NASA Internal Memo: Orion DAC2 Architecture Closure Plan Rev E, 2/19/08

This memorandum describes the process for closing the Orion architecture in DAC-2. It lists the open architecture issues, threats and opportunities and requirements issues that need to be addressed as well as the overall schedule for this activity.

The original plan for DAC-2 had the architecture-level decisions closed by the Architecture ERB that was held February 22d-28th and rolled up to the integrated system by the Mid-Term ERB on February 29th Since a number of significant system-level trades and studies are still open, the project requires an intensive effort over the coming weeks to close these issues in order to proceed with the preliminary design tasks required for PDR. To that end a second Mid-Term ERB is to be held on April 18th. This second Mid-Term is intended to provide a roll up ERB covering architecture level decisions made after the 2/29 Mid-Term ERB. Interim ERBs will be used to make the architecture decisions prior to 4/18 as is normally done.

The System Design Products originally slated to be delivered at the 2/29 ERB will be deferred to the 4/18 ERB to ensure they include the salient architecture decisions and form a cohesive basis for the remaining DAC-2 effort. In order to allow time for the integration of System Design Products prior to the 4/18 ERB the architecture level decisional ERBs should be completed by 3/28 to allow CPCB approval by 4/1. Updated mass and power will be provided at the 2/29 ERB in order to assess the current status and gauge the scope of the OVEIWG activity described below.

The System Design Products available at the 4/18 ERB are as follows:

• Master Equipment Lists
• Design Change Lags
• Power Equipment List
• Power and Thermal Sizing
• Instrumentation Allocations
• Configuration CAD Models
• Block Upgrade Plan
• System Schematic
• System Design Timelines
• Threats & Opportunities Database
• Selected Aero Databases
• Loads Updates
• Trajectory Updates
• Simulation Data book
• ConOps updates if any
• Requirements Change Package
• Reliability Analysis Results

Changes to the Loads/Environments data and the Trajectory Data base will be based on updates derived during DAC2. Any updates that are required due to architectural changes which are made during the March time frame will be provided after the 4/18 Mid-Term ERB as part of the ongoing DAC2 process. The OVEIWG will be utilized as the Spacecraft-level forum to set the technical integration study priorities, negotiate and establish commitments, determine the detailed schedule and perform the spacecraft-level technical integration during the period between now and the second Mid-Term ERB. The OVEIWG will conduct a detailed planning activity February 19th - 22nd review the scope described within this memo. Items which cannot be closed to support the 4/18 Mid-Term, or in-work tasks/TDSs that will need to be deferred to achieve the objectives of this memorandum, will be communicated to project management. Specifically that planning session will result in a schedule for closing the architecture issues and weight threats and opportunities.

OVEIWG Responsibilities

OVEIWG includes membership from all IPTs and is jointly led by Systems Design and Systems Analysis. It is an integrated working group responsible for addressing spacecraft-level issues that cross modules/IPTs and Subsystem SPTs as well as for the closure of the weight threats and opportunities. The OVEIWG will be responsible to ensure all study results have rigorously identified and characterized the spacecraft-level implications and are incorporated in the integrated system products (listed above). OVEIWG will also forward integrated architecture change packages to the appropriate decision forums. The OVEIWG leadership will work with the IPT membership to schedule the issues to be presented at the working group meetings. In this way collective agreements can be made with participation by the appropriate stakeholders to address concerns and identify minority opinions prior to proceeding to the appropriate decisionmaking bodies.

Since the short-term schedule is tight and our engineering resources are spread thin, it is important that those resources do not get conflicting direction. Some of the activities currently being worked at the IPT or subsystem level may need to be deferred to ensure adequate focus on architecture-level issues, closing threats and developing opportunities. The OVEIWG will be used as a forum to determine priorities and to ensure a credible plan for completing the effort to get to a second Mid-Term ERB by April 18th. Conflicts will be adjudicated by Project Management.

Open Architecture Issues

The following Table lists the salient open items that require resolution in order to proceed with the remaining Orion PDR tasks. The high architecture or programmatic impact items are listed in the top of the table. Obviously there is some uncertainty in this division since the impacts depend on the final design solution. Impacts of reuse are not addressed in this memo but are addressed by the Reuse memo authored by Karl Pohl and dated 2/13/08.

Open Architecture Issues
Topic	Issue(s)	NASA POC	LM POC
Contingency Land Landing	Potential mass impacts to provide protection
Post-Landing Crew Support	Crew core body temp post landing, suit doff time, active cooling system architecture
BEC	Finalize architecture
Thrust Oscillation	Determine extent of Orion design mods to mitigate environment
Power/Thermal system sizing	Power draw exceeds solar array capacity and radiator performance issues.
LAS abort motor thrust	Impact of loads associated with Abort and weight savings opportunity
Design Loads updates	Impact of updated loads
CM RCS Changes	120# vs 160# thrusters & roll control string
SM RCS Re-location	Radiator/Avionics module impingement issues
CG Issues	CG shift and associated ballast
ALAS Bumper Location	Potential mass reduction if radial loads reacted on SM extension vs CM backshell
Mated ops & integrated performance issues	Prop use for tail to sun attitude, 600 watts power, 3 hour any attitude requirement
LOC/LOM	Design refinements to enhance LOC/LOM

Other critical work includes dispositioning weight threats and opportunities, and resolving open requirements issues such as the incorporation of IS TIM requirements. The importance of resolving weight threats and opportunities is self evident and must be completed to successfully validate the remaking mass margins upon completion of the PDR The open requirement issues need to be resolved to ensure the baseline requirement set for PDR is agreed to and to prevent open requirement issues from of preliminary design and associated PDR products.

