NASA has announced a new Orion spacecraft production contract that will support as many as 12 Artemis missions—including the one set to carry the first woman and next man to the lunar surface in 2024.
The agency on Monday awarded the Orion Production and Operations Contract (OPOC) to regular collaborator Lockheed Martin.
“This contract secures Orion production through the next decade, demonstrating NASA’s commitment to establishing a sustainable presence at the Moon to bring back new knowledge and prepare for sending astronauts to Mars,” NASA head Jim Bridenstine said in a statement.”
The ordering period runs through September 2030, and includes a commitment to a minimum of six and a maximum of 12 Orion spacecraft. Production and operation will focus on reusability and building a sustainable presence on Earth’s satellite.
“Orion is a highly capable, state-of-the-art spacecraft, designed specifically for deep-space missions with astronauts,” according to Bridenstine, who called it “an integral part of NASA’s infrastructure for Artemis missions and future exploration of the Solar System.”
But space travel don’t come cheap: NASA’s three-capsule order (for Artemis missions III through V) comes to a whopping $2.7 billion. Another three ships (for missions VI to VIII) are expected to come to a total $1.9 billion in fiscal year 2022.
The long-term plan to reuse recovered crew modules at least once—starting with Artemis II—will help lower costs. Interior components like flight computers and other high-value electronics, as well as crew seats and switch panels, will be re-flown on Artemis V.
“No other spacecraft in the world can keep humans alive hundreds of thousands of miles from Earth for weeks at a time with the safety features, crew accommodations, technical innovations, and reliability that Orion provides,” program manager Mark Kirasich said.
“With the design and development phase of Orion largely behind us, this new contract will enable us to increase efficiencies, reuse the spacecraft, and bring down the cost of reliably transporting people between Earth and [NASA’s lunar-orbiting] Gateway.”
Named after Greek deity Artemis, twin sister of Apollo and goddess of the Moon, NASA’s latest effort will help put the first woman and the next man on the Mooth’s south pole by 2024.
It also aims to establish sustainable missions within a decade.
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