The future has come. Space travel and interplanetary spacecraft, stations for people on the moon and Mars, and prolonged human stay in outer space no longer seem fiction. The achievements of astronautics, space exploration and the latest discoveries of physicists have made the beginning of our century a semblance of the end of the past for the Internet. A time of uncertainty, the development of creative thought and financial reality. Dozens of international companies work in the field of space technology, projects appear and disappear, providing food for the development of creative imagination. To become an embodiment in reality is lucky on everything. The American cosmonautics project Orion spacecraft has become a reality. About him, other projects, the prospects for space exploration and is discussed in this article.
General introductory
Orion is a spacecraft of the latest generation, the purpose of which is to take a person beyond the orbit of the Earth. Equipped with modern technology, the reusable capsule, placed on the Delta IV Heavy booster rocket, will be able to transport a crew of six astronauts and in 2030 will take a man to Mars. These are the plans voiced by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
In December 2014, the Orion spaceship stayed in Earth orbit for 4.5 hours and landed in the Pacific Ocean, proving the possibility of implementing the company's plans. The heat shield, capsule and parachute system have been tested. The crash test cost $ 350 million, but they met the expectations of the entire world community on the Orion spacecraft. Photos and videos have long occupied the space of the media and the attention of the world community. Astronaut candidates for the Orion spacecraft soared from eight thousand to a record 18, 300 applications. The ship launch film has collected record numbers of views in video hosting.
So far, the most
Designed in the image of the Apollo, this ship represents the latest generation of Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle. Since the mid-2000s, a partially reusable manned spacecraft has been developed as part of the constellation, the large-scale US space program.
The Orion spaceship consists of a reusable and habitable capsule itself and a service module. The capsule is manufactured by the aerospace corporation Lockheed Martin by order of NASA. The module was ordered by the European Space Agency (ESA), and manufactured by Airbus Defense and Space. This is a major international joint project in the field of space shipbuilding.
Specialized sources describe in detail the structure and technical characteristics of this aircraft. For the simple reader, this is cumbersome and obscure information that characterizes the Orion spacecraft. The device and the principle of using Orion has a number of characteristic and specific features, which we will dwell on.
Orion, Apollo, shuttles and others
Appearance and shape are similar to Apollo capsules and Russian Unions. It is this form that is most optimal when entering the atmosphere and moving in it. Excess heat is absorbed by the ablation heat shield, which burns out almost completely upon landing and is easily replaced for a new flight.
The control system is based on single-core PowerPC 750FX processors, which prompted the media to claim that Orions are not smarter than modern smartphones. But the developers explained their choice by the high reliability of these systems with extreme vibrations, temperature fluctuations and cosmic radiation.
The Orion spacecraft has another innovative quality. By the principle of modules, anything can be attached to the ship. From additional engines to shipping compartments. The media immediately called him a "space truck."
Unlike Space Shuttle, designed as a space shuttle, the Orion spacecraft is equipped with such a detail as a powerful system for protecting and saving astronauts at launch. The system automatically includes rocket engines, they will take the crew away from the explosion zone and provide a normal landing.
The Orion Project: The Beginning
A program called Orion was born in San Diego in 1958 in the bowels of General Atomics. Her parents are the legendary nuclear physicist Frederick Hoffman in collaboration with Theodore Taylor. The goal they set for themselves was a relatively cheap and simple spacecraft capable of developing a speed close to the speed of light. The basis of the project was an explosive type nuclear-pulse rocket. They proposed replacing the blasting chamber with a steel shield, which would immediately allow reaching a specific impulse and an outflow speed of up to 10, 000 km / s. Nuclear charges with a power of up to one kiloton were thrown from the ship and exploded 60 meters from the shield at regular intervals.
The Orion Program: The Hard Way
Several models of such pushers were made, and already in 1959 they passed the first tests with the launch of the installation to a height of up to 100 meters. The impulse engine confirmed the possibility of a stable flight. The shield also underwent changes, and it was decided to spray graphite grease on its surface.
The program was designed for 12 years, with a cost of $ 24 billion. NASA did not support the nuclear-powered project then, and the program was closed. And after the signing in 1964 of an international treaty banning nuclear explosions in space, atmosphere and on Earth, the Orion project was outlawed.
They returned to him in the 2000s as part of the constellation manned spacecraft development program. The design and construction was commissioned by Lockheed Martin. And in 2014, the first Orion spacecraft successfully launched and landed. NASA has met its expectations.
Orion: with hope for the future
In March 2017, the U.S. Congress unanimously approved NASA's budget of $ 19.1 billion for 2018 - almost 200 billion more than last year.
The Congress bill stipulates that humans should be on the surface of Mars in 2030.
Well, the prospects of the Orion project are encouraging and encouraging by the availability of financial opportunities. The re-launch of the ship into orbit is scheduled for 2018, and a manned mission is expected in a few years. The agency is working on the preparation and development of new programs.
Technical Prospects
NASA does not stand still and is considering various projects of interstellar flights. Even the most futuristic: a project of nanocrafts self-healing anywhere in the galaxy or laser sails.
Since the 1990s, the agency has been conducting research seminars in the field of space engines, where the best physicists and engineers review all projects and theories. The program of breakthrough physical principles is looking for the prospects of using quantum physics in organizing interstellar travels.
The most impressive project is the use of antimatter as an energy source for intergalactic flights. Mankind has already received antimatter and even found a way to store it. Why not fly it to the stars?
