ABSTRACT
The NASA X38 vehicle is a scaled prototype of the Crew Recovery Vehicle (CRV) designed for the International Space Station (ISS). The CRV will be used as an emergency evacuation spacecraft from the ISS and will replace or supplement a Russian-built Soyuz spacecraft in this role. The descent of the CRV through the last 12 000 feet of the atmosphere to landing will be accomplished by a steerable parafoil.
A team of engineers and scientists at the Johnson Space Center, Dryden Flight Research Facility, and other locations were assembled to develop the X-38 in late 1994. Test managers requested that the Spaceflight Meteorology Group (SMG) provide real-time weather analysis and forecast support for the X38 drop tests, give input into flight rules for X38 testing, and begin plans for ISS and CRV operations in the future. Weather support procedures were specifically designed to help meet X38 test objectives and were developed using Space Shuttle landing weather operations as an initial model. Further refinement and improvement of the operations plan is anticipated.
Several X-38 test activities must be accounted for in the flight rules and operations plans. Weather issues must be addressed at 1) take-off time of the B-52 carrier aircraft, 2) X38 release time, 3) X38 parafoil deployment, and 4) X38 landing. Initial flight rules require fairly good weather in order to protect and observe the vehicle in its maiden flights. Flight rules for the X38 must evolve with the test schedule and objectives as the X38 is released from higher and higher altitudes. Ultimately, flight rules for the CRV in the ISS era must relax from the constraints of the X38 test project.
Development of the CRV Baseline Operations Plan began in the Spring of 1998. A CRV will be used for 1)emergency evacuations from the ISS, 2) medical emergencies on the ISS, and 3) an orderly return of crew members to Earth in the absence of the Shuttle. Thus, the CRV must be able to fly and land in all but the most extreme weather environments. This paper describes SMG’s past and present activities in support of the NASA X38 and CRV projects, and suggests future SMG activities.
The 8th Conference on Aviation, Range, and Aerospace Meteorology