{"id":39244,"date":"2015-09-17T01:49:08","date_gmt":"2015-09-16T17:49:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/orion-passes-kdp-c-with-cautious-2023-crew-debut\/"},"modified":"2015-09-17T01:49:08","modified_gmt":"2015-09-16T17:49:08","slug":"orion-passes-kdp-c-with-cautious-2023-crew-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/orion-passes-kdp-c-with-cautious-2023-crew-debut\/","title":{"rendered":"Orion passes KDP-C with cautious 2023 crew debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft has passed a critical milestone via the Key Decision Point -C (KDP-C) process, allowing the Agency\u2019s commitment to the program\u2019s technical, cost, and schedule baseline. While the first crewed launch of Orion remains on track for 2021, NASA has opted to install a \u201cNo Later Than\u201d date of mid-2023, to allow for the contingency of future budget and technical issues.<\/p>\n

Orion\u2019s Path To Flight:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s already been a long road for Orion.<\/p>\n

Based on the potential of the first crewed launch occurring as late as 2023, the spacecraft will have cost over $17 billion.<\/p>\n

Several billion dollars of cost came via Orion\u2019s aborted role as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV), a vehicle that suffered from a troublesome childhood via a series of design changes throughout its early life as part of the Constellation Program (CxP).<\/p>\n

\"ServiceWhile the changes were part of the natural evolution of any new spacecraft, the main challenges were associated with the launch vehicle to which it was married, the Ares I.<\/p>\n

With \u201cmass reserves\u201d at a premium, shortfalls in Ares I\u2019s performance forced Orion to shed weight in a painful and obstructive series of exercises, almost immediately causing the CEV to reduce its diameter size by 0.5 meters , soon followed by its Service Module being stripped down by up to 50 percent of its original mass.<\/p>\n

Provided with the name \u201cOrion\u201d, engineers at Lockheed Martin \u2013 the vehicle\u2019s prime contractor \u2013 were told to further reduce the spacecraft\u2019s mass, resulting in a cull of the amount of propellant the vehicle would carry during International Space Station (ISS) missions \u2013 the initial role for Orion (and still to this day \u2013 as cited at the end of NASA\u2019s teleconference on Wednesday \u2013 a potential option).<\/p>\n

\"OrionIn what seemed to be a never-ending series of demands, Orion lost its ability to use an air bag system to land on terra firma, reverting to Apollo-style water landings.<\/p>\n

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Other advanced systems \u2013 part of the \u201cApollo on Steroids\u201d ideal of creating a super capsule far more capable than its predecessor \u2013 were also removed from the vehicle.<\/p>\n

With frustrations growing between Ares I \u2013 which also claimed it was being hindered by the design changes \u2013 and Orion, project managers held a summit meeting in 2007 and decided they would strip Orion down to a \u201cminimum requirement\u201d spacecraft, thus allowing Ares I some breathing space to work within several thousand pounds of mass reserves.<\/p>\n

\"OrionKnown as the Zero Base Vehicle (ZBV) effort, Orion underwent a mass \u2018scrubbing\u2019 process to reduce it to a minimum weight, ahead of the reapplication of some of the deleted capability, element by element. The project noted it was using the Block 2 \u201cLunar Orion\u201d for this exercise, as much as the results were to be fed into the Block 1 \u201cISS Orion\u201d.<\/p>\n

With CxP starting to show signs it was going to have slip in its schedule, an All Hands meeting at the end of 2007 referenced the need for \u201cteamwork and chemistry,\u201d with then-Ares program manager Steve Cook warning \u201cFailure is an option during development,\u201d while a System Definition Review (SDR) Board meeting noted major \u201cred\u201d risks in controlling Orion\u2019s weight to match Ares I performance.<\/p>\n

In 2008, the Orion Vehicle Engineering Integration Working Group (OVEIWG) began to reinstall some of the \u201ccritical capability\u201d back on to the vehicle, without breaching strict mass requirements. Some engineers joked the Group was providing the role of Ken Mattingly, when he juggled limited amps as he created a power up sequence for the crippled Apollo 13 capsule via testing in a simulator.<\/p>\n

\"OpeningIronically, it was Apollo 13 Flight Director Gene Kranz who issued a stirring speech in an internal video (available in L2) to the Constellation workforce that year, noting how the Apollo workforce \u201chad to learn to leave our egos at the door and become a team, so we became one.\u201d<\/p>\n

By the middle of 2008, a new Design Analysis Cycle (DAC) was called for \u2013 in tandem with efforts to resolve Thrust Oscillation (TO) issues \u2013 resulting in a major slip to the vehicle\u2019s Preliminary Design Review (PDR) to 2009.<\/p>\n

With the additional stresses of reduced budget funding for Constellation, the Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) called for the Review of United States Human Space Flight Plans Committee to take place in 2009.<\/p>\n

Better known as the Augustine Commission, the review highlighted CxP\u2019s critical issues, ultimately resulting in its cancellation by the Obama administration via the FY2011 Budget Proposal.<\/p>\n

Click here for Orion News Articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/orion\/<\/p>\n

Orion\u2019s Second Life:<\/p>\n

Orion was saved from the cull \u2013 albeit in stages, including a near-pointless role as a very expensive lifeboat for the ISS \u2013 before the 2010 Authorization Act refocused Orion on Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) missions.<\/p>\n

\"FirstThe first physical sign of Orion\u2019s new life was seen at the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF), as the Exploration Flight Test -1 (EFT-1) vehicle saw its first panels welded together.<\/p>\n

With NASA representing the start of construction as \u201cthe first new NASA spacecraft built to take humans to orbit since space shuttle Endeavour left the factory in 1991,\u201d the EFT-1 Orion enjoyed a successful build in New Orleans, prior to heading to the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for outfitting.<\/p>\n

EFT-1 proved to be a success, launching atop the Delta IV-Heavy on a mission that played a major role in the KDP-C review.<\/p>\n

See Also<\/h4>\n