Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin has the spacecraft for NASA’s Artemis III and IV lunar landing missions in production alongside the Artemis II vehicle that’s going into final assembly on the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. Simultaneous assembly and test of three Orions is becoming the norm, because the Orion program works towards its goal of delivering one spacecraft yearly for eventual, annual Artemis missions.
Following the Artemis II lunar flyby test flight, the Artemis III Orion can be the primary to show full rendezvous and docking operations when it meets up with SpaceX’s Starship lunar lander in cislunar space throughout the mission. NASA still aspires to fly Artemis III as soon as December 2025, and the space agency continues to emphasize delivery dates for not only Artemis III, but additionally for the Artemis IV Orion to follow as close behind as possible.
Artemis III Orion first construct under production and operations contract
Lockheed Martin builds the crew module (CM) and crew module adapter (CMA) elements of NASA’s Orion spacecraft within the Neil Armstrong Operations and Checkout (O&C) Constructing at KSC; the economic operations zone (IOZ) within the constructing can also be where final assembly of the CM and CMA with the European Service Module (ESM) occurs. While that final assembly, test, and checkout of the Orion for Artemis II is happening at one end of the IOZ floor, hardware for the subsequent two spacecraft are also being assembled concurrently.
The Orion program is aiming to have the spacecraft for Artemis III ready for delivery a couple of yr after they turn the Artemis II Orion over to Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) next spring. “[For] Artemis III, there are several things driving [production],” Debbie Korth, Orion Deputy Program Manager for NASA, said during a Aug. 8 media event at KSC.
“The docking system is definitely one in all them [and] we’ve got some ECLSS (environmental control and life support system) components coming from one in all our subs (subcontractors). Lots of hardware has to get integrated, after which the European Service Module for Artemis III is ready to be delivered by the top of this yr.”
At a really high level, assembly starts with the structure of the spacecraft. After the first and secondary structure is assembled, then tubing is welded in a “clean room” area, connecting up plumbing for fluids and propellant. Then wiring harnesses are laid out and connected on the within and out of doors of the vehicle, followed by installation of spaceflight equipment, and eventually testing and checkout.
As seen on the ground of the IOZ throughout the early August media event, the CM and CMA for Artemis III have accomplished structural assembly and are progressing through tube welding because the parts for the tubing are delivered to KSC. Once all of the tubing is welded into place, the welds can be proof tested.
“The best flow can be [to] have the whole lot here, get all of it installed, go within the clean room one time, [and then] do the proof and pressure [test], however it never works out that way,” Korth said. “What they find yourself doing is as they get components in, they install them, after which they’ll go out and in of the clean room.”
“We should not have all of the components within the factory yet for Artemis III, there’s still several dozen that they’re waiting on. Those guys that run the production floor, they keep track of the 1000’s of components as they’re coming in and resequence things [and] if we’re waiting on something, go do something else.”
“They’re going to put in things as they get them they usually move the vehicle around between the stations, whether that’s clean room or the opposite areas,” she explained. “Once components get here, things can go really quickly, I believe the Lockheed assembly team they’re excellent about rescheduling and resequencing and keeping the vehicle moving.”
The CMA is in the same situation, it’s waiting for a couple of more tubes to are available in for final standalone welding work. “They still need to put some components in it, they still need to construct it out, but once the ESM arrives here it’s about three to 4 months after that once they put them together,” Douglas Lenhardt, NASA Supply Chain Lead for Orion at KSC, said.
The Orion spacecraft for the Artemis III lunar landing mission can be the primary to have full rendezvous, proximity operations, and docking (RPOD) capabilities. The Artemis II crew will manually pilot their spacecraft during a proximity operations and handling qualities demonstration on the primary day of the mission, however the Artemis III vehicle can have fully automated RPOD software and hardware to link up with SpaceX’s Starship HLS lunar lander in cislunar space.
Korth said that NASA is currently expecting the docking adapter to be delivered to KSC in January. The docking adapter will attach to the front of the crew module and can be jettisoned at the top of the mission. “It’s jettisoned before re-entry, so we don’t bring it back. It’s packed on top of the forward bay cover.”
Lockheed Martin and NASA are still evaluating where within the pre-launch production flow to put in the docking adapter. “It’s one in all the last things that goes on and we’re looking without delay at whether or not we are able to have that installed once we’re within the LASF (Launch Abort System Facility), so type of fidgeting with the installation sequence to see where that’s most advantageous, but that’s one in all the last items that goes on.”
After the spacecraft is delivered to EGS, it’s moved to the Multi-Payload Processing Facility (MPPF) where commodities like propellant for the spacecraft engines and thrusters and oxygen and water for crew life support are loaded for flight; the spacecraft is then moved to LASF, where the Launch Abort System rocket-and-tower assembly is stacked on top of the crew module. The LASF is the last stop for the spacecraft before it’s placed on top of its Space Launch System (SLS) launch vehicle within the Vehicle Assembly Constructing.
