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With the Space Shuttle Program (SSP) bowing out via the completion of the ISS assembly, NASA managers have refocused their efforts on Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) exploration, with the Space Launch System (SLS) and Orion as the two main elements currently under development to realize that goal.<\/p>\n
However, following 2014\u2019s Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) test mission for Orion \u2013 to be launched on a Delta IV-Heavy \u2013 only two SLS\/Orion missions are currently all-but baselined in what remains an undefined exploration roadmap, namely Exploration Mission -1 and -2 (EM-1, EM-2).<\/p>\n
EM-1 will debut the 70mT Block 1 SLS on a 6-10 day mission to lap the Moon in December, 2017. EM-2 is currently on the books for Orion\u2019s second trip to the Moon, this time with a crew of up to four astronauts.<\/p>\n
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![\"EM-2](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Z67.jpg\" "\\"EM-2")
EM-2\u2019s Design Reference Mission (DRM) classification is CLO (Crewed Lunar Orbit), given the astronauts will spend three to four days orbiting our closest neighbor.<\/p>\nThe joint NASA\/ESA announcement on Wednesday relates to a deal that will see the ATV\u2019s propulsion hardware making up a large part of Orion\u2019s Service Module for the EM-1 and EM-2 missions.<\/p>\n
The ATV-derived service module \u2013 sporting a NASA supplied Orbital Manuevering System Engine (OME) \u2013 will provide propulsion, power, thermal control, as well as supplying water and gas to the astronauts in the habitable module.<\/p>\n
![\"Orion](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Z65.jpg\" "\\"Orion")
The ATV solar arrays will also feature, giving the Orion\/SM configuration the X-wing appearance \u2013 a change from the circular arrays that were previously employed by the NASA spacecraft.<\/p>\nA large amount of work has been carried out by NASA, ESA, Lockheed Martin \u2013 the contractor for Orion \u2013 and related companies on the interfaces between the NASA vehicle and the ATV hardware. This work is now heading to the Preliminary Design Review (PDR) phase on a \u201ctight schedule\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cATV has proven itself on three flawless missions to the Space Station and this agreement is further confirmation that Europe is building advanced, dependable spacecraft,\u201d said Nico Dettmann, Head of ATV\u2019s production programme.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Z72.jpg\" "\\"Z7\\"")
\u201cIt is a testament to the engineering progress made to date that we are ready to begin integrating designs of an ESA-built service module with Orion,\u201d added Dan Dumbacher, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems development.<\/p>\nHowever, moving past the marriage of hardware, the over-riding tone of Tuesday\u2019s announcement was the continuing international cooperation between NASA and ESA \u2013 based on their successful association with the International Space Station program.<\/p>\n
Following on from the two-day ESA Council meeting at ministerial level in Naples, Italy in November of last year \u2013 which set the groundwork for working a deal with NASA for their role with Orion and included a surprise injection of cash from the United Kingdom \u2013 the Europeans now have a vested interest in SLS\u2019 opening missions.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/01\/Z83.jpg\" "\\"Z8\\"")
As such, the potential for the first crewed mission \u2013 EM-2 \u2013 to include an ESA astronaut will be discussed at a later stage.<\/p>\n\u201cThe cooperation opens new perspectives for (taking) humans beyond Earth orbit, and certainly this (an ESA astronaut on EM-2) is one of the areas that I will start discussing with Bill (Human Exploration and Operations (HEO) Mission Directorate Associate Administrator Bill Gersteinmaier) to what possibilities are there,\u201d noted Thomas Reiter, ESA director of Human Spaceflight and Operations.<\/p>\n
\u201cNASA\u2019s decision to cooperate with ESA on their exploration programme with ESA delivering a critical element for the mission is a strong sign of trust and confidence in ESA\u2019s capabilities, for ESA it is an important contribution to human exploration.\u201d<\/p>\n
Click here for more Orion articles: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/tag\/orion\/<\/p>\n
No deal has been made on using the ATV hardware past EM-2, although \u2013 as noted by Mr Gersteinmaier \u2013 NASA lacks an actual exploration roadmap at this time.<\/p>\n
However, despite claiming work is continuing on selecting the roadmap for NASA \u2013 through to the ultimate goal of Mars \u2013 it is understood that some form of a roadmap for the 2020s will be released \u201csoon\u201d, with the NASA leadership currently seeking political approval for a plan that includes the highly favored Exploration Gateway\/Platform.<\/p>\n
*Click here for our play-by-play of the NASA\/ESA Announcement*<\/p>\n
(Images: Via L2 content, ESA and NASA)<\/p>\n
(To join L2, click here: http:\/\/www.nasaspaceflight.com\/l2\/)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As was expected, NASA and ESA managers announced the European Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) will live on as the bulk of the Orion Service Module. With an emphasis on international cooperation for Beyond Earth Orbit (BEO) exploration, the ATV deal will lead to discussions on allowing an ESA astronaut to ride on Exploration Mission -2 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":30389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[4140,246,9034,640,624],"class_list":["post-39932","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","tag-atv","tag-esa","tag-hlv","tag-orion","tag-sls"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39932"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39932\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/30389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39932"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39932"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39932"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}