Tag: EM-1
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Space Industry press forward with exploration hardware development
The multi-center, multi-partner effort is continuing to piece together the key hardware elements that will return NASA to deep space exploration. Recent progress has been made on items such as Orion’s Launch Abort System (LAS) and the design phase for the Asteroid Redirect Robotic Mission (ARRM) spacecraft. SLS and Orion: The main focus continues to be…
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NASA’s giant rocket will carry solar sail, a lunar flashlight and more mini-satellites
An artist’s conception shows Lunar Flashlight flying above a crater on the moon. (Credit: NASA) NASA says it’ll send 13 miniaturized satellites – including a pop-up solar sail and a “lunar flashlight” – beyond Earth orbit when it flies its heavy-lift Space Launch System rocket for the first time in 2018. The main payload for the…
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NASA identifies secondary payloads for SLS’s EM-1 mission
As NASA continues to progress toward the debut flight of SLS in 2018, the agency is now examining additional secondary payloads to fly on the EM-1 mission. These secondary payloads will involve Cubesats designed to investigate lunar and human biology aspects of spaceflight as well as Near Earth Asteroid reconnaissance. EM-1 secondary payloads: A major…
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Road to EM-1: NASA outlines hardware milestones to SLS debut flight
With approximately three years to go before the inaugural flight of the Space Launch System rocket, NASA has developed the integrated mission milestone processing flow for the EM-1 flight. The flow, which outlines all the necessary hardware processing milestones to a 2018 inaugural flight of SLS, helps solidify SLS’s path toward launch, including the pad processing timeline once the first…
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EM-1: MAF gearing up for SLS Core Stage production
NASA and Boeing are ramping up their preparations to begin full-scale production of the first Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage assembly. The schedule calls for the completion of the Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) Core Stage in time to be shipped to the Stennis Space Center for a full stage test firing in 2017. SLS…
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EM-1 Orion begins assembly as CDR process continues
The Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1) Orion is now being welded together at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) in New Orleans ahead of its 2018 flight with the maiden launch of the Space Launch System (SLS). Orion is also in the process of completing its all-important paperwork, as the Critical Design Review (CDR) process continues ahead…
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Orbital ATK picks up where it left off with Orion abort system
NASA’s Orion spacecraft, seen with a mostly inert launch abort system, is transferred to the launch pad before last December’s test flight. Credit: NASA/Frankie Martin Orbital ATK has cinched $188 million in contracts to complete development of the Orion crew capsule’s needle-shaped launch abort system, resuming work stalled in the wake up a major shakeup…
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Plum Brook prepped for EM-1 Orion Service Module testing
Testing of Orion’s Service Module will be conducted at NASA Glenn’s Plum Brook Station this year in preparation for Exploration Mission -1 (EM-1). The Service Module is being built via the cooperation of both NASA and ESA, along with its own Shuttle heritage as a flown Orbital Maneuvering System (OMS) engine has been selected to…
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NASA adding to list of CubeSats flying on first SLS mission
Artist’s concept of the Lunar Flashlight CubeSat at the moon. Credit: NASA With room for 11 small shoebox-sized CubeSats on the first test flight of NASA’s behemoth Space Launch System, agency officials have turned to scientists, industry and students to fill the slots in time for launch in 2018. NASA has selected three CubeSats developed…
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Despite budget boost, Space Launch System will not fly before 2018
Artist’s concept of the Space Launch System lifting off from launch pad 39B at Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Credit: NASA/MSFC NASA’s heavy-lifting mega-rocket and its ground support systems at Kennedy Space Center in Florida will not be ready for launches until at least mid-2018, even with extra funding approved by Congress, the space agency’s…