Lockheed Martin Makes Strides in Human Space Exploration – Lockheed Martin: Forging a new path forward to ensure safe, affordable and sustainable human exploration beyond low Earth orbit, Lockheed Martin today unveiled the first Orion spacecraft and a spacious state-of-the-art Space Operations Simulation Center (SOSC). These two major projects, located at Lockheed Martin’s Waterton Facility near Denver, Colo., showcase the NASA-industry teams’ progress for human space flight, the Orion Project and NASA’s Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.
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No matter how much they build up Orion, it’s still a step back. Maybe the Chinese will have a better go at it?
Magical. How can I contribute to a ticket to send Alfie back home?
Will this dock to the ISS?
Another public fund gobbler… stop this crap!
#1
This would be an awsome system if it was not for the lack of a rocket to launch it on…
I think they will try the re-new capsule system for about 10 years, realize that the space shuttle was actually a good system, and they will restart the Shuttle program, but freed from the legacy design parameters of the shuttle.
Then we will get a shuttle that is capable of putting fuel tanks and deep space thrusters in the cargo bay, and a can go to far away objects like the moon and near earth Asteroids.
I think they’ve canceled Orion already. Or it’s been cut back to the point where all they’re developing is cool CGI videos.
XCOR and Scaled Composites are the future of the U.S. space program.
Other then creating jobs. What is this going to do? Do we really need to be going to a asteroid? This is a step back and I think America needs to rethink how we are spending tax dollars on foolish space explorations when we need so much done here on Earth.
So, it is a Gemini spacecraft?
Further space missions are turning out like building a cathedral, namely the people who start it will not be the ones who finish it.
They may not even still be alive by the time a mission goes through all the steps required to take it from concept to completed.
This is not a problem in the military, where you rotate out of your tour of duty every two years, so the strategic, logistical and operational documentation has to be thorough and complete.
This is a major problem</b< for industry which hires and is run by accountants who can't focus on anything further out than the next quater's results (except for one famous example) and who view IP as something to protect, instead of as, as Newton put it, a shoulder to stand upon.
This is also a big problem for any industry which is operated by a bunch of cowboys, such as IT, who can’t be bothered to write down even a simple list of requirements without falling prey to the creeping feature creature.
As for all the foolish naysayers, I would say as Ben Franklin did “Of what use is a newborn baby?”
And if they sill don’t get it I would say “Shut the fuck up, ya morons“
Ya need a fucking Preview function on this lousy posting mechanism…
I was hoping for something more … Stylish?
http://squadron.com/ItemDetails.asp?item=MW20012
The “original” Orion.
UncDon, me too…
msbpodcast, Then let the private sector fund it.
UncDon,
I agree and for only $26.99 it’s a bargain!
If it’s anything like JSF, you can bet the cost for this will skyrocket.
From Scaled Composites:
03 November 2010
MOJAVE, Calif. — Scaled Composites announced today that Burt Rutan, founder of aerospace research firm Scaled Composites in 1982, has announced his plans to retire in April 2011. He currently serves as Scaled’s Chief Technical Officer and following his retirement, Burt will assume the title of founder and chairman emeritus.
This is a big setback to private space exploration ventures.
We’re now hitching rides from the Russians to get to the ISS, to which we were the major contributor. For every $1 the federal government spends on NASA, it spends $98 on social programs. In other words, if we cut spending on social programs by a mere one percent, we could very nearly double NASA’s budget.
So much for space exploration and the advances in technology that come with it.
15, KD Martin,
And what are the odds that many of those engineers and scientists would put the money back into the economy by purchasing more expensive goods and services that those suckling on government entitlement programs wouldn’t do?
@#3 Yes. The Orion module can be used for orbital missions like the shuttle. It was also designed to be used for longer-range missions (Moon/asteroids).
The problem now is that we need a rocket to fly this thing on. When Obama killed Bush’s “Constellation” program it ended work on the Ares I/V rockets and Altair Lunar module. I think the current plan is to use these Orion crew modules with SpaceX’s commercial launchers to get to the ISS. Once the Shuttle is retired NASA is supposed to develop a new heavy-lift rocket for long-range missions.
And to the people saying it’s ugly… it is, but it’s also simple, relatively cheap, and safe. This strategy worked for Russia with the Soyuz program.
The Shuttle was a waste of money. The Saturn V rockets used for the Apollo missions could put a lot more payload in orbit for a lot less money. Space station Skylab cost about $3 billion (in 2009 US$) total to build and launch in 1973. They used a single Saturn V to put it in orbit and relatively cheap Saturn 1b launches to swap out crews. In comparison, the International Space Station cost is somewhere around $160 billion right now.
We already have a huge spacecraft, built to be self sustaining, large enough to hold billions and operate for millennium with a minimum of maintenance…the ship is called…Planet Earth.
I think the Mars rovers demonstrated the obvious. Send machines.
Until we can get to where we are going in weeks to days sending humans on long space trips is just not all that smart. They need life support and a way home which is going to be 99% of the cost of the mission.
Do we even have a space shuttle replacement?
affordable?
Space exploration is important and a lot of things.
But “affordable”. Maybe in about 5000 years.
Maybe.
I’m glad Spain didn’t stop with Columbus and I’m glad Orion is moving forward regardless of this lame duck President.
I looked at pictures of Mars from the various orbiters that imaged it. What a lonely place it is! Who would want to go there? It’s a thousand times more desolate than, say, the Canyonlands of Utah etc.
The kinds of folks who do hard research in places like Antarctica, probably.
But robots could do this exploration quite capably, couldn’t they? Sure they could, but if there were enough bucks and incentive to do it, who’s to stop brave humans from eventually going to places like that also. More power to them, I would say. Glory has always trumped reason, and besides the grand entertainment dividend thereof shouldn’t be totally ignored.
Is it just me or did Lockheed-Martin just dust off the plans to the Apollo program?
Even the graphics on the side of the rocket are reminiscent of the Apollo.