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As reported at CNET News, NASA this week launched plans for its next-generation deep space crew exploration vehicle. Developed by Lockheed Martin (NYSE:LMT), the solar-powered Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) spacecraft incorporates a design based on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle related to the space agency's (previous, defunct, multibillion dollar) Constellation program.
Lockheed Martin said in a statement following NASA's announcement:
The Orion/MPCV spacecraft was designed from program inception to serve as the nation's next generation spacecraft to take humans far beyond low Earth orbit to multiple destinations throughout our solar system...New systems and technology continue to be developed and tested every week, such as the STS-134 on-orbit test of an innovative navigation sensor that will set the new standard for safer, more accurate docking operations for all future spacecraft -- crewed and uncrewed...
Lockheed Martin will continue to work closely with NASA to achieve Orion/MPCV initial crewed operations by 2016, consistent with the NASA Authorization Act of 2010.
Separately, CNET's Bill Harwood reports that, owing to an advanced abort system and a high-performance heat shield, the MPCV is expected to be 10x safer than the space shuttle. The capsule is designed to carry four astronauts on missions lasting up to three weeks, or for longer duration when the craft is attached to a projected, larger "interplanetary habitation module."
The new craft is specified for a pressurized volume of 690 cubic feet, will weigh approximately 23 tons at launch, and will end its missions via splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.
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