Orion

[che wi]

NASA's Super Guppy aircraft, carrying the Orion crew module pressure vessel for NASA's Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1), has arrived at the Shuttle Landing Facility operated by Space Florida at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasakennedy/24667308811/

[Salo]

Orion Spacecraft ретвитнул(а)
  Mike Hawes ‏@hawesdoc 7 часов назад
.@NASA_Kennedy Proud to present the team this poster for the arrival of the #EM-1 @NASA_Orion spacecraft.
 
 
Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 8 часов назад
@brandonphoto Yes, the #JourneyToMars will require additional habitation and propulsion modules.
 
Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 9 часов назад
The team at @NASAKennedy Operations and Checkout building is ready to assemble Orion!
 
 
 
  Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 14 часов назад
.@LockheedMartin technicians check final alignment as Orion is lowered into the work stand
 
 
  Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 14 часов назад
Orion is lowered into the bird cage, the work stand used for assembling the spacecraft @NASAKennedy
 
 
  Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 14 часов назад
A crane at the Operations and Checkout facility at @NASAKennedy moves Orion to work stand
 
 
  Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 14 часов назад
Orion passes the top of the bird cage - the work fixture for assembling the crew module
 
 
  Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 14 часов назад
Orion crew module moves down the transfer aisle of Operations and Checkout Facility @NASAKennedy
 
 
  Orion Spacecraft ‏@NASA_Orion 14 часов назад
Orion is now at @NASAKennedy! Waiting to be moved to the work stand known as the "bird cage"
 

 Orion Spacecraft ретвитнул(а)
  NASA_SLS ‏@NASA_SLS 15 часов назад
The first flight of #SLS with @NASA_Orion will provide a proving ground to test science and tech farther from Earth: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mo8IkHM8fGE ...
  Показать медиафайлы

[Salo]

https://airbusdefenceandspace.com/newsroom/news-and-features/orion-spacecrafts-solar-array-successfully-put-to-the-test/

Orion spacecraft's solar array successfully put to the test  
 
February 29, 2016 - News
 - Airbus Defence and Space's qualification model of the solar array for the Orion spacecraft operated flawlessly during a deployment test
 - Solar array with bird-like movement enables special task of powering the crewed Lunar mission


Airbus Defence and Space has developed and delivered the qualification model of the solar array for the European Service Module (ESM) of the Orion crewed spacecraft. During a deployment test today at NASA's Plum Brook Station facility in Sandusky, Ohio (USA), the model came through the test with flying colours. The tested solar array involves one qualification wing, consisting of a yoke and three panels, and three dummy wings. In the past month, the solar array was integrated with the test model of the Orion ESM, of which the series is being developed and built by Airbus Defence and Space on behalf of the European Space Agency (ESA). The solar array deployment test is part of a series of dynamic tests that the ESM will undergo in the coming months at the NASA centre to prove that its design can withstand the hostile environment of an exploration flight beyond the Moon.

"A crewed mission to the Moon involves challenging requirements for the design and development of a solar array. To limit heavy stresses on the solar array due to the boost to the Moon orbit and back to Earth, the wing must be capable of angling 60 degrees forward and backward, like that of a bird. That broad movement meant we had to design the wing with thickened solar array panels and reinforced hinges and beams, which required extensive testing," said Arnaud de Jong, head of the Airbus Defence and Space Solar Array team in Leiden, the Netherlands.

During the Trans Lunar Injection (TLI) boost, the wing tips of the solar array are calculated to each deflect 1.06 metre. A camera on each wing tip, pointed at the Orion spacecraft, will closely monitor the movement. In addition to the deployment test, the test program of the qualification wing involves acoustic, vibration and shock tests, which will take place in the following months.
The flight models of the solar array are already being manufactured for a first ESM delivery at the beginning of 2017. The solar array, weighing a total of over 260 kilograms, comprises four wings, each consisting of three panels with 1,242 Gallium Arsenide cells per panel. The almost 15,000 cells in total will provide the Orion service module with 11.1 kW for its mission.

> Download photo and video materials

Photos

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http://blogs.esa.int/orion/2016/03/01/testing-solar-array/

 
Airbus Defence and Space
Airbus Defence and Space has developed and delivered the qualification model of the solar array for the European Service Module (ESM) of the Orion crewed spacecraft. During a deployment test today at NASA's Plum Brook Station facility in Sandusky, Ohio (USA), the model came through the test with flying colours. The tested solar array involves one qualification wing, consisting of a yoke and three panels, and three dummy wings.

