Publisher's Synopsis
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is investigating alternative approaches, technologies, and communication network architectures to facilitate building the Spaceports and Ranges of the future. These investigations support the Second Generation Reusable Launch Vehicle (2nd Gen RLV), and other associated craft presently under development in Government, academic, and private sectors, and provide a national centralized R&D forum for next-generation Spaceport and Range technology development. These sectors all share the common goal of changing the historic risk/reward equation for access to space, with the intent to: Dramatically reduce launch cost, Greatly improve launch system reliability, Significantly reduce crew risk. The shared and tacit goal is to achieve routine access to space. A fundamental paradigm shift is required to accomplish the desired goal. The historical approach of using dedicated and custom Range equipment situated at relatively few and widely dispersed Spaceports as the only access to space must change before routine access to space can occur. This change is analogous to the historical transformation that occurred in aviation; moving from dedicated, remote test sites where test pilots first experimented with jet-propelled aircraft to today's thriving international and regional airports. Information networks at Spaceports and Ranges must transition to a total integration of existing, new, and emerging technologies that provide a new and robust way of interconnecting the Range assets, Range operations, and Range users during the launch event. This paradigm shift must occur despite the legacy of how the networks have evolved to this point. Instead of the dedicated, immobile, inflexible information infrastructures of today's Ranges and Spaceports, a more flexible (i.e. space-based) approach is needed. Implicit in this flexibility is the need for modularization, to allow incorporation of newer technologies not yet imagined, without requiring scrapping future systems not yet even defined. The key is to envision a transition to a Space Based Range Distributed Subsystem. To accomplish this, the Range Information Systems Management (RISM) research task is providing a keen vision of both near and more distant future technologies in support of NASA's Advanced Range Technology Working Group (ARTWG) and the Advanced Spaceport Technology Working Group (ASTWG). Consistent with the goals originally identified for RISM, while supporting these working groups; this technical report details the results of researching and documenting the technical needs and technical characteristics of future Ranges, Range systems, and Range users. This report explores extant and emerging technologies and identifies the characteristics and likely requirements of a future Space Based Range Distributed Subsystem based on these technologies. This report is but the first step in implementing a future Space Based Range (SBR) Distributed Subsystem to support the Spaceports and Ranges of the future and to provide the infrastructure to enable routine access to space.
