Questions tagged [orion-spacecraft]
Questions regarding NASA latest manned spacecraft program currently under development. Orion spacecraft will be used for missions beyond Earth orbit. For questions related to the Project Orion (propulsion with atomic bombs exploded underneath the spacecraft) please use the nuclear-pulse-propulsion tag.
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What materials are used for human spacecraft pressure vessels and why?
I'm looking for what specific aluminum alloys are used for human-rated spacecraft pressure vessels (habitable module) and why.
I've been able to find the material for Orion is Al-2219 but nothing for ...
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How are parachutes attached to capsule spacecraft?
Spacecraft capsules (Apollo, Orion, Dragon, Starliner, Soyuz, etc) use an arrangement of pilot, drogue, and main parachutes to land. I'm looking for details regarding how and where these parachutes (...
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How feasible is a manned flight to Apophis in 2029 using Artemis or Starship?
Apophis will fly by Earth around GEO altitude in 2029. May NASA consider launching an Orion spacecraft on a (sub-)orbital trajectory whose apogee is very close to Apophis so that astronauts can study ...
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Orion ESM jettison imagery
The Orion, among others, had a camera inside the CMA (Crew Module Adapter) looking up at the heat shield to image the separation of the ESM (European Service Module). Has any footage or imagery from ...
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Why will Artemis II not orbit the Moon?
The Artemis II mission will loiter in an elliptical, high-Earth orbit before the Orion uses its own propulsion to complete the trans lunar injection (tli), thus using the fuel it might’ve otherwise ...
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What will be the pressure inside the Orion spacecraft?
On wikipedia, I believe that it will be the same as at sea level (101 kPa), or reduced (55 - 70 kPa). But what pressure will be normal in the cabin? What will the pressure be there during the flight?
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Why was the Orion spacecraft slower after the return powered flyby burn?
I'm closely following NASA's Artemis 1 mission and all the broadcasts. This week the return powered flyby burn took place, the Orion spacecraft flew around the moon and started its way back home.
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At what point did Artemis 1's Orion execute the orbital inclination change for its return transit?
Orion is returning to Earth with a marked orbital inclination compared to its Lunar Distant Retrograde Orbit (DRO).
Orbital inclination changes require a great deal of delta-v, and Orion is on a tight ...
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Why is Artemis 1 swinging well out of the plane of the moon's orbit on its return to Earth?
According to the 3-D model of the Artemis 1 mission (click on the "Mission View" button and use the slider to zoom out a bit), the outbound trip was close to the plane of the moon's orbit, ...
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Why is the Orion capsule using 2 burns to transfer from the moon back to earth instead of one?
I was reading an article about how the Orion capsule just did the first of two burns that it will use to transfer out of its lunar orbit and back to Earth.
I understand the phenomenon of a gravity ...
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How does the Orion communicate with Earth?
Early renders of the Orion spacecraft show a deployed high-gain antenna dish like on the Apollo CSM. The Orion that actually materialised has no such thing. What does it use instead?
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Orion Navigation Camera Image Quality
On November 21, 2022, the Orion Navigation Camera made several images of the lunar surface.
Flight Day 6: Orion's Optical Navigation Camera Captures Lunar Surface
The image quality is much lower ...
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What are the patterns on this solar panel?
What are the patterns on this solar panel?
I'm specifically referring to the apparently random routing of (some of) the wires.
I don't suppose that they're random or unintentional, so I can only ...
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Reason/meaning of dot/dash pattern in Orion capsule
On the interior pictures of the Orion capsule there is a distinct pattern visible above the Callisto tech demo console:
Source: NASA, highlight by me
What is the reason/meaning of this pattern?
My ...
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To what direction is Artemis 1 facing while traveling between earth and moon?
While playing around with the animation on https://www.nasa.gov/specials/trackartemis/ I noticed that Orion capsule seems not be pointing directly into its direction of flight. If this would be case ...
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Why wouldn't NASA save Orion if Artemis 1 failed
According to last night's NASA broadcast (and other sources), the launch abort system (LAS) system for Artemis 1 was inert (except for the apparently separate disposal motor). In the event of an ...
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Are the Artemis Missions direct ascent?
