instruction manual: space launch system payload transfer module … … · ·...
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Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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Instruction Manual: Space Launch System Payload Transfer Module (PTM)
Designer’s comments: This model has been designed without the benefit of engineering blueprints. Only publically available conceptual diagrams and illustrations have been used. As a consequence of this, a certain degree of ‘artistic licence’ has been used to create a model that exhibits at least a modicum of realism.
The assembly of a model should follow a procedure that vaguely resembles the method for cooking a meal; i.e.
• Prepare a place where you can work, without distractions. • Get all of your equipment (utensils) out and ready. • Get all of your parts for the model (ingredients) printed, cut out and ready to start. • Lastly, try to have a location for your model prepared in advance, so that when it is finished, you will
know where to place it.
The above illustration (credit: NASA) is a design proposal that would enable the Space Launch System to deliver 12 months of provisions and consumables to the International Space Station; i.e. 50 tonnes of supplies could be delivered in only one launch. The PTM would consist of scaffolding to provide the structural rigidity to carry the mass of the payload modules during launch, as well as having a European-designed Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) to provide orbital propulsion, docking capability… and even provide the final de-orbital burn for the modules after their supplied have been exhausted.
In additional to yearly logistical supply flights, the scaffolding could also carry scientific instruments. These various apparatus would be deliberately exposed to the vacuum of space – and once delivered, could be attached to the ISS truss for integration into the ISS scientific inventory of equipment. Depending on the specific mission, new modules for the ISS; i.e. replacement modules for any portions of the ISS, could also be delivered (e.g. new ESA modules, new Japanese modules, new USA modules, etc.).
The value of the PTM is obvious: it would enable the SLS to function as a “Space Shuttle on steroids.”
Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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1. You will need several different parts: ATV module, Payload Module and PTM parts.
2. These parts are needed to construct the PTM. I have also provided spare parts for docking connections.
Also, the parts necessary to make the PTM are derived from Alfonso Moreno’s Space Shuttle model.
3. These parts are necessary to build the Payload Module… which is actually a direct copy of Alfonso Moreno’s “Leonardo” module.
The cylindrical section is the easiest to build, so I have already done so (see the above image).
Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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4. The PTM module needs to be folded and curved into a copy of the Space Shuttle payload bay.
5. The PTM has two white bands at the front. These are to be glued together.
6. When the bands have been glued together, they pull the two sides of the PTM together, creating a hemi-cylinder; i.e. a cylinder “cut in half.”
7. This is the front of the PTM. The bands can also serve as triangular glue tabs.
8. The front of the PTM, looking at the interior of the “payload bay.”
9. This is what the front of the PTM looks like when glued together.
Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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10. Place a Payload Module in the PTM, then place the “support beam” across the PTM to determine where to glue the support beam.
11. These parts create the forward docking connection for the PTM.
12. These are the solar arrays for the PTM. They are physically identical to the arrays used on the ATV.
13. The PTM will have solar arrays – to supply electricity to the on-board Payload Modules.
14. This is the PTM after the support beam has been glued into position.
15. This is a Payload Module. The PTM could carry as many as two Payload Modules – but I have only built one for this Instruction Manual.
Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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16. A payload module is placed inside the PTM to test the overall size and accuracy of the assembly.
17. This is one end of the Payload Module – the end that will be attached to the ISS.
18. This is the other end of the Payload Module, showing the CEV docking connection.
19. The CEV “docked” to a Payload Module (creating the NASA version of a Soyuz spacecraft).
20. This is the finished PTM (left) with an ATV (right) available as a “space tug.”
21. Only a few solar panels have been glued to the PTM for this illustrated manual – but as many as four solar arrays are available to be attached.
Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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22. This image shows the SLS third stage being used as a “test stand” for the PTM model (and others).
23. The ATV, when located on the payload scaffolding and placed underneath the CEV Fairing, will still leave sufficient room for a CEV on top. A mission to the ISS could simultaneously deliver both cargo in an ATV and a crew via the CEV.
24. Alternatively, a CEV mission to the ISS could perform a transposition and docking manoeuvre (just like the Apollo spacecraft in the 1960s). The CEV would dock with a payload module and transport it to the ISS.
Instruction Manual: SLS (Payload Transfer Module) Author: David Brown
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25. The finished PTM (in the launch configuration) with the solar arrays on the ATV retracted, ready for launch.
26. This image shows the large 10-metre payload shroud. It is more than adequate to contain the PTM – but if you want to place it inside the 8-metre shroud, then you will have to glue two cylindrical sections together to make the cylinder twice as tall.
Obviously, the PTM will not fit underneath the CEV Fairing.
27. The PTM is shown in the launch configuration, on the payload scaffolding. When you build you PTM, you will have to decide which final version you wish to have displayed:
1. The launch version (with the ATV solar arrays folded).
2. The orbital version (with the ATV solar arrays open).
Also, the PTM has been designed at 1:144 scale. This means that any other ISS module models that you may have can be build and integrated; i.e. carried, inside the PTM.
The PTM could also be built and placed inside another paper model of a launch rocket; e.g. an Ariane V (or Ariane VI), Delta IV-Heavy, Atlas V or SpaceX Falcon 9-Heavy.