EM-1 Update: Europe's Contribution to Orion's 2020 Space Mission Achieves a Major Milestone...

ESA – A. Conigli

Orion’s First Service Module Integration Complete (News Release)

Last week at the Airbus integration hall in Bremen, Germany, technicians installed the last radiator on the European Service Module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft marking the module’s finished integration.

ESA’s European service module will provide power, water, air and electricity to NASA’s Orion exploration spacecraft that will eventually fly beyond the Moon with astronauts. The European Service Module is now complete for Orion’s first mission that will do a lunar flyby without astronauts to demonstrate the spacecraft’s capabilities.

Much like closing the bonnet on a car, with the radiators in place technicians can no longer access the internals of the European service module, symbolically ending the assembly and integration of the module that will fly further into our Solar System than any other human-rated spacecraft has ever flown before.

Technicians worked 24 hours a day in three shifts to complete the service module’s assembly which is now going through the last stages of its extensive testing. Engineers will put the module through its paces with functional tests that include checking the newly installed radiators and testing the propulsion system with its intricate pipelines that deliver fuel and oxidiser to the spacecraft’s 33 engines.

Once complete the service module will be packed and flown to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, USA. Orion’s solar wings will be shipped separately, also from Bremen. In the USA the module will be stacked together with NASA’s Crew Module Adaptor and Crew Module, the first time the complete spacecraft will be on display.

More tests await the Orion spacecraft at NASA’s Plum Brook facility where it will be put in the world’s largest vacuum chamber to simulate spaceflight as well as being subjected to acoustic tests to simulate the intense vibrations Orion will endure when launched on the world’s largest rocket, NASA’s Space Launch System.

Second Module Getting Ready

Meanwhile technicians in Bremen are not resting as work on the second European Service Module is already well under way. The structure is complete and over 11 km of cables are being meticulously placed in preparation for the computers and equipment that will keep astronauts alive and well for the second Orion mission called Exploration Mission-2.

Source: European Space Agency

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ESA – A. Conigli

SpaceX Has Revealed Its First Passenger to Fly Aboard the Company's Big Falcon Rocket!

Elon Musk / SpaceX

Just a few hours ago, SpaceX revealed to the world that Japanese entrepreneur Yusaku Maezawa will fly around the Moon aboard SpaceX's Big Falcon Rocket (BFR) no earlier than 2023. Maezawa, who was originally supposed to do a lunar flyby aboard the Falcon Heavy rocket later this year (Musk cancelled the flight after deciding that the Falcon Heavy won't be human-rated, and instead launch passengers aboard the BFR instead), bought all seats aboard the spaceship so 6 to 8 fellow artists can fly 404,000 miles [the maximum distance the Big Falcon Spaceship (BFS) will travel as it circumnavigates the Moon during the 2023 voyage] into space with him. The down payment that Maezawa put down is supposedly substantial enough to cover most of the developmental costs for the first BFS...while as a whole, the development program for BFR is expected to have a $5 billion price tag.

Yusaku Maezawa created a project known as #dearMoon, which is meant to inspire artists such as filmmakers, painters, photographers, architects and other creative individuals to join him on BFS' 4 to 5-day journey around the Moon. Totally inspiring!


SpaceX


Elon Musk / SpaceX


Elon Musk / SpaceX


Elon Musk / SpaceX


Elon Musk / SpaceX


SpaceX


SpaceX


SpaceX


SpaceX

Orion Update: The Capsule's Parachutes Are Now Qualified for Flight After Completing Their Final Drop Test Today...

NASA

NASA Completes Orion Parachute Tests for Missions with Astronauts (News Release)

NASA has completed the final test to qualify Orion’s parachute system for flights with astronauts, checking off an important milestone on the path to send humans on missions to the Moon and beyond.

Over the course of eight tests at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, engineers have evaluated the performance of Orion’s parachute system during normal landing sequences as well as several failure scenarios and a variety of potential aerodynamic conditions to ensure astronauts can return safely from deep space missions.

