Excalibur Almaz
Encyclopedia
Private spaceflight
Private spaceflight is flight above Earth altitude conducted by and paid for by an entity other than a government. In the early decades of the Space Age, the government space agencies of the Soviet Union and United States pioneered space technology augmented by collaboration with affiliated design...
company which plans to provide orbital space tourism
Space tourism
Space Tourism is space travel for recreational, leisure or business purposes. A number of startup companies have sprung up in recent years, hoping to create a space tourism industry...
, and provide test beds for experiments in a microgravity environment
Microgravity environment
The term micro-g environment is more or less a synonym of weightlessness and zero-G, but indicates that g-forces are not quite zero, just very small...
.
, Excalibur hoped to begin flights by 2012 with revenue flights starting as early as 2013.
Company
Excalibur Almaz is based in Douglas, Isle of ManDouglas, Isle of Man
right|thumb|250px|Douglas Promenade, which runs nearly the entire length of beachfront in Douglasright|thumb|250px|Sea terminal in DouglasDouglas is the capital and largest town of the Isle of Man, with a population of 26,218 people . It is located at the mouth of the River Douglas, and a sweeping...
, with offices in Houston and Moscow
Moscow
Moscow is the capital, the most populous city, and the most populous federal subject of Russia. The city is a major political, economic, cultural, scientific, religious, financial, educational, and transportation centre of Russia and the continent...
. The company owns its spacecraft but contracts expert services, including refurbishment, launch, control, and recovery.
In October, 2011, NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
signed an unfunded Space Act Agreement
Space Act Agreement
Space Act Agreement is a type of legal agreement specified in the National Aeronautics and Space Act that established NASA. Agreements of this type have been reached under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services and Commercial Crew Development programs are examples of Space Act agreements...
for work related to the Commercial Crew Development
Commercial Crew Development
Commercial Crew Development is a multiphase space technology development program, funded by the U.S. government, and administered by NASA. The program is intended to stimulate development of privately operated crew vehicles to low Earth orbit. It is run by the Commercial Crew and Cargo Program...
program. Details have not yet been released.
Jonathan Clark, NASA flight surgeon
Flight surgeon
A flight surgeon is a military medical officer assigned to duties in the clinical field variously known as aviation medicine, aerospace medicine, or flight medicine...
on six Space Shuttle
Space Shuttle
The Space Shuttle was a manned orbital rocket and spacecraft system operated by NASA on 135 missions from 1981 to 2011. The system combined rocket launch, orbital spacecraft, and re-entry spaceplane with modular add-ons...
missions—and whose wife died in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
Space Shuttle Columbia disaster
The Space Shuttle Columbia disaster occurred on February 1, 2003, when shortly before it was scheduled to conclude its 28th mission, STS-107, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated over Texas and Louisiana during re-entry into the Earth's atmosphere, resulting in the death of all seven crew members...
on shuttle mission STS-107
STS-107
-Mission parameters:*Mass:**Orbiter Liftoff: **Orbiter Landing: **Payload: *Perigee: *Apogee: *Inclination: 39.0°*Period: 90.1 min- Insignia :...
—is a consultant on spacesuit and crew biological environment design for Excalibur Almaz.
Spacecraft
Soviet space program
The Soviet space program is the rocketry and space exploration programs conducted by the former Union of Soviet Socialist Republics from the 1930s until its dissolution in 1991...
's TKS
TKS spacecraft
TKS spacecraft was a Soviet spacecraft design in the late 1960s intended to supply the military Almaz space station. The spacecraft was designed for manned or autonomous cargo resupply use...
space capsule
Space capsule
A space capsule is an often manned spacecraft which has a simple shape for the main section, without any wings or other features to create lift during atmospheric reentry....
s and Almaz
Almaz
The Almaz program was a series of military space stations launched by the Soviet Union under cover of the civilian Salyut DOS-17K program after 1971....
space stations. The TKS-derived capsules, which vaguely resemble a cross between the American Gemini
Project Gemini
Project Gemini was the second human spaceflight program of NASA, the civilian space agency of the United States government. Project Gemini was conducted between projects Mercury and Apollo, with ten manned flights occurring in 1965 and 1966....