и по другой теме

http://spacenews.com/nasa-slips-schedule-of-asteroid-redirect-mission/
...
Under the new schedule, the ARM robotic mission would launch in December 2021, instead of December 2020 as previously planned. That would delay later crewed mission by a year as well, to December 2026. "We understand this, we're accepting this, and we're folding that into our early preformulation work that we're beginning to do" on the crewed mission, she said.
...
The latest delay is not the first time NASA has pushed back either the robotic or crewed elements of ARM. When the agency first announced plans for ARM in 2013, it projected launching the robotic mission to as early as 2017, redirecting the asteroid into cislunar space by 2021. The asteroid would then be visited by astronauts on Exploration Mission 2 (EM-2), the first crewed Orion mission then planned for launch in 2021.
...
While current schedules have delayed the launch of EM-2 to at late as 2023, NASA no longer expects to send astronauts to an asteroid on that mission or ones immediately thereafter. "Exploration Mission 5 or 6 would be the asteroid crewed mission," said Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations, said in an presentation to the committee earlier in the day.

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http://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/orion-suited-crew-testing
Last Updated: April 1, 2016
Engineers at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are evaluating how crews inside a mockup of the Orion spacecraft interact with the rotational hand controller and cursor control device while inside their Modified Advanced Crew Escape spacesuits. The controllers are used to operate Orion's displays and control system, which the crew will use to maneuver and interact with the spacecraft during missions to deep space destinations. 
The testing aims to provide data that teams need to make sure astronauts who ride to space in Orion can appropriately interact with the control system while in their suits.
Credit: NASA

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasaorion/

И небольшое видео тут

Published on Apr 1, 2016
Piloting a spaceship at 25,000 mph? That controller used to maneuver it better fit like a glove! At NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, engineer Heather Paul and astronaut Chris Cassidy put on spacesuits to test out the next generation controller for the Orion spacecraft - NASA's deep space vehicle that will take humans on the #JourneyToMars. The testing is providing data teams will use to make any adjustments needed to ensure future Orion crews can interact appropriately with the spacecraft's control system when they're inside their spacesuits during deep space missions.

Белая коробка перемещается в видео

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http://spaceflightnow.com/2016/05/15/orion-capsule-put-under-pressure-in-florida/

Orion capsule put under pressure in Florida             
 May 15, 2016 Stephen Clark     
 
Lockheed Martin engineers and technicians prepare the Orion pressure vessel for a series of tests inside the proof pressure cell in the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. This capsule will fly on Exploration Mission-1 in 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Kim Shiflett

The skeleton of NASA's next Orion capsule, set for launch in late 2018 on a test flight to lunar orbit without astronauts, has passed a pressurization test at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The next step will be outfitting the capsule with fuel tanks, propellant lines, command and control computers, and other systems in the run-up to its liftoff on a nearly three-week mission to lunar orbit and back to Earth.
Exploration Mission-1, or EM-1, will blast off fr om launch pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center aboard the Space Launch System, NASA's future heavy-lift rocket to take humans into deep space.
Orion's first crewed mission to deep space could follow as soon as 2021.
The olive-green pressure shell of the Orion spacecraft assigned to fly on EM-1 arrived at the Florida spaceport Feb. 1 for two-and-a-half years of assembly and testing inside the space center's Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout Building.
Technicians welded the basic structure of the capsule at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans before its delivery to Florida for final assembly.
The first step in Orion's EM-1 campaign was the proof pressure test, in which the capsule was pressurized to check the workmanship of the crew module's welds and the craft's response to the stresses of pressurization, according to NASA.
Engineers from Lockheed Martin, the Orion program's prime contractor, attached hundreds of strain gauges throughout the interior and exterior of the spacecraft, NASA said in a status update. Lockheed Martin completed the proof pressure test over a two-day period.
"We are very pleased with the performance of the spacecraft during proof pressure testing," said Scott Wilson, NASA manager of production operations for the Orion program. "The successful completion of this test represents another major step forward in our march toward completing the EM-1 spacecraft, and ultimately, our crewed missions to deep space."
Technicians will begin installing components inside and outside the Orion crew module in the coming months.
"As we get into the summer, we move into the clean room area of the O&C (Operations and Checkout Building), wh ere we do the installation and welding of propellant lines, coolant lines and those systems, and then in the fall we install all of the avionics, flight computers and processing units," said Mike Hawes, Lockheed Martin's Orion program manager.
  Spaceflight Now members can read a transcript of our full interview with Mike Hawes. Become a member today and support our coverage.  
The first full power-up of the Orion crew module for functional tests is scheduled for early 2017, Hawes said.
The EM-1 campaign is the second time an Orion spacecraft has been prepared for flight at the Kennedy Space Center, and Hawes said the experience should speed up processing this time.
The proof pressure test on the Orion crew module for Exploration Flight Test-1, which launched on a four-hour test flight in Earth orbit in 2014, caused cracks in the spacecraft's structure. No such problems were reported in the recent test on the second space-worthy Orion.
"We have made some modifications to the tooling. We actually have made some modifications to the structure itself that facilitates some of the operations here in Florida, and we have revamped our clean room operation," Hawes said. "We had a considerable issue last time with contamination that we did not expect, so we have revamped the clean room that establishes a very different flow pattern, which we expect to work much better in that area. I think the things that we learned will actually help us accomplish things a bit faster than we did for EFT-1."
He said engineers also learned lessons on how to manufacture the Orion crew module.
"We're down to just seven welds," Hawes said in an interview with Spaceflight Now. "We learned a lot about manufacturing, particularly on the cone panels. We were able to manufacture the barrel as a whole single element, and the aft bulkhead piece is a single element now. So we dramatically reduced the weight and dramatically reduced the number of welds."
The Orion team is on pace to have the crew module ready for flight by the end of September 2018, two months before NASA's official target date for the EM-1 mission, according to Hawes.
He said the schedule for September 2018 is "very tight" but added that schedulers can ramp up to two or three shifts per day when possible.
"There are certain blocks of time that we know we have more schedule flexibility here than others, and as we can use that to our advantage I think it will give us the confidence to be able to hold schedule," Hawes said. "The other aspects of the mission, I can't really say."
 
