Orion Spacecraft Unveiled: Vehicle May Take Humans To Martian Moon (PICTURES)

As NASA winds down its Space Shuttle program, the agency is looking toward new options for ferrying astronauts to and from the International Space Station (ISS) and beyond. Lockheed Martin is currently constructing a multipurpose vehicle, called Orion, that is NASA's top choice for missions into deep space.

Lockheed Martin recently unveiled its prototype of the Orion vehicle. MSNBC reports that Orion craft are only 16.5 feet in diameter and will carry a crew of four. Though Orion has been designated as an escape vehicle for the International Space Station, the AP reports that NASA is now considering the craft for other missions.

Lockheed Martin hopes that the craft will bring astronauts to and from the moon, asteroids and even a Martian moon. "Orion was designed from inception to fly multiple, deep-space missions," John Karas, vice president and general manager for Lockheed Martin's Human Space Flight programs, said in a press release, according to Fox News. "The spacecraft is an incredibly robust, technically advanced vehicle capable of safely transporting humans to asteroids, Lagrange Points and other deep space destinations that will put us on an affordable and sustainable path to Mars."

Lockheed Martin will perform meticulous tests to stress the Orion design and systems before the craft is deemed fit for space travel. The company projects that Orion will be ready for its first orbital flight test in 2013 and for missions into deep space as soon as 2016.

Take a look at the slideshow (below) to view photos of Lockheed Martin's Orion prototype, as wells as renderings of the craft in action. Then, check our photos of Space Shuttle Discovery's final landing.

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Image Credit: Lockheed Martin

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jsarets said on 24 Thursday 2011 pm31 5:01 pm: Reaction Engines Limited is working on Skylon, but it's like 20 years away even if it were fully funded. We could go down that route, but then NASA would have an even bigger time period during which they have no crew vehicle. This  really pisses off everybody from the national exceptionalists on the right to the national fatalists on the left. Either America is too awesome to not have a manned spacecraft or America doesn't have a manned spacecraft because the capitalist empire is coming apart at the seams.

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Comments

[Tee1up]

12:06 PM on 04/08/2011

I recently made the trip from Vancouver Canada to Auckland New Zealand. After 4 movies and 7 (smallish) bottles of wine, there was still 2 hours of flight time to go. By the time we got off the plane, half of us were barking mad and the other half were blazing drunk (and barking mad). I can't imagine how this capsule will play a role in anything besides orbital missions. Until Zefram Cochrane puts down the remote control and gets on with developing warp drive, I am afraid that interplanetary travel for humans is a pipe-dream.

[Tee1up]

11:58 AM on 04/08/2011

Everyone will recognize the Apollo impact of this 'new' design. Until mankind comes up with new booster technology this is the right design. Less drag, modular, and from the pictures it looks like there is no reliance on those bloody heat tiles that seem to go off like pop-corn when warmed up a bit. That being said, as a kid I watched the later Apollo missions and dreamed about where we would be in 2000-2010 and I have to say, I over estimated mankind's technology leaps. This is still a soup-can glued to the top of a roman candle.

[Rynox]

01:59 PM on 04/08/2011

"Less drag"

In the vacuum of space there is no drag. A solid cube is as aerodynamic as a Prius in space.

As far as escaping our atmosphere, I think most people expect deep spacecraft of the future to take off and return to space stations such as the international space station.

[Montana Biotech]

04:23 PM on 03/27/2011

I am a space JUNKY, This is not inspiring.... It is not "The Next Generation". It is an Apollo chassis with the most state of the art electronics, for our time. Back during 1960's, Apollo was the bomb in computing, heck so was the Space Shuttle in 1980 ;) Why not some of that plasma propulsion? Possible habitation / long duration journeys?

Ok, it does not have to look like the "Star Trek Enterprise", but the NEW U.S.A. spacecraft should be as cutting edge today, as the Space Shuttle was during her hay day! Give us something to go and watch... Give us something MORE than Apollo! Not Apollo like!!!

[frank day]

06:09 PM on 03/27/2011

I thought the same thing :(

[Mitchman57]

08:33 AM on 03/30/2011

I looking at Orion as the re-entry vehicle. Long-term missions will add a habitat module. The all-in-one approach got us the shuttle, remember? It fits the bill because of the aerodynamics involved and the need for a lightweight heat shield. Keep it simple and light - this is what you get.

Better than hitching rides on Soyuz.

[Artos]

11:20 AM on 03/27/2011

This Orion is the best we can do? It is totally inadequate to the task. Were I planning a journey to Mars I would most definitely design something much better than this. Of course as the "richest" Nation in the world this is obviously the best thing we could afford. Too bad we have such limited imagination.

[Ramkshrestha]

07:41 AM on 03/27/2011

This wonderful earth spoiled a lot specially due to politicians. I am ready to do volunteer job in Mars

[bryanzth]

08:57 PM on 03/26/2011

Wait a sec. Look how big that is, and with 4 humans in it.

