Orion Program Update:2018,a year of urgent tasks

The year 2018 will see a great amount of activity at NASA and contractor centres to prepare for the launch of the first integrated test of the Orion system,Exploration Mission-1,an uncrewed mission targeted for 2019.NASA aims to have all major hardware completed by the end of 2018.At the same time,construction for the first crewed mission of Orion,EM-2,planned for the early 2020s,has already begun and will continue apace thoughout 2018.*
In early 2018,NASA says the heat shield will be bolted to the EM-1 crew module.When
the ESA Orion Service Module,or powerhouse,arrives from Europe,it will be mated with and stacked beneath the crew module.In January,the US Navy and NASA personnel will again be refining capsule recovery procedures off the California coast.*
Over the course of 2018,the core stage of the new Space Launch System,the world's most powerful rocket,will be completed and its four RS-25 main engines,evolved from the Space Shuttle main engines and built by Aerojet Rocketdyne,will then be attached to it.*
In spring 2018,the mobile launcher will be rolled out to Launch Pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center for testing of the fit between launcher and pad systems,then be trucked to the huge Vehicle Assembly Building for testing of mount mechanisms;ignition overpressure and sound suppression water pipes;nitrogen and helium supply lines;and access platforms.Then it's back to the pad once more for several months of full system testing.*
In summer 2018,critical software updates for command and control in support of EM-1 will be wrapped up.In 2019,the complete Orion system will be stacked,integrated,tested and rolled out to the pad to await launch.The ultimate goal of the program is to produce a flexible,reuseable and sustainable infrastructure that will support deep space missions of graduated complexity for decades to come.*
EM-1,besides testing the integrated Orion system,will also be carrying a payload of 13 small satellites for a broad spectrum of research projects.*
At the 68th International Astronautical Congress in Adelaide,Australia on 27 September 2017,NASA and the Russian Space Agency,Roscosmos,signed a joint statement on a common vision for human exploration.Indeed,the entire ISS partnership of NASA,Roscosmos,Canada,ESA and Japan are intent on ensuring that full advantage be taken of ISS technological development and demonstration,as well as of lessons learned from its assembly and operations for this future exploration.
For its part,industry is currently devising a series of study and risk reduction concepts for NASA's Deep Space Gateway,which is to be a small space station in lunar orbit for support of Orion missions,and for the transport needed for Mars exploration.Those awarded contracts for the effort include Bigelow Aerospace;Boeing;Lockheed Martin;Orbital ATK;Sierra Nevada Corporation;and Nanoracks.Five of the six companies have been chosen to develop full-sized ground-based engineering prototypes of habitation systems to be completed in 2018.NASA has also solicited industry for proposals for studies on concept development of a power and propulsion element,which will be the first pieces of Deep Space Gateway architecture to be placed in lunar orbit.*
NASA and The National Space Council,chaired by Vice President Mike Pence,is committed to carrying on in the spirit of international and industry cooperation that has characterised the ISS.*
Aerojet Rocketdyne Holdings Inc,NYSE:AJRD

Manned Spaceflight Update:First Space Launch System Booster Test;International Space Station One-Year Crew Nears Launch

On 11 March,a major milestone was reached when the Space Launch System's solid rocket booster passed the first of two flight qualification tests for deep space missions.The two minute test mirrored an actual flight,since it lasted the same amount of time the booster will burn on liftoff.The test was conducted at the Orbital ATK test facility in Promontory,Utah.After the second qualification test 2016,the flight booster hardware will be transported to Kennedy Space Center for the first flight of the SLS and Orion spacecraft together,Exploration Mission 1 in 2018.
The work being done around the country today to build SLS is laying a solid foundation for future exploration missions, and those missions will enable us to pioneer far into the solar system,said Dr.William Gerstenmaier,NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations.*
The SLS booster was heated for months to reach 90 degrees Fahrenheit,so it could be tested at the highest end of the propellant temperature range.The second test in early 2016 will test the booster at 40 F,the low end of the propellant temperature range.
Our partnership with Orbital ATK and more than 500 suppliers across the country is keeping us on the path to building the most powerful rocket in the world,said SLS program director Todd May.Some 102 design objectives were assessed during the test with more than 531 instrumentation channels.The SLS booster met applicable ballistic performance requirements,including thrust and pressure.Data was also gathered on the new internal motor insulation and liner and the improved nozzle design.
Two SLS boosters will be grouped with four RS-25 main engines for the launch,operating in parallel for the first two minutes of the launch.The boosters provide more than 70% of the thrust required to escape Earth's gravitational field.SLS will be configured for a 70-metric-tonne/77 tonne lift capacity to carry the unmanned Orion spacecraft beyond Low Earth Orbit in EM-1,the first flight of the integrated system.The projected date of EM-1 is 30 September 2018.On future manned missions to deep space,SLS will be configured for a record-breaking lift capacity of 130-metric-tonnes/143 tonnes.*
On 27 March,NASA Astronaut Scott Kelly,Captain US Navy Retired,and Roscosmos Cosmonaut Mikhail Kornienko will be launched for the One-Year Crew Mission aboard the International Space Station,accompanied by Cosmonaut Gennady Padalka.They will be launched aboard a Soyuz YMA-16M spacecraft from Baikonur Cosmodrome,Kazakhstan.Kelly will be the first NASA astronaut to spend a year in space,but Russia has completed four manned missions of at least one year in duration.Padalka will return to Earth before Kelly and Kornienko.
The One-Year Crew will pave the way for the deep space missions of the future,including Orion flights,by gathering critical physiological and psychological data on the effects of long duration space flights.American and Russian scientists will collaborate on the project using the ISS technology,which is more advanced than the technology Russia had for its long duration studies some 20 years ago,yielding a more comprehensive picture.*
Orbital ATK Inc (ATK)