NASA Launches Interplanetary Spacecraft Today (Moved to Tomorrow)
While the flight is a test, but if everything goes well, then the US will have a ship that can carry 7 people to the International Space Station or 4 people to the Moon and beyond.
Live broadcast here and here .
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For the sake of justice, I must say that now only the manned compartment is being tested - the part of the ship that is intended for the crew. The service module - the part where all utility systems, fuel tanks and propulsion systems will be - is made by the European Space Agency. This part of the ship is still in development, but they take as a basis their ATV cargo ship, so work there should not be delayed.
Therefore, today the ability of the ship to effectively maintain the conditions necessary for people on board and to make a safe landing is being tested. The second point is more important, since Orion must be able to land at the second cosmic velocity, the one from which it is necessary to return to Earth on flights to the Moon or asteroids. At the moment, not a single ship can do this, since flights to the ISS do not require such skills. In principle, the Russian Soyuz could repeat this trick, but its lunar modification will require improvements.
Orion’s return to the Earth’s atmosphere will take place at a speed of 8.9 km / s, which is 1 km / s more than the return speeds from the ISS, but this is about 80% of the speed of return from the Moon.
Flight altitude will be 5800 km - this is ten times more than any flights of spacecraft since 1972, but the moon is still far away. But Orion will climb into the first radiation belt, and the instruments on board the ship will be able to show how well its skin protects against high-energy protons from the near-Earth radiation belt.
Today's Orion flight takes 4 hours and 28 minutes. Start is scheduled for 15:05 Moscow time.
NASA is positioning this ship as “for flights to the moon and beyond”, alluding to Mars, but in order to fly there such a ship is not enough. Most likely, if such a flight does take place in the coming decades, some composite construction from residential and service compartments will fly to Mars, and the Orion will be used to arrive at this station. At the end of the mission, the ship will be able to return people to Earth.
In today's flight, the ship Orion is sent on a heavy rocket Delta-IV Heavy, but it would not be enough for a flight to the moon.
For more ambitious and far-reaching missions, NASA is currently developing the Space Launch System super-heavy rocket. Her start to wait a few more years.
Live broadcast here and here .
')
For the sake of justice, I must say that now only the manned compartment is being tested - the part of the ship that is intended for the crew. The service module - the part where all utility systems, fuel tanks and propulsion systems will be - is made by the European Space Agency. This part of the ship is still in development, but they take as a basis their ATV cargo ship, so work there should not be delayed.
Therefore, today the ability of the ship to effectively maintain the conditions necessary for people on board and to make a safe landing is being tested. The second point is more important, since Orion must be able to land at the second cosmic velocity, the one from which it is necessary to return to Earth on flights to the Moon or asteroids. At the moment, not a single ship can do this, since flights to the ISS do not require such skills. In principle, the Russian Soyuz could repeat this trick, but its lunar modification will require improvements.
Orion’s return to the Earth’s atmosphere will take place at a speed of 8.9 km / s, which is 1 km / s more than the return speeds from the ISS, but this is about 80% of the speed of return from the Moon.
Flight altitude will be 5800 km - this is ten times more than any flights of spacecraft since 1972, but the moon is still far away. But Orion will climb into the first radiation belt, and the instruments on board the ship will be able to show how well its skin protects against high-energy protons from the near-Earth radiation belt.
Today's Orion flight takes 4 hours and 28 minutes. Start is scheduled for 15:05 Moscow time.
NASA is positioning this ship as “for flights to the moon and beyond”, alluding to Mars, but in order to fly there such a ship is not enough. Most likely, if such a flight does take place in the coming decades, some composite construction from residential and service compartments will fly to Mars, and the Orion will be used to arrive at this station. At the end of the mission, the ship will be able to return people to Earth.
In today's flight, the ship Orion is sent on a heavy rocket Delta-IV Heavy, but it would not be enough for a flight to the moon.
For more ambitious and far-reaching missions, NASA is currently developing the Space Launch System super-heavy rocket. Her start to wait a few more years.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/363877/
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