NASA Unveils New Giant Rocket for Deep Space Missions
 

http://www.space.com/12941-nasa-unve...ch-system.html

NASA has finally revealed its design for the agency's next-generation heavy-lift rocket to carry astronauts on future deep space missions.

The agency announced today (Sept. 14) that the Space Launch System (SLS) will include hardware and technology that are legacies from the space shuttle and now-defunct Constellation programs. The $10 billion booster will use liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel, and will have solid rocket boosters for initial tests flights, agency officials said.

NASA administrator and former space shuttle astronaut Charles Bolden unveiled the new design during a press conference at the Senate Dirksen Building in Washington. [Photos and Video of NASA's New Giant Rocket]

"This launch system will create good-paying American jobs, ensure continued U.S. leadership in space, and inspire millions around the world," Bolden said in a statement. "President Obama challenged us to be bold and dream big, and that's exactly what we are doing at NASA. While I was proud to fly on the space shuttle, kids today can now dream of one day walking on Mars."

The rocket's first test flight is targeted for the end of 2017, agency officials said in a statement.

Last year, Obama challenged NASA to send astronauts to an asteroid by 2025 and on to Mars by the mid-2030s, shaping the agency's deep space exploration plan following the retirement of the 30-year space shuttle program. [Gallery: NASA's SLS Rocket for Deep Space Flights]

The Space Launch System is a cornerstone of the plan to launch a crewed space capsule on deep space missions beyond low-Earth orbit. This capsule, called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), is based heavily on initial designs for NASA's Orion spacecraft in the moon-oriented Constellation program that was canceled last year.

"NASA has been making steady progress toward realizing the president's goal of deep space exploration, while doing so in a more affordable way," NASA deputy administrator Lori Garver said in a statement. "We have been driving down the costs on the Space Launch System and Orion contracts by adopting new ways of doing business and project hundreds of millions of dollars of savings each year."

Bolden was joined for the announcement today by U.S. Senators Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas) and Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who have both been steadfast SLS supporters.

The huge rocket has been embroiled in controversy, and lawmakers have accused the White House and NASA of stalling on fixing the rocket's design plans and inflating budget estimates for the new booster.

Last week, two U.S. senators accused the Obama administration of trying to sabotage the next-generation launch vehicle by "wildly" inflating the program's cost. The accusation came after internal NASA cost estimates totaling nearly $63 billion through 2025 were leaked in a report published in The Wall Street Journal.

I hope I'm still alive to see man go to Mars.

Looks like a Saturn V with SRB's.

But I thought America didn't have a space program anymore... /average American

Manned space flight? No, we don't right now.

But I thought I was clever/you

Yes, it does. The first stage appears to be powered by five of the engines used on the shuttle, with massive help from two shuttle SRBs. The second stage is apparently powered by a single J-2 engine, which powered the second and third stage on the Saturn V.

I just thought of something. There is a lot of room on these crafts for advertising. That could help funding. Kinda like Nascar but not really.

Next level of HAARP development, taking weather manipulating satellites to foreign planets? Must be Beta phase of testing, getting it out to selected customers to seeing what they think. :tinfoil:

Awesome

<object width="640" height="390"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/SfFG65k_5Qc&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowScriptAccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/SfFG65k_5Qc&hl=en_US&feature=player_embedded&version=3" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowfullscreen="true" allowScriptAccess="always" width="640" height="390"></embed></object>

Am I reading that right, a $10B rocket? As in each rocket will cost that much?

I am a big supporter of space travel but that is crazy expensive. We really do need to get private industry more involved, they will do it for less money and only those interested can risk their money instead of doing it on a federal level.

No.

Sometimes I hate it when you answer this way. What part of this does not indicate that cost per booster:

If you other information to better explain this (evidently) poorly worded sentence, please share with the uneducated masses.

Development of the main rocket booster should cost $10B. It will cost more for the manned crew capsule, etc..

Development, not cost. The link and videos start to make a bit more sense about that distinction.

Using liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen fuel will enable NASA to reduce costs and leverage experience and existing technology in the field, Bolden explained. While the rocket component of the SLS is expected to cost $10 billion, the entire program (which includes work on the deep space capsule and upgrades to the agency's Kennedy Space Center launch site) will be about $18 billion through the first test flight in 2017. That's about $3 billion per year, NASA officials said.

http://www.space.com/12941-nasa-unve...ch-system.html

Somehow only a portion of the article made it into the OP.

