CEV Orion Overview

The Orion spacecraft should be making its début this year (2008). This new capsule type spacecraft from NASA is designed after the old Apollo spacecraft that were used to take the first and so far only manned missions to the moons surface. The Orion will be replacing the aging Space Shuttle fleet which is due to be grounded in 2010. The Orion is scheduled to make its first manned mission in 2012, though that is very likely to get pushed back.

Most obvious among the developments being incorporated into the Orion craft are its “glass cockpit” based on the digital systems used in the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. These flight controls are a major step up from the lights, buttons, and switches which the Apollo astronauts had to deal with.

The Orion Craft also has improved waste removal systems like those on the International Space Station so astronauts onboard Orion will no longer have to dispose of bodily waste in plastic bags.

Orion will have what is probably the most advanced computer system ever incorporated into a manned spacecraft. Orion will have an advanced auto-dock feature for connecting to the International Space Station.

The hull of Orion will be made primarily of Aluminum-Lithium alloy to reduce weight, with a PICA heat shield.

While Apollo astronauts had to be rescued at sea after arriving on earth the new Orion will be capable of landing on, well, land. Although NASA apparently has not decided whether this will be by parachute, retro rockets or airbags the only reason they have at this point for not incorporating this type of landing would be weight restrictions. Which leaves open the possibility of different missions using different types of landings.

Orion is meant to be reusable however reusable for Orion will be approximately 10 missions. Each mission will carry between 4 and 6 astronauts. The astronauts will, like Apollo astronauts have both a command module which they will remain in for lift-off and landing, as well as a service module which may be used for an eventual Moon or Mars landing.

NASA’s stage 2 development of the Orion includes preparations for flights lasting “many months”. Since the vehicle is being designed for a manned trip to Mars and near-by asteroids this would probably mean that the Orion is capable of maintaining astronauts for up to 2 years in space. Stage 3 would be the development of landers for the Moon and Mars.