Orion is a deep space vehicle, it is to fly with a hab module for missions past cis lunar space.
Article for KDP-C:http://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2015/09/orion-passes-kdp-c-cautious-2023-crew-debut/Decided to cover some of the history way back to CEV (some from an old article as it covered the Ares I woes) and then into the KDP-C.
The actual plan for Orion has always been one that involves missions to Mars. However, Orion – per documentation (L2) – is unlikely to make that tripWilliam Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, intimated – without directly citing – Orion will play an important role in the initial and final elements of such a mission, pointing to a role that will involve technological validation work in the “proving grounds” of deep space, before a role ferrying astronauts to Cislunar space, where they will board the transportation to the Red Planet.
If Orion is to re-enter from a deep space mission, at higher speeds than from a Lunar mission, is the only required change from the current design a beefier heat shield? Self contained life support is not an issue, since the Orion would be part of a much larger craft with its own life support.Still, the Orion design makes no sense to me for deep space - it is way over-engineered for that task.
Real aim for the first crewed flight remains August 2021.
Quote from: Jim on 09/16/2015 11:36 pmOrion is a deep space vehicle, it is to fly with a hab module for missions past cis lunar space.Not according to the recent document provided by NASA. It is assumed in that document that Orion will, at most, go as far as cis-lunar.
$17B and "may slip" to 2023.Can this capsule land on Mars? No. The parachutes are insufficient, no retro-propulsion.Can this capsule return to Earth from Mars? No, the heat-shield cannot handle the re-entry speed. Nor is it rated to operate for 2 years on a mission.Is this capsule intended for lunar missions? No. President says so. NASA says so. Congress says so.Is this capsule intended for ISS? No. There are far cheaper spacecraft.Is this capsule intended for Asteroid rendezvous? It has no airlock, no arm, no un-pressurized cargo hold.What are we doing?? Why are we doing this??
The possible delay of EM-2 to 2023 is now all over the news:http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/09/16/orion-spacecraft-may-not-fly-with-astronauts-until-2023/http://spacenews.com/first-crewed-orion-mission-may-slip-to-2023/About the price-tag: 17 Billion US dollars from start (CEV) to end of EM-2. If that isn't just plain silly then I don't know what. 17 Billion US dollars for an Apollo CSM on steroids. Mind-boggling.
Quote from: woods170 on 09/17/2015 07:50 amThe possible delay of EM-2 to 2023 is now all over the news:http://spaceflightnow.com/2015/09/16/orion-spacecraft-may-not-fly-with-astronauts-until-2023/http://spacenews.com/first-crewed-orion-mission-may-slip-to-2023/About the price-tag: 17 Billion US dollars from start (CEV) to end of EM-2. If that isn't just plain silly then I don't know what. 17 Billion US dollars for an Apollo CSM on steroids. Mind-boggling.Apollo cost 150 billion in today's dollars.
Yet NASA continues to lie to the public about this. They claim on facebook all the time that it is "The spacecraft that will take us to Mars some day."