Dragon Spacecraft

DRAGON SPACECRAFT :

     

     Dragon is a free-flying spacecraft designed to deliver both cargo and people to the orbit. Dragon made its history in the year 2012, when it became the first commercial spacecraft in history to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and safely return cargo to Earth. A feast previously achieved only by governments. It is the only spacecraft currently flying that is capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to earth.

Currently Dragon carries cargo to space, but it was designed from the beginning to carry humans. Under an agreement with National Aeronautics Space Administration, Space-X is now developing the refinements that will enable Dragon to fly crew. Dragon's first manned test flight is expected to take place as early as 2018.

DRAGON OVERVIEW:

OWNER                                                Space X

TOTAL LAUNCH PAYLOAD MASS       6,000 kg

TOTAL LAUNCH PAYLOAD VOLUME  25 cu.meter

TOTAL RETURN PAYLOAD MASS       3,000 kg

TOTAL RETURN PAYLOAD VOLUME  11 cu.meter

SPACECRAFT PAYLOAD VOLUME     11 cu.meter

TRUNK PAYLOAD VOLUME                14 cu.meter

ORBIT DURATION                                2 Years

SIDEWALL ANGLE                               15 degree

DIAMETER                                            3.7 meter

HEIGHT WITH TRUNK                          7.2 meter

FIRST SUCCESS                                  2012

CARRYING ROCKET                            Falcon 9

MANUFACTURER                                 Space-x

PRESSURIZED SECTION:

     The pressurized section of the spacecraft, also referred to as the capsule, is designed to carry both cargo and humans into space. Towards the base of the capsule but outside the pressurized structure are the Draco thrusters, Dragon's guidance navigation and control (GNC) bay and Dragon's advanced heat shield.

  

SPACECRAFT TRUNK:

     Dragon's Trunk supports the spacecraft during ascent to space, carries unpressurized cargo and houses Dragon's solar arrays. The trunk and solar arrays remain attached to dragon until shortly before reentry to Earth's atmosphere, when they are jettisoned.

INSIDE THE SPACECRAFT :

    The Dragon spacecraft has three configurations to meet a variety of needs : cargo, crew and Dragonlab. To ensure a rapid transition from cargo to crew capability, the cargo configurations of Dragon are almost identical. This commonality simplifies the human rating process, allowing systems critical to crew and space station to be fully tested on unmanned cargo flights. With DragonLab, essentially the same spacecraft can be used as a platform for  in-space technology demonstrations and experiments.

RE-SUPPLY THE SPACE STATION:

01.DELIVERY AND RETURN SERVICES:

     Dragon is the first commercial spacecraft to deliver cargo to the International Space Station and currently the only cargo spacecraft flying capable of returning significant amounts of cargo to Earth. Dragon accommodates pressurized cargo in the capsule as well as unpressurized cargo in its trunk.

02.VERSATILE CARGO RACKS:

     The racks are a honeycomb carbon-aluminium construction designed for efficient packing in a zero-gravity environment. They accomodate a variety of standard-size NASA cargo bags as well as freezers for carrying materials such as biological samples.

Credits:

Image Credit : Space-X

Text    Credit : Space-X

Tags: Dragon Spacecraft | Falcon 9 | Space-X