With less than a year before its first unmanned launch, the Orion program will undergo further testing and integration of modules in 2014, prime contractor Lockheed Martin [LMT] said.
The launch window for Orion’s Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) opens on Sept. 18, 2014. A Delta IV Heavy Lift rocket will propel an uncrewed Orion module 3,600 miles above Earth–providing the proof of concept for the NASA project to take human spaceflight beyond lower earth orbit for the first time.
In preparation for EFT-1, Lockheed Martin said the models of Orion will continue undergoing tests of its parachute landing system. C-17 airplanes have previously dropped Orion models 25,000 feet over the Arizona dessert.
Recovery testing with the Navy in the open waters of the Pacific Ocean will begin in February. At Kennedy Space Center (KSC) where Orion is being assembled, the heat shield delivered in December will be fitted to protect the crew module. The service module and the crew module will be put together and both will undergo power up testing. The launch abort system will also be delivered to KSC this year and integrated with the service and crew modules.
NASA said the Orion program made “significant progress” in 2013 and that 2014 will be “even better.”
“For the first time since the dawn of human spaceflight, destinations like Mars are in reach,” said NASA Associate Administrator for Human Exploration and Operations William Gerstenmaier.
Lockheed Martin is working in partnership with Boeing [BA], ATK [ATK] and Aerojet Rocketdyne, a GenCorp [GY] company.
Orion is being built in tandem with NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS), which replaces the space shuttle program and will launch Orion. In 2013, Boeing and Aerojet Rocketdyne repurposed four RS-25 core engines from the space shuttles for SLS’ core launch stage. For the upper-stage propulsion that pushes the craft beyond lower earth orbit, Aerojet Rocketdyne’s J-2X engine is being considered after completing 18 tests. Also in 2013, ATK completed the preliminary design review for the solid rocket boosters. SLS is on track for its first flight in 2017, according to ATK.