Artist's concept of an Orion spacecraft and its European-built service module near the moon. Credit: Lockheed Martin

The flight in 2018 will mark the first flight of a European-built service module with the Orion spacecraft.
Integration of the service module's flight model has begun at an Airbus Defense and Space facility in Bremen, Germany. The element, which did not fly on Orion's EFT-1 test flight in 2014, will provide propulsion, power, thermal control, water and air to the Orion spacecraft.
In the meantime, a structural test article of the service module is undergoing testing at NASA's Plum Brook Station in Ohio to ensure the craft can withstand the noise and vibration of launch.
The flight version of the service module is scheduled for delivery to the Kennedy Space Center from Europe in early 2017.
The two sections of the Orion spacecraft, the crew and service modules, will be mated in Florida and transported to Plum Brook for a second round of tests — this time with flight hardware — in late 2017.
The spacecraft will return to the Kennedy Space Center by the end of 2017 to begin final launch preparations, such as fueling and integration with its aerodynamic shroud and launch abort system.
Then it will be hoisted atop the huge Space Launch System inside the spaceport's iconic Vehicle Assembly Building before rollout to launch pad 39B.

[Salo]

Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  6 ч.6 часов назад  
Euro govts need OK, in Dec, space station participation to 2024 before ESA-Nasa cut deal on 2d Orion service module.
 
 
  Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  7 ч.7 часов назад  
Nasa: We assume Europe'll build 2d Orion service module for 2022 EM-2 flight, & that it'll be an ISS barter deal, like EM-1, to fly 2018.
 
  Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  7 ч.7 часов назад  
ESA/Airbus: Euro Orion service module still w/in budget despite delayed CDR. After June 16 CDR, plan is delivery to Fla/NASA in January.
 
  Peter B. de Selding ‏@pbdes  8 ч.8 часов назад  
Euro service module for Nasa Orion crew transport vehicle faces Critical Design Review evaluation June 16. Parallel integration ongoing.

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https://airbusdefenceandspace.com/newsroom/news-and-features/airbus-defence-and-space-starts-orion-service-module-assembly/

Airbus Defence and Space starts Orion service module assembly
May 19, 2016 - Press release  
 •   During Exploration Mission-1, Orion will fly more than 64,000 km beyond the Moon
 •   Service module provides power and propulsion for Orion and life support systems for astronauts
 
Airbus Defence and Space, the world's second largest space company, has started assembling the European Service Module (ESM), a key element of NASA's next-generation Orion spacecraft that will transport astronauts into deep space for the first time since the end of the Apollo program.
In November 2014, Airbus Defence and Space was chosen by the European Space Agency (ESA) as prime contractor to develop and build the ESM, which will supply propulsion, power, thermal control, air and water for astronauts on missions beyond the Moon and to Mars. The ESM sits below the Crew Module.

