Orion Capsule Entering Testing..Whither Orion?

Lockheed Martin unveiled its suburban Denver Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC) on March 21, a large development, evaluation and testing facility for NASA’s Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

Lockheed hopes to launch Orion on its first test flight in 2013 and prepare for congressionally mandated operations by the end of 2016.

The 41,000-sq.-ft. environmentally friendly SOSC was constructed on deep Colorado bedrock, isolated from regional seismic disturbances, to provide a stable testing environment for the evaluation of precision instrumentation.

Located at Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Facility, the new center hosts the first Orion ground test article, which was shipped from the company’s Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans in early February.

The flightworthy test article will undergo performance testing at SOSC to recreate the conditions experienced during the ascent, launch abort, in orbit, re-entry, descent, parachute and water recovery regimes.

Orion would be restricted to crew rescue duties at the International Space Station under the strategy outlined by President Obama last year. However, Congress favors the deep-space exploration mission designated by the NASA Authorization Act of 2010. The facility’s capabilities include Orion space station docking as well as asteroid encounter simulations.

“Orion was designed from inception to fly multiple, deep-space missions,” says John Karas, vice president and general manager of Lockheed Martin’s Human Space Flight programs. “Our collective expertise in systems integration, planetary exploration and human spaceflight operations will help ensure success for our nation’s next-generation space transportation system.”

Lockheed also pitched a progressive space program around their Orion.

1. First Test Flight in 2013

2. A servicing flight to the International Space Station in 2016.

3. A lunar flyby or an upgrade mission to the Hubble telescope in 2017.

4. A flight to the Lagrange 2 point behind the Lunar farside in 2018.

5. A 12 million kilometer voyage to the asteroid 2008 EA9 taking 195 days in 2019.

6. An artificial gravity test using a tether in low Earth orbit in 2023.

7. A 5 million kilometer voyage to the asteroid 2000 SG344 taking 450 days in 2029.

8. A Mars orbital expedition that would focus on exploring the Martian Moon Deimos in the 2031-2035 time range.

NASA doesn't have the money for this, but...actually, while a capsule is a good idea, I have to say that I think I prefer something like the Nautilus-X for deepspace instead of the Orion. I need to write up the CCDEV2 progress and my mild excitement there, too.

Ares 1-Y Recommended for Cancellation for Ares 1-X' Flight

NASA's Constellation Program has recommended dropping a planned follow-on to last week's successful Ares I-X flight-test because it doesn't have the funding necessary to get an upper stage engine ready in time.

Instead, the Ares I-X engineering team will study the costs and benefits of going ahead with a 2012 launch previously dubbed "Ares I-X prime" that would flight-test a full five-segment Ares I solid-fuel first stage and the Orion crew exploration vehicle launch abort system at high altitude, according to Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley.

Hanley said on Nov. 3 he has recommended to NASA headquarters that the Ares I-Y test planned for March 2014 be canceled because the J-2X engine needed to propel the upper stage won't be ready in time to support that test date. The problem is money, he said.

"Because of the cost-constrained environment that we've been in, I just cannot get an engine to that vehicle soon enough," Hanley said.

"The engine has to be available months in advance of that to be integrated with the stage and the engine and stage itself tested."

Bob Ess, the Ares I-X mission manager, will oversee the I-X prime study. Expected to take about two months, the study will apply the lessons learned from the Oct. 28 Ares I-X test to a more elaborate flight that also will test the Ares I stage separation system and a water landing and recovery of a higher fidelity Orion capsule than the boilerplate version that flew last week.

uh oh.

I was concerned with the lack of test flights and their spacing already, but...now...not good. Not good at all.