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Blue Origin Thread (merged)


Aethon

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It seems like the Delta IV Heavy could orbit the full Orion. Why can't we orbit it with a crew if all checks are good? Then we could have Dragon for supplies, and Orion for crew, to the ISS of course. Because as far as I know, the first crewed Orion is EM-2's vehicle.

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Because that'd be considerably more expensive than just using one of the CCDEV vehicles.

Dragon won't fly crew to the ISS for a while.

I was saying to orbit a full Orion. An F9 could be used for just the capsule.

Edited by Bill Phil
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What's the reason for the black coloring on the capsule?

it is not as much that it has a black coating, but that they decided not to use the White Paint on the EFT1 capsule. The reasoning for this is that it saves some small amount of weight and because the white paint is RIDICULOUSLY expensive (think of the cost like covering the capsule in gold foil).

At least that was what the Orion EFT1 Flight Director said when he visited my school

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Soyuz is expensive as well. It costs a large amount of money per seat. And the Russians will pull out of the ISS program in 2020.

Soyuz costs $70 million a seat, so $210 million per crew rotation. DIVH alone costs $435 million.

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Soyuz costs $70 million a seat, so $210 million per crew rotation. DIVH alone costs $435 million.

However, DIVH could be used in an EOR scenario, if they go that route. F9 costs around $60 million, and plus you don't have to transport the 'nauts to Russia, so if you put an Orion on an F9, without a service module, you could get a better price. Although, a CST-100 or Dragon would be better.

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However, DIVH could be used in an EOR scenario, if they go that route. F9 costs around $60 million, and plus you don't have to transport the 'nauts to Russia, so if you put an Orion on an F9, without a service module, you could get a better price. Although, a CST-100 or Dragon would be better.

You can't just chop off the service module and even if you could the capsule would be pushing it too far for an F9. Also due to the lack of the Orion production line it would probably be more expensive.

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You can't just chop off the service module and even if you could the capsule would be pushing it too far for an F9. Also due to the lack of the Orion production line it would probably be more expensive.

Orion is designed to operate without the SM.

The F9 can orbit almost 13 tons, Orion capsule is almost 10 tons. Hardly pushing it.

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Orion is designed to operate without the SM.

The F9 can orbit almost 13 tons, Orion capsule is almost 10 tons. Hardly pushing it.

That's to a much lower inclination than the ISS, and an instated altitude; it doesn't mean they can actually put 13 tons to ISS. Particularly as Orion would be unable to actually intercept the station with no SM.

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That's to a much lower inclination than the ISS, and an instated altitude; it doesn't mean they can actually put 13 tons to ISS. Particularly as Orion would be unable to actually intercept the station with no SM.

Oh I know, however, it's not pushing it, and the ISS orbit is still low, and takes a few hundred m/s to rendezvous at most, probably less, including the initial boost from your lower orbit to the target.

Maybe a smaller propulsion stage rather than a full SM.

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Dragon won't fly crew to the ISS for a while.

Neither will Orion. Dragon and CST-100 will be operation before Orion, and much cheaper.

Orion is designed to operate without the SM.

How so? Without the SM it has only power and life support for a few hours and no propulsion. Not much point in putting Orion into orbit if it can't even deorbit itself.

It takes years to design and build a spacecraft. If you're going to redesign Orion for the ISS, including redesigning a smaller service module for LEO operations, then you end up with a whole new vehicle and another decade of delays.

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