The ESM for Artemis III is a bit of farther along in its production in Germany. “ESM-3 is currently undergoing final integration steps at our integration facility at Airbus in Bremen, we’re ending the welding for the propulsion part, we’re beginning to do some testing; at this very moment we’re doing the electrical checkouts,” Kai Bergemann, European Service Module Deputy Programme Manager for Airbus, said on the Aug. 8 media event. “We’re still on-track for delivery at the top of the yr.”
The ESM has the predominant storage tanks for the multi-week long Orion missions, storing the commodities which might be loaded within the MPPF like propellant and oxygen and water. “Those [storage tanks] are all installed, we’ve got all of the equipment installed, we just have to finalize some welding on among the tubes on the propulsion side, but aside from that the hardware, the massive items, are all integrated,” Bergemann noted.
“Even the massive propellant tanks have been integrated some weeks ago, which is a serious milestone for us within the progress of that integration, and so now it’s about testing, it’s really about optimizing the test sequence in an effort to meet the delivery date here.”
As noted, a couple of months after the ESM arrives in Florida, the CMA and ESM needs to be able to mate together to form the service module (SM) for Artemis III. Without delay, that will be within the spring 2024 timeframe around the identical time that the Artemis II spacecraft is delivered for launch preparations.
Following the mating of the CMA and ESM, the subsequent major milestone for the service module can be initial power-on or IPO, which is the beginning of the testing and checkout phase for the module. Without delay, Orion projects each the crew module and the service module to be ready for his or her initial power-up in that spring 2024 timeframe.
Each module will undergo a series of standalone thermal and acoustic tests; the nozzle for Orion’s predominant engine would even be installed on the ESM, together with the Spacecraft Adapter that helps join Orion with SLS.
Following standalone testing and checkout, the schedule has the crew and repair modules able to be mated starting in the autumn of 2024. One other round of integrated testing, including a vacuum test within the IOZ, would have to be accomplished before the solar array wings can be attached and the spacecraft delivered to EGS for Artemis III launch preparations.
Currently, the Orion program’s production goal is to deliver the Artemis III spacecraft to EGS within the spring of 2025, a couple of yr after the Artemis II spacecraft delivery in late April 2024, which might support NASA’s aspirational December 2025 date of launching Orion on an SLS rocket to start Artemis III and the primary mission to land astronauts on the Moon in over 50 years.
Orion looks to dam buy of parts to ascertain delivery cadence, close in on annual goal
The Artemis IV Orion crew module and crew module adapter are also taking shape within the IOZ next to spacecraft it would follow. Structural assembly continues to be in progress for each elements; the pressure vessel at the middle of the crew module was delivered from the Michoud Assembly Facility in Recent Orleans to KSC in February.
Kaileah Blazek, Mechanical Systems Integration & Test Engineer for Lockheed Martin, said on the Aug.8 media event that the crew module structure had only in the near past accomplished its proof pressure test. “We just finished last week,” she said.
“We have now about every week price of test setup and integration, where we actually connect 700 [strain gauge] sensors, after which about every week for the actual test, between performing the test and data review. We do a couple of runs; we do a max design pressure run after which do the actual full proof pressure run.”
Blazek noted that the utmost pressure test is brief; the crew module structure is pressurized to at least one and a half times its maximum design pressure for lower than a minute.
The rest of the secondary structure will now be installed on the crew module, mostly brackets. “It’s just now getting secondary structure,” Korth said. “I believe the fellows on the ground call it ‘death by bracket’ since it’s just bracket after bracket after bracket after bracket, it’s somewhere pretty early within the flow.”
Structural assembly of the Artemis IV crew module adapter can also be well underway down the IOZ hallway, with longerons and intermediate frames radially attached to the CMA inner ring.
Each Artemis IV structures will proceed into the clean room in 2024 to start tube welding, and the Orion program team is hoping that the acquisition strategy under the Orion Production and Operations Contract (OPOC) will allow progress to be made towards the long-term production goal of delivering one spacecraft yearly for eventual Artemis missions to the Moon yearly. On the time the OPOC award was announced in late 2019, the Artemis III, IV, and V vehicles were ordered as a set, so the components for Artemis III which might be trailing the production schedule needs to be delivered with the identical parts for Artemis IV and V.
“Our components for Artemis III, IV, and V [are] ordered in lots,” Korth explained. “When Lockheed was placed on contract for Artemis III, IV, and V, they [began] buying things in bulk, so while [Artemis] III could also be a challenge as we’re waiting for components to are available in and have to remodel schedules, once we get III, we largely get IV and V as well, because they’re coming in as a set.”
“So, I believe these schedule challenges get a bit of bit easier going forward because we’re getting ahead of getting that hardware into the factory, and once it’s there, there’s so much more flexibility on the schedule. While you’re waiting on something, you’re on the mercy of the [component schedule].”
When it comes to reaching the annual delivery goal in the longer term, Korth also noted that “there are things like ESMs that have to be delivered on once-a-year centers as well to make that occur,” because the European Service Module contracts are aligned along different builds.
