Humanity is preparing to travel further into space than ever before.
Mankind will return to the Moon and eventually set foot on Mars for the first time. These next steps in manned space exploration are part of the Artemis mission. And a key component of that mission is the crew vehicle, the Orion spacecraft, which leverages more than five decades of NASA space science.
Orion’s first major test will come in late August 2022, when the most powerful rocket ever built by mankind, the Space Launch System (SLS), will catapult the crewed Orion capsule farther than any other ship intended for astronauts. gone before
After this test, officially designated as the Artemis I mission, the capsule will finally be the vehicle that will carry humanity boldly into the next era of space exploration.
Related: NASA’s Artemis Program
“The Orion spacecraft is the capsule that will carry astronauts and scientific payloads to the Moon,” Madison E. Tuttle, public affairs specialist at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, told Space.com. “Serving as an exploration vehicle that will carry the crew into space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and provide safe re-entry from deep space return velocities, it’s designed to take humans further than they’ve ever done. never gone.”
The genesis of Orion
The Orion spacecraft has three main components. From top to bottom these are: The launch abort system designed to get the boat and crew to safety in the event something goes wrong on launch; the crew module 16 feet in diameter (5 meters) and equipped with the latest advances in housing, avionics and life support; and below these is the service module provided by the European Space Agency (ESA), in charge of supplying the ship with oxygen, water and energy in the electricity converted from the solar energy collected by the three arrays deployed solar panels of the ship.
The Orion spacecraft, officially titled the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, was originally conceived by Lockheed Martin in the early 2000s. Its history traces back to a Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) announced in January 2004 by in NASA’s “Vision for Space Exploration” program.
The project would pick up the name “Orion” when it was presented as CEV to NASA Constellations programin which the crew and cargo versions would have traveled to the International Space Station (ISS), as well as returning humans to the Moon.
After the Constellation program was canceled in 2010, Orion survived, and so did the Ares 1 rocket that was originally planned to carry it into space. In 2011, NASA announced the production of the Orion vehicle, and Lockheed Martin took the lead in building the spacecraft’s command module.
Components of the Orion spacecraft. (Image credit: NASA)
In 2012, ESA announced the possibility of a collaboration with NASA to provide a service module that could pair with Orion. In the same year, construction of this Orion service module was awarded to Airbus Defense and Space.
By 2020 there were at least three different versions of the Orion spacecraft in production with Lockheed Martin saying that six missions using Orion had been formally agreed upon with NASA. The company says there is still the possibility of a craft and 12 more missions.
Between 2006 and 2020, funding for Orion totaled nearly $19 billion, which adjusted for inflation is about $21.5 billion, according to NASA’s New Start Inflation Indexes (opens in a new tab).
Testing of the various components of the Orion spacecraft and the use of various models and substitutes for the capsule dates back to 2007.
In December 2014, the Orion spacecraft launched atop a United Launch Alliance Delta Heavy rocket for a short-duration flight to collect data on the spacecraft’s performance. The flight — Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) — lasted four hours and 24 minutes and ended when the capsule landed in the Pacific Ocean.
In 2021, the Orion craft was placed atop the SLS rocket. Earlier this year, the ready Artemis I rocket lifted off from the launch pad at Kennedy Space Station, Florida, ready for its next most significant test.
The Orion capsule is being prepared for transport inside the Neil Armstrong Operations and Control Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: NASA/Ben Smegelsky)
“All of this work comes together as the most powerful rocket ever built that launches the most sophisticated crewed spacecraft ever built,” SLS Associate Program Manager Sharon Cobb told Space.com. “It represents human ingenuity and dedication and is something we can all be proud of.”
During the uncrewed flight of the Orion spacecraft as part of the Artemis 1 mission, the capsule will travel farther than any craft intended to carry a crew has ever ventured.
“Artemis will test all of the capsule’s systems and modifications made after the 2014 test,” Tuttle explained. “It is critical to ensure that Orion can launch and splash safely before missions with astronauts on board.”
