Lockheed Martin unveils first Orion spacecraft
The funding to send astronauts to the moon on NASA's new Orion space capsule may have been axed, but it's good for lots of other stuff, from ISS transport flights to deep-space adventures. Lockheed Martin has just unveiled the very first Orion spaceship, along with a fancy new simulation center to test it out in.
Orion looks a lot like Apollo-era capsules, but it's much bigger, designed to seat four to six astronauts, and takes advantage of decades of technological advances. Inside, it's got a glass cockpit based on the one in the Boeing 787, and "improved waste-management facilities" (yay!).
To put Orion through its paces before launching people into space in it, Lockheed Martin built a gigantic Space Operations Simulation Center. It uses full-scale mockups of Orion and the ISS suspended in a giant room to test out robotic docking maneuvers, and can also simulate touchdowns on asteroids and stuff like that.
The first Orion capsule should make it to orbit sometime in 2014, with a manned test flight scheduled for 2016.
Just below, we've got a huge gallery of new pics of the spacecraft and testing center, plus some gratuitous video of an attitude control system test.
Via Lockheed Martin
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Six-degree-of-freedom robots provide precise spacecraft motion driven by navigation simulations of an Orion approach to an asteroid
The Lockheed Martin Space Operations Simulation Center high bay (or test bay) has a 60 meter range capability for testing full-scale spacecraft approach and departure maneuvers
Orion splashdown testing center
Two Orion spacecraft could be used to support a long-duration mission to an asteroid as early as 2019
This artist rendering depicts Lockheed Martinâs 'Plymouth Rock' asteroid mission concept with astronauts and the Orion spacecraft
Lockheed Martinâs Space Operations Simulation Center in Littleton, Colorado, simulates on-orbit docking maneuvers with full-scale Orion and International Space Station mockups. The 41,000 square-foot-facility represents independent commercial investment by Lockheed Martin and the State of Colorado to help mitigate risk for future space exploration initiatives. The spacious center includes an 18,000 square-foot high bay area being used to validate Orionâs relative navigation system
