think methane does make better sense though if you want to launch from the surface due to molar mass densities so I like the idea of a Methane powered CBC for SLS and that this could be a human-rated EELV(But see below).But what if Aerojet declined to bid this engine, do they own it?
The SLS could benefit from a Methane CBC not sure what type of EELV this would make and at what price? My guess would be a more expensive one but if you had an all Methane SLS with Methane CBC this would a large order of engines that could augment and occasional Air Force buy.I think such an SLS would exceed the congressional targets of SLS GLOW and potentially this engine could be recovered and reflown
https://www.fbo.gov/?s=opportunity&mode=form&id=0b11951d48ef9044398e4429d8998dc4&tab=core&_cview=
EDIT 16:36 hours
This question was emailed to the Air Force RFP Manager Mr. David Sharp and I believe questions are answered in an annex to the RFP, SLS RS-25 engine managers are Mike Kynard , Gary Benton, Steve Wofford.Mr. Sharp would know doubt have to ask NASA as to who owns rights to the SSME/RS-25? The way I read the RFP conceivably one entity could fly an SLS CBC and another entity could fly an RS-25 EELV
EDIT 16:57 Hours
We could do the trades Between the RS-25 and RS-68 on a Delta-IV vehicle?assuming this is the LH2/O2 engine being bid, assuming also it is also the SLS CBC in order to mass manufacture an existing engine.The Air Force RFP would receive a bid of an existing engine that would make the EELV version human rated which the RS-68 is not, The Methane variant could come later with a NASA funding contribution.This LH2/O2 RS-25, unlike the proposed Methane variant, would be available now
EDIT 17:13 Hours
And off course the RS-25 could fly in clusters on an EELV or as a SLS CBC while the RS-68 cannot. A plus since you could fly a single-stick EELV ,the key here would be a block buy both the Air Force and NASA of 20 to 30 engines to reduce costs.Aerojet would not have to pony up the required matching sums required by the RFP with a LH2/O2 RS-25 EELV 🙂
Aerojet could use the required Air Force marching funds not used on RS-25 LH2/O2 R&D to build white tail RS-25 an option the air force might like, however, we now need a launch vehicle so the air forces match could go towards this but this idea works better with a third partner which the Air Force RFP allows for!
A Chinese contribution to the ISS
(A)(1) Allows for an extension of ISS beyond 2024 with newer modules(A)(2) Newer Chinese modules would be designed to extend the length of the ISS by adding additional multiple docking ports(A)(3) Extending the length could be anywhere there is an available docking port on the X.Y Z axis.
Early ISS/space station freedom designs had a tower power and another dual keel design feature to it. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Station_Freedom#.22Power_Tower.22_.281984.29 (A)(4) The Chinese and Bigelow modules would extend some distance to the -Y or the – N of the ISS.
(B)(1)A number of Chinese elements extending the length of ISS could allow for a geometry that allows for several Bigelow modules further out with commercial crew docking ports.The Chinese would contribute logistics flights in order to reduce ISS operational costs.A member of the public suggested to the Augustine commission that the ISS could be never-ending by adding new modules and discarding old ones, I suggest we want to preserve the ISS truss structures beyond 2028.
In an earlier post I suggested de crewing old ISS modules and pressurizing them with Xenon and or Argon for use as propellant for an ARM derived SEP to transfer most of the ISS to Lunar distant retrograde orbit (LDRO) or a lagrange point. https://yellowdragonblog.com/2015/05/19/issarm-mission-to-gto-and-on-to-drlo-2-5/
(B)(2) A un crewed ISS that is mostly inert and powered down relies on the SEP model and as such on its long journey to cislunar space would require minimal funding and hopefully the ISS modules pressurized with noble gasses might have reduced the need for logistics flights to refuel the SEP in route(?)(B)(3) My idea is further advance by the use of the SLS Hybrid chemical/SEP EUS stage I proposed here,
This however is a very expensive option while the first option could fit inside the 2024/2028 budget (B)(2) transferring portions of the ISS to cislunar space as a way point station effectively merges the ISS budget with the BEO exploration budget.(B)(3) Some Chinese and commercial modules could also make the journey with ISS or some of the modules could remain in LEO(B)(4) its doubtful if the newer chinese and Bigelow modules would survive the Van allen belts(?) without the SLS EUS boost however such a thing should be planned for by future ISS/gateway international partners. (B)(5) Why would we want to do this? (B)(5) The Chinese could provide LEO and Gateway station models and allow us to afford both. (B)(6)This is also done with the sharing of logistics flights, India would be able to join with commercial crew and cargo in LEO
(C)(1) The Chinese might be planning a human crewed lunar lander, In light of being able to provide logistics to cislunar space they should be able to loft a lunar lander.(C)(2) The rest of us can afford human mars orbital missions a decade later but can not afford a lander to either place.(C)(3) This could be bartered!(C)(4) ISS modules that have been inerted by the passage through the van Allen belts(fried avionics?) could still be dumb pressurized spaces buried under lunar regolith (C)(5) The Chinese could barter for a ride to Mars orbit in exchange for the rest of us getting a ride down to the Lunar surface.