Integrating more than 20,000 parts and components in the ESM flight model ranging fr om electrical equipment to rocket engines, solar arrays, tanks for propellant and life support consumables as well as hundreds of meters of cables and tubes marks a major milestone for the Orion program. After the arrival of the flight model structure from Thales Alenia Space Italy the assembly is being carried out at Airbus Defence and Space's site at Bremen, Germany, wh ere officials from ESA, NASA, Airbus Defence and Space and partners gave an update on the Orion program's progress on May 19.
"With the Orion Service Module, we are part of an historic space mission," said François Auque, Head of Space Systems. "We will make sure this mission is a success, working hand in hand with our customers ESA and NASA and our industrial partner Lockheed Martin Space Systems."
The second test flight of the Orion vehicle and its first atop NASA's Space Launch System rocket known is known as Exploration Mission-1. This 2018 mission will be un-crewed and travel more than 64,000 km beyond the Moon to demonstrate the spacecraft's performance. The first crewed mission, Exploration Mission-2, will be launched as early as 2021.
The Orion spacecraft is designed to take humans further than they have ever been before. The exploration vehicle will carry the crew to space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities. Orion ushers in a new era of space exploration, with missions envisaged beyond the Moon, to an asteroid mass delivered to lunar orbit and Mars.
The ESM is cylindrical in shape and about four metres in diameter and in height. It features the ATV's distinctive four-wing solar array (19 metres across unfurled) that generates enough electricity to power two households. Its 8.6 tonnes of propellant will power one main engine and 32 smaller thrusters. The ESM has a total mass of just over 13 tonnes. In addition to the main propulsion capability for the Orion spacecraft, the ESM will perform orbital maneuvering and attitude control functions. It also provides the main elements of the life support system such as water and oxygen for the crew while providing power and thermal control while it is docked to the crew module. The unpressurised service module can also be used to carry additional cargo.
In managing the development and construction of the ESM, Airbus Defence and Space is drawing on its extensive experience as prime contractor of ESA's Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), which made regular deliveries of experiment equipment, spare parts, food, air and water for the crews on board the International Space Station.
Notes for editors: You can download photos, videos, footage, infographics and interviews about the Orion ESM from our broadcast room at:
http://bcr.airbusdefenceandspace.com/bcr/BroadcastPlayer.php?id=0_knim0y48
Follow the latest news on Orion ESM: http://orionesm.airbusdefenceandspace.com/

[Salo]

James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  5 ч.5 часов назад  
NASA ASAP has said the 2021 date "has a schedule confidence level close to zero at requested funding levels." #SpaceCongress2016
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  5 ч.5 часов назад  
Cabana: NASA still working toward 2021 launch of first crew in Orion (EM-2). 2023 date just has higher confidence level. #SpaceCongress2016
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  5 ч.5 часов назад  
Cabana: always say KSC won't be reason SLS launch is late; got a few challenges: mobile launcher, software. #spacecongress
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  5 ч.5 часов назад  
Cabana: People ask why using old SRB. SSME technology? Truth is every rocket flying now is old technology (chemical prop). #spacecongress

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Утром в поиске увидел новость про Орион, но после этой новости не удержался чтобы поделиться

Коля Наумов пишет:
Роскосмос представил на ПМЭФ макет нового космического корабля "Федерация

МОСКВА, 16 июн — РИА Новости. Госкорпорация "Роскосмос" представила макет нового пилотируемого корабля "Федерация" на юбилейном Санкт-Петербургском международном экономическом форуме ( ПМЭФ ).

 http://www.popsci.com/where-in-world-is-orion-spacecraft?src=SOC&dom=tw

 http://www.9news.com/tech/cool-photos-spacecraft-sighting-on-a-houston-freeway/245087186
HOUSTON - Houston's nickname is Space City, but seeing a spacecraft (sort of) in transport on a Houston freeway is not a usual occurrence.
NASA's Orion spacecraft mockup was spotted on I-45 South as it made its way to the George R. Brown Convention Center on the back of a flatbed 18-wheeler.
Orion's official Twitter account documented the earthly journey Wednesday morning with plenty of cool photos.
NASA asked Houstonians to tweet their pics with the #SpotOrion hashtag as the mockup made its way from the Johnson Space Center.
Inverse.com reports that NASA "wants to show off what they've been doing to further interplanetary travel."
The Orion capsule mockup will be on display at this weekend's Comicpalooza in downtown Houston.

 http://cw39.com/2016/06/15/nasa-lands-at-comicpalooza/
HOUSTON, TX - NASA's Orion spacecraft landed in downtown Houston this weekend. NASA wants to show off what they've been doing to further interplanetary travel, so they're displaying the capsule mockup at this Comicpalooza held at the George R. Brown Convention Center.
Space fans will be able to snap a photo with the capsule and learn about the upcoming mission to Mars. It's really out of this world.

