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SpaceX and NASA to Improve Mission Critical Software Systems

Posted on: Thursday, 5 June 2008, 09:00 CDT

Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) and NASA's Independent Verification & Validation (IV&V) Facility at Fairmont, West Virginia, working through the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) of Greenbelt, Maryland, announced the signing of a Space Act Agreement effort to advance the state of the art in mission- and safety-critical software that will be used for sending SpaceX's Dragon spacecraft to the International Space Station (ISS).

SpaceX was selected by NASA under the Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program to develop and demonstrate vehicles, systems, and operations needed to perform space flight demonstrations, including rendezvous and berthing with ISS. SpaceX is teaming with NASA's IV&V/GSFC facility to enhance confidence in mission- and safety-critical software elements.

Specifically, NASA's IV&V Facility will provide an additional layer of assessment and mission assurance, including a full analysis of the system software for a SpaceX-developed UHF communications unit. The system provides low-cost, high reliability space-to-space communications directly between Dragon and ISS. The Dragon spacecraft also utilizes NASA's Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS), the Global Positioning System (GPS), and the Iridium commercial satellite telephone system for maximum flexibility and performance.

"NASA's IV&V Facility will provide SpaceX with invaluable expertise and add an additional layer of scrutiny as we move forward with our cargo delivery missions to the ISS," said Elon Musk, CEO of SpaceX. "No other group has more experience in mission- and life-critical systems; their independent review will insure that our crew transport systems will perform to the highest possible safety requirements."

The IV&V effort will be funded by SpaceX, and will benefit both SpaceX and NASA by providing assurance that the cargo- and crew-carrying Dragon spacecraft will perform as expected under a wide range of scenarios. This agreement is to be executed in three phases, with the first two phases worth nearly five hundred thousand dollars.

About SpaceX

SpaceX is developing a family of launch vehicles intended to reduce the cost and increase the reliability of both manned and unmanned space transportation ultimately by a factor of ten. With its Falcon line of launch vehicles, powered by internally developed Merlin engines, SpaceX is able to offer light, medium and heavy lift capabilities to deliver spacecraft into any altitude and inclination, from low-Earth orbit to geosynchronous to planetary missions. SpaceX currently has 14 missions on its manifest plus indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contracts with NASA and the US Air Force.

As a winner of the NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Services competition (COTS), SpaceX is in a position to help fill the gap when the Space Shuttle retires in 2010. Under the existing contract, SpaceX will conduct three flights of its Falcon 9 launch vehicle and Dragon spacecraft for NASA, culminating in Dragon berthing with the International Space Station (ISS) and returning to Earth. NASA also has a contract option on Falcon 9/Dragon to provide crew services to the ISS after Shuttle retirement.

Founded in 2002, the SpaceX team now numbers over 400, located mostly in Hawthorne, but with four other locations: SpaceX's Texas Test Facility in McGregor, Texas, outside of Waco; offices in Washington DC; and launch facilities at Cape Canaveral, Florida, and the Marshall Islands in the Central Pacific.

The first Falcon 9 will arrive at the SpaceX launch site at Cape Canaveral by the end of 2008. The next flight of SpaceX's smaller Falcon 1 rocket is scheduled for late June or July of 2008.

Source: Business Wire

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