Good or Bad Aviation Project Management

¶ … Aviation Project - SpaceX

The current aerospace technologies being built and flown by the private commercial company known as SpaceX (from California) have a remarkable record of success thus far. The "Dragon," which is the cargo capsule built by SpaceX, put into orbit by the Falcon 9 launch rocket, delivered its second load of supplies to the International Space Station (ISS) on Sunday, March 3 (Segal, 2013). The SpaceX contract with NASA is for a total of twelve cargo missions to the ISS over the coming years; the first Dragon cargo ship was launched and delivered supplies to the International Space Station in October, 2012. The un-manned Dragon is designed to carry supplies to and from the ISS, and it is the first privately built commercial spacecraft to handle those chores -- or conduct any space-related activities per se. NASA contracted with SpaceX in 2008 after NASA had retired its fleet of space shuttles and yet the agency still needed to be able to resupply the ISS.

How did this company become a success story?

SpaceX is owned by Silicon Valley investor and innovator Elon Musk, who has developed an electric car (Tesla Motors) that won Motor Trend's "Car of the Year" for 2013. Musk, who also co-founded the PayPal (which eBay bought for $1.3 billion), vowed several years ago to produce the best electric car ever built, and he also vowed that it would be the "best performance sedan in the marketplace" (Rutter, 2013). According to The Motley Fool (an investment-formatted column) the Model S. Tesla sedan is the best electric car on the market and it does perform better than any other sedan (Rutter, p. 1).

Musk is a visionary person who has developed a "space transportation system" (which is considered much more than a launch vehicle and a cargo spacecraft) that Steward Money of NBC News calls "…a rare bargain for taxpayers" (Money, 2012). Musk's success has offered what Money calls "…indisputable proof that a new approach to space transportation can work far more effectively than the old ways" (p. 2). One of the attractive aspects of SpaceX (besides the fact that it is cheaper than NASA's other options and it is safer as well) is that it is 100% built in the United States. For example, the main engine in the Atlas 5 rocket (build by United Launch Alliance, a company hoping to compete with SpaceX) is built in Russia, and the second stage of the ATK Liberty (another potential competitor to SpaceX) is built in Europe.

SpaceX has been successful because of a grant from NASA ($396 million), because of the use of technologically advanced engineers brought to California from NASA, and because SpaceX has instituted safety design functions "…that exceed NASA's crew safety standards" (Money, p. 2). Moreover, the liquid-fueled rockets used by SpaceX are safer than solid rocket boosters because liquid-fueled rockets can be shut off. When a launch vehicle using solid boosters has "a bad day," it can be disastrous, Money explains.

While most of the SpaceX workforce is under 30 years of age, there are a number of older engineers with NASA experience; they have "…seen it all before and know how to eliminate waste to produce a system that's safe, yet cost-effective," Money explains on page 3.

SpaceX is an advanced technology company poised ultimately for space travel

SpaceX ultimately intends to build spacecraft that can travel deep into the Milky Way Galaxy. But meanwhile as the SpaceX Dragon is currently berthed / docked on the ISS, off-loading science materials and other supplies for the ISS, down on Planet Earth SpaceX is testing yet another revolutionary technology -- a rocket that is reusable and can take off and land vertically. On March 7, the "Grasshopper" reusable rocket roared off the launch pad and soared to 262.8 feet, and then it hovered for about half a minute and slowly inched back down to the launch pad for a perfect landing on its permanent steel and aluminum legs. Why is a reusable rocket that can land back on the spot it took off from an important innovation? Charles Black writes in SEN that enabling rockets to return to their launch pads avoids "…the need…to retrieve rocket parts from the ocean" and lowers costs (Black, 2013). All the tests for the "Grasshopper"; technically, this reusable rocket is called a "vertical takeoff vertical landing" (VTVL) rocket, Black explains. The SpaceX press release after the most recent VTVL launch explained that the Grasshopper will enable "…a launched rocket to land intact, rather than burning up upon reentry to the Earth's atmosphere" (Black, p. 2).

The Dragon's details

The Dragon can carry over 2,300 pounds of "pressurized and unpressurized cargo" to the ISS, and can bring over 3,000 pounds back to earth (Ra, 2013). The payload going up to the ISS is extremely important because valuable science investigations are ongoing on the ISS. The Dragon has three main elements: a) the nosecone protects the vessel and the docking adaptor during its flight to the ISS; b) the spacecraft itself, which will house a crew (with a "habitable cabin") and the cargo including the "service section (avionics, the RCS system, parachutes and other support materials); and the "Trunk," which carries "unpressurized" cargo and which supports the solar arrays that provide electricity for the craft (Ra, p. 2).