CSTS

The Crew Space Transportation System ( CSTS ) was a study for a manned spacecraft which should be developed jointly by Roskosmos and ESA, and was finally closed in 2009.

• 4.1 Soyuz variant
• 4.2 Other variants

• 6.1 CSTS spacecraft LEO missions
• 6.2 lunar flyby
• 6.3 lunar landing

History

The CSTS was known until mid-2006 under the name of Advanced Crew Transportation System ( ACTS). A first draft should be available by June 2007. A year later, should be decided at the ESA Ministerial Conference on the actual construction of the CSTS.

With the CSTS it should be possible to operate similarly as with the planned U.S. space ship Orion, both in low earth orbit, as also to carry out flights to the moon. The plan was a new development based on the Soyuz spacecraft that of an existing or planned launch vehicle (eg Soyuz 2-3) should be launched into space.

The Japanese space agency JAXA would be involved under certain circumstances in the project.

End of January 2009 were discrepancies between Roskosmos and ESA public. On 18 March 2009, the parties presented a joint statement firmly terminating the program. The reason given was that it was not possible to bring the financial needs of Moscow with the interests of Europe on an equal partnership in line. Roscosmos, the project developed initially under the PPTS on. Later it became a Manned transport ship new generation (PTK NP).

Background

In January 2004, President Bush announced his " Vision for Space Exploration" to. The program provided inter alia that the United States of America again manned flights to the moon and from 2030 should also manned flights to Mars perform from 2020.

An international collaboration in the to be developed for this purpose spaceship Orion leaned NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, however, from 2006 officially.

Since 2004 ran at Roskosmos plans for a successor to the Soyuz spaceship names Kliper. Despite the positive attitude of the ESA management in 2005 rejected the ESA ministerial conference in Berlin to participate in Kliper from, out of concern that ESAs could only play a minor role in the development. The tender for Kliper was completed in the summer of 2006, the Russian side without surcharge, officially on the grounds that no proposal was in line with the criteria.

The study

Announcement of the study

On 25 July 2006 ESA Director-General Jean -Jacques Dordain announced at the Farnborough air show in that the study of the CSTS early September 2006 start and should last about 18 months ( until early 2008 ). The cost on the part of ESA amounted for the study to 15 million euros, which were from seven European countries, including Germany, France and Italy, is applied. The budget of the Russian side has not been announced.

Objectives

The ESA had had repeatedly stated that the study for their own spaceship system should not be a competition program for US-based Orion spacecraft, but had about Marco Caporicci, team member of the manned ESA program, clarifies:

"We do not want a race with the Americans, the systems are rather complementary. "

On the other hand, about Daniel Sacotte, Director had said for the manned space flight at ESA, on the objectives of the ESA:

"We will try not to make too much of our dependence on other partners. That's our priority. "

Manuel Valls, ESA strategist with respect to manned space flight of ESA, added this statement with reference to the Russian cooperation:

"Our long- term goal is to develop this new system along with the Russians and operate. "

The finished ship should be " common property " of Russians and Europeans.

Branches of study

Special fields of study included according to a statement by Jean -Jacques Dordain:

• Basic Design of the system
• Detailed Design of the subsystems including a coupling mechanism
• Decisions about the division of labor in a full development
• Manned lunar flights

Preliminary design for a spaceship

Soyuz variant

According to media reports, the core of CSTS should be a spaceship, which is based on the basic principle of the Soyuz spacecraft. It should have space for more inventories for longer missions, an improved heat shield for a higher re-entry speed into the Earth's atmosphere, a new interplanetary navigation system and space for a three - or four -man crew. The mission duration should be at least 18 days. The empty mass would, in particular due to the longer duration of the mission and the magnification for four people, at least 10 tonnes located ( Soyuz TMA: 7,2 t).

