Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2022 19:28:22 +0000

Meet the Colorado Companies Working to Get Us Back to the Moon Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/01/2022 - 13:28

Nicholas Hunt

From 5280 Magazine: “If you would’ve told me in 1972 that we wouldn’t be back to the moon for 50 years,” says Jack Burns, a professor of astrophysics at ��ƷSM��ӰƬ, “I would have said you are full of you-know-what.” Burns has a special interest in moon landings beyond being a child of the Apollo age. He’s director of the Network for Exploration and Space Science, a multiuniversity organization dedicated to developing advanced science on the moon.

Burns also served on former President Donald Trump’s NASA transition team, which laid the groundwork for Artemis, the NASA mission that aims to not only return astronauts to Earth’s only natural satellite but also eventually establish long-term habitation there. “I’ve been working on this for 38 years,” he says. “This is the third iteration of us going back to the moon, but it looks like this one is actually going to stick.” In fact, NASA hopes for boots on the ground—including the first woman and first person of color—starting in 2025.

What took so long? It’s not just delays and red tape, although there’s been plenty of both. We simply didn’t have the means until recently, Burns says. Apollo-era technology barely let us poke our heads around, and it’s only in the past few years, thanks in large part to the NewSpace economy, that we’ve developed the capability to live and work on the moon, which gives us more reason to return than simply taking a few small steps. Read more...

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Ensuring Astronaut Safety: Lockheed Martin And NASA Successfully Demonstrate Orion Launch Abort System In Flight Test

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Jul 2019 18:31:20 +0000

Ensuring Astronaut Safety: Lockheed Martin And NASA Successfully Demonstrate Orion Launch Abort System In Flight Test Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 07/02/2019 - 12:31

From Lockheed Martin/PRNewswire: KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla., July 2, 2019 The critical launch abort system for NASA's Orion spacecraft was put to its hardest test today, and it demonstrated its capability to pull the crew module and future astronauts to safety during a launch if there is an emergency. Lockheed Martin (NYSE: LMT) designed and built the launch abort system for the test and is also the prime contractor building the Orion spacecraft for NASA.

The Ascent Abort-2 flight test is a major test milestone that is enabling the safe passage of astronauts aboard Orion on the Artemis missions to the Moon and then Mars.

During the test this morning from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, the Orion launch abort system, with a mock-up Orion capsule, was launched on a modified Peacekeeper missile. At 31,000 feet, or about six miles up, into the flight, the on-board computers initiated the abort sequence. The launch abort motors, generating 400,000 pounds of thrust, then pulled the Orion capsule away from the rocket which was already traveling nearly 1,000 mph. Using its attitude control motor, the abort system then reoriented itself and jettisoned the Orion capsule using its jettison motor. The total test took less than three minutes. Read more or watch the video

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