Posts Tagged ‘Orion’
Monday, January 30th, 2012
Aerojet – famous for being a key element of numerous launch vehicle and satellite propulsion systems – believe their Solar Electric Propulsion (SEP) technology can be positively applied to an Exploration Gateway Platform – which has been touted as a potential – and often favored – approach in NASA’s ongoing studies into a long-term exploration [...]
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Tags: Aerojet, Exploration, Gateway, HLV, Orion, SEP, SLS
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Tuesday, January 24th, 2012
As NASA managers continue to work through the evaluations into an exploration roadmap for the agency, the end goal of sending humans to Mars is starting to show a level of consistency. Per documentation, the key Design Reference Mission (DRM) evaluations are pointing to the “Flexible Path” approach of visiting a Martian moon, prior to [...]
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Tags: FSPS, HLV, Mars, MAV, MTV, Orion, Phobos, SEP, SLS
Published in Featured, Other, SLS/Orion
Wednesday, January 18th, 2012
The first launch into space for NASA’s new Orion spacecraft is expected to receive a realigned Spring 2014 launch date, once contract negotiations between NASA and Lockheed Martin are finalized at the end this month. The mission, which will see Orion launched on an uncrewed flight, will be launched by a Delta IV-Heavy.
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Tags: Delta IV, EFT-1, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Wednesday, January 4th, 2012
The Kennedy Space Center is undergoing improvements to its buildings and infrastructure, work which will continue at the spaceport through to 2013. Most of the work is taking place on the 50 year old waterway, which links the Turn Basin to the crawlerway through to both Pad 39A and 39B – the latter of which [...]
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Tags: 21st Century, Commercial, HLV, KSC, Orion, Pad 39B, SLS
Published in Commercial, Featured, SLS/Orion
Tuesday, December 6th, 2011
As NASA continues to define and plan for the future of human space exploration of the solar system beyond Low Earth Orbit, the Human Space Exploration Community’s Workshop on the GER – in cooperation with NASA – has outlined the potential path the U.S. space agency will follow in the build up to eventual crewed [...]
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Tags: NEO, Orion, SLS
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Monday, November 14th, 2011
The Exploration Test Flight (EFT-1) Orion has received its hatch door panel on one of the cone longerons, as welding of the test vehicle structure continues at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. Meanwhile, another Orion – this time kitted out with a Launch Abort System (LAS) is moving from acoustic to modal [...]
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Tags: EFT-1, OFT-1, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Monday, November 7th, 2011
Kennedy Space Center (KSC) employees have been encouraged to apply for NASA’s latest astronaut class, as the transition from purchased seats on Russian Soyuz vehicles to the International Space Station (ISS), to the fleet of commercial vehicle options in the middle of the decade, and eventually with Orion and the Space Launch System (SLS), picks [...]
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Tags: Astronaut, Commercial, Orion
Published in Commercial, Featured
Sunday, November 6th, 2011
As managers work on finalizing the exploration roadmap for their new flagship vehicles, one of the first pieces in the puzzle – the debut of the Orion crew vehicle in space – has been given final approval by NASA. The Exploration Test Flight (EFT-1) will see Orion launched by a Della IV-Heavy from Cape Canaveral [...]
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Tags: OFT-1, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Thursday, October 27th, 2011
NASA 13 day Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission has ended earlier than expected, due to a potential hurricane threat to the Key Largo, Florida – where the Aquarius underwater habitat is located. The mission was still highly successful, with six underwater EVAs conducted, providing valuable lessons for a potential crewed mission to an asteroid [...]
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Tags: NEEMO, NEO, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Tuesday, October 18th, 2011
October’s NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission, based at the Aquarius underwater habitat in Key Largo, Florida, is set to begin this week – weather permitting. The 13 day mission will conduct an underwater simulation of protocols which may become part of a crewed mission to a Near Earth Object (NEO).
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Tags: EVA, HLV, NEO, Orion, SEV, SLS
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Monday, October 17th, 2011
Engineers at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans are making solid progress on the welded cone section of what is now known as the Exploration Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) vehicle. While this vehicle is set to ride into space in late 2013, the forward exploration path for Orion continues to be worked, with [...]
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Tags: Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Sunday, October 9th, 2011
Orion managers are becoming more interested in the idea of the European Space Agency (ESA) taking over a role in NASA’s exploration future. Adhering to the international cooperation angle for the Agency’s future, managers have told their teams they are “serious” about ESA building the Service Module (SM) for Orion, via Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) [...]
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Tags: ATV, ESA, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Friday, September 30th, 2011
With all cylinders now firing on NASA’s exploration planning effort, the development and early mission schedule for the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion are starting to fall into place, with dramatic improvements being worked for NASA’s opening crewed Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) mission with the Orion (MPCV), which is moving to the left by [...]
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Tags: HLV, OFT-1, Orion, SLS
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Monday, September 12th, 2011
NASA’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) are continuing to expand their involvement in exploration training and simulation by working with the international Pavilion Lake Research Project (PLRP) team on multi-hour missions – a precursor to deep space exploration missions, which will one day involve humans searching for signs of life on Mars.
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Tags: Mars, MOD, NEO, Orion, SLS
Published in Featured, Other, SLS/Orion
Friday, September 9th, 2011
Although the space program finds itself lacking long-term direction, managers have marked a major milestone for their next crew transport, as the Orion Flight Test (OFT-1) vehicle began construction at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans. This first “flight worthy” Orion is set to launch on top of a Delta IV Heavy in [...]
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Tags: Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Monday, August 29th, 2011
NASA’s next spaceship, the Orion – otherwise known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) – is starting to resemble what it’ll look like ahead of launch, as Lockheed Martin engineers at their Denver facility work through a number of key development tasks. In a milestone for the vehicle, an Orion Ground Test Article (GTA) was [...]
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Tags: LAS, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Sunday, August 14th, 2011
NASA’s Mission Operations Directorate (MOD) are preparing for involvement in an underwater simulation of protocols which may become part of a manned mission to a Near Earth Object (NEO). The tests will be carried out during October’s NASA Extreme Environment Mission Operations (NEEMO) mission, which will be based at the Aquarius underwater habitat in Key [...]
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Tags: EVA, HLV, NEO, Orion
Published in Featured, Other, SLS/Orion
Wednesday, August 10th, 2011
NASA’s Human Architecture Team (HAT) is actively working on a roadmap towards evolvable demonstrations of Propellant Depots – with a potential goal of setting up an “interplanetary highway” to enable low cost exploration. With proposals being sought, industry sources point to a small, 30 metric ton capacity, Centaur derived depot as an initial leading candidate.
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Tags: Atlas V, ATV, Delta IV, Orion, Prop Depots, SLS
Published in Commercial, Featured, SLS/Orion, Unmanned
Monday, August 8th, 2011
The efforts relating to the debut launch of Orion – otherwise known as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) – on a “multi-hour” test flight are ramping up, as managers discuss the preliminary objectives, which may include a “human capable” version of the spacecraft being tested. A launch date of July, 2013 has been set, with [...]
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Tags: Delta IV, Orion
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion
Wednesday, July 27th, 2011
A new schedule, created by NASA, has provided a “preliminary, budget restricted” manifest which places the first flight of the fully evolved Space Launch System (SLS) in the year 2032. The information includes details on the chosen configuration and hardware, but provides a depressing schedule, with a flight rate of just one mission per year, [...]
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Tags: HLV, Orion, RP-1, SLS, SRB, SSME
Published in Featured, SLS/Orion