and Apollo capsules, are unique by Russian/Soviet standards. They are equipped to carry three passengers or operate autonomously, but unlike the American capsules the Almaz capsules are reusable from 50 to 100 times. They can launch atop any of several rockets of various spacefaring countries, and they possess a Launch Escape System
Launch escape system
A Launch Escape System is a top-mounted rocket connected to the crew module of a crewed spacecraft and used to quickly separate the crew module from the rest of the rocket in case of emergency. Since the escape rockets are above the crew module, an LES typically uses separate nozzles which are...
to ensure the safety of their passengers. They use parachutes and retrorocket
Retrorocket
A retrorocket is a rocket engine providing thrust opposing the motion of a spacecraft, thereby causing it to decelerate.-History:...
s to return to Earth, and have soft landing engines which fire just prior to touching down on land. Water-landings are also possible. TKS vehicle/service module design resembles U.S. plans for Manned Orbital Laboratory. Excalibur plans to have multiple options for launch vehicles. The vehicle has three parachutes for redundancy.
Space station
A space station is a spacecraft capable of supporting a crew which is designed to remain in space for an extended period of time, and to which other spacecraft can dock. A space station is distinguished from other spacecraft used for human spaceflight by its lack of major propulsion or landing...
s are directly related to modules used on the International Space Station
International Space Station
The International Space Station is a habitable, artificial satellite in low Earth orbit. The ISS follows the Salyut, Almaz, Cosmos, Skylab, and Mir space stations, as the 11th space station launched, not including the Genesis I and II prototypes...
's Russian Orbital Segment
Russian Orbital Segment
The Russian Orbital Segment is the name given to the components of the International Space Station constructed in Russia and operated by the Russian Federal Space Agency...
such as Zarya
Zarya
Zarya , also known as the Functional Cargo Block or FGB , was the first module of the International Space Station to be launched. The FGB provided electrical power, storage, propulsion, and guidance to the ISS during the initial stage of assembly...
, as well as the Soviet and Russian Salyut
Salyut
The Salyut program was the first space station program undertaken by the Soviet Union, which consisted of a series of nine space stations launched over a period of eleven years from 1971 to 1982...
and Mir
Mir
Mir was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the...
space stations. This is because the design of the original Almaz (Salyut 2,3, and 5) stations was used as a basis for capsules on Mir and ISS.
Equipment
Two Soviet-era spacecraft were moved from Russia to Excalibur Almaz facilities on the Isle of Man in early 2011. EA "plans to use the modules to provide extra room and supplies for the tourists and researchers it hopes to ferry into space." The precise mix between new and previously-built spacecraft modules from Excalibur Almaz has not been made public.Space launch services
In 2010, Excalibur Almaz partnered with Space Launch Services (SLS) to finance Sea LaunchSea Launch
Sea Launch is a spacecraft launch service that uses a mobile sea platform for equatorial launches of commercial payloads on specialized Zenit 3SL rockets...
's preparations to emerge from Chapter 11 with $12 million (USD) of debtor-in-possession (DIP) financing to provide investment in a financial reorganization of Sea Launch. SLS earlier provided $12.5 million of DIP funds to Sea Launch in December 2009.
Sources
Siddiqi, Asif A., The Almaz Space Station Complex: A History. 1964-1992, part 1, JBISJournal of the British Interplanetary Society
The Journal of the British Interplanetary Society is a technical scientific journal, first published in 1934. JBIS is concerned with space science and space technology...
, Vol 54, No 11/12, November/December 2001.
Excalibur Almaz Limited AAS Presentation, Nov. 16, 2005
Dr. Jamie Floyd, Assessment of the Almaz Capsule for Space Station Assured Crew Return (ACRV), McDonnell Douglas Aerospace MDC 97W5151, January 1997.
External links
- Grahn, Sven. ‘’The Almaz Space Station Complex’’
- Wade, Mark. ‘’Almaz’’
- Russian Space Web. ‘’The Almaz Program’’