NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon
By MARCIA DUNN | Associated Press – 41 mins ago.. .

 
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit.
 
Officials said Wednesday that Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's new Orion crew capsule. This so-called service module will be first used on an unmanned mission in 2017. Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021.
 
NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon. The exact details are being worked out.
 
NASA wants to ultimately use Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars. Gerstenmaier says international cooperation will be crucial for such endeavors. He says the International Space Station helped build the foundation.

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-europeans-uniting-send-spaceship-moon-181659252.html

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA, Europeans uniting to send spaceship to moon
By MARCIA DUNN | Associated Press – 21 hrs ago.. .


 
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) — NASA is teaming up with the European Space Agency to get astronauts beyond Earth's orbit.
 
Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's new Orion crew capsule, officials said Wednesday. This so-called service module will be based on Europe's supply ship used for the International Space Station.
 
Orion's first trip is an unmanned mission in 2017. Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021.
 
NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon. The exact details are being worked out; lunar fly-bys, rather than landings, are planned.
 
NASA wants to ultimately use the bell-shaped Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars. International cooperation will be crucial for such endeavors, Gerstenmaier told reporters.
 
The United States has yet to establish a clear path forward for astronauts, 1½ years after NASA's space shuttles stopped flying. The basic requirements for Orion spacecraft are well understood regardless of the destination, allowing work to proceed, Gerstenmaier said.
 
"You don't design a car to just go to the grocery store," he told reporters.
 
Getting to 2017 will be challenging, officials for both space programs acknowledged. Gerstenmaier said he's not "100 percent comfortable" putting Europe in such a crucial role. "But I'm never 100 percent comfortable" with spaceflight, he noted. "We'll see how it goes, but we've done it smartly."
 
The space station helped build the foundation for this new effort, he said.
 
Former astronaut Thomas Reiter, Europe's director of human spaceflight, said it makes sense for the initial Orion crew to include Europeans. For now, though, the focus is on the technical aspects, he said. NASA will supply no-longer-used space shuttle engines for use on the service modules.
 
Reiter put the total European contribution at nearly $600 million.
 
Orion originally was part of NASA's Constellation program that envisioned moon bases in the post-shuttle era. President Barack Obama canceled Constellation, but Orion was repurposed and survived.
 
A test flight of the capsule is planned for next year; it will fly 3,600 miles away and then return.
 
___
 
Online:
 
NASA: http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/index.html
 
European Space Agency: http://bit.ly/ZXPuqg

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-europeans-uniting-send-spaceship-moon-181659252.html

[Buster's Uncle]

NASA-European Partnership on Deep-Space Capsule a First
By Clara Moskowitz | SPACE.com – 21 hrs ago.. .

 
For the first time, NASA is reaching out to a foreign space agency for help building a vehicle to launch astronauts into deep space.
 
NASA has teamed up with the European Space Agency (ESA) on its Orion spacecraft, a new capsule to carry people beyond Earth orbit to the moon, an asteroid, and to Mars. While NASA and its contractor Lockheed Martin will continue building the crew capsule of Orion, the spacecraft's service module will be taken over by Europe. The service module is a vital component that provides the power, thermal and propulsion systems for the Orion capsule.

 The spacecraft is designed to be launched by a NASA heavy-lift rocket called the Space Launch System, which is also under development now.
 
"We are opening a new page in transatlantic cooperation, [with] ESA being involved in the building of a U.S. space transportation system," Thomas Reiter, a former ESA astronaut and director of the agency's human spaceflight office, said today (Jan. 16) in a NASA briefing. "We are very much aware that a lot of difficult and complicated work is still ahead of us, but that is very inspiring and I think all of us are looking forward to this fantastic endeavor." [Graphic: Orion Explained]
 
Won't be easy
 
NASA and ESA already have a long history of cooperation on the International Space Station. The $100 billion orbiting laboratory is a joint project of 15 different countries represented by the space agencies of the United States, Russia, Europe, Canada and Japan.
 
"With space station we've learned the real meaning of cooperation," said William Gerstenmaier, NASA associate administrator for human exploration and operations. "It's actually giving up a piece of the work you're going to do, and actually counting on your partner to deliver."
 
Gerstenmaier admitted that the novel situation will likely prove challenging.
 
"I'm a realist and I know that this won't be easy," he said. "It's not 100-percent comfortable, but I'm never 100-percent comfortable, so it's okay, and we're doing it smartly."
 


One of the chief sources of difficulty will be managing the integration of the two spacecraft elements into one working vehicle. Gerstenmaier said the two space agencies had devoted significant thought to choosing the best meeting points and interfaces between the Orion crew capsule and service module to enable the elements to work together seamlessly.
 
While the partnership is a first for NASA, private U.S. companies such as United Launch Alliance, Orbital Sciences and SpaceX have used international components, such as elements built in Russia, on their rockets, said NASA spokeswoman Brandi Dean.
 
The new agreement means the preliminary design for Orion will change slightly, notable from a vehicle with two protruding solar arrays spaced 180 degrees from each other, to a system of four solar arrays in a cross pattern resembling the X-wing starfighters from the "Star Wars" films. That design mimics the array formation on Europe's unmanned Automated Transfer Vehicle cargo spacecraft, which deliver supplies to the space station.
 
"Orion will look different — the arrays look a lot like an ATV," said Orion program manager Mark Geyer. "I think that's a visual representation of this agreement and the changes that we're making."
 
Future partnerships
 
Europe plans to spend about U.S. $200 million (150 million Euros) to develop the service module for Orion's first test flight in 2017, as well as portions of the second service module for a later flight.
 
The deal does not specify whether any European astronauts will fly on Orion missions, but both partners said that is still a possibility.
 
"This cooperation opens new perspectives for bringing humans beyond low-Earth orbit and certainly this is one of the areas where I will start discussing with Bill [Gerstenmaier] what possibilities there are," Reiter said. "But at the moment we are focusing on the technical work that needs to be done. I think it would be a fantastic opportunity."
 
Gerstenmaier said the new ESA deal is only the first of what's likely to be numerous international partnerships on future deep space exploration.
 
"We're also looking at partners even beyond the [space station partners] to see if there are other contributions that folks might be interested in making," he said. "I truly believe it won't be bilateral. I think you'll see us reaching out to other partners."

http://news.yahoo.com/nasa-european-partnership-deep-space-capsule-first-195035349.html

[Forrest White]

This cooperation was required cause NASA has limited resources for implementing the plans they stated. That is why they allowed European astronauts to use the spacecraft so that Europe could build Moon station Gateway and help NASA finish Orion rockets creating. Previously the USA states that Moon will belong to the US and it will be their official colonies, but then the lack of resources makes them change the views.