The onset of the worldwide COVID-19 pandemic shortly after the OPOC award and the following supply chain disruption was a further complication; although the industry and supplier base has recovered significantly, those COVID supply chain effects are still being felt. “I believe the provision chain has drastically improved in the previous couple of months, however it continues to be our biggest challenge,” Korth said.
“In numerous cases [we are buying] very unique hardware and, , we discuss this ‘robust space economy’ that’s being energized and developed, [but] there’s only so many firms that may construct environmental control and life systems hardware, or spacesuits or prop systems. Valves is a large thing; you’re limited by the individuals who can actually construct this type of hardware and there’s numerous demand on them without delay.”
“It’s recuperating, however it’s still a challenge,” she added.
Even with uncertainty in regards to the schedule for Artemis III and other aspects that may limit Artemis missions through the 2020s, NASA wants to maintain its options open and officials inside the Exploration Systems Development Mission Directorate (ESDMD) have stressed to their programs and contractors to proceed working towards long-established “need” dates for deliveries. “The message that we’re attempting to take forward is please work to your commitment or your contract dates…until we’ve got to vary that with a contract change,” ESDMD Associate Administrator Jim Free said in a briefing to the NASA Advisory Council in May.
“Missions are going to proceed to maneuver around and if all we do is move missions around everybody goes to get out of sync. We don’t want to do this anymore; we wish to deliver.”
“If we’ve got to place things in storage, we’ll put things in storage,” Free added in May.
“We have now numerous direct interaction with [subcontractors], which I believe is actually helpful, explaining [our schedules],” Korth noted in August. “Some people think ‘why do you would like it so early, [for] Artemis III we don’t know when it’s going to fly?’”
“But we’re on a cadence of delivering vehicles and we want to get them done because dragging our team along doesn’t help us if we’re waiting on hardware.”
Similarly, to NASA and Lockheed’s production goal, the European Space Agency and Airbus are working towards delivering ESMs on an annual cadence. “ESM-4 is just about one yr after ESM-3, so [with ESM-4] we’re in the midst of harness integration,” Bergemann said.
“Typically we start with the structure, once we receive the structure we do primary/secondary structure integration, bracket integration, which is followed by harness integration, and the mixing of the primary propellant tubes, so that is currently ongoing for ESM-4.”
Currently, the Orion program is targeting delivery of the Artemis IV spacecraft to EGS in early 2026. Without delay NASA schedules put launch of Artemis IV no sooner than September 2028. In support of that early 2026 delivery date, initial power-on of the crew module can be in late 2024, with the service module IPO following in early 2025.
That may result in mating of the crew module to the service module in the summertime of 2025, followed by final testing through the top of 2025 ahead of delivery to EGS in early 2026.
Orion factoring Artemis I recovery data, experiences into evolving reusability plans
NASA and Lockheed Martin have plans to reuse returning crew modules and crew module hardware extensively starting with the Artemis III spacecraft; as this system transitions from development right into a production and operations phase, those plans are being refined. “Reuse is certainly a piece in progress on the way it’s going to play out,” Korth said.
“That plan is evolving and numerous it has to do with [what] we learned off Artemis I once we got the spacecraft back, [such as] how long it takes to decontaminate and get that module itself to some extent where you can actually install latest components on it, so ripping the whole lot off which you could’t reuse.”
She gave an example: “Things such as you splashdown within the ocean and saltwater. We found on Artemis 1 once they took off the [backshell] panels you see salt crystals in all places, so we’ve got to start out talking about corrosion resistance and how much coatings are we going to placed on things so we are able to reuse them.”
“You’re just learning as you go along, but [reuse is] definitely a priority for this system and I believe it’s the fitting answer, it’s just doing the work to enable all that to occur.”
Along with the electronics that were faraway from the Artemis I spacecraft as soon as possible to be refurbished for installation on the Artemis II spacecraft early in 2023, Orion is the condition of the spacecraft and the opposite equipment that got here back from this system’s first mission to the Moon and back, and the way long it would take to refurbish them and switch them around for a next flight.
“We learned more in regards to the timeline to do this, after which we’ve learned more about while you do take a component out that requires a [subcontractor] to remodel,” Korth explained. “Lockheed has began working those contracts with those subs and what we can have estimated it being six or eight weeks may very well be six or eight months.”
“And so that you’re possibly I can’t use that item from [Artemis] III to [Artemis] VI, I want to make use of it from III to VII, so then what do I do on [Artemis] VI? The reuse plan is certainly evolving as we learn more from our suppliers what they’ll do [and] learn more about what we are able to do by way of processing the spacecraft here at Kennedy, [with] the largest thing being cleansing out [propellant].”
“Prop is an enormous deal and there’s only a few facilities you’ll be able to do this in, and one in all them shouldn’t be the O&C without delay,” Korth added. “If we wish to get back into the factory we’ve started working that.”
The naming conventions for reuse are also evolving with the plans. “We removed the monikers of ‘light and heavy’ and we call [it] ‘component and module’ [reuse],” Korth noted.