What do these expressions mean in NASA's Steve Stitch's brief Starliner undocking statement?

Question

After about 00:30 in The BBC's September 7, 2024 Boeing Starliner returns to earth without astronauts | BBC News, there's a clip of Steve Stitch, Manager, NASA Commercial Crew Program reading a brief statement.

I've taken the automatically generated YouTube transcript and done my best to make some small edits for clarity only:

I'm happy to report Starliner did really well today in the undock, deorbit and landing sequence. We used the NASA docking system for the second time on the mission to undock from the space station. That system performed really well. It's a derivative system, will be used for Orion down the road, so it was good to pave the way for Orion as well.

The spacecraft executed a nominal breakout sequence -- the first time we've used that -- to back away from the station. We backed out to about 5 meters, and then did a series of about twelve burns using the service module forward jets. And then we opened -- after that sequence of maneuvers -- we ended up opening at about twenty two kilometers per rev away from the space station.

All those thrusters did really well through that step sequence, no problems at all.

This brief statement was likely worded for "space reporters" and not the general public. But I'd like to ask for some brief clarifications nonetheless.

1. What comprises the "NASA docking system" and what does it mean that it is a "derivative system"? That it was derived from something, or will Orion's be derived from it, or both?
2. What are "burns" of the "forward jets"? Are these also called thrusters, or are they something different?
3. What does "opening at about twenty two kilometers per rev away from the space station" mean? Is that a slightly higher or lower orbit and the 22 km/rev is its de-phases or opening rate?

Answer 1

• "NASA docking system" is an implementation of the International Docking System Standard used on the Node 2 Forward and Node 2 Zenith International Docking Adapters. Orion and Gateway and HLS will ultimately implement derivatives of the same standard; it's not clear to me how much they'll change from the International Docking Adapters, if at all. There is some wiggle room in the standard, but less than there should be imo.

• The jets are also called thrusters, yes.

• It's a slightly lower orbit ultimately. CST's initial departure was forward and high, taking it over top of and behind the station, but after that it's low and forward. That 22km/rev rate is once it's passed below and in front of the station.

Answer 2

partial addressing:

The terms "thruster" and "jet" appear to be interchangeable terms used to mean generally the same thing:

https://www.apr.org/news/2024-06-22/nasa-delays-landing-of-the-problem-filled-starliner-capsule-until-july

Starliner has a series of chemically fueled thrusters in a compartment attached to the crew capsule called the Service Module. A test firing of the jets on the vehicle showed they’re overheating, possibly due to the frequency of the thrusts, or “burns,” that are needed to return the astronauts safely to the Earth.

or

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa-commercial-partner-boeing-tests-cst-100-spacecraft-thrusters-2/

test firings of its steering jets

The tests assessed how the thrusters — which fire with 1,500 pounds of force

the OMAC thrusters were fired in a vacuum chamber that simulated the space-like environment at an altitude of 100,000 feet. These evaluations put the thrusters through the burns and stresses they would encounter during a real flight. Engineers equipped the jets with a host of instruments to measure changes in the smallest components.

Low Impact Docking System (LIDS) was something that NASA was looking at from the 80s through to the 90s, towards the end it was part of the X-38 program. When that program went, it went on to become part of another program, Constellation. In 2010 the International Docking System Standard was formed to standardize docking adapters, and NASA developed its NDS - NASA Docking System - from what used to be known as LIDS to conform to the new IDS Standard.

Once the Shuttle program was over, the PMA docking collars were adapted to the new IDSS by adding a 'new front porch' on to the PMA, the International Docking Adapter (IDA), that implements the passive version of the NDS.

Dragon and Starliner implement the active side of the NDS to dock with the IDA on the PMA on the ISS.

Orion has the NDS and the Gateway Lunar station will be equipped with it and ESA has its own implementation but compatible version of the IDSS.

So in terms of derivative, you can say that NDS is derived from LIDS.

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20170001546/downloads/20170001546.pdf

http://dockingstandard.nasa.gov/Documents/AIAA_ATS_NDS-IDSS_Overview_Draft1.pdf oops https://web.archive.org/web/20111015075220/http://dockingstandard.nasa.gov/Documents/AIAA_ATS_NDS-IDSS_Overview_Draft1.pdf

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20090007783/downloads/20090007783.pdf

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20180004167/downloads/20180004167.pdf

additional:

The NDS Block 1 includes provisions for capture, structural attachment, power/data transfer, and undocking. It uses a direct-drive electromechanical Stewart Platform capture system architecture, along with an innovative automated control scheme, to achieve an unprecedented level of performance and simplicity. Its design implements the new International Docking System Standard, which will be a key enabler of diverse and flexible exploration missions. NDS qualification was completed in 2017 to support a planned first flight in 2018 on the Boeing CST-100 Starliner.

NASA’s newest docking system evolved from systems developed during the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project. The last US built docking system, flew in support of the ASTP, and following this NASA commissioned the Space Division of North American Rockwell to conduct trade studies on docking technologies used.

Interface Definitions Document for using, installing, and interfacing to the NDS Block 1 that will enable successful docking to the IDA (ISS):

https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20150014481/downloads/20150014481.pdf

For clarity, SpaceX, as an independent commercial contractor, built its own IDSS compliant docking ring with active (moving) hooks that enable it to latch onto the static (passive) hooks of the IDA, that is permanently attached to the PMA of the ISS.

Boeing, as a NASA contractor for the NDS, built this as part of the Starliner anyway, and is therefore naturally IDSS compliant. AFAIK both Starliner and Dragon lack the parts that allow them to be passive.

Going by NASA's documents, the history of its NDS goes all the way back to the days of the Apollo-Soyuz Test Project in 1975, LIDS of the Orbital Spaceplane Program in the 1990s, through to Starliner, and on to Orion (and Lunar Gateway).