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| Technicians working inside the Orion Crew module |
Latest information from NASA says that Orion have been powered up for the first time. It powered up for a series of tests at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre in Florida, last week. Its initial performance is much than expected with innovative power ,networking capabilities etc.
Orion is NASA's first-ever deep space craft. It will be put to test for its first mission, Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), which will hopefully getting launched in the fall of 2014. EFT-1 is a two-orbit, four hour mission that will send Orion, uncrewed, more than 3,600 miles above the Earth's surface. It will be 15 times farther than the International Space Station. During the test, Orion will return to earth, enduring temperatures of 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit while travelling 20,000 miles per hour, faster than any current spacecraft capable of carrying humans. This trip is also planned for gathering data about design decisions, validate existing computer models and guide new approached to space systems development. It will also look for reducing risks and costs of subsequent Orion flights.
"Orion will take humans farther than we have ever been before, and in just about a year we are going to send the Orion test vehicle into space,"said Dan Dumbacher, NASA's deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development in Washington. "The work we are doing now, the momentum we are building, is going to carry us on our first trip to an asteroid and eventually to Mars. No other vehicle currently being built can do that, but Orion will, and EFT-1 is the first step."
"Its been an exciting ride so far, but we are really getting to the good part now." said Mark Geyer, Orion program manager. "This is where we start to see the finish line. Our team across the country has been working hard to build the hardware that goes into Orion, and now the vehicle and all our plans are coming to life."
The completed Orion spacecraft will installed on a Delta IV heavy rocket for EFT-1. NASA is also developing a new rocket, the Space Launch System, which will power subsequent missions into deep space, beginning with Exploration Mission-1 in 2017.
You can read more on : www.nasa.gov
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