Debut Test Flight Looms for Orion, NASA's Next Manned Spaceship


Recommended Posts

Linky

 

NASA have set a date for their debut flight of the Orion. Next September. With a follow up in 2017.

 

The September 2014 launch is to test basic features an high speed re-entry. 

 

The 2017 will be on a circumlunar trajectory, on the SLS if it ever gets built.

 

 

Quote

Despite the early description of Orion as "Apollo on steroids," it's clear that the 21st-century spacecraft is not simply a retread of the capsule that took astronauts to the moon in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
 
Infographic: Details of the Orion four-person capsule that could carry crews to the Moon or an asteroid, beginning in 2021.Pin It Details of the Orion four-person capsule that could carry crews to the Moon or an asteroid, beginning in 2021.
Credit: Karl Tate, SPACE.com contributor
"Apollo on steroids is challenging. It sure looks like it because of its shape," Price said. That shape was chosen, he added, because it minimized the risk associated with Orion's aerothermal environment, the heating induced by the very high speeds of re-entry.
 
"We had all the data on full-scale Apollo. Sizing that up a little bit, by 30 percent, was straightforward. That's why the outer mold line (Orion?s outer surface) is the way it is. But then after that, it really is all different," Price said. 
 
For one, Orion's computer systems and the built-in redundancy are far different than they were on spacecraft 50 years ago, Price said. "We've got a million lines of software code. And when we go to the moon, we?ll have another million."
 
The Orion spacecraft is imbued with autonomy, failure detection systems and the ability to reroute things ? say, a balky thruster that's automatically rebalanced by redundant thrusters, Price said.
 
"It's a lot more complexity," Price said, "so that it can be safer and more reliable. It makes for an amazing machine."
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Overweight, wouldn't know KISS if it ran into it head-on and costs about 3x what it should because they want it to do everything; crew taxi, habitat and propulsion.

If NASA wants to build its own new capsule it should be a bare-bones taxi for going up and returning crews from lunar & Mars transit velocities. Habitation and propulsion should be separate, reusable modules that remain in space and are simply refueled & restocked.

Better yet - use Dragon & CST-100 for crew taxis and hold milestone based COTS (commercial competitions) for the propulsion and habitat modules. Let J-2X go up against a SpaceX Raptor or XCOR propulsion module, and a Bigelow habitat go against whoever comes along. Pick 2 of each so if one has a design/production problem it can be swapped for an alternative.

No need to reinvent the capsule over & over when we have 2 almost ready to go.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

I completely agree Doc.

 

Its not like they are building this thing themselves anyway, its contracted out, why not contract out the design as well. 

 

Just have spec/requirements outsource the rest.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

This topic is now closed to further replies.