Back to the Moon!!!

[fringey]

Project Orion: NASA's Next Spaceship Takes Shape
Tariq Malik
Staff Writer
SPACE.com Wed Sep 27, 11:00 AM ET



The pieces are coming together for NASA's next spaceship Orion as space agency engineers begin working with lead contractor Lockheed Martin to shape the vehicle's cockpit.


"We're bringing the design teams together and looking at the features of this so that we can adjust and have one integrated concept," NASA's Orion project manager Caris 'Skip' Hatfield told SPACE.com this month, adding that astronauts are key in the design process. "We don't want to deliver them a cockpit and have them hate it."


The Orion cockpit is just one of many features under review by NASA and Lockheed engineers as the agency discusses the requirements necessary for the capsule-based spacecraft, which is expected to begin manned flights to the International Space Station (ISS) in 2014 and return astronauts to the Moon by no later than 2020.


Engineers are using a Lockheed Orion mock-up, along with a NASA-built counterpart at the agency's Johnson Space Center, to set out a definitive design for the post-shuttle era spacecraft. The contractor then opened a mock-up of the spacecraft to reporters at its Houston-based Exploration Development Laboratory this month.


"This is a long way from ready-to-cut metal," NASA astronaut Lee Morin, who is helping to develop the avionics and crew systems for Orion vehicles, said in an interview. "But it's a very important step in that direction."


NASA tapped Lockheed to build the solar-powered Orion vehicle on Aug. 31. The spacecraft is designed to succeed NASA's three space shuttles - Discovery, Atlantis and Endeavour - which are set to be retired by September 2010.


Old look, new systems


While the Orion vehicles owes much of its capsule look to NASA's Apollo vehicles, which carried astronauts to the Moon and Skylab space station during the late 1960s and early 1970s, its updated interior and avionics will bring the design squarely into the 21st century.


"The Apollo wasn't really in the computer age," Cleon Lacefield, Lockheed's Orion program manager, told SPACE.com during a tour of a spacecraft mock-up. "We are going to have smart [computer screens] and there will be a keyboard in between, and from that you can receive all the information you need. So you don't have to have a zillion and one switches."


With a diameter of about 16.5 feet (five meters), Orion capsules are expected to have about 2.5 times the habitable volume of their Apollo predecessors, with all primary systems routed through a fold-out panel of touch screens that swings into place above the pilot and commander seats located beneath the primary windows.


"It's going to be a lot larger than Apollo," Lacefield said. "The whole idea is to maximize volume."


At least two more windows, one to either side of the pilot and commander seats, and one hatch portal are planned for Lockheed's current Orion design. Like NASA's Apollo vehicles, the entry hatch is mounted to Orion's side while a docking tunnel - for either the ISS or lunar vehicles - opens at the top.


Two launch arrangements - a six-seater for ISS-bound flights and four-person array for lunar missions - are on the drawing board, with the seats themselves made up of foldable metal frames connected by sturdy webbing.


"These seats are designed so that if you lost two of the four parachutes during landing, the crew is secure," Lacefield said, adding that the seats are also designed to keep astronauts safe should their capsule tip over to one side after touchdown. "There's a lot of capability in these seats."


Lacefield said that storage space will line the floor - on Earth - of Orion in the form of a wall of lockers, while the area directly opposite of the main windows is reserved for electronics, life support and computer equipment. The rest of the walls, he added, are expected to be usable free space.


Meanwhile, Morin and his fellow astronauts have been working to best identify exactly what key systems Orion crews will need to operate, the best shape for windows and other features.


"We made it our business to go out and see as many cockpits as we could," Morin said, adding that astronauts examined the flight decks of the military's F-22 jet fighter, the massive Airbus A380 aircraft, as well as commercial and business jets. "We aren't missing some good technologies and some good ideas."

The goal, Morin said, is to establish a fundamental philosophy for astronaut controls aboard Orion that can then be transferred to future lunar-bound spacecraft.

"We're looking at trying to have as flexible a system as we can," Morin said. "And we certainly have it in the back of our minds, of how we can use this experience for future vehicles."

Of solar wings and heat shields

One of the key departures from NASA's past crewed spacecraft - ISS notwithstanding - is the addition of two solar wings to power Orion's service module, which will house most of the vehicle's systems and main engine. NASA's Apollo capsules relied on fuel cells, which also power space shuttle systems in orbit today.

"It adds a different set of things you've got to pay attention to," Hatfield said, adding that the solar panels must work every time. "You want to get up to orbit and deploy those arrays right away otherwise you have to turn around and come home because you have no power."

NASA also awarded a $14 million contract to Huntington Beach, California's Boeing Co. this month to develop the vital ablative heat shields that will protect Orion vehicles as they reenter the Earth's atmosphere at speeds of 16,700 miles per hour (26,876 kilometer per hour) from the ISS, and up to 25,000 miles per hour (40,233 kilometers per hour) on a return trip from the Moon.

The contract includes plans for heat shield samples, designs, a full-scale demonstration unit and a series of detailed studies to evaluate the proprietary phenolic impregnated carbon ablator (PICA) mixture manufactured by Boeing's Maine-based subcontractor Fiber Materials, Inc.

