NASA needs an overall $16.5 billion to complete the construction of the ‘Orion’ spacecraft. However, with its limited budget of less than a billion for this project, the developers see it as the major cause of delay for the project. Other challenges include the spacecraft’s overweight structure, a heat shield that is crack-prone, and dependence on Europe for the spacecraft’s propulsion module, USA Today reports.
The developers consider the funding as a critical problem as it may lead to decreased flexibility to solve any issues that can surface until the final phase of the construction.
While managers of the project are doing whatever they can under certain circumstances, the Office of Inspector General of NASA has admitted that it is deeply concerned about the project’s future considering the risks involved with its incremental development.
It also says that even after Orion is prepared to fly with the spacecraft’s future crews, NASA will still have to deal with significant challenges that revolve around the long-term viability of its program for human exploration.
The given budget outlook shows a small amount for landers and surface systems needed for the project. This could relegate the astronauts to perform orbital missions until the late 2020s the least.
Officially dubbed as the Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, the Orion spacecraft is designed to fly a crew of four people on a low Earth orbital mission that could last for 21 days. The whole system includes a launch abort system, a service module, and a crew module.
Two test flights without a crew have already been scheduled. The first one, scheduled this coming fall, will be atop the Delta IV Heavy rocket. The second one, due on late 2017, will be atop the new Space Launch System rocket of NASA.
A third mission, probably heading to an asteroid, will have a crew on-board and is planned to launch to space in 2021.
