LONDON: Before blasting off into deep space, and possibly landing on Mars, some high-tech equipment rode into the NASA Plum Brook Station on Tuesday.
A critical testing component called the European service module arrived at Plum Brook, a world-class space experimental facility in Erie County.
This module represents a full-size test version of Orion’s main engine, which will contain solar arrays, thermal radiators, propulsion tanks and other necessary support systems to power the spacecraft.
Orion is the NASA-backed manned mission aiming to carry astronauts into deep space.
“The European Space Agency and their prime contractor, Airbus, are providing an essential part of Orion that will help us conduct our next mission in the lunar proving ground,” Orion program manager Mark Kirasich said.
On Monday, the service module landed at Cleveland Hopkins International Airport by plane from Italy. A day later, contracted staff drove the truck to Plum Brook.
“The service module is Orion’s powerhouse, and our work with the Europeans builds on an already strong relationship as we explore farther into the solar system than a spacecraft built for humans has ever traveled,” Kirasich said.
NASA, along with other vested parties, want astronauts to land on Mars, and they believe Orion represents the best avenue to take them there.
If successful, astronauts could eclipse the record distance traveled by predecessors during the Apollo moon missions in the 1960s and 1970s.
