Orion

[интересующийся]

http://www.lockheedmartin.com/news/press_releases/2011/0210_ss_orion.html

Lockheed Martin Ships Out First Orion Spacecraft

NEW ORLEANS, La, February 10th, 2011 -- The Lockheed Martin [NYSE] Orion team shipped out the first Orion crew module spacecraft structure today from NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La. The spacecraft is headed to Lockheed Martin's Denver, Colo., facilities where it will undergo a series of rigorous tests to confirm Orion's ability to safely fly astronauts through all the harsh environments of deep space exploration missions.

Soon after the spacecraft arrives in Denver, it will be integrated with the heat shield and thermal protection backshell before undergoing environmental testing. This crew module will also go through a series of simulated landing scenarios at Langley's new Hydro Impact Basin. The Langley facility will be used to test, validate and certify water landings for all human-rated spacecraft for NASA.

"This is a significant milestone for the Orion project and puts us on the right path toward achieving the President's objective of Orion's first crewed mission by 2016," said Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin vice president and Orion program manager. "Orion's upcoming performance tests will demonstrate how the spacecraft meets the challenges of deep-space mission environments such as ascent, launch abort, on-orbit operations, high-speed return trajectory, parachute deployment, and water landings in a variety of sea states."

Built to spaceflight specifications, this Orion ground test vehicle has already validated advanced production processes, equipment and tools required to manufacture the Orion crew module space flight hardware. Data collected from the testing and pathfinding operations will be incorporated to enhance design, requirements, tooling, processes, inspection and test that will ultimately result in a safe, reliable and affordable human-rated space exploration vehicle.

Orion has passed critical human-rating milestones, including Orion's flawless flight test of its launch abort system and the successful phase one safety review that validated Orion meets many of NASA's stringent requirements for safe human spaceflight.

Lockheed Martin is the prime contractor to NASA for the Orion crew exploration vehicle – the nation's next generation spacecraft that features advanced technologies for more complex and challenging human space exploration missions throughout our solar system. The Orion spacecraft will be comprised of a crew module for crew and cargo transport; a service module for propulsion, electrical power and fluids storage; a spacecraft adapter for securing it to a launch vehicle, and a launch abort system that will significantly improve crew safety.

Lockheed Martin leads the Orion industry team which includes major subcontractors as well as a nationwide network of minor subcontractors and small businesses. In addition, Lockheed Martin contracts with hundreds of small and disadvantaged business suppliers across the United States through an expansive supply chain network.

[Чебурашка]

Вот он какой северный олень, т.е. "Орион"

[X]

СВАРКА

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Universetoday Orion crew module known as the Ground Test Article (GTA):

Parachutes are installed by Lockheed Martin technicians on the Orion Ground Test Article (GTA)
at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Credit: NASA

Orion GTA crew cabin with crew hatch and windows after final pieces were welded together
using state of the art friction stir welding. Credit: Ken Kremer

Orion abort rocket mock up on public exhibit at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex
in Florida next to Orion crew capsule mockup (at left). The emergency rocket will be bolted
atop an Orion spaceship for the initial orbital test flight which is currently slated for
a 2013 launch. Credit: Ken Kremer

Orion crew module processing at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans. Credit: NASA

[instml]

Представлена тестовая версия лунного космического корабля

Компания Lockheed Martin продемонстрировала публике новый центр для испытания космических технологий, а также тестовую версию космического корабля "Орион". Об этом сообщается на официальном сайте компании.

Новый центр получил название Центр симуляции космических операций (Space Operations Simulation Center - SOSC). По данным Associated Press, компания истратила на строительство центра свыше 35 миллионов долларов. Подчеркивается, что SOSC расположен на сейсмически устойчивом плато в Колорадо, что позволит выполнять высокоточные тесты. Общие площади лабораторий составляют свыше 4,5 тысяч квадратных метров.

По словам представителей компании, первым испытание в SOSC будет проходить "Орион". Инженерам предстоит определить устойчивость конструкции аппарата к воздействию экстремальных условий. После этого космический аппарат (уже полноценная, а не тестовая версия) пройдет орбитальное тестирование. В Lockheed Martin подчеркнули, что сборка корабля уже началась. Предварительная дата тестового запуска - 2013 год.

