Crew Exploration Vehicle Environmental Control and Life Support Development Status

Abstract

The Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) is the first crew transport vehicle to be developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) in the last thirty five years. The CEV is currently being developed to transport the crew safely from the Earth to the Moon and back again. This year, the vehicle focused on building the Orion Flight Test 1 (OFT1) vehicle to be launched in 2013. The development of the Orion Environmental Control and Life Support (ECLS) System, focused on the components which are on OFT1 which includes pressure control and active thermal control systems, is progressing through the design stage into manufacturing. Additional development work was done to keep the remaining component progressing towards implementation. This paper covers the Orion ECLS development from April

The MPCV-ESM Consumables Storage Subsystem

“…It integrates the developments as matured by NASA on the Orion MPCV ECLSS. 1,2,3 In particular one gas tank is shown as capable to be filled with Oxygen or Nitrogen. In case of a lunar mission the tank will carry Oxygen and will be connected to the jumper coming from the Oxygen bus, while the jumper coming from the Nitrogen bus will be capped and parked.…”