First Avionics Hardware Completed For The Unmanned Test Flight

Three flight cameras have been installed on the Orion Exploration Flight Test (EFT-1) crew module by prime contractor Lockheed Martin. The cameras, developed by Ball Aerospace, are the first avionics hardware completed for the EFT-1, which is scheduled to launch in September 2014.

Orion is the nation's first interplanetary spacecraft designed to carry astronauts beyond low-Earth orbit on long-duration. Orion's Testing and Verification program at Lockheed Martin continues to validate hardware and software integration, test subsystems and refine production operations to ensure the Orion team builds the safest, most reliable spacecraft possible to successfully execute a series of increasingly challenging human exploration missions on the path to Mars.

The Ball cameras are based on the design of the docking camera that flew aboard the STS-134 Sensor Test for Orion Relative Navigation Risk Mitigation (STORRM) mission in 2011. STORRM was an innovative technology development effort led by NASA's Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle Project Office at NASA Johnson Space Center in partnership with NASA Langley Research Center, Lockheed Martin, and Ball Aerospace. The on-orbit test validated the performance of the navigation sensor suite for Orion and other future spacecraft by demonstrating a robust relative navigation design that provided the required docking accuracy and range capability necessary to meet crew safety, mass, volume and power requirements for a wide variety of future NASA missions, including those into deep space.

The new ultra-wide-field cameras for Orion EFT-1 have enhanced software and exposure controls, and will be positioned in various windows on the spacecraft in order to monitor the test flight as different procedures are carried out. Variations of the cameras are planned for each Orion flight. In addition to providing test and docking cameras, the company is producing the conformal phased array antennas and star trackers that will be installed on each Orion launch system. The first human-rated Orion mission is slated for 2021.

(Image provided by Ball Aerospace.)

FMI: www.ballaerospace.com