По данным того же Associated Press, инженеры компании передумали делать корабль многоразовым. Они подчеркивают, что часть агрегатов капсулы после приземления можно будет использовать заново, однако сама оболочка будет одноразовой. По словам Боба Джекоба, представителя NASA, который присутствовал на мероприятии, это связано с нагрузками, которая капсула испытывает при спуске.

Lockheed Martin имеет далеко идущие планы на "Орион". Так, компания намерена довести свой аппарат до рабочего состояния и использовать его для запуска людей на Луну. Ориентировочно старт миссии L2-Farside Mission (в переводе с английского это означает "L2-миссия к обратной стороне Луны") запланирован на 2016-2018 годы.

Космические корабли "Орион" разрабатывались NASA в рамках программы "Созвездие", конечной целью которой был полет на Луну. В феврале 2010 года президент США Барак Обама принял решение отказаться от этой программы и отдать приоритет разработки новых космических транспортных средств частным компаниям.

http://www.lenta.ru/news/2011/03/22/lockheed/

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Lockheed Martin's Space Operations Simulation Center in Littleton, Colorado, simulates on-orbit docking
maneuvers with full-scale Orion and International Space Station mockups. The spacious center includes an 18,000 square-foot
high bay area used to validate Orion's new relative navigation system, which will be tested on orbit during the STS-134 mission.

[Потусторонний]

Стенд для отработки сближения (фото 5Мб!)
The large six-degree-of-freedom mobile base carriage can support up to 1,000 kilograms of sensors, effectors and mockups with precise spacecraft motion simulation.

The Lockheed Martin Space Operations Simulation Center high bay (or test bay) has a 60 meter range capability for testing full-scale spacecraft approach and departure maneuvers.

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Observers at the opening of the Space Operations Simulation Center in Jefferson County on Monday
get a look at the vertical test facility and the Orion spacecraft, which is still being constructed by
Lockheed Martin.
The spacecraft is to take an orbital test flight in 2013. (Joe Amon, The Denver Post)

[Salo]

http://www.militaryparitet.com/perevodnie/data/ic_perevodnie/1498/

Космический корабль Orion совершит первый полет в 2013 году[/size]

18 апреля 2011 г.


Компания Lockheed Martin выразила признательность Конгрессу США за утверждение бюджета до конца финансового года, что позволит продолжить финансирование разработки нового космического корабля Orion.  

Это решение дает возможность выполнить первый автоматический орбитальный полет нового корабля в 2013 году, а в 2016 году корабль будет летать с экипажем, говорится в сообщении компании.  

Orion предназначен для замены многоразовых космических кораблей Space Shuttle. Первый прототип корабля находится на объекте в Джефферсон Каунти, принадлежащем Lockheed Martin Space Systems (на фото представлена капсула корабля). Этот объект является учебным центром (открылся в прошлом месяце) и предназначен для подготовки будущих астронавтов.  

В проекте Orion заняты 2200 сотрудников компании, общее количество занятых по всей стране составляет 3000 человек. На головном объекте Lockheed Martin Space Systems в Колорадо занято 650 человек, в программе также задействованы 350 субподрядчиков.

http://www.bizjournals.com/denver/news/2011/04/15/lockheed-martin-praises-congress-for.html

[Salo]

http://www.spacenews.com/civil/110415-budget-change-scope-orion.html

Fri, 15 April, 2011
Bolden: Tight Budget To Force Change in Scope of Orion Work[/size]
By Amy Svitak

 COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — NASA Administrator Charles Bolden told lawmakers April 11 that development of a congressionally mandated deep space exploration capsule can proceed under an existing contract with Lockheed Martin but that the scope of work might have to be revised because the budget outlook has changed since the deal was first negotiated.

 "I will tell you that in any of the contracts that we have today, we cannot pay the amount of money that was contracted X-number of years ago, so there will be negotiations among us and all of our contractors because we have got to get our costs down," he said. "We may have to de-scope the vehicle in some manner."

 Bolden was referring to contracts awarded under the Constellation program, which was intended to replace NASA's space shuttle with rockets and capsules that initially would take astronauts to the international space station and later to the Moon. U.S. President Barack Obama in early 2010 proposed canceling Constellation, but later decided to continue work on a heavily scaled back version of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle being built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems of Denver.