No.

4321









:)

Heh, still worded to sound like the rocket component has that cost, not the development. I get it but wow, poorly constructed.

In a time when we have missiles that cost over $1M a piece that we are just going to blow up and planes that costs tens of millions apiece it is not out of the realm of believability that an advance rocket for deep space travel could have that kind of cost involved.

Anyway, thank you for the additional information. It explains much more than "No."

What's next? A plan to return to suborbital Mercury missions by the 2040s?

I'd like to see us get there by the end of this decade.

And that costs 63 billion dollars?? Is they already is tried and true technology the price tag should be a hell of a lot lower.

Yeah, it wasn't until the last line that it was really clear.. "That's about $3 billion per year, NASA officials said."

No shit.

I can't wait to read next that for $40 billion dollars we may be able to reproduce the Wright Brother's first flight by the year 2065 as long as we can find a working example of one of the gasoline engines they used in 1902 to power the aircraft...

The Orion ship does it's first test flight on December 4th with the help of some Delta IV rockets.

I've been invited to go as a "social media influencer", somehow... and am really stoked to see this in person. I'll be touring the facility and watching the launch live. I'm thinking that a GoPro might be the best way to video this... I don't want my face in my phone trying to take pictures.

http://www.space.com/27560-orion-cap...ght-video.html

But we never landed on the moon. :thumb:

I'm with you man.

Take me and I'll bring one of my canons that does video. Or borrow a 4k video camera.

Okay, that gave me a hard on, and I'm not ashamed to admit it.

:thumb: That's badass!

Some of my co-workers will be there to observe on Dec 4.

Dave, I'd totally take you... they are quite secretive, however... and allow ZERO guests. I can't even bring one of my kids.

Let me find the link to future events, and I'll see if I can get you on their radar. I'll PM it to you when I find it.

Wake me up when we're doing this:

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/pAiJgdjKArg?rel=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Now maybe they can go investigate that planet sized UFO in close orbit around the sun.

Cool! :thumb:

http://spaceflightnow.com/2014/11/06...-orion-launch/

Delta 4 passes countdown rehearsal before Orion launch


http://spaceflightnow.com/wp-content.../11/eftwdr.jpg
The Delta 4-Heavy rocket set to launch NASA’s Orion spacecraft undergoes a countdown rehearsal at Cape Canaveral on Wednesday.

CAPE CANAVERAL — A countdown dress rehearsal and rocket fueling exercise was completed Wednesday at Cape Canaveral for next month’s launch of NASA’s Orion crew module atop a United Launch Alliance Delta 4-Heavy booster.

Known as a Wet Dress Rehearsal, the WDR rolled back the mobile gantry early in the morning and performed a full countdown to a simulated liftoff time later in the day.

“We just successfully completed our Wet Dress Rehearsal yesterday. We basically took the vehicle through a launch countdown. We fully tanked it, operated all of our systems. It was a good exercise and everything is working great,” said Ron Fortson, United Launch Alliance director of mission management.

The real liftoff day is coming Dec. 4.

Powered by three RS-68 main engines, the Heavy rocket will be launched from the Cape’s pad 37B for Exploration Flight Test No. 1, or EFT 1.

The mission will send Orion on a two-orbit mission around Earth to check out its systems in an uncrewed test.

The next major milestone in the launch campaign is planned for Monday night, when the 73-foot-tall, 48,000-pound Orion spacecraft is hauled to the pad for mating with the Delta 4-Heavy.

Here is today's Reddit AMA from the NASA Engineers who built Orion.

http://www.reddit.com/r/IAmA/comment...t_orion_nasas/

I'm about old enough where I'm ready to discount space exploration. Maybe in about 15 years when I'm in my 40's I'll not see any need or funding for it since I only have 30 years left to live, and I don't give any shits what happens to the earth when my dead carcass is decomposing away. But I suppose if an asteroid starts heading for Earth it would be a good idea to have another place to live.

Typical selfish 'Murican. "**** the future generations... POLLUTE ALL THE LAND. I'll be dead, I won't care!!"

