Updates Orion (MPCV) Updates and Discussion

[orb]

NASA:

Sep. 22, 2011​

RELEASE : 11-322
NASA Completes Orion Spacecraft Parachute Testing In Arizona

HOUSTON -- NASA this week completed the first in a series of flight-like parachute tests for the agency's Orion spacecraft. The drop tests at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona support the design and development of the Orion parachute assembly.

Flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet, a drop-test article that mimicked the Orion parachute compartment was deployed from a C-130 aircraft. Once airborne, two drogue chutes were deployed at an altitude of 19,000 feet, followed by three pilot parachutes, which then deployed three main landing parachutes. The drop test article speed as it impacted the desert was approximately 25 feet per second.

The tests were the closest simulation so far to what the actual Orion parachute landing phase will be during a return from space.

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[orb]

Aviation Week: Piloted Orion/MPCV Test Flight Urged:

HOUSTON — Bolstered by the mid-September agreement between the White House and Congress to rev up development of NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), Lockheed Martin is moving out with development, test and production of the Orion/Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) that would lift off atop the evolvable mega-rocket for piloted deep-space missions.

A 70-metric-ton version of the eventual, much larger SLS, perhaps fitted with a Boeing Delta 4 upper stage, could sling astronauts around the Moon in 2016, under a test flight scenario that Lockheed Martin has discussed with NASA. The demonstration mission would accelerate plans for the first human mission of the four-person MPCV by five years.

“As soon as possible, we will transition to flying our test flights on early versions of the SLS,” says Laurence Price, Lockheed Martin’s Orion deputy program manager. “We already know a lot about this vehicle, its environment, load conditions and trajectory. So we are accommodating the unique capability of the launch vehicle into the design of the Orion/MPCV. We are already converging on how this vehicle will fly.”

{...}

With $6 billion of the agreed-upon total, NASA would ready the capsule for a series of milestone flight tests, beginning with a mid-2013 two-orbit unpiloted mission. The flight would boost Orion to an altitude of 5,000 nm for a steep, high-velocity re-entry to characterize the performance of the ablative heat shield and parachute descent and ocean recovery.

Lockheed Martin has reserved a Delta 4 Heavy for the demanding unpiloted flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, though the choice of launchers is under evaluation.

A second test of the Orion/MPCV’s Launch Abort System would follow a year later. Also lofted from Kennedy, the spacecraft would rise atop a Peacekeeper missile first-stage solid-fuel rocket motor to 50,000 ft. for release of the unpiloted capsule in a test of the abort system guidance and navigation controls at maximum aerodynamic pressure. The abort system executed a successful unpiloted launch pad abort demonstration in May 2010 at White Sands, N.M.

If funding permits, Lockheed Martin would like to leverage the integration and performance results from the 2013 flight for a piloted circumnavigation of the Moon in 2016.

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[N_Molson]

A 70-metric-ton version of the eventual, much larger SLS, perhaps fitted with a Boeing Delta 4 upper stage

That must look a bit strange...

 

[T.Neo]

That must look a bit strange...

Not really, it would likely be enclosed in the payload fairing:

I believe the idea originated with the DIRECT people.

Really sets the stage for daring, boundary pushing exploration. I can imagine the headlines now: "United States returns to Moon, but does not land".

 

[Yoda]

NASA:
Acoustic Tests Verify Orion’s Sound Engineering

September 02, 2011

Engineers have successfully completed the first of a series of acoustic tests on the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) ground test vehicle, which consists of two major components of the Orion spacecraft: the crew module and the launch abort system. Built to spaceflight specifications, the Orion MPCV ground test vehicle is the first full-scale spacecraft built to support the development of the final human space flight vehicle, which is slated for its first orbital flight test in about two years.


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Technicians position microphones around the Orion MPCV and launch abort system test articles in preparation for the second round of testing in the acoustic chamber at Lockheed Martin’s facilities near Denver. The vehicle was bombarded by acoustic levels of 150 decibels to simulate conditions during launch and abort if necessary.​

Photo credit: Lockheed Martin​

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More than 600 instruments, 500 accelerometers and 100 microphones were placed throughout the Orion crew module/launch abort system stack to test critical components of the spacecraft such as avionics, propulsion and crew life support. This ground test vehicle will serve as the “workhorse” for environmental testing that provides critical data to define the spacecraft’s capabilities needed for long-duration, deep space missions.