I’ve been looking at “exploded” SLS rockets, where the stages are all shown, and there never seems to be a lunar lander. Does that mean that the Orion Spacecraft lands on the moon, or will it have a ...
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Will the Orion glass cockpit with CCD be tested with prospective astronauts on the ground during the upcoming Artemis 1 test flight ? If not, why?
Image credit: DesignNews article: "Exclusive: A Closer Look at NASA's Orion Glass Cockpit"
Will there be video cameras onboard the Orion spacecraft that registrate the glass cockpit displays ...
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What is the most efficient method of landing for space capsules returning to earth? [closed]
I have read that the Russians don't land on water because they don't have access to a large warm-water coastline like the US. US has large swaths of land and water and most US capsules (Apollo, Dragon,...
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What would have happened if lightning struck the Orion LES instead of the umbilical tower?
Yesterday, a lightning struck the SLS' umbilical tower during a scrubbed wet dress rehearsal.
Is it normal for a lightning to strike the umbilical tower instead of the 3 lightning arresters around the ...
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Why did NASA never launch crewed Orion missions on a Delta IV Heavy to the ISS?
Following the successful EFT-1 mission, why didn't NASA start launching crews to the ISS on the Orion spacecraft? This question deals about why crews weren't sent to the Moon, but I wonder why wasn't ...
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How do all the struts and crosses in the Orion Crew Capsule Service Module work together? What do each of these parts do?
The BBC's Europe to make more hardware for American Moon missions says that three more service modules for the Orion Crew Capsule have been ordered by NASA, bringing the total desired to six.
I ...
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Why is the re-entry velocity of Orion almost the same as the escape velocity?
I have read that the predicted re-entry speed on the Artemis I mission for the Orion spacecraft into the Earth's atmosphere is about 24,500 mph or 10.9 km/s. Why is it almost the same as Earth's ...
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Why is the Orion spacecraft so big?
The Orion spacecraft which is to be used for the Artemis missions will be rated for 6 astronauts. Why so many? Given the "political" assignment is to put "a woman and another man to the ...
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Why does it take 9 months to access the Orion service module interconnect?
In this story (versions of which are in several other places) it is reported that it could take nine months to access and replace a Power Data Unit on the Orion spacecraft, one component of which has ...
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What capabilities does Orion have that Dragon-V2 does not?
In an answer to Why does the government still fund SLS while SpaceX is cheaper and has the same capabilities if not better?, Barry Jenekuns said:
Dragon isn't comparable in capabilities to Orion and ...
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How much delta-v does the Orion spacecraft have?
Orion is intended to transport astronauts around cis-lunar space. How much delta-v performance does it actually have?
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Why isn't the Delta IV Heavy ever used for crewed spaceflight?
In 2014 the Orion spacecraft was launched on top of the Delta IV Heavy for the first time. Why do they build another rocket, the SLS, instead of launching the Orion on the Delta also with humans on ...
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Will it be possible for the crewed Orion spacecraft to fly over the lunar south pole to land the VIPER rover there?
Artemis 2, the planned crewed mission of the Orion spacecraft, will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2022 and will then be the first crewed spacecraft to the Moon in 50 years !
VIPER is a lunar ...
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What about Orion ISS missions?
I remember that the Orion spacecraft was a thing when it had its maiden voyage in 2014. Nowadays, all I read about is the SpaceX Crew Dragon and Boeing Starliner, which are both running late. Soyuz ...
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Does the FAA still license the people who fold human-rated reentry parachutes?
One of the links in the question International Orange? is the History.com article The Amazing Handmade Tech That Powered Apollo 11’s Moon Voyage which says of Apollo capsule re-entry and landing ...
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Feasibilities and challenges of these Orion + commercial lunar lander scenarios? [closed]
Suppose that US politicians want to fund a moon mission without SLS, using only hardware that is working now in 2019, using Orion together with some future moon lander supplied by the private sector.
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Why jettison the data recorders in the Orion AA2 abort test?
This answer states parameters were transmitted in real time.
Thus, why was it needed to record them onboard into (perhaps complex) data recorder that are then jettisoned (with a probability of ...
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Why no parachutes in the Orion AA2 abort test?
