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WASHINGTON, November 6, 2018 / PRNewswire / – The power plant that will help NASA's Orion spacecraft beyond the Moon is located in the United States. The European construction service module that will propel, power and cool during the Orion flight to the Moon during the exploration mission 1 has arrived from Germany at the agency Kennedy Space Center in Florida Tuesday to begin the final outfitter, integration and testing with the crew module and other elements Orion.
NASA's Orion Space Shuttle European Service Module was loaded onto an Antonov aircraft in Bremen, Germany, on November 5, 2018, for transport to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For the first time, NASA will use a European construction system as an essential element to power an American spacecraft, thus extending the international cooperation of the International Space Station in deep space.
The service module is an integral part of human missions on the Moon and Mars. After launching Orion above the Space Launch System rocket of the agency, the service module will be responsible for maneuvers in the space throughout the mission, including corrections to Cpl. The service module will also provide the powerful burns necessary to insert Orion into lunar orbit and again to exit the lunar orbit and return to Earth. It is provided by the ESA (European Space Agency) and built by the main contractor of ESA, Airbus, of Bremen, Germany. Lockheed Martin, NASA's lead contractor for Orion, has built the crew module and other spacecraft elements.
"We have a solid foundation of cooperation with ESA through the partnership between the International Space Station and the arrival of the service module means that our international collaboration also extends to our efforts to improve the environment. human exploration in the deep space ", said Bill Gerstenmaier, Associate Administrator of NASA for Human Exploration and Operations.
The service module, built in Europe, combines new technology and lightweight materials, while taking advantage of proven hardware for spaceflight. It consists of more than 20,000 components, including four solar panel wings providing enough electricity to power two three-bedroom homes, as well as an orbital maneuvering system engine, a newly refurbished engine previously used for control in orbit by the space shuttle. . Starting with the second exploration mission, the module will also provide air and water for astronauts flying inside Orion, which will transport people to more distant destinations than any other traveler, and will bring back safely to Earth.
"Our teams have been working hard to develop a service module that will turn missions on the moon and beyond into reality," he said. Mark Kirasich, NASA Orion Program Manager. "It is a great achievement for ESA and Airbus to have completed the module development work and to have achieved this milestone in delivery."
Now that the service module is at Kennedy, it will be subject to extensive testing and integration work upstream of Mission-1 Exploration. Engineers will perform functional checks to make sure all items work properly before it is connected to the Orion crew module. The crews will weld fluid lines to carry gas and fuel and establish electrical wiring connections. The service module and crew module will be paired and the combined spacecraft will be sent to NASA's Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook station at Ohio at the beginning of next year, it will be subjected to continuous 60-day tests in the world's largest thermal vacuum chamber, to ensure Orion's ability to withstand the harshness of space. Once these tests are completed, the system will return to Kennedy to be integrated into the SLS rocket for launch.
NASA is leading the next steps to establish a permanent human presence on the moon. First mission in a series of increasingly complex missions, Exploration Mission-1 is a flight test of an unmerged Orion spacecraft and an SLS rocket, which will be launched from the modernized spaceport from NASA to Kennedy. The mission will send Orion 40,000 kilometers beyond the Moon and pave the way for future missions with astronauts. Together, NASA and its partners will build the infrastructure needed to explore the moon for decades to come, while laying the groundwork for future Mars missions.
For more information about Orion, visit:
https://www.nasa.gov/orion
NASA SOURCE
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