R
radarredux
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I was thinking of some non-Lunar Landing missions that involved Orion before 2020. In particular, I was thinking of some missions that could be accomplished before Ares V comes online. Here are a couple of quick thoughts along with a guess as to the probability of seeing such a mission. Anyone have any other ideas?<br /><br />(1) Orion docking with ISS. This seems pretty obvious, short of any unexpected minor problems. Probability = 98%.<br /><br />(2) Orion performs an Apollo-8 class mission -- entering Lunar orbit and then returning home (see my post in Ares IV thread). Griffin mentioned such a mission in his Planetary Society report. Probability = 80%.<br /><br />(3) Orion rendezvous with a Near Earth Object such as an asteroid. Once again, this was mentioned in Griffin's Planetary Society's report, it has recently received a fair amount of press (CNN story), and NASA has a report on such a mission due in about a month. Probability = 60%.<br /><br />(4) Orion docking with a Bigelow space habitat. Assuming everything goes well, Bigelow will have the Sundancer and maybe BA-330 in orbit by the time Orion flies. Will NASA spring for the money to launch a mission to a private space station? How will this affect support for ISS? Probability < 40%.<br /><br />(5) Orion docking with another Orion capsule in either LEO or Lunar orbit. Such a docking could test capabilities for emergency rendezvous. It could also provide a mini-space station capability (perhaps around the Moon) -- launch one Orion without a crew, a second crewed Orion docks with the first Orion, and the crew doubles its habitat space. Will NASA have the capability or interest in launching two Orion capsules in a short window of time? Probability <