Hatfield said there are still many other components of NASA's renewed lunar exploration program that are still yet to be awarded to contractors, among them: planned lunar habitats, rovers, rocket stages and engines.

"Now that we're all together, it's just amazing," Hatfield said. "It's just great to see the excitement and enthusiasm."

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Original Story: Project Orion: NASA's Next Spaceship Takes Shape
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This is awesome news. Back to the moon by 2020! Hurrah! We have spent far too much time avoiding repeating man's greatest achievemnt. I look forward to seeing the next generation experience the awe I first felt as a seven year old when Neil Arstong took his first step onto the moon's surface. And flubbed his line. Still an incredible experience.

Patrick
a.k.a. Fringey, The Fringe Element
"A life lived without passion is a life not lived.

[ninjabear]

Back to the Moon?
We never should have left!
Hell by now there should be a Motel-6, a Denny's and a frelling Wal-Mart up there!
Maybe a nice little memorial park that ropes off Tranquility Base, with a boardwalk and souvenier stands where you can get postcards, fridge magnets and shirts that say "Someone I know went to the Moon and all I got was this crummy T-shirt"!

It's been 37 years, damn it! By now the Moon should be a more popular tourist destination than Acapulco!

[iswallowedabug (deleted)]

fringey wrote: We have spent far too much time avoiding repeating man's greatest achievemnt.

Going to the moon was man's greatest achievement? You poor
dears. That's so sad.

This is one of the reasons women act subservient a lot of
the time -- we don't want to rub it in what with all the impressive things
we can do -- like grow a human being within us.

[lucifer666 (deleted)]

Ahh but Iswallow it takes a guy's rocket to start the magic within

Besides thats if humans ever really did land on the moon? ..... I still can't believe the original video footage was lost

Its almost unbelievable that such a vital piece of history could be mislaid??

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8

[cooky37]

lucifer666 wrote: Ahh but Iswallow it takes a guy's rocket to start the magic within

Besides thats if humans ever really did land on the moon? ..... I still can't believe the original video footage was lost

Its almost unbelievable that such a vital piece of history could be mislaid??

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8
Don't be so smug lucy, Wal mart was having a sale on turkey basters
What better way to disprove(or prove) these stories of the moon landing being staged

By The Way, was it such a slow news day they have to report they found the "A" Armstrong said on the first steps on the moon. I thought every body knew that

Will someone shut that man up
NEVER!

[fringey]

iswallowedabug wrote: fringey wrote: We have spent far too much time avoiding repeating man's greatest achievemnt.

Going to the moon was man's greatest achievement? You poor
dears. That's so sad.

This is one of the reasons women act subservient a lot of
the time -- we don't want to rub it in what with all the impressive things
we can do -- like grow a human being within us.



Ah, but that is a natural thing that happened whether we understood it or not. We had to actually learn stuff to get to the moon!

Patrick
a.k.a. Fringey, The Fringe Element
"A life lived without passion is a life not lived.

[fringey]

cooky37 wrote:
What better way to disprove(or prove) these stories of the moon landing being staged

By The Way, was it such a slow news day they have to report they found the "A" Armstrong said on the first steps on the moon. I thought every body knew that

Will someone shut that man up
NEVER!

But, there is still plenty of archival news footage of the landing, so I wouldn't worry about the original footage. Besides, I am sure it is in a vault somewhere. Probably next to the Ark of the Covenant.

The part about Armstrong flubbing his line was mine, BTW. I still find it amusing.

Patrick
a.k.a. Fringey, The Fringe Element
"A life lived without passion is a life not lived.

[iswallowedabug (deleted)]

lucifer666 wrote: Ahh but Iswallow it takes a guy's rocket to start the magic within

With the advent of cloning technology and artifical sperm, we don't
really need your rockets, anymore, Bub.

Which, incidentally, also addresses Fringey's comment about actually
learning stuff.

And Cooky, you get bonus points for callng Bub "Lucy." That's
gonna have me chuckling for a while.

Possibly for quite a while.

[lucifer666 (deleted)]

iswallowedabug wrote:
With the advent of cloning technology and artifical sperm, we don't
really need your rockets, anymore, Bub.
Not with a very Republican administration in power you won't be able to fall on cloning much iswallow Artificial sperm?? .... do you give birth to a robo baby? He pops his head out ..."I'll be back" and then goes back into the womb

iswallowedabug wrote:
And Cooky, you get bonus points for callng Bub "Lucy." That's
gonna have me chuckling for a while.
Possibly for quite a while.

Oh yeah ......Keep laughing

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8

[iswallowedabug (deleted)]

lucifer666 wrote: Artificial sperm?? .... do you give birth to a robo baby? He pops his head out ..."I'll be back" and then goes back into the womb

Check out the article in the July issue of Developmental Cell:

"In Vitro-Differentiated Embryonic Stem Cells Give Rise to Male Gametes
that Can Generate Offspring Mice." Karim Nayernia, Jessica Nolte, Hans
W. Michelmann, Jae Ho Lee, Kristina Rathsack, Nadja Drusenheimer,
Arvind Dev, Gerald Wulf, Ingrid E. Ehrmann, David J. Elliott, Vera
Okpanyi, Ulrich Zechner, Thomas Haaf, Andreas Meinhardt, and
Wolfgang Engel. Developmental Cell, July 2006. 11 (1): p125-132.