The series of tests being conducted at Lockheed Martin’s Reverberant Acoustic Laboratory near Denver, Colo., expose the spacecraft to acoustic forces as high as 150 decibels -- the sound energy a human would experience standing about 50 yards from a jet aircraft. The sound pressure tests last only a few minutes in length and are completed incrementally to allow the engineers to isolate and understand the behavior of each of the major components of the vehicle.

After the acoustic test series concludes, the spacecraft will remain in the chamber for modal survey testing in which vibrating stingers will be applied to the spacecraft structure to measure responses to simulated launch environments. The acoustic and modal tests will verify the spacecraft can withstand the extreme noise and vibration the vehicle will experience during a launch or an emergency abort.

Following the testing in Denver, the Orion MPCV ground test vehicle will be transported to the NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., where it will undergo a series of drop tests to analyze system performance during a variety of simulated landing trajectories and sea states.

NASA’s fleet of Orion spacecraft will be manufactured at the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, La., then sent to the Operations & Checkout Facility at Kennedy Space Center for final assembly and integration prior to launch. The major components of the Orion spacecraft include the crew module, the service module, the spacecraft adapter and the launch abort system.

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"Final Human Space Flight vehicle "........."Final"...... is the world ending and we don't know about this ????
How can you say this is the "Final Human Space Flight Vehicle".......???

I sure hope this isn't the final one; leaves no room for imagination and such...........
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[N_Molson]

Really sets the stage for daring, boundary pushing exploration. I can imagine the headlines now: "United States returns to Moon, but does not land".

It proves that the "monstruosity" could be somewhat adapted to the mission. A lunar pass mission could be a good test for the heat shield of the capsule (I wouldn't make it manned at the first try, though).

 

[T.Neo]

It proves that the "monstruosity" could be somewhat adapted to the mission.

All fine and well, aside from the fact that the mission has relatively little value. It is a billion-plus PR stunt, and not even a very good one considering the fact that the US has done it before (and as a test for further manned landings).

A lunar pass mission could be a good test for the heat shield of the capsule (I wouldn't make it manned at the first try, though).

I don't really think you would need a lunar flyby to test the heatshield or the vehicle's "reaction to the BEO environment".

Don't get me wrong... there's nothing wrong with a mission like this, but if it is the 'end goal' or one of the 'end goals', as it were, it is a very... anemic one.

 

[N_Molson]

Of course, you're right. Good night. :hello:

 

[orb]

NASA:

September 27, 2011​

NASA Completes Orion Spacecraft Parachute Testing in Arizona

NASA has completed the first in a series of flight-like parachute tests for the agency's Orion spacecraft. The drop tests at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Grounds in Arizona support the design and development of the Orion parachute assembly.

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Click on image to enlarge​

Orion drop test article descends under the canopy of its three parachutes. The test article was deployed from a C-130 aircraft at an altitude of 25,000 feet.

Credit: NASA​

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Flying at an altitude of 25,000 feet, a drop-test article that mimicked the Orion parachute compartment was deployed from a C-130 aircraft. Once airborne, two drogue chutes were deployed at an altitude of 19,000 feet, followed by three pilot parachutes, which then deployed three main landing parachutes. The drop test article speed as it impacted the desert was approximately 25 feet per second.

The tests were the closest simulation so far to what the actual Orion parachute landing phase will be during a return from space.

Since 2007, the Orion program has tested the spacecraft's parachutes and performed 20 drop tests. The program provided the chutes for NASA's pad abort test in 2010 and performed numerous ground-based tests. Results from the previous experiences were incorporated into the parachute design used in this test.

 

[orb]

A video uploaded to YouTube today by ReelNASA:

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P82-HZQPimY"]Orion Futures - YouTube[/ame]

 

[T.Neo]

Videos are cheap.