Sweet. Keep them coming teedubya! Really excited about this next stage of NASA.

http://sploid.gizmodo.com/the-most-a...-ea-1656233601

Guillaume Juin took 80GB of photos from the International Space Station crew members from 2011 to 2014 and made this stunning film. Without a doubt, it's the most formidable video of the views from the ISS I've ever seen. Watching it makes me extra-jealous of the people up there.

Play it huge on your TV or projection screen for maximum effect.

<iframe src="//player.vimeo.com/video/111049676?title=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;color=f00024" width="500" height="281" frameborder="0" webkitallowfullscreen mozallowfullscreen allowfullscreen></iframe> <p><a href="http://vimeo.com/111049676">Astronaut - A journey to space</a> from <a href="http://vimeo.com/guillaumejuin">Guillaume JUIN</a> on <a href="https://vimeo.com">Vimeo</a>.</p>

Exactly. I dont care what happens to this earth, anyone or thing once i take my dirt nap. I never fault anyone for keeping their own interests at heart.

In all probability, any space exploration is a waste of money for any current generation.

Except the opposite. The race in the 60's prompted a huge push in technology advancement that transcended aeronautics and space flight and found its ways into other industries, which reaped hug rewards and helped grow economies with new technology advancement. A new 'space race' would no doubt excite many young people into becoming scientists and engineers who would create new technologies and advance us further.

Unless they come up with another form of propulsion, gong to another star system will never happen in our life time. Alpha Centauri is the closest star system to us and at 20,000 mph it would take 178,000 years to reach it. Even at the speed of light (186,000 miles per second) it would still take 4.5 years to get there. No need to start saving money for a plan ticket.

LMAO

Dude...this is like trying to explain the operation of your iphone to a Neanderthal. It's a complete waste of your time and his.

It's so damn unfair.

There has never been a more ardent supporter, a more fervent believer in the space program than me...I have watched it since I was a little boy, watched the first steps on the soil of the moon, when I could barely contain the emotions I felt.

Back then in the late 60's I was so sure we'd be planting a flag on the surface of Mars in the 1980's and planning incredible voyages and feats of exploration I could barely imagine...and we just turned our back on it all to buy a few votes with what amounts to a few crumbs of our national budget in a typical short-sighted, penny wise, pound foolish idiocracy run wild.

Now, with my health failing and man still exploring the stagnant pools of low earth orbit, I will never get to see the incredible journeys man might have made and the huge benefits mankind could have derived from them.

I guess in my own way I am as selfish and bitter as BWillie...

That form of propulsion is already in use, its just that it will never be admitted to like the stealth bomber etc.

:spock:

You think we've presently got a form of propulsion which can power a ship at the speed of light and/or faster?

Artificial singularity caused by the sheer massiveness of Direckshun's mother.

The Orion engineers at Lockheed Martin will be hosting a Reddit AMA on Monday from 1-2pm EST (again, if you're into Reddit)

https://scontent-b-sea.xx.fbcdn.net/...3d&oe=54E1E410

Orion's in orbit!

Watch Live:

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/#.VIGkTMlNcsc

Maybe when you can post "Americans are in orbit once more!" there will be a little more excitement.

High orbit insertion burn was good, and Orion is about to separate from the Delta IV booster and head home.

Splashdown in 30 minutes, 270 miles west of Baja and 450 miles SW of San Diego.

We had a great view from the west coast of Florida

Trajectory seems a bit off, but otherwise, COOL!

NASA TV crapped out for me.

Alternate here:

http://www.ustream.tv/nasahdtv

<iframe width="720" height="437" src="http://www.ustream.tv/embed/6540154?v=3&amp;wmode=direct" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: 0px none transparent;"> </iframe>
<br /><a href="http://www.ustream.tv" style="font-size: 12px; line-height: 20px; font-weight: normal; text-align: left;" target="_blank">Broadcast live streaming video on Ustream</a>

400,000 feet. 20,000 mph.

me2

Probably my connection but it's real laggy.

Wow, that stream from inside Orion gave me goosebumps...

Atmosphere entry interface.

Loss of telemetry due to re-entry/plasma

4,000F, 20,000 mph.

Re-acquisition of telemetry.

3Gs, heading to 8.3Gs

125,000 feet.

80,000 feet

FBC jettison. Drogues deployed

looks like it is falling like a rock.

Amazing shots from the drone!

ah...Drogues = parachutes...gotta be all fancy.

Main shoots deployed!

4,000 feet, three good mains