(D)(1) The SLS budget does not have much to speak for so perhaps the best bet is every three years the project builds a Skylab-II out of existing tooling and they do this for 15 years.This would be a Skylab-II at Cislunar, one at Deimos and another at Phobos and two more at Lagrange and DLRO. Building 4 of the same article you would think reduce some costs?all of these would be un crewed and propositioned with ARM derived SEP, Indeed as I have already suggested the Skylab-II vehicles would transfer with a pressurized xenon propellent atmosphere for SEP fuel (in the habitable pressurized volume!).The Skylab-II would need to re-pressurize back to a O2/N2 atmosphere for crew arrival, this needs this idea; https://yellowdragonblog.com/2015/04/11/liquefactionfractionation-unit-to-remove-gases-xenonargon-from-a-gases-hydrogen-or-methane-propellent/ The idea was that a Hybrid Chemicle /SEP EUS would need to remove the chemical fuel from the SEP fuel since there may have been some mixing and a ZBO with a liquid air fractionation unit would do the same trick for the Skylab-II.
Future ISRU would require the same sort of unit too
Funding Vulcan by selling 49% of ULA to a leveraged ESOP
How much is ULA worth? you could sell 49% of the company to a leveraged ESOP and use the cash to fund Vulcan.ESOP’s being tax-free since they are pension funds under ERISA would mean that 49% of cash flow owed to the ESOP would be tax-free income to ULA.Or if Boeing and Lockheed martin want out then all of ULA could be sold to an ESOP in which case the entire company would be tax-free
http://www.esopassociation.org/explore/how-esops-work/learn-about-esops/leveraged
http://www.delashmitlawgroup.com/?page_id=32
ESOPS do mean filing a lot of public information with the IRS (ERISA) and the SEC Private companies can have ESOPS but are no longer private and a member of a ESOP can fill a shareholder lawsuit if management makes a bad call.
Bill gates states that AI and robots will displace most white-collar workers in 20 years as for the fast food worker we have an Ap for that 🙂 . http://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2015/04/17/400367891/this-robot-chef-has-mastered-crab-bisque
so I have an idea for a blog entry all robots must be owned by the people they replace so the worker receives income for the worker who is displaced,This would be mandated by legislation. Corporations would be required to lease the robots from individual citizens in order to replace income. The government would be freed from the expenses of paying for unemployment and welfare.
Another possibility is that individuals would own shares in a coop or ESOP that would rent out these robotic workers, each individual would be entitled to ownership of at least one robot, large manufacturing robots could owned by several workers.The 50 Million poor folks in America could own this Robotic service worker ESOP so that income equality and guaranteed income for everyone up to a certain level.Bill gates suggested that society would need to guaranty everyone a certain income.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnUDhjG95jI
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-scarcity_economy
Robotic labor ESOP at VW; a labor negotiating strategy for UAW local 45
VW agrees to replace labor as feasible at its Chattanooga VW plant, UAW local 45 agrees to set up an ESOP owned by VW workers that will own and lease robotic labor back to VW Chattanooga.UAW 45 and VW Chattanooga will consider transferring all workers to include the temp workers and the VW plant to the ESOP. This places the entire VW Chattanooga project into a tax-free statues since pension plans don’t pay income taxes!
Recovers ISS truss structures and other components for some future use and demonstrates a SEP mission.From 2024 to 2028 EVA missions detach and discard/jettison unwanted mass.EVA missions connect all ISS pressurized modules to the SEP propulsion modules ***.modules are de-crewed and pressurized modules are pressurized with Xenon or Argon
https://yellowdragonblog.com/2015/01/12/issskylab-ii-a-leo-to-geo-mission-2-0/
Place ISS Truss and salvaged pressurized modules into DRLO. The proposed ARM SEP carries 6 tons of Xenon how much Xenon could the ISS pressurized modules carry and at what PSI? ISS weighs 420 tons how much Xenon from LEO to DRLO?
ISS has an internal pressurized volume of 32,333 cubic feet, 0.2 Kg of Xenon per square foot so this would be 6466.6 Kg of xenon on board the ISS half of the ARM’s Xenon load.
http://www.aqua-calc.com/calculate/volume-to-weight
EDIT 21 hundred hours 13 June 2015
The above astrodynamics paper has a 1000 Kg spacecraft, a 10 Kw engine with 3,300 ISP and it arrives from LEO to LLO with weight of 791 Kg.So it used 209 Kg of Xenon(?) to get there.So 1/5th the weight is fuel.So 20% of the ISS 420 tons would be 90 tons of Xenon.We would need less since unlike the above paper we are going to EML2 or DLRO.Also the above paper does not use Lunar gravity assists
Van Allan belts will fry the ISS avionics so this would need to be refurbished
EDIT 11 June 2015
*** it could very well be the SEP takes up ISS pressurized Xenon from its modules directly through the docking mechanism with the SEP? The last commercial cargo to LEO ISS would that of a cargo of Cryogenic Xenon to pressurize the ISS modules.However Cygnus and Dragon cant bring up this much mass so perhaps a modified centaur could?(ACES ?)