 Congress, meanwhile, barred NASA from canceling Constellation contracts and passed authorization legislation directing NASA to develop a so-called Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) along with a heavy-lift rocket that exploits space shuttle infrastructure as well as prior investments in Constellation program elements. NASA has maintained Orion and the MPCV are sufficiently alike that NASA can proceed with the congressionally mandated capsule under its existing contracting with Lockheed Martin.

 But during a hearing of the U.S. Senate Appropriations commerce, justice, science subcommittee April 11, one lawmaker accused NASA of not moving out quickly enough on MPCV work.

 Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), the ranking member of the subcommittee, said the president "wanted Orion continued, and your staff and managers agree that Orion is the reference vehicle and easily falls within the scope of the authorization law that you have said you are following. Yet it doesn't seem that the contract modifications to achieve this result are happening."  

 Hutchison asked Bolden whether his agency intends to follow the law and modify the existing Orion contract, "or is it just going to be strung out, so that eventually it just can't be revived?"

 Bolden said there may be no need to modify the Orion contract because "the existing Orion contract, as a deep space exploration vehicle, easily maps to the scope of what we call a Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle."

 Hutchison pressed Bolden to seek more money next year for Orion, saying the $1 billion in Obama's 2012 spending plan for NASA falls short of the $1.4 billion lawmakers argue is needed to field an operational MPCV by 2016. "This budget deliberately hamstrings the ability for Orion to reach an operability date in 2016," she said.

 Orion was designed such that initial versions would carry astronauts to the space station and subsequent models would deliver astronauts to lunar orbit. Obama announced in April 2010 that Orion, unlike the rest of Constellation, would be spared but that the capsule would be scaled back to serve as an emergency lifeboat at the space station, meaning it would launch without crews on board.

 Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed Martin vice president and program manager for Orion, says the capsule has been designed to incorporate technological advances in the future, an approach he said lends itself to adapting Orion's lunar exploration capabilities to mesh with MPCV requirements in the NASA authorization act.

 "We were always developing Orion with the block approach, where we would be mostly there for the end-item vehicle and then we would on-ramp the technologies in the future when they were available," he said in an April 13 interview. In addition, Lacefield said the program expects to lower costs and reduce the MPCV's development schedule through "proto-flight testing," in which some of the capsule's technologies are demonstrated on flight vehicles rather than test articles.

 For example, "on the first flight vehicle we will actually do a lot of vibration and loads testing before we deliver it to be flight-tested," he said, adding that such an approach could shave a year off of Orion's development timeline.

 "What we've tried to do is become more affordable and streamline the program so that we can accomplish it in a shorter time period and at much lower cost," he said. The program is on track to conduct a flight test of Orion by summer 2013, he noted.

 Josh Hopkins, principal investigator for Lockheed Martin's advanced human exploration missions, said the current Orion design meets many of the MPCV requirements detailed in the NASA authorization act.

 For example, the capsule is already designed to protect astronauts from a solar flare during lunar missions, a capability that would be needed for deep space campaigns to asteroids or Mars, Hopkins said during an April 13 interview.

 "And it's designed to be able to return from the Moon with an engine failure and a depressurized cabin, so it has a lot of the kinds of redundancy and safety features you would want for a mission like the asteroid trip, where you're going so far away from Earth and safety is really important," he said.

 Other capabilities required for deep space missions include Orion's thermal protection system and back shell, which are thick enough to withstand micrometeorite hits, the ability to support extravehicular activity and interior control panels that can be operated by spacesuit-clad astronauts.

 However, Hopkins said some long-duration missions requiring extra food, water and oxygen could prove challenging for Orion as currently designed. "Fortunately, it's relatively adaptable for that," he said, explaining that such commodities are readily stored in Orion's service module, which is connected to the capsule.

 "The advantage of that approach is that we could basically just put more water tanks in the service module," he said, adding that the extra mass would require a corresponding decrease in the capsule's nominal four-person crew capacity. "We have to take that into account, and that's one reason why for really long missions, say a six-month mission to an asteroid, we would have fewer — not four astronauts — we would have three or two."