The CSTS spacecraft should, like the Soyuz spacecraft, consist of three parts:

• An enlarged living module, in which inventories and life support systems are. It should both Russian and for the International Space Station (ISS) developed European technology can be used. Since the orbital module should not have a heat shield, enough space for equipment, life support systems for long-term missions and crew could just be higher now with less weight gain. According to Russian sources, the habitation module of the ESA should be developed.
• The service module should include the technique of navigating (eg engines), communications, and power generation ( solar cells). When the service module, the weight is determined by the particular fuel. The more acceleration should come from the CSTS spacecraft around for lunar missions, the more difficult would this module. In the U.S. Orion, approximately 60 % of the mass on the service module with fuel. Due to the modularity of the concept, it could also be that for lunar flights a fourth or even fifth module for the necessary relapses in the lunar orbit, would come within the lunar orbit and from the moon orbit for use. Both ESA and Roscosmos had wanted to build the service module.
• Before re-entering the earth's atmosphere residential and service module should be separated. Only the return module would be landed safely with the astronauts on Earth. The bell shape of the Soyuz landing capsule was considered likely, as a new development would have cost additional time and money. The mass of the return module would be at least 3 t, as already weighs 2.9 t for three crew members of the Sojus_landeapparat.

Advantages of a three-part concept compared to the two-part CEV or Apollo Concept:

• Simplified and cheaper production of the residential and service modules that do not need to survive re-entry. The lighter construction saves weight especially critical for lunar flights.
• The landing capsule may thus remain on minimal weight, allowing, inter alia, a higher speed during re-entry.
• The CSTS concept provides the flexibility to build optimized versions of residential and service module for each type of mission.

Other variants

After a working paper of the ESA on the status of the European strategic program for space exploration on 12 September 2006, the CSTS study also dealt with other variants, such as lifting body concepts in which produces the missile itself with buoyancy, and so-called "Advanced capsules ", ie re-entry capsules with new exterior dimensions.

Launcher

The most likely launch vehicle for about ten ton CSTS spacecraft was a development of the Russian Soyuz rocket. From 2010 Soyuz rockets should both from the Kazakh Baikonur and from the Kourou spaceport can be started. Manuel Valls ( ESA) hoped thereby to the construction of the Soyuz -2-3, a further development of the Soyuz rocket, which are available from 2010/2011 and could launch from Baikonur eleven tons and 12.7 tons of Kourou. The use of so-called "heavy lifters " as Ariane 5 or Proton, however, was not considered because they are not approved for human space flight and thus additional costs would be incurred.

( Would be used unless a par with liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen ( LH2/LOX ) ), for a flight to the moon, however, would come again at least 115% of the added mass of the CSTS spacecraft on a moon flight module ( Earth Departure Stage ). This module should accelerate the spacecraft to escape velocity required for a flight to the moon. Then the CSTS spacecraft would have any further acceleration spurts or course corrections perform yourself. In addition, the demand for inventories ( food, water, oxygen, etc.) would increase.

Since neither the ESA nor Roskosmos wanted to raise the necessary funds for a new heavy- lift rocket the size of a Saturn V, an Ares V or Energia, it made sense to divide the CSTS on two or more missile launches and to couple the parts in Earth orbit.

Missions

Since the CSTS program is now complete, the following mission scenarios remain pure planning.

CSTS spacecraft LEO missions

A CSTS spacecraft should be 2012 and for other press articles 2014 ( eg to the ISS ) used as first functional version of CSTS for LEO flights. ( Pre-) plans to ESA for a manned lunar mission as part of the Aurora program, however, assumed a possible starting between 2020 and 2025.

Moon flyby

An advanced version of CSTS should allow both manned lunar flights in which the moon once orbited and a stable lunar orbit ( LLO) is achieved, as well as manned lunar flights in which a stable lunar orbit is achieved.

In a variant, the CSTS from Kourou cosmodrome or would start and dock with the ISS. The astronauts remain on the ISS until an additional drive stage would be started in an earth orbit. Then the CSTS spacecraft from the ISS would depend and couple to the drive stage, before it speeds up the system into a lunar transfer orbit.

Moon-landing

A manned moon landing would proceed differently than a lunar flyby since the CSTS spacecraft to enter the lunar orbit would have him leave at the end of the mission again and what requires more fuel. In addition, at least a third rocket launch for a lunar landing module would be needed.