A New Dawn for NASA

8/18/2019 A New Dawn for NASA

1/8

Orion embarked on its maiden voyage inDecember 2014, putting NASA back in themanned space race. Dr Neil Ashton strapshimself in for the ride

74 Knowledge June 2015


2/8

SPACE I SCIENCE

© Technicians and

engineers shifted

the Orion craft into position

on the service structure.

It was then lifted andmoved onto the Delta IV

Heavy rocket A


3/8

SCIENCE | SPACE

Apollo 17 splashed into the Pacific

Oce an on 19 Dec emb er 1972 after

completing the final mission of the

Apollo space programme. It marked the

end of an 11-year effort to take humans to

the Moon. NASA had first achieved this

feat just t hree years earlier w ith Apoll o 11.

NASA's latest craft, Orion, finally gives

the space agency the ability to take humans

beyond the Earth once again. On 5

December 2014 it completed its first test

flight, dubbed Exploration Flight Test 1.

For this flight, Orion was launched by the

world's most powerful rocket, the Delta IV

Heavy, taking it 5,794km (3,600 miles)

above the Earth, more than 10 times

further away than the International Space

Station. After nearly four hours of

spaceflight, it started its descent back toEarth. On the way down it reached speeds

of over 32, 187k m/h (20,000mph) and then

attained temperatures in excess of 2,000°C

during its re-entry.

The first mission was designed to test the

top risks that Orion would face on a

mission into deep space. These included the

ability of the heat shield to protect the

spacecraft on return, the pyrotechnic-

induced separations at various stages of the

mission and the guidance, navigation and

propulsion systems. While the data from

the maiden flight is still being analysed, afirst look at the information suggests it was

a huge success for NASA. "We're ecstatic;

there aren't adjectives that describe how

well overall the spacecraft did," says Mark

Kirasich, Orion's deputy programme

manager at NASA . "O ur exploration

programme at NASA is all about re-

establishing human exploration beyond

low-Earth orbit."

The origins of Orion date back to 2004.

A new cre w modu le, service mod ule and •

© Orion undergoing

final assembly at the

Kennedy Space Center.

Technicians ensured that no

foreign objects contaminated

the spacecraft while it was

being put together

©

Orion splashed

down into the PacificOcean, 1,030km (640 miles)

southeast of San Diego. Five

balloons are used to ensure

Orion stays upright, but

only two of them correctly

inflated

76 H Knowledge June 2015


4/8

© The Orion craft

blasted into space on

5 December 2014 aboard

the Delta IV Heavy, which

is the most world's most

powerful rocket

"BY 2021 THEFIRST MANNEDMISSION WILLBE LAUNCHED"


5/8

SCIENCE | SPACE

"EVENTUALMANNEDMISSIONTO MARS INTHE 2030S"

LAUNCHED"

BLAST OFF!The Delta IV Heavy is the world's most powerfulrocket. It launched the Orion crew module andlaunch abort system into space

LAUNCH SYSTEMLaunch abort system

Orion crew module

rocket were planned, together with a lunar

lander. But a change in the US

administration ultimately led to the

programme being cancelled, and NASA

went back to the drawing board.

Out of this rethinking came two

objectives. First, to commercialise the re-

supply of crew and cargo to the

International Space Station. This has since

led to two private companies, SpaceX andBoeing, being awarded contracts to take

over the responsibility of ferrying

astronauts and cargo to the space station.

This capability allows NASA and its lead

contractor, Lockheed Martin, to

concentrate on the development of deep

space human exploration missions.

Blast off

This second objective resulted in the Orion

spacecraft, whose design came largely from

the previously cancelled Constellation

programme. In addition to Orion, a new

and powerful rocket called the Space

Launch System (SLS) has been developed.

The SLS will have the capacity to

eventually take Orion to Mars.

You could easily be forgiven for thinking

that the Orion spacecraft is, in fact, Apollo

in disguise. Larry Price is Orion's deputy

programme manager at Lockheed Martin.

As he explains, NASA's extensive

storehouse of knowledge came in handy

when designing Orio n. "T he shape •

Upper stage

Delta IV Heavy Rocket

78 EE] Knowledge June 2015


6/8

ORION'S FIRST FLIGHTHours: minutes:

seconds after launch

0:00:00

On 5 December 2014, :

Orion launched on the

Delta IV Heavy rocket

from Kennedy

Space Center

0:06:10

The service module

and the launch abort

system separated -

this was a critical

part of the mission

3,000

1:57:11

The upper stage of the

system reignited after 2,00 0

completing one orbit

around the Earth

3:23:41

The Orion crew module 1

'0 0

°

separated from the

service module and the 500

upper stage

3:57:00 0The crew module fired the

control jets to orientate the

craft correctly for re-entry

into the atmosphere

1:13:41

rhe Orion crew module made

:ontact with the Earth's

itmosphere at an altitude of

505km

Time in hours from launch

HOW ORION ORBITED EARTH

4:20:22

Forward IForward bay cover separated,

starting the parachute

deployment sequence

4:24:46 fOrion landed safely in the 1 |

Pacific Ocean and was

recovered by NASA and the

ivy


7/8

"THIS IS THE START OF A

NEW WAVE OF HUMANEXPLORATION OF OURSOLAR SYSTEM"

MSI

i&

'ail

£


8/8

© Orion seen in the

well deck of the USS

Anchorage. US Navy divers

recovered the spacecraft

after Orion's first exploration

flight test A

SPACE | SCIENCE

june2015 EE] Knowledge 81

reduces the time and cost to develop a

system based upon the existing data

we've got from the Apollo

programmes," he says.

This mission marks the first step

towards an eventual manned mission to

Mars in the 2030s. Next year, further

test flights with updated hardware will

take place. And in 2018, Exploration

Mission 1 will launch an un man ned

Orion aboard the new Space Launch

System, sending it into orbit around the

Moon. This will be used to test the

guidance and navigation systems as well

as the radiation prot ectio n e quipmen t.

By 2021 the first manned mission will

be launched, called Exploration Mission

2. This mission is currently proposed

to send astronauts to a captured asteroid,

so they can collect samples and bring

them home.

Before any humans fly onboard

Orion, one hugely important part of the

system will be thoroughly tested. The

Launch Abort System (LAS) fits around

the crew module, with a spike housing

three rocket motors. If the main rocket

should fail, the LAS's rockets would fire

within milliseconds to pull the crew

module out of harm's way before

deploy ing parachutes for a safe landing.

Mars missionMany challenges lie ahead before the

final go al of sen din g astrona uts to Mars,

however. At present Orion is designed

to only take four astronauts for missions

lasting up to 21 days. This is because

there isn't enough space to store water

and supplies for longer missions. An

eventual mission to Mars would rely on

various oth er comp onents , such as a

habitat module.

But the need for humans to undertake

such missions is something that NASA

is convinced is necessary. Exploration

Flight Test 1 was just the start of a long

journey for NA SA , bu t it is o ne that

could ultimately mark the start of

a new wave of human space

exploration of our Solar System and will

inspire a new generation of scientists

and engineer s. US

Dr Neil Ashton works at The University of

Manchester's School of Mechanical, Aerospace

and Civil Engineering.

Documents

A New Dawn for NASA