Orion Spacecraft Enters Construction Phase

America launched an ambitious mission as the nation's first and foremost in the field of aerospace vehicles. Massive project which is urged by President Obama and Congress aims to take humans into orbit the space shuttle Endeavour. The name of this project is the Orion spacecraft. The work had been started since the first week of this month. The first welding has been completed on this Friday (first week of this month).

Main Orion Weld (NASA)

Welding is done on this project known as friction stir welding. This technique was first used by NASA to build the space shuttle external tanks, and it creates seamless welds, producing a stronger and more durable joint than Those produced by conventional welding techniques. The process uses frictional heat to transform the aluminum-lithium alloys comprise That Orion from a solid state to a plastic-like state before Reaching the melting point, and then stirs Them together under pressure to complete the bond. This type of welding ensures optimal structural integrity for the harsh environments of space.

"This marks the beginning of NASA's next step to send Humans far beyond Earth orbit," said Orion program manager Mark Geyer. "

Main Orion After Acoustic Test (NASA)

Previously, the Engineers have successfully completed the first of a series of acoustic tests on the Orion Crew Vehicle Multi-Purpose (MPCV) ground test vehicle, the which consists of two major components of the Orion Spacecraft: the crew module and the launch abort system. Built to spaceflight specifications, the Orion MPCV ground test vehicle is the first full-scale spacecraft built to support the development of the final human space flight vehicle, the which is slated for its first orbital test flight in about two years.

More than 600 instruments, 500 accelerometers were the resource persons and 100 microphones placed throughout the Orion crew module / launch abort system stack to test critical components of the Spacecraft Such as avionics, propulsion and life support crew. This ground test vehicle, Will serve as the "workhorse" for environmental That testing provides critical data to define the spacecraft's capabilities needed for long-duration, deep space missions.


Reprinted from NASA.