orion
Science
The Max Launch Abort System Launch
12:00AM Jesus Diaz | Looks like Flash Gordon came to Virginia this Wednesday. Here you have images and video of the spectacular Max Launch Abort System in action. Sadly, the spiffy spacecraft won’t be in Orion. Maybe they can send me one to test. More »
Regulars
Orion Capsule Under Testing in Anechoic Chamber
11:40PM Jesus Diaz | Three parts of tequila, two parts of triple-sec, one part of lime juice, then shake with ice, and filter. Oh wait, it’s just the Orion capsule getting tested for electromagnetic waves. Or something. More »
Science
The Orion Project: A Hotel-Sized Nuclear Spaceship
10:56PM Brian Lam | Here’s a classic TED talk by George Dyson, where he shares his father Freeman’s notes on reclassified Project Orion: A cold war spaceship as large as a Marriott hotel powered by 20 kiloton nukes. More »
Vehicles
See the New Orion Spacecraft Up Close and Personal
9:00AM Jesus Diaz | NASA is now showing Orion—the spacecraft that will take humans to the Moon and Mars—at the National Mall in Washington. It’s not the real thing, but it looks great (needs more pretty decals). More »
Science
Cool Flash Graphic: Every Craft In NASA’s Constellation System, Deconstructed
5:00AM John Mahoney | Accompanying a long piece on the future of NASA’s Orion/Constellation system, the NYTimes threw together a nice Flash graphic detailing the individual components of what may or may not (ahem Financiapocalypse) replace the Space Shuttle. More »
Science
Obama Considering Ares Cancellation, Orion Scale Back
11:29AM Jesus Diaz | NASA better come up with some good reasons to keep Ares and Orion alive, because Barack Obama is no JFK: The office of the President Elect has send them a questionnaire asking some tough questions about our favourite space program, Space News reports. You know, the one which is supposed to take Humanity back to the Moon and go to Mars. In fact, the questionnaire goes as far as asking if NASA could redesign the Orion spacecraft so it could be launched by the European Ariane 5 or the Japanese H2A: More »
Science
What Is the Orion Spacecraft Going to Smell Like?
7:10AM Jesus Diaz | As the Constellation program (kind of) goes forward, Nasa is asking itself some really weird questions that may affect the life of the astronauts as they advance towards their three-year mission to Mars. One of them has been commissioned to Steven Pearce, chemist and managing director of fragrance manufacturing company Omega Ingredients: What is life in the Orion spacecraft going to smell like? More »
Science
NASA Uncrates Apollo Heat Shield After 35 Years, Describes the Experience as a ‘Nerd Christmas’
8:20AM Sean Fallon | It is no secret that NASA is looking to the past to help us go back to the moon and, eventually, to Mars. Today NASA revealed that scientists working on the Orion crew module visited the Smithsonian Institution’s National Air and Space Museum Garber Facility in Suitland, Md. over the summer to unpack Apollo heat shields for the first time in 35 years. More »
Vehicles