 The issue of crew size for long-duration missions to asteroids or other deep space destinations could be addressed by adding a habitat module designed to dock with Orion in space. But for now, Hopkins said, "we're trying to do without any additional spacecraft elements ... in order to make it affordable."

 Hopkins said one way NASA could reduce hardware development costs is to beef up its investment in identifying suitable candidates for near-Earth asteroid missions.

 "We're a little bit agnostic about what the best approach is, but agree that if going to an asteroid is the next space objective, investing millions more in finding asteroids will save you billions in simplifying the spacecraft," he said. "What we really want are asteroids that go by Earth very slowly, because it makes them easier to get to."

[Salo]

http://www.aviationweek.com/aw/generic/story_channel.jsp?channel=space&id=news/asd/2011/04/19/01.xml&headline=Orion%20Program%20Shrinking%20To%20Save%20Money,%20Time

Orion Program Shrinking To Save Money, Time[/size]

Apr 19, 2011
By Frank Morring, Jr.

DENVER — Lockheed Martin has cut out an entire test article from the Orion crew exploration vehicle that it is recasting in a new role as deep-space Multi Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), combining test objectives for the remaining articles in an effort to keep the vehicle within the tight schedule set by Congress.

By combining the tests that will be conducted with particular test articles, the company plans to send an Orion capsule into orbit on its first test flight in 2013, according to Cleon Lacefield, the company's program manager. The first capsule produced is now being prepared for ground tests at company facilities here and once those are over, it will be reinstrumented to fly on the first ascent abort test in 2014.

By dropping the test article originally intended for that evaluation — which is intended to validate the ability of the vehicle's solid-fuel escape tower to pull it off a failing launch vehicle at maximum dynamic pressure during ascent — the company has been able to start work on the test capsule that will fly to space for the first time.

"With the funding changes, the program realignments, all of those kinds of things, we've been able to preserve the core of this test program and kind of make it more than it would have been by combining a bunch of tests into single articles," says Jim Kemp, director of assembly, test and launch operations for the new spacecraft.

Lockheed Martin won the original crew exploration vehicle prime contract under the old Constellation program initiated by the administration of then-President George W. Bush to build a series of shuttle-replacement vehicles able to take astronauts out of low Earth orbit to the Moon and beyond.

President Barack Obama called for termination of the program in his fiscal 2011 NASA budget request. But after more than a year of wrangling between Congress and the White House, Orion was preserved as the MPCV for deep space exploration. During the debate Lockheed Martin kept working on the capsule, which has been described as "Apollo on steroids," using Constellation funding available under appropriations language that prohibited NASA from terminating the program. The first test article was built at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where it underwent pressure testing before being sent here for a more rigorous workout.

New instrumentation is being installed to test how Orion will hold pressure with a lot of its internal systems installed, including an instrumented window to measure how the glass flexes under pressure. Acoustic testing will follow, using generic acoustic loads that should cover any of the potential launch vehicles NASA chooses for the vehicle's flight test program. Kemp points out that the Orion was designed to launch on the Ares I rocket, which was under development by Constellation before the program was terminated.

If all goes according to schedule, piloted operations of the Orion could begin as early as 2016, Lockheed Martin says.

[Денис Лобко]

Прямо какое-то торжество пиара над делом. Профессионально сделанные фотоснимки, красивые графики, интересные "митинги" и семинары, а результата нет.

[Дмитрий В.]

Прямо какое-то торжество пиара над делом. Профессионально сделанные фотоснимки, красивые графики, интересные "митинги" и семинары, а результата нет.

Для современной экономики результат не обязателен: "Движенье - все, конечная цель - ничто!".

[Lev]

Прямо какое-то торжество пиара над делом. Профессионально сделанные фотоснимки, красивые графики, интересные "митинги" и семинары, а результата нет.

Для современной экономики результат не обязателен: "Движенье - все, конечная цель - ничто!".

Виртуальная ракетно-космическая отрасль, виртуальный космос.
Может в этом и есть решение всех проблем? :shock:

[frigate]

Прямо какое-то торжество пиара над делом. Профессионально сделанные фотоснимки, красивые графики, интересные "митинги" и семинары, а результата нет.

Для современной экономики результат не обязателен: "Движенье - все, конечная цель - ничто!".