This work also got the cover, with a photo of the artificial sperm and
the mouse pups it produced.

There are still a few ----- to work out, and making the technology
accessible to human systems. But still, there's hope....

lucifer666 wrote: Oh yeah ......Keep laughing

I still am...Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!!!!!

[lucifer666 (deleted)]

iswallowedabug wrote: Check out the article in the July issue of Developmental Cell:

Oh I'm so going to do that now ....how well you know me

Tell me how is artificial sperm helping mankind ...save maybe an off chance of increase in male impotence threatening the existence of our species? Is this not a milder form of genetic engineering by creating at least a perfect male part of a new child?
I'm sure eventually through advances in science and gentic engineering we will be able to create assexual humans ....but is it right? should it be allowed to happen? I personally don't think it should... I'm all for science and genetic research helping against illness and curing ailments but not designer babies.....

iswallowedabug wrote:
I still am...Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!!!!!

Real mature swallow

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8

[ninjabear]

I thought I'd live long enough to see commuter service to the moon.
As it is, there's only the privately owned "Spaceship Two" which merely goes suborbital---well long enough to make a baby the old fashioned way (ever notice women want to rid the world of men, never the other way around?)
but what would the other four passengers think?

[cooky37]

[quote="lucifer666"] iswallowedabug wrote: Check out the article in the July issue of Developmental Cell:

Oh I'm so going to do that now ....how well you know me

Tell me how is artificial sperm helping mankind ...save maybe an off chance of increase in male impotence threatening the existence of our species? Is this not a milder form of genetic engineering by creating at least a perfect male part of a new child?
I'm sure eventually through advances in science and gentic engineering we will be able to create assexual humans ....but is it right? should it be allowed to happen? I personally don't think it should... I'm all for science and genetic research helping against illness and curing ailments but not designer babies.....

quote]I have to agree with lucy We haven't reached the point where Artificial Sperm. the most that will happen is that caucasian will be extinct, leaving only Asian, latinos, and Affrican decent. Oh and Springer Guests

Will someone shut that man up
NEVER!

[iswallowedabug (deleted)]

lucifer666 wrote: Tell me how is artificial sperm helping mankind ...save maybe an off chance of increase in male impotence threatening the existence of our species?

Considering the current state of international affairs, the idea of
a nuclear conflict and increased infertility is not such a stretch of
the imagination. Being able to produce sperm artifically may, indeed,
help save humanity should widespread male infertility come to pass.

lucifer666 wrote: Is this not a milder form of genetic engineering by creating at least a perfect male part of a new child?

No. Why would you think one would lead to the other?

Beside, genetic engineering need not require technology. Horse
breeding, dog breeding, etc. that have been going on for AGES are
all forms of genetic engineering. Mating Brad Pitt to Angelina Jolie
is a form of genetic engineering.

lucifer666 wrote: I'm all for science and genetic research helping against illness and curing ailments but not designer babies.....

But think of it...you could have children with wings! Or ACTUAL devil
horns!

lucifer666 wrote: Real mature swallow

"Now, was that civilized? No, clearly not. Fun, but in no sense civilized."
-- the Brainy Gremlin, "Gremlins 2: the New Batch"

Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!

[lucifer666 (deleted)]

Your right Bear its always the women who want rid of the men ....but I guarantee they'll miss us males if they ever succeed ....after all who else can they manipulate and bully about

iswallowedabug wrote: Considering the current state of international affairs, the idea of a nuclear conflict and increased infertility is not such a stretch of the imagination. Being able to produce sperm artifically may, indeed, help save humanity should widespread male infertility come to pass
Oh spare me the Armaggeddon scaremongering save that kind of talk for Bush and all those Conservative Republicans waiting for Revelations to play out and the Rapture to take them all...... The truth is unless the very unlikely event of a global disaster which threatens human existence takes place... there really is no need for artificial sperm!!

iswallowedabug wrote: No. Why would you think one would lead to the other?
Because your creating an artificial sperm which means your going to create the strongest healthiest sperm you can so it has the best chance of fertilising an egg .....it just appears to me like creating the perfect father gene for a child ...after all if a father has a talent or skill or is extremely intelligent there is a very good chance that the child will inherit these things aswell ...so in my eyes it is kind of mild genetic engineering or designer babies ...isn't it???

iswallowedabug wrote: But think of it...you could have children with wings! Or ACTUAL devil horns!
Hey I can have that without designer babies ...its called halloween costumes babe


iswallowedabug wrote: "Now, was that civilized? No, clearly not. Fun, but in no sense civilized."
-- the Brainy Gremlin, "Gremlins 2: the New Batch"
Lucy, Lucy, Lucy!
Oh yeah keep it up you little tyke.... I'll get you back ....just you wait

And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him.
Revelation 6:8