Threats and Opportunities

The OVEIWG and its participants from the IPTs are directed to retire the following threats and opportunities, and either incorporate the weight impact into the baseline or otherwise disposition the threat to support the 4/18 Mid-Term. The specific schedule for working off these threats and opportunities is to be determined during the OVEIWG planning session scheduled for 2/19-22.

Threats

• TPS
• Wiring
• Additional lightning mitigation
• Purge, Vent, and Drain
• Upstream propellant tank residual
• Avionics hardware threats
• T-0 Umbilical
• Docking mechanism updates
• Window refinement
• CM-SM Umbilical
• SAJ load sharing uncertainty
• Tank MEOP

Opportunities

• LAS abort motor thrust
• Lightning requirements relief
• SM propellant tank sizing
• Ammonia boiler with PCM on the SM
• CM propulsion blowdown system
• TPS
• Fail safe TEI bums and GN&C RSS dispersions/FPR
• Round 2 buyback items
• Delta-V
• Crew size
• Phased Array
• Harris radio

Additionally, requirements push back judged prudent to offset weight gains should be investigated.

Requirement Convergence

The Requirements Convergence team kicked off February 13th. he first set of requirements to address are those included in the current LM CCO which is based on the SRD Rev B Draft dated 12/12 but are not being costed in the proposal. The second set of requirements to address are those in the SRD Rev B February version which were approved for incorporation into proposal at CPCB on February 12th Finally, the team will address the pending requirement changes such as the SRD Rev B items deferred to future CR and any Cx documents received via CR The following steps will be followed in this endeavor:

• Complete identification of all open requirement issues
• Ensure NASA level 3 and LM are in agreement on these issues
• Preferentially work issues with architecture level impacts
• Complete assessments of impacts
• Categorize the requirement issues into 4 groupings

1. Those which level 3 agrees to pursue discussion with level 2 and up
2. Those which will be assessed as part of forward work, e.g., NHV, LOCLOM
3. Those which are to be incorporated into the design
4. Those which require clarification of previously agreed to errata via contract letter.

• Brief this plan to the CPCB
• Use the CPCB as decision authority for requirement issue closure

The following table lists the current set of requirement issues. A matrix of the specific requirements with a description of the issue has been developed and is under review. This matrix will be used to document the impact and disposition of each item.

Requirement

Technical Issues

• Halon
• 10km landing accuracy
• LOC/LOM
• PEPC panels / power transit / variable voltage / supply of oxygen / stowage / volume for cooling / thermal rejection / etc*
• Motion imagery of Axes sep /post orbit insertion*
• ISS scheduled maintenance
• 7 launch attempts
• 6 hours consumable support*
• CLL*
• Lightning protection
• Mechanism delta-V for SM separation (OVEIWG directed not to design to rqmt)
• RPODU independent of lighting
• Hatch emergency operations (OVEDVG directed new rqmts)
• EVA worksites/paths/restraints
• EVA cooling fluid gas trap*
• EVA isolation
• ISS docking node change
• NHV
• PNP (OVEIWG and ISTIM agreements)
• DPI (architecture ERB directed not to grow micro RIUs)
• Translation paths for pressurized suited crew
• Translation paths for pressurized suited incapacitated crew
• Translation paths for assisted ground egress
• EVA suit loop pressure*
• EVA self strapping and in-flight adjustable restraint systems
• EVA cooling fluid flow rate and pressure drop
• UIP power interface maximum voltage
• UIP galvanic power isolation
• EVA umbilical tethers and restraints
• Pressurized cargo depress rate/middeck lockers
• Shared Ares volume gas cleanliness/differential pressure
• Geometric visibility to LSAM and bearing angles measurements
• Contingency RPODU to LSAM
• Ability to restore window pressure redundancy
• Application of power quality spec to RIU SDO function
• Window viewing apertures (previous agreement with OVEIWG and crew office)
• ISS/LSAM power transfer (OVEIWG removed 2nd PTU)
• Detection of faults in NSIs
• UPC power interface of 1.0 kW continuous
• Minimum maintainability for system failures identified after loading prop
• Health and status information for mechanisms
• 36 hours post landing
• Comm with MS 5 minutes every 3 hours*
• PV&D with GS (.5 psi)
• Hardware altimeter for manual activation of events
• Temperature control of medical contingency water
• Concurrent suit and cabin re-pressurization in 20 minutes
• Mechanism positive indication of desired location achieved

Cost Issues

• CEV based ISS portable computing system
• NASA-STD-6001 and COTS GSE
• NASA-STD-6016 (agreed to tailoring in COR)
• CEQATR qual temps for VMC (71 degrees C vs 55 degrees C)
• No planned thermal vac for MJMU
• SDVR analysis FOS (need to test all secondary structure if analysis only FOS approach not approved)
• PFMEAs required by CxP SRQ&A spec 9
• Text-searchable ADP packages required by CxP ADP spec
• Orion emergency entry mode without use of primary software (assumption is that BEC software will be simplification of primary software)
• LEO DRM with zero crew (LM assuming this is duplicate with previous requirements. Assuming no conops to Orion 1)

Additional Data Required

• HSIR water dispensing I medical care I food prep I etc
• Gas and cooling water leakage for IVA
• UPC

Requirements Convergence Schedule

The following revised DAC-2 schedule provides a schedule context for the tasks described in this memo.

Please follow SpaceRef on Twitter and Like us on Facebook.