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To be honest, it’s always been a kid dream of mine to be on the space shuttle or even the first interstellar ship; not one that lands on the planet, but one that’s stuck up there, mind you. It would give me the biggest rush, looking down at Earth or some other planet, knowing this vessel has been and will go places that no-one has ever dreamed of.
I’ve always been facinated with space and what lies beyond; I guess thats part of my reasoning for doing the whole PaulTech in Space thing for the past week or so. Naturally, as an extension, I’ve always been interested in the shuttle, the telescopes, the missions, everything. So, on our final journey into PTiS territory, I bring you news from the ‘STS Replacement’ project. In a June 2005 issue of Popular Mechanics, Lockheed Martin gave the world it’s first look at NASA’s greatest hope to reaching the Moon, Mars, and much greater and farther targets.
The Crew Exploration Vehicle, otherwise known as the Orion, is a one-of-a-kind vehicle; though it owes much of it’s design to the older Apollo crafts. Even though it’s cousins, the Apollo modules, are getting to be pretty old, the CEV looks to be one of the most advanced space vehicles ever conceived. The vehicle itself will exist in three stages in a “stacked” configuration: the Crew Module, the Service Module, and a combination of the Launch Abort System and a spacecraft adapter. Those three modules will be coupled and sat on the top of an Aries V rocket for it’s liftoff. This literal stacking of modules allows NASA to design a Launch Abort System for the vehicle. The LAS allows for the astronauts inside the CEV to actually survive a launch catastrophe; so capable is the LAS, it is over 10x safer than the Orbiter vehicles themselves.
Once you get into space, obviously you have the problem of landing the vehicle. NASA has remained very open, working on both land-oriented and water-oriented landing, and to match the challenges, they have some new ideas for old designs. To land the craft over terrain, NASA is evaluating two approaches: an air-bag/parachutes combination design or a retrorocket/parachute design. They’re currently leaning towards the retrorocket design, and with good reason. Some of you might have seen the models of how the Mars landers bounced around on touchdown…imagine how the people inside the craft will feel if the CEV bounces half that much. It’s not pretty.
Well, anyways, that’s just two of the many considerations that NASA is putting towards the Orion-class Crew Exploration Vehicle; due to be ready for service around 2014 or 2015. Obviously many details have yet to be ironed out, considering it’s over half a decade away, but it’s exciting to see that our attitude towards space has remained unchanged, evidenced by the excitement (and criticism) of some of the new things going on around, above, and below the Earth!
In closing, both of this post and the idealistic, yet refreshing PaulTech in Space segments, it’s been a real blast! I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing about all kinds of new and tremendously cool gadgets, discoveries, and vehicles; who knows what wonders I’ll find the next time a PTiS series comes around, but until then…
Pictures courtesy of: Wikipedia, Volition Studios
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