Why test a dead concept?

On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:02:36 -0800, Pat Flannery
wrote:

And it's got around the chance of flying in its finished form that
Dyna-Soar did. :-D

To explain that - Orion is too heavy as presently designed to get into
orbit on either a Delta IV Heavy or Atlas V Heavy.
Once the Ares 1 booster goes bye-bye, Orion has nothing that can carry
it into orbit; and Ares 1 is dead - so you now have a spacecraft that
can't be launched on any existing booster.

No, it isn't. Delta IV-Heavy can launch it once its upgrades (already
in the pipeline for a NRO flight next year I think) are in service.
And launching it on Atlas V-Heavy was LockMart's idea, so presumably
they know it can work.

Besides, the current plan is to launch it on something resembling
NASA's "Not Shuttle-C" proposal from last year. Or maybe something
like DIRECT. Either would be tentatively available in 2015, around the
same time Ares I would have been, in all likelihood.

Brian

On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 13:58:06 +1000, Alan Erskine
wrote:

Orion isn't dead. President Obama reinstated the project in April
(after killing it in February) as a lifeboat for the Space Station.

Cites?

"In addition, as part of this effort, we will build on the good work
already done on the Orion crew capsule. I’ve directed Charlie Bolden
to immediately begin developing a rescue vehicle using this
technology, so we are not forced to rely on foreign providers if it
becomes necessary to quickly bring our people home from the
International Space Station. And this Orion effort will be part of the
technological foundation for advanced spacecraft to be used in future
deep space missions. In fact, Orion will be readied for flight right
here in this room."

- President Obama, April 15, 2010

On 08/24/2010 10:47 AM, Allen Thomson wrote:
On Aug 23, 5:34 pm, Brian wrote:

Orion will transition into a deep-space-only role,

Just how deep into space can Orion go on its own (assuming appropriate
propulsion is provided)? To the Moon, sure. Maybe to EML-1/2 or even
a short asteroid excursion when the orbitology aligns, but it seems
considerably too small for a canonical Mars mission. And what about
life support in the many months to a couple of years range?

It seems that for missions that last more than a few months, a
separate habitation module would be needed, no?

That was always the plan, yes. For Mars, a Mars Transfer Vehicle (MTV)
would be used. Even for lunar missions, the crew would have spread out
into the Altair.

On 08/24/2010 05:27 PM, Brian Thorn wrote:
On Tue, 24 Aug 2010 07:02:36 -0800, Pat
wrote:

And it's got around the chance of flying in its finished form that
Dyna-Soar did. :-D

To explain that - Orion is too heavy as presently designed to get into
orbit on either a Delta IV Heavy or Atlas V Heavy.
Once the Ares 1 booster goes bye-bye, Orion has nothing that can carry
it into orbit; and Ares 1 is dead - so you now have a spacecraft that
can't be launched on any existing booster.

No, it isn't. Delta IV-Heavy can launch it once its upgrades (already
in the pipeline for a NRO flight next year I think) are in service.
And launching it on Atlas V-Heavy was LockMart's idea, so presumably
they know it can work.

True. Geyer confirmed that last week.

On Aug 23, 6:49*am, David Spain wrote:
wrote:
They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Bob,

This has been explained here before. This is the way government contracting
works. Once money has been allocated and a project is started it runs to
completion of the terms of the contract. And some contracts are actually
written whereby it is often cheaper to let the contract run to completion than
cancel halfway through which causes all sort of special termination/penalty
clauses to kick in.

Space and government contracting works like a big long pipe. You can shut the
spigot off at the top of the pipe but it takes time before the water stops
running out the other end. Oh and by the way, at the spigot valve there isn't
one person in charge but a committee.

Dave

Replace that water with human blood, and then it makes a difference to
some of us.

~ BG

On Aug 23, 5:04*am, " wrote:
They are now pressure testing orion, just wasting more money on a
capsule idea that probably wouldnt even be rembered, other than as
another example of government waste........

so why havent they buried the dead horse? its rotting and begining to
stink.........

Because ZNRs and GOPs don't really give a ****, and it's exactly what
got us 9/11 and into the war upon war that is never over until their
fat lady sings.

~ BG