On July 2, 2019, the Ascent Abort 2 test of the Orion spacecraft was performed, with the Orion command module ascending on a solid rocket booster, then firing its launch escape system to safely ...
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Why doesn't NASA plan a manned Venus flyby first? [closed]
After America will have returned to the Moon, why won't NASA make a Venus flyby mission with the Orion/SLS before going on to manned flights to Mars?
They are planning crewed missions to Venus (...
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How many stages (approximately) will likely be used to get NASA astronauts to the Moon's south pole and safely back to Earth?
UPDATE: See Space News' NASA tweaks call for lunar lander concepts which links to:
FedBizOpps: Human Landing System - Integrated Lander
NASA.gov: NextSTEP H: Human Landing System - Integrated Lander; ...
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Orion cockpit instrumentation
I'm working on a spaceflight simulator (FSX SpacePort), and currently developing instrumentation for NASA's Orion capsule. I'm using whatever little info is available on line and trying to identify ...
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How effective is the Orion radiation protection plan?
This article gives a basic overview of the procedure for astronauts on deep space missions who need to take shelter from energetic events such as solar flares. The shelter area strongly resembles a ...
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What is the point of launching EM-1 on DIVH/F9H?
EM-1 was originally a full-up test of the SLS block 1B: Orion, ICPS (a modified 5-meter Delta cryogenic second stage), and the first stage/SRBs.
NASA administrator Bridenstine’s statement on 3/13/...
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Surmountability of the technical risks to launching EM-1 on commercial rockets?
NASA administrator Bridenstine announced that commercial rockets (e.g., Delta Heavy and Falcon Heavy) would be considered as ways to launch EM-1 by July, 2020.
Such a move would reportedly require a ...
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Can Delta Heavy launch a fully fueled upper stage with no payload attached?
There is right now talk of a potential dual launch mission to fulfill EM-1, where a Delta Heavy would launch a fully fueled upper stage to LEO, to there bet met with the Orion spacecraft, likely ...
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Why did Orion's Jettison Motor, have four nozzles but eight Attitude Control Motors arranged in an octagon?
Spaceflight 101's Orion Spacecraft Overview shows the following tests for the escape system.
Why were there eight ACS thrusters arranged octagonally? Was it just to reduce cosine losses or does this ...
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What is under these four white covers on the upper part of the Orion capsule?
The New York Times article A NASA Journey to the Moon May Need to Find Another Rocket or Two shows an image of the Orion capsule in a file photo, along with the NASA director.
There are four white ...
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Orion Exploration Mission-1; clarification and additional trajectory information?
This September 2017 video NASA | Exploration Mission-1 – Pushing Farther Into Deep Space is over a year old. I found some aspects interesting and wonder if more details about this trajectory are now ...
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Orion reentry plasma
Below are two screen shots from the video of the Orion reentry, Astronaut’s-Eye View of NASA’s Orion Spacecraft Re-entry, and a diagram.
Is the plasma contained, or primarily within the viscous wake, ...
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What brand and model is the hand-held sextant tested on the ISS?
Astronaut Alexander Gerst is testing an hand-held sextant on the ISS in the context of the experiment Sextant Navigation for Exploration Missions, see picture below.
What is the brand and model of ...
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What is the nature of the sextant tests on the ISS for Orion cis-lunar emergency navigation?
According to the NASA Johnson video Space to Ground: A Star to Steer By: 08/10/2018:
A tool that once helped sailors cross vast oceans for centuries is now being put to the test in space. The crew ...
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Could an Orion Spacecraft launch from a Falcon Heavy? [duplicate]
The cost of an SLS launch is significantly more expensive then a Falcon Heavy. Could an Orion spacecraft be mated to the Falcon Heavy to save launch costs?
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Do Orion's solar panels have adjustable sweep?
In this video overview of NASA's proposed EM-1 mission, the solar panels on the Orion spacecraft are initially shown extending perpendicular to the spacecraft (at around 3:46).
Shortly after that, as ...
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Brachistochrone variation for Earth-to-Mars Orbit
Wouldn't a Brachistochrone curve to Mars orbit be a much faster and more efficient way to send personnel and equipment to mars as compared to the Hohmann transfer if we used an Ion engine?
The below ...