Now, do some visual calculations. First, the recent Russian simulation of an Earth to Mars transit, about half done, will take 520 days, or more than a year. Next, what is the average time spent in the ISS, with how many Progress/Shuttle cargo shipments, and with how many cubic meters per person? Not to mention, what about shielding from cosmic rays that could fry a human in an hour at high rates of Solar flares or interstellar cosmic rays?

These pictures are missing.... REALITY.

We will need a whole slew of food, water, air, fuel and supplies (entertainment not the least). We will need space in which to live comfortably, so as not to stark raving mad. We will need shielding from radiation, or the astronauts will be dead before they arrive at Mars.

Living space needed, at least -- at least -- the equivalent of 200 mt^2.

I don't see it.

BZ.

[Downix]

10:45 PM on 03/26/2011

Of course none of the pictures are of the Mars vessel, only of the Asteroid mission and Moon mission modes.

[JohnUSA]

11:57 AM on 03/26/2011

Flying to Mars (and back) with 4 people in a 16ft spacecraft. Yikes! Doesn't it take at least 6 months one way?

[Winski]

12:23 PM on 03/26/2011

The design depicted here is pure and simple - idiotic... John hit the monkey right in the face here... Modified plans for a semi-Apollo from 1962 are pure stupidity... People have to have more room that 16ft. if MONTHS are being spent in flight. AND, you've GOT to make the craft more exploitable in terms of cargo - up and back - fuel - different quarters for astronauts - multiple experiment instrumentation, etc....

Back to the drawing board for you clowns.. AND ... go out a buy an issue of Scientific American or Popular Mechanics or Space before you put up a 50 year-old design as something new....bad form...

[Downix]

10:50 PM on 03/26/2011

Of course you realize you're commenting about the Elevator. The capsule is there to bring the astronauts up to where the mission module is. Here's an example animation of a Mars mission module:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJ__F7ktvo&feature=player_embedded

[cabrobst]

09:17 AM on 03/26/2011

Jobs for Americans in aerospace.
But it would require a tax hike on the 2% holding 85% of the wealth.

[Chaotician101]

04:19 PM on 03/25/2011

Oops; this looks like an outdated vehicle before it launches! This design looks like something from the 70s, surely we can do better by now?
A vehicle assembled at the Space Lab or geosynchronous orbit would not have to face such size and shape limitations; and I would guess would be far cheaper and safer and usable and ....
Surely we are not planning deep space missions from Earth launchs?

[Downix]

10:50 PM on 03/26/2011

No, Orion is the launch and recovery vehicle. You can see it docking to the lunar mission module in the last two frames, for instance. Here's a video of the proposed Mars vessel:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8zJ__F7ktvo&feature=player_embedded

[Chris-Anderson]

01:46 PM on 03/25/2011

Awesome.

[smolensk-lies]

12:33 PM on 03/25/2011

hey NASA - let me know when you can get out of low earth orbit, then we can talk

[Downix]

01:25 PM on 03/25/2011

They *can* now, the issue is not in getting out of orbit, it's the return. Nixon axed the Shuttle's metallic heatshield during his micromanagement of the design process, with the result the LEO-only ceramic it now sports.

[virpilosus]

12:13 PM on 03/25/2011

Articles like this one evoke two distinct responses (reaction?) in me: 1) Tremendous pride and excitement for the sense of that seemingly inexhaustible American ingenuity and technical expertise. and for 2) My deep sadness that our Congress and others are seeking to just cut to shreds the financing of what we do best in America, i.e., innovate, create, dare, and triumph.

[TheIndependenceParty]

04:09 PM on 03/25/2011

Amen! You are exactly correct!

[Save Creatively]

10:15 AM on 03/25/2011

All I have to say is poor astronauts. They want these guys or girls to ride in that small capsule for long haul missions? Even if they made attachments to the vehicle they would not be able to substitute gravity for the health of the crew. This is a long shot deal they are making to promote funding.

[Downix]

01:26 PM on 03/25/2011

They won't. The capsule is not the mission module, it's their ride up and down, the elevator if you will. Once in orbit, it attaches to the mission module, and away they go.

[bryanzth]

09:07 PM on 03/26/2011

The last slide. But.... in the moon access pictures, no mission capsule visible.

I would say that the mission capsule would be the main interest here, instead of the up and down buckets.

I agree with you, that the capsule could never be the mission module, but whoever put this montage together must have been that kid that the Bush admin sic'd on NASA. Some kid named George somebody (not "W"). Or was he a nobody after all?

BZ.

[Jim Shaffer]

05:56 AM on 03/25/2011

Yeah right, I guess we better get used to NASA telling us about what they'd like to do. Because with the budget they've got they'll be lucky to be able to afford to keep up with ISS commitments.

[Jennifer Zeares]

01:40 AM on 03/25/2011

We should all be happy that humans will still be traveling in space, for now. Dun Dun Dun.