Ars: For the docking system, Orion uses NASA’s docking system, and SpaceX brings its own design to Starship?
Lisa Watson-Morgan: This is something I think the Human Landing System did exceptionally well. When we wrote our set of high-level requirements, we also wrote it with a broader vision in mind: we looked at the overall standards for how things are typically done, and we simply said that he had to comply with it. This is therefore compliance with the docking standard, and SpaceX clearly responds to it. They definitely have the Dragon legacy, of course, with the International Space Station. For this reason, we are confident that they will all work very well. Nonetheless, it is important to go ahead and perform the ground tests and eliminate as many as possible.
Lisa Watson-Morgan, NASA’s HLS program manager, is based at the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.
Credit: ASA/Aubrey Gemignani
Ars: Where is the development and design of the crew compartment layout atop the Starship? Is it well advanced or is it still in the conceptual phase? What can you say about it?
Lisa Watson-Morgan: It’s a lot further there. We have our environmental control and life support systems, whether it’s carbon dioxide monitoring fans, to make sure the air is circulating properly. We have worked a lot with SpaceX on temperature. It’s… a big space (for the crew). Seating, ensuring that crew seats and loads placed on them are appropriate. For all of this work, as the analysis work has been done, the NASA team is reviewing it. In fact, they had a mock-up of some of their life support systems over eight months ago. So there’s been a lot of progress on that.
Ars: Is SpaceX considering using a touchscreen for displays and crew controls, like they do with the Dragon spacecraft?
Lisa Watson-Morgan: We are in discussions about this, about what would be the best approach for the crew in the dynamic landing environment.
Ars: I imagine it’s a pretty dynamic environment with those Raptor engines running. It’s almost like a reverse launch.
Lisa Watson-Morgan: RIGHT. These are some of the topics covered during crew office hours. This is why it is good for the crew to interact directly, in addition to the different discipline managers, whether it is structure, mechanics, propulsion, to have all these people talking about guidance and control to say, “Okay, well, when the system does that. , this is the mode we expect to see. Here is the impact on the crew. And is this condition, or the option space that we have on the table, appropriate for the next step, as it relates to displays.