 

[Sanford]

Saw this a couple of days ago in the paper.
http://www.chron.com/default/article/JSC-s-future-may-hinge-on-Orion-spacecraft-2199497.php

 

[T.Neo]

Of course, what that article doesn't mention is the fact that Orion development will cost a further 6 billion dollars, that it is tied to a launch vehicle that will cost a further ~10 billion to develop, or that the in-space elements actually needed to get it beyond an Apollo 8 redux are not funded.

It goes without saying of course, that it needs to be the course of action due to the fact that it is supposedly essential to Johnson Space Center's survival.

I wonder what aerospace lobbyist wrote this article. :dry:

 

[IronRain]

NASASpaceflight.com: NASA managers “serious” about ATV role as Orion Service Module

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) hardware.

 

[T.Neo]

So what would they be doing? Replacing the Orion SM that we've been seeing for the past few years with the analogous part of the ATV?

I've heard that the thrusters on the ATV are too weak to meaningfully execute a late-ascent abort. Is this true?

 

[orb]

NASASpaceflight: Space-bound Orion taking shape – “Lunar Surface First” missions referenced:

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 growing references pointing towards Crewed lunar surface missions.

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[Tychonaut]

NASASpaceflight: Space-bound Orion taking shape – “Lunar Surface First” missions referenced:

​

...growing references pointing towards Crewed lunar surface missions.

Has anyone explained to NASA management they have no funding to build a lander? Or are the astronauts going to pop the hatches and wave cowboy hats as they careen into the Moon?
"Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out the left windows, you'll see MPCV Crater, formed in 2021 by a collision of incompetent management, suicidal bravery, and regolith."

...Service Module (SM) – a key part of the vehicle which continues to undergo trades, which may include a role for Europe’s ATV propulsion hardware.

Is it safe to assume only the capsule will be test-flown in 2013, seeing as how they still can't agree on what continent the SM parts will be procured from?

The current plan is vague, with references to a Near Earth Object (NEO) mission in the mid 2020s, on a path to crewed missions to Mars in the 2030s.

A possible mission to Phobos in 20 years. Remember the good old days, when it was a manned mission to the surface of Mars that was perpetually 20 years away? Now that's been "pushed to the right" even further, into some hazy pretend future that doesn't even deserve numbers.
"NASA - Crushing dreams of manned exploration since 1972."

 

[T.Neo]

Has anyone explained to NASA management they have no funding to build a lander?

Sshhh, this is in the magical universe where landers and other nonexistent in-space elements actually exist.

Is it safe to assume only the capsule will be test-flown in 2013, seeing as how they still can't agree on what continent the SM parts will be procured from?

I really don't know where this "ATV for SM" stuff comes from. Orion's service module has been floating around for years now. Are we supposed to believe that after some $5 billion, the Orion SM is so fuzzy and undefined that they're seriously looking at trying to bolt an ATV SM onto it?

Isn't the ATV SM built for a radically different system and would require a good deal of work (and money, of course) to integrate with the Orion capsule?

I'm not sure how much of the SM is planned to be flown on that test flight, but as far as I understand, it won't be the complete item and the spacecraft will be bolted permanently to the D-IVH US.

It feels like one of those "people are watching, look busy" tests. Like Ares-IX, which had no validity whatsoever, especially not for nearly half a billion dollars.

At least this time, they will hopefully be testing actual hardware that they intend to use on the final system. :facepalm:

Also, note how they plan to launch the test spacecraft on a Delta IV Heavy, rather than an Atlas V...

Atlas V will eventually be man-rated... maybe they don't want people to get the wrong idea about which vehicle "can" and "can't" lift Orion.

A possible mission to Phobos in 20 years. Remember the good old days, when it was a manned mission to the surface of Mars that was perpetually 20 years away? Now that's been "pushed to the right" even further, into some hazy pretend future that doesn't even deserve numbers.
"NASA - Crushing dreams of manned exploration since 1972."

I agree wholeheartedly. I don't understand how anyone actually believes in these "Mars missions", they're just fuzzy PR with no concrete reality to them.

And a mission to Phobos is setting the bar low, in relative terms. It still puts you quite far away from an actual surface landing.

 

[Wishbone]

I'd consider committing seppuku if I landed on Phobos but had no chance whatsoever to walk on Mars. With a solar flare seppuku may even be superfluous...

 

[RisingFury]

Everyone's a critic