Finally, the first final assembly of the full scale TDS-II boilerplate was performed today. It is always a special sensation when ideas you once had on paper suddenly stands tall in front of you. Today was such a special day.
This crude mock-up version of the next generation capsule at Copenhagen Suborbitals is divided in a top part and lower cabin section. This is done to gain access to the interior for structural try-outs, ballast work, seating dimensioning and hatch exercises. Each of these parts took only a couple of days to build but I was not able to assemble them. Too heavy and too tall.
One thing I learned from building and working Tycho Deep Space 1 was that the tools and cranes, during production, were just as critical as the actual design process of the capsule. I never had a crane tall enough or with the right access to high bays or areas on the capsule - which complicated the development. So, I decided to do things right this time – and build myself a gantry crane dedicated only for this capsule, which can be added levels for easy access on all capsule areas.
This mock-up is a perfect test-bed for further development. Build in plain carbon steel, cutting, adding and modifying the structure before building the flight version in aluminum, is very easy. The mock-up will also be used for drop-testing, buoyancy analysis, parachute drops and LES-test. If it get damaged at some point we simply build a new one in a few days - for little money.
We also had a visitor from SpaceX, who were here the entire Monday hanging out, talking TDS-II design and helped me with the construction of the gantry crane. I believe he enjoyed the hours here – I did. Now he is back on the road – biking from Sweden to Azerbaijan. Good luck my friend!
Spring is here and the capsule is standing tall. Great times indeed!
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Kristian von Bengtson