Comicpalooza is back in 2016 offering the best multi-format pop culture con in the southwest including  J-Fashion, cosplay, film festival, literary conference, a code fest,  maker space, Mars Rover rides,  video and tabletop gaming, BMX stunt show, professional wrestling, roller derby bouts and MUCH MORE!

Санкт-Петербургской международный экономической форум (для серьезных дядей) с одной стороны и с другой стороны Comicpalooza (для народа)

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внутри представленной капсулы
 https://twitter.com/NASA_Orion/status/743989606064881666

и снаружи
 https://twitter.com/adamholtwrites/status/743994843257442304

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http://spacenews.com/europes-orion-service-module-shipment-to-u-s-delayed-by-three-months/

Europe's Orion service module shipment to U.S. delayed by three months
by Peter B. de Selding — June 17, 2016
 
The European-built service module for NASA's Orion crew-transport vehicle will be three months late in shipping to the United States for test and integration by Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin following a June 16 critical design review. Shipment has been rescheduled for April. Credit: Airbus  
 
PARIS—The European-built service module for NASA's Orion crew-transport vehicle will be three months late in being shipped to the United States following modifications to the design recommended by a June 16 program review, a senior European Space Agency official said June 17.
The new shipment date has been tentatively set for late April, rather than late January. ESA, NASA and the two main industrial teams – Airbus Defence and Space for the service module and Lockheed Martin Space Systems, which is prime contractor for Orion — met June 16 at ESA's Estec facility in Noordwijk, Netherlands, to conclude a service module critical design review.
Nico Dettman, head of ESA's space transportation department, said the delay is partly a result of the fact that several components could not yet be assessed in the full critical design review and need more time to be integrated into the design.
Dettman said another issue forcing the delay resulted fr om a reassessment by NASA of the stresses the service module needs to be capable of handling in orbit. These "in-orbit load" specifications have recently been tightened. But any design modifications will not affect the service module's core structure, he said.
"If it has an impact, it will be limited to the solar array wings, not the structure – nothing wh ere flight hardware has been manufactured that we will have to touch," Dettman said. "It's a late modification, but not too late."
"They are not nice, but it is quite normal and they happen all the time," Dettman said of the fresh set of requirements, often referred to as customer change notices. "I am quite sure there will be some changes after the EM-1 flight. We obviously would prefer that there be a stable configuration but because of the complexity, the configuration changes to improve quality and reliability of the system."
The Orion capsule and service module are scheduled to make their flrst flight, an unmanned mission called EM-1, on NASA's new Space Launch System heavy-lift rocket, with a launch window of between September and November 2018.
ESA, NASA and Lockheed Martin officials had said in a May 19 briefing on the start of service module assembly that the program was so pressed for time that integration would begin even before the critical design review, on the assumption that no major issues would be found that would force a redesign.
Dettman said the early assessment is that a final "close-out" design review now set for late October to address the latest issues would allow for an April shipment to Lockheed Martin and would not, in and of itself, delay the EM-1 schedule.
Many elements of the SLS rocket are now undergoing testing of their own and there remain risks to the schedule from the launcher side as well as the Orion system.
In response to SpaceNews inquiries, service module prime contractor Airbus on June 17 said it would withhold comment on the new schedule until ESA's Program Board for Human Spaceflight and Robotic Exploration meets to review the critical design review findings and issue a final report and recommendation.
ESA officials have said they structured the Airbus service module contract in such a way as to include margins for delays. Dettman said that because of the contract's terms, the three-months shipment delay will have no impact on ESA's service module program cost.