We would need a pump to the SEP for when Xenon pressurized ISS modules reduces down to low PSI
Congressional oversight of on orbit assets with commercial crew
(A)(1) It should be encouraged that the congressional leadership in particular the committee leadership should pursue a bipartisanship policy of sending ranking and minority leadership members on commercial crew to visit on orbit assets
(A)(2) Such missions should not displace NASA funding of commercial crew so that the congress is providing some funding of such over site missions
(A)(3) The language above might mean adding new money over 5 to 10 years to the NASA budget that represents displaced commercial crew/cargo by adding some additional missions to the manifests.
(A)(4) Industry offering to fly a member of congress should be transparent and come under any ethics rules but should be encouraged as an act of education that might benefit spaceflight and that elected members district.
(A)(5) You would have to wonder if such a person could return to earth and vote to cut the earth observation science budget?Why do I say this? persons returning from orbit have reported over the last 50 years a profound understanding of our planets fragility as seen from orbit.After all Lunar orbiter and Apollo 8 images of the raising earth over the lunar horizon shape a generation of those of us who where alive then
(A)(1) Investigate with ground-based systems miscibility of noble ullage gases with cryogenic LH2, LO2, and LCH4
(A)(2) investigate mixing of noble gas ullage with Cryogenic propellants over hours, days and weeks
(B)(1) investigate in space liquefaction/fractionation machinery in conjunction with a zero boil-off unit.
(B)(2) this machinery would be used to process gasses H2 and O2 out of noble ullage/ion propellant in hybrid chemical ion powered systems; investigate with ground-based experiments a Liquid air fractionation unit
(B)(3) removal of noble elements out of LH2 and LO2 in the case of a chemical refueling of a hybrid-powered stage
(C)(1) investigate with ground-based experiments with removing Noble gasses from Nitrogen oxygen gases in the case of the habitat’s being re-purposed as ion propellant tank. This is also done with an in-space liquid air liquefaction/fraternization system.
And;
(D)(1) We need to use a ground-based experiment to study of Noble gas ullage/Ion propellants with hypergolic propellants; If these behave better on longer-term missions and behave better on miscible issues then Hyperbolic chemical/ion powered hybrid stages then we could in future do trades with cryogenic ion powered hybrids
(E)(1) The ground-based Air liquefaction/fractionation unit leads the way to IRSU of rocks. Imagine the system at work on a landed hybrid propellent Xues/Centaur lander coupled to an Oxygen production system.
(F)(1) Air Liquefaction/Fractionation unit allows for the GH2/GO2/GCH4 in the propellant tanks to be separated from one another and fed to both The IVF and Ion propulsion systems since we envision that both systems are present and that both use the same propellant and oxidizer tanks.
EDIT 16 March 2016
(G) (1) Does Noble element ice sink or float in cryogenic oxidizers or propellant? I think if large Noble element ice forms it sinks
Congressional oversight of on orbit assets with commercial crew
(A)(1) It should be encouraged that the congressional leadership in particular the committee leadership should pursue a bipartisanship policy of sending ranking and minority leadership members on commercial crew to visit on orbit assets
(A)(2) Such missions should not displace NASA funding of commercial crew so that the congress is providing some funding of such over site missions
(A)(3) The language above might mean adding new money over 5 to 10 years to the NASA budget that represents displaced commercial crew/cargo by adding some additional missions to the manifests.
(A)(4) Industry offering to fly a member of congress should be transparent and come under any ethics rules but should be encouraged as an act of education that might benefit spaceflight and that elected members district.
(A)(5) You would have to wonder if such a person could return to earth and vote…
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SBIMTA ; Space based Integrative Multi-trophic Aquaculture
This video is a Canadian open water IMTA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kbI9b0_pLao
The Canadian space agency and the Canadian IMTA researchers could make an important contribution future human settlement of the solar system
(A)(1) use inflatable spacecraft such as Bigelow but with saltwater, salt water would involve a lot of mass to orbit.(A)(1) Light pipes needed to provide sunlight to the interior of the inflatable spacecraft
This video is an american land based system that might be more applicable to a space based system
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2PWwLjqHLkA
Such SBIMTA systems would be a natural radiation protection device
Yellow Dragon, a mission to repurpose existing ideas into new ideas 