“We’re working incredibly hard not only to make sure Orion’s ready to take our astronauts farther than we’ve been before, but to make sure they come home safely,” said Orion Program Manager Mark Kirasich. “The parachute system is complex, and evaluating the parachutes repeatedly through our test series gives us confidence that we’ll be ready for any kind of landing day situation.”

The system has 11 parachutes, a series of cannon-like mortars, pyrotechnic bolt cutters, and more than 30 miles of Kevlar lines attaching the top of the spacecraft to the 36,000 square feet of parachute canopy material. In about 10 minutes of descent through Earth’s atmosphere, everything must deploy in precise sequence to slow Orion and its crew from about 300 mph to a relatively gentle 20 mph for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

The parachute system is the only system that must assemble itself in mid-air and must be able to keep the crew safe in several failure scenarios, such as mortar failures that prevent a single parachute type to deploy, or conditions that cause some of the parachute textile components to fail.

During the final test, which took place Sept. 12, a mock Orion was pulled out from the cargo bay of a C-17 aircraft flying higher than 6.5 miles. The protective ring around the top of Orion that covers the parachute system was jettisoned and pulled away by the first set of Orion’s parachutes, then the remaining parachutes were deployed in precise sequence.

Additionally, Orion parachute engineers have also provided considerable insight and data to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners. The knowledge gained through the Orion program has enabled NASA to mature computer modeling of how the system works in various scenarios and help partner companies understand certain elements of parachute systems. In some cases, NASA’s work has provided enough information for the partners to reduce the need for some developmental parachute tests, and the associated expenses.

Orion will first fly with astronauts aboard during Exploration Mission-2, a mission that will venture near the Moon and farther from Earth than ever before, launching atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket—which will be the world’s most powerful rocket. The parachutes for Orion’s upcoming uncrewed flight test, Exploration Mission-1, already are installed on the vehicle at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

Source: NASA.Gov

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NASA

SLS Update: The Mobile Launcher Is Now Inside the VAB...

NASA

Two days ago, the Mobile Launcher for NASA's Space Launch System (SLS) rocket made its way into the mammoth Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) at Florida's Kennedy Space Center after being situated at Launch Complex (LC)-39B for a week. According to online sources, the launcher will remain inside the VAB for seven months of testing before heading back out to LC-39B for another four months of tests. The launcher will then head back into the VAB to have the first SLS booster and Orion stacked on this platform for 2020's Exploration Mission (EM)-1. The Mobile Launcher and its 321-foot-tall rocket payload will then head back out to Pad 39B for a Wet Dress Rehearsal. The launcher will then return to the VAB before rolling back out to the pad one month before the SLS lifts off on EM-1 in June of 2020! Things are getting more exciting for human spaceflight by the day...


NASA


NASA


NASA

Photos of the Day: The SLS Mobile Launcher Ventures Out to Pad 39B...

NASA / Jamie Peer

A few days ago, the 380-foot-tall Mobile Launcher for NASA's Space Launch System rocket made its way to Pad 39B at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. On Thursday, August 30, the Mobile Launcher began its trek from a park site near KSC's Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB)...traveling at a leisurely speed of 1 MPH on the Crawlerway before it completed its 4.4-mile journey the following day (August 31). The Mobile Launcher is scheduled to stay at Pad 39B till September 7. It will then be rolled into the VAB for the first time to complete final tests and assembly for the remainder of 2018. And sometime next year, the launcher will be prepped as KSC engineers begin stacking the twin solid rocket boosters and core stage for the first SLS rocket onto the 11 million-pound platform. Late 2019 will be an exciting time for space enthusiasts as Exploration Mission-1, the first flight of SLS, starts taking shape prior to its inaugural launch in mid-2020! Stay tuned.


NASA / Jamie Peer


NASA / Jamie Peer


NASA / Jamie Peer


NASA / Jamie Peer


NASA / Jamie Peer


NASA / Cory Huston


NASA / Jamie Peer