[Salo]

http://ria.ru/science/20160618/1449092206.html

Доставка в США сервисного модуля для Orion откладывается на три месяца
02:03 18.06.2016
 
МОСКВА, 18 июн — РИА Новости. Доставка в США сервисного модуля, созданного Европейским космическим агентством для космического корабля Orion, откладывается на три месяца до конца апреля, сообщил портал Spacenews со ссылкой на представителя ЕКА.
Ранее доставить системный модуль планировалось в конце январе. Представители ЕКА, НАСА, Airbus Defence and Space и Lockheed Martin Space Systems встретились 16 июня на базе Европейского центра космических исследований и технологий в Нордвейке в Нидерландах для проведения критического анализа проекта модуля.
Глава транспортного управления ЕКА Нико Деттман сообщил, что задержка частично связана с тем фактом, что в рамках критического анализа проектных работ пока нельзя произвести оценку несколько компонентов модуля, для их окончательного включение в проект требуется больше времени.
Другая причина задержки кроется в том, что НАСА произвела перерасчет нагрузок, которым сервисный модуль будет подвергаться на орбите. В результате требования к этим спецификациям были ужесточены.
Деттман сообщил, что, по предварительным оценкам, финальный завершающий анализ проекта намечен на конец октября. По его словам, доставка системного модуля в конце апреле никак не скажется на сроках первого беспилотного полета корабля, который намечен на сентябрь-ноябрь 2018 года.
Тестовый полет аппарата Orion на новой американской ракете SLS запланирован на 2018 год, а ориентировочно в 2023 году произойдет первый пилотируемый полет за пределы лунной орбиты. За разработку корабля Orion ответственна компания Lockheed Martin (является партнером компании Boeing, с которой образует совместную United Launch Alliance), его сервисный модуль создан Европейским космическим агентством.
В НАСА подчеркивают, что Orion является первым после завершения миссии "Аполлон" в 1972 году кораблем, разработанным для отправки человека в далекий космос. США планируют, что именно этот космический корабль отправит человека на Марс или к астероиду.

[Блудный]

pnetmon пишет:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/nasaorion/
 

Смущают меня их ботинки. Это негерметичный лётный костюм, а не скафандр?

[Дмитрий Виницкий]

А "стриж" вас тоже смущает?

[triage]

К парашютной теме Федерации. Тут цифры $ есть

 http://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20160712005537/en/
July 12, 2016
PASADENA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jacobs Engineering Group Inc. (NYSE:JEC) announced today it was tasked by the NASA Johnson Space Center under the JSC Engineering and Technical Services (JETS) contract to perform manned flight qualification testing on the parachute system for the Orion space capsule. The capsule is being developed for human deep space exploration.
In addition to testing, Jacobs' role also includes the production, delivery and installation of the flight parachutes for the first Orion Exploration Mission (EM-1), a mission to circumnavigate the moon and return to Earth.
This task is valued at $40.3 million and is a continuation of ongoing parachute development / test work Jacobs has been performing for the Orion Program since 2006.
Jacobs recently completed the seventeenth and final engineering development test of the Orion parachute system in Arizona at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds. This test featured a dart-like vehicle reaching the descent speeds required to achieve the primary test objective of system performance at maximum dynamic pressure.
Since 2007, Jacobs has completed 38 full-scale parachute system tests for NASA. It also provided the parachutes for the successful Engineering Flight Test 1 (EFT-1) in 2014, where Orion reached an orbit of 3,600 miles above Earth.
....

[Salo]

Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust
Flowchart for the SLS/Orion EM-1 mission. Red line is critical path, primarily Orion development.
 
  7:32 - 25 июл. 2016 г.

[Salo]

[IMG] Jeff Foust ‏@jeff_foust 4 ч.4 часа назад
Hill: window for EM-1 launch is September-November 2018; there are challenges but "believe we can get there."

[Salo]

James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  25 мин.25 минут назад  
NASA on Asteroid Redirect Mission timing: availability of asteroid and SEP spacecraft for crewed mission moved into 2026 (decade away).
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  4 ч.4 часа назад  
NASA says targeting crewed Orion flight Aug. '21. What's changed since ASAP said '21 date has "schedule confidence level close to zero"?
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  4 ч.4 часа назад  
NASA's Bill Hill says agency would like 2nd Mobile Launcher at KSC to fit new SLS upper stage, but funding probably not in cards.
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  5 ч.5 часов назад  
NASA says it believes first launch of SLS/Orion (without crew) from KSC remains on track for Sept.-Nov. '18.
 
  James Dean ‏@flatoday_jdean  5 ч.5 часов назад  
Gerst: Orion's Service Module, which was due to arrive at KSC from Europe in January, now expected in April or later.

[Salo]

Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle: Action Needed to Improve Visibility into Cost, Schedule, and Capacity to Resolve Technical Challenges
http://gao.gov/products/GAO-16-620
http://gao.gov/assets/680/678704.pdf