Виртуальная ракетно-космическая отрасль, виртуальный космос.
Может в этом и есть решение всех проблем? :shock:

...

[Salo]

http://science.compulenta.ru/607325/

Lockheed Martin планирует пилотируемый полёт к Луне в 2016 году[/size]

26 апреля 2011 года, 13:01 | Текст: Андрей Величко

Не успел могучий американский производитель вооружений показать прототип космического корабля Orion, как уже строит масштабные планы по его эксплуатации.


Грузопассажирский отсек Orion готов к испытаниям. (Фото NASA.)

Предварительная версия одноразового пилотируемого аппарата Orion, предназначенного для отправки кого бы то ни было «далеко за пределы земной орбиты», была презентована в прошлом месяце. Изначально он должен был разрабатываться НАСА в рамках программы полётов к Луне и Марсу Constellation («Созвездие»). Но США отказались от этой задумки, и тогда реализацию проекта подхватила компания Lockheed Martin, заручившись политическим и финансовым благословением конгресса.

Orion рассчитан на команду из шести астронавтов; полёт может продолжаться в течение 210 суток. Корпус корабля диаметром 5,3 м и весом около 25 т разделён на два отсека: один предназначен для людей и грузов, другой — для двигательной установки. Аппарат оборудован системой спасения при аварийном старте, а часть его компонентов, как сообщается, можно использовать повторно.

Несмотря на то что НАСА вдвое сократило финансирование этой разработки и Lockheed Martin пришлось уволить 1 500 сотрудников, оставшиеся настроены оптимистично. Вице-президент космической программы Джон Кэрас заявил, что уже через два года должен состояться тестовый запуск «Ориона» на орбиту, а в 2016-м — внимание — аппарат отправится к Луне. И, возможно, высадит на ней астронавтов!

Но успех мероприятия будет зависеть во многом от появления рабочей ракеты-тяжеловеса: поднять 25-тонный «Орион» большинству нынешних разгонных систем не под силу. Для первого полёта будет использоваться Delta IV в тяжёлой модификации, а основную надежду Lockheed Martin возлагает на создание нового носителя.

Откуда деньги? — Недавно конгрессмены выделили средства на строительство такой ракеты, и проект должен быть завершён аккурат к 2016 году, так что пока конструкторы Orion довольны. В противном случае им придётся искать альтернативного доставщика корабля на орбиту, отметил г-н Кэрас.


Верхняя разгонная ступень отправляет Orion в дальние космические просторы. (Изображение Lockheed Martin.)

Подготовлено по материалам Universe Today.

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http://www.universetoday.com/85083/lockheed-accelerates-orion-to-achieve-2013-launch-and-potential-2016-lunar-flyby/


Manned Orion Lunar Fly-By possible in 2016
 American astronauts aboard an Orion spacecraft could be launched on a Lunar fly by mission in 2016 atop NASA's Heavy Lift Launch Vehicle. Credit: Credit: Lockheed Martin


Orion crew module at Lockheed's Denver Space Faciilty. First Orion Crew module being outfitted with doors, windows and thermal protection system and more at Lockheed facilities in Denver. Credit: NASA


Orion prototype crew cabin - GTA
 Orion cabin view with astronaut crew hatch and window openings at NASA Michoud Assembly Facility, New Orleans, LA is now undergoing testing and integration at Lockheed's new state-of-the-art Space Operation Simulation Center (SOSC) in Denver, Colorado. Credit: Ken Kremer


Orion manned capsule launch atop Heavy Lift Booster
 Orion could launch on a lunar flyby mission in 2016 atop NASA's new Heavy lift booster from the Kennedy Space Center. Credit: Lockheed Martin.

[frigate]

Центавр не в состоянии  вывести 25-тонный Орион на окололунную орбиту - его энергетики хватит
только на ПН типа КК "Союз", "Прогресс" или Шеньжоу.
С другой стороны Lunar fly by - это трассы Зондов и Аполлона-13 (т.е. облёт Луны без выхода
на орбиту искусственного спутника Луны).
Не уверен что ULA успееет за несколько лет создать EDS (Earth Departure Stage) на базе верхней ступени Дельты-4.

[pkl]

А в точки либрации системы Земля-Луна?

[Дмитрий Виницкий]

Тем более.