Space Launch System - Orion

[Kccv23highliftcam]

MartG said:

.

You know this weight thing....

[MartG]

Kccv23highliftcam said:

2. that steam can't be good for your cars paint!

It's just warm fog & rain when it reaches the cars - free car wash with pure water

[Beati Dogu]

With the water deluge system and a liquid hydrogen / liquid oxygen rocket, there sure is a lot of water flying about. Some of it was blowing back and getting sucked back down by the exhaust.

Seeing them test all 4 of these together will be something else.

[Beati Dogu]

Jeremy Clarkson visited the John C. Stennis Space Center in Mississippi for a RS-25 test fire. He got a little wet.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=96&amp...

[MartG]

Spacecraft stage adapter finished, though first flight has now slipped to 2020

http://blogs.esa.int/orion/2018/02/15/orion-stage-...

[RobDickinson]

Another $7.8billion tax dollars for Ula

[MartG]

Construction of the first Orion for a manned flight has begun - to be launched in 4 - 5 years time ( if not cancelled before then )

http://www.spaceflightinsider.com/organizations/lo...

[MartG]

More pics of the Orion which will be on the first SLS launch in 2 years time



Service module


The service module is built by ESA, based on the ATV design, and reuses an ex-Shuttle OMS AJ10 engine for main propulsion.

[Eric Mc]

Have they decided on the heat shield design? I presume they must have by now.

They used an Apollo style ablative shield on the 2014 EFT-1 test. They didn't really want to use an ablative shield but making a reusable heat sink shield that can cope with 25,000 mph entry speeds was proving difficult.

[MartG]

Still using Avcoat, but applied in blocks rather than injected into honeycomb Apollo style

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/orion-heat-shield-for...

[Eric Mc]

Interesting.

They were obviously concerned about the man-hours (and cost) involved in the old Apollo era methodology of injecting the ablator material into individual honeycomb segments.

I presume it's therefore a one shot heatshield which will have to be replaced before each Orion flies again

[MartG]

Yes - they hope fitting it in blocks will make it cheaper and easier to replace after each mission

[MartG]

Seems the umbilical tower has a bit of a lean on it

https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2018/02/sls-ml-lea...

[RobDickinson]

Never going to launch a rocket so why worry....

[Flooble]

Can't help but wonder if that's why NASA appear to be so relaxed about it.

[djdest]

The leaning tower of Florida.
If they’re not launching stuff they’ll need an attraction to keep all those tourists visiting.

Sad times to talk about NASA in this way though

[RobDickinson]

It really is

If they put this money into missions and used spacex for launches they could do so much...

[Einion Yrth]

RobDickinson said:

It really is

If they put this money into missions and used spacex for launches they could do so much...

But it's not about space exploration, it's about pork and getting congressmen re-elected.

SpaceX, I suspect, will flourish, despite this.

[Beati Dogu]

These disposable rockets really do look like anachronistic.

It's like the silent picture era and suddenly Warner Brothers come out with The Jazz Singer; The first feature length talkie.

[MartG]

Einion Yrth said:

But it's not about space exploration, it's about pork and getting congressmen re-elected.

This