Related: Orion Spacecraft: NASA’s Next-Gen Capsule to Take Astronauts Beyond Earth Orbit
The SLS with the Orion spacecraft at its tip will lift off with a pair of five-segment thrusters and four RS-25 engines delivering 8.8 million pounds (3.9 million kg) of thrust. Tuttle explained that the power of the SLS makes it the only launch vehicle capable of carrying the Orion spacecraft on its journey to the Moon and beyond.
Once it reaches an altitude of about 100 miles (160 km) above Earth, the SLS will jettison its boosters and service module panels, and Orion will jettison its launch abort system. The core stage’s engines will shut down and it will separate from Orion.
As it orbits Earth, about two hours after launch, the SLS upper stage’s Interim Cryogenic Propulsion Stage (ICPS) gives the Orion spacecraft the final push it needs to reach the moon and beyond.
The Orion spacecraft inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. (Image credit: NASA)
Powered by its Service Module, Orion will travel 280,000 miles (450,000 kilometers) away from Earth. During this time, NASA engineers will monitor Orion through the Deep Space Network testing its ability to navigate, communicate and operate in a deep space environment.
Orion’s systems will be checked during its several-day journey 62 miles (100 km) above the lunar surface. Orion will then use the Moon’s gravitational influence to propel itself deeper into space, settling into an orbit about 40,000 miles (64,000 kilometers) from the Moon.
After about six days in this orbit, Orion will again use a close flyby of the Moon to accelerate back to Earth. It will re-enter the atmosphere at 25,000 miles per hour (40,200 km/h) experiencing temperatures of nearly 5,000 degrees Fahrenheit (2,760 degrees Celsius). The craft will be protected by the world’s largest heat shield, 5 meters in diameter, located at the base of the crew module, as well as by sophisticated thermal tiles.
The safe reentry and precision landing off the coast of California represent Orion’s final test. The only part of the ship that will return to Earth is the crew module.
The mission will last four to six weeks, the longest period a vehicle designed to carry humans has ever been in space without docking at a space station, and will see the Orion craft travel more than 1.3 million miles ( 2.1 million km).
“Orion is larger than other spacecraft to allow for the extra days and miles needed to reach lunar orbit. It will fly farther than any spacecraft built for humans has ever flown,” Tuttle said. “Not only will Orion remain in space longer than any human spacecraft without docking with a space station, it will also return home faster and hotter than ever.”
After the uncrewed Artemis I mission, the next major test of the Orion spacecraft will be the Artemis II flight. This will see the manned Orion spacecraft in space for the first time.
Spacesuit engineers demonstrate how four crew members would be arranged for launch inside the Orion spacecraft, using a model of the vehicle at the Johnson Space Center. (Image credit: NASA/Robert Markowitz)
Later, during Artemis III, which is scheduled for no earlier than 2024, Orion will bring a woman and a person of color to the Moon for the first time, standing at the lunar south pole.
“The two missions after Artemis I will take astronauts into lunar orbit, and Artemis III will take astronauts to the Moon along with a human landing system,” Tuttle explained. “Artemis II will be the first time the crew will fly to Orion, and they will spend time orbiting the Moon and testing Orion’s systems before the Artemis III moon landing.”
Related: NASA’s Artemis 3 astronauts will explore 1 of these 13 lunar sites
Airbus Defense and Space began construction of a second service unit in 2017 that will accompany the Orion spacecraft on the Artemis II mission.
Laura Poliah is the test lead for the Orion spacecraft project. Before the launch of Artemis I, he reflected on the importance of the mission and the journey Orion has taken to get to this point.
“As we prepare for the Orion spacecraft to make its first trip around the moon and back, I reflect on the countless hours of design, assembly and testing with our various partners to get here,” Poliah told Space. how. “There’s a wide range of emotions from anticipation to excitement, but most of all I’m very proud of my team and the work we’ve contributed to help usher our generation into a new era of space exploration; It’s been a great honor.”
Additional reading
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