NASA Orion Spaceship Blog

Orion, America’s next-generation space exploration project, is part of the Constellation program to explore the solar system. The Lockheed Martin Corp. unit and NASA are partnering in human-factors simulations to develop Orion’s command module. Lockheed Martin’s Orion contracts are valued at about $4 billion. LMSSC project managers say that simulations for “what-if” scenarios and tradeoff studies help build working relationships and credibility that are critical for any sort of successful government and industry collaboration. The simulation software is DELMIA DPM (Digital Process for Manufacturing) and V5 Human for ergonomic analyses. Read more…

NASA announced today that Benham Constructors LLC of Oklahoma City has been selected to receive a $51.4 million contract to design, build and commission a vibration and acoustic test capability that will support development of the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) at the Space Power Facility at Plum Brook Station in Sandusky. Plum Brook Station is operated by NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.

The CEV is a spacecraft that will support exploration missions to the space station, the moon and Mars.  read more

As the nation holds its breath for the shuttle Endeavour’s landing as early as Tuesday, there are Michigan companies tracking the development of NASA’s next-generation spacecraft hoping to become part of that historic program.

By 2010, NASA plans to retire its three active space shuttles, the newest of which is 16 years old. For future exploration, NASA is developing two spacecraft to take humans and cargo to the moon.

NASA expects the vehicles to be delivered in 2013 and to reach the moon no later than 2020.

That is why aerospace experts say that now is a critical time for companies that want a stake in the future of the nearly $40-billion space sector to connect with big-league aerospace contractors such as Lockheed Martin Corp. read more.

NASA has awarded defense contractor Alliant Techsystems Inc. $1.8 billion (€1.3 billion) to develop a motor for the Orion capsule, which will replace the space shuttle and be able to reach the moon and Mars, the company said.

The first-stage propulsion system will lift astronauts solely with solid fuel instead of a combination of solid and more volatile liquid fuel, the company said in a news release Friday.

The development contract doesn’t guarantee Alliant will produce the next generation of first-stage boosters, but Alliant’s Thiokol plant in northern Utah has made shuttle boosters from the start of the space shuttle program.  Read more

NASA has issued a request for proposal for key guidance, navigation and control hardware for the new Ares I crew launch vehicle. The upper stage instrument unit avionics will be used during the Ares I ascent.

Proposals are due no later than 2 p.m. EDT July 30, with a selection expected in November. The contract will be awarded through a full and open competition.

The avionics unit will be mounted on the Ares I upper stage. It will provide guidance, navigation and control for the entire launch vehicle as it transports the Orion crew exploration vehicle to low Earth orbit.  Read more

The Government Accountability Office praised NASA’s workforce management, saying that newly implemented workforce-planning information systems have helped the agency plan for its missions.

NASA faces tough challenges under President Bush’s plan to put humans back on the moon. It is working to develop new space flight systems, such as the Orion Crew Exploration and  Ares launch vehicles, to tackle the mission. The current space shuttle system is set to be retired in 2010.  Read more

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration issued a draft environmental impact statement concerning its Constellation Program.

The Constellation project involves the development of a space transportation system designed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The NASA draft statement examines the effects of developing, testing and operating spacecraft and support systems associated with that project.  Read more

Frank Sietzen, Jr - Space: the search for a political consensus

Illness has sharply restricted my following of space affairs during much of the past year, but recently I have taken note of some stirrings in the space community as Campaign 2008 approaches. Four old colleagues of mine gave their thoughts recently at Rick Tumlinson’s excellent space conference which while held only a few blocks away from home I was unable to attend. Courtney, Lori, Jim, and Alan all made interesting points and predictions as to what path to space the next president was likely to follow. As someone who had the chance to watch the current administration up close grapple with what became the Vision for Space Exploration I thought it might be useful to contribute to this conversation.  Read more

From Yoni Goldstein: A(nother) reason to suspend space travel

In June, I argued in this space that NASA should postpone space exploration until it could be sure that their space shuttles wouldn’t burn up on re-entry because of gashes in heat shields caused by rogue pieces of foam.

“The disintegration of the Columbia shuttle during reentry on Feb. 1, 2003 — apparently caused when a piece of foam damaged the shuttle’s thermal protection system — was the beginning of NASA’s dark age,” I wrote. “Three shuttle missions have since flown (though all NASA flights were officially suspended for more than two years after the Columbia disaster), but in each case, pieces of the same foam have been lost during takeoff, causing worry that a Columbia-like tragedy could occur again.” Read more

NASA has issued a draft environmental impact statement on potential environmental impacts associated with the Constellation Program.

NASA’s Constellation Program is developing a space transportation system that is designed to return humans to the moon by 2020. The Draft Programmatic Environmental Impact Statement concludes that localized and global environmental impacts associated with implementing the Constellation Program would be comparable to past or ongoing NASA activities.

The National Environmental Policy Act requires federal agencies to prepare an environmental impact statement for major federal actions that may significantly affect the quality of the human environment. Federal agencies must consider potential environmental impacts of their proposed actions before deciding whether and how to proceed.  Read more