Beyond the moon: US and Europe join forces to develop spacecraft that could take man to Mars (and even land on an asteroid)

Orion vehicle will take astronauts to the moon, Mars and even asteroids

Propulsion system will be supplied by the European Space Agency

The U.S. space agency is teaming up with the European Space Agency to take astronauts beyond Earth's orbit.



Officials said Wednesday that Europe will provide the propulsion and power compartment for NASA's new Orion crew capsule, which is is hoped could eventually travel to Mars and even asteroids.



This so-called service module will be first used on an unmanned mission in 2017.

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An artist's impression of the Orion craft, which will have propulsion systems supplied by the European Space Agency, it was announced today

WHAT ORION WILL DO

Orion will be launched by NASA's Space Launch System (SLS), a heavy-lift rocket that will provide an entirely new capability for human exploration beyond low Earth orbit. Designed to be flexible for launching spacecraft for crew and cargo missions, SLS will enable new missions of exploration and expand human presence across the solar system, Nasa says.



Any extra European parts will be incorporated in the first manned mission of Orion in 2021.



NASA's human exploration chief, Bill Gerstenmaier, said both missions will be aimed at the vicinity of the moon.



The exact details are still being worked out, he said.

NASA wants to ultimately use Orion spacecraft to carry astronauts to asteroids and Mars, and Gerstenmaier says international cooperation will be crucial for such endeavors.



He says the International Space Station helped build the foundation.

'To build that wonderful facility on orbit, we needed to work a lot of technical issues, a lot of technical problems.



One of the configurations for the Orion craft revealed by Nasa

An early concept of how Orion could be used as a 'beyond the moon' base for missions to other planets

'And that experienced gained and that trust that grew between our European partners and our Nasa teams allowed us to go ahead and put together this service module agreement you see today.'

Thomas Reiter, ESA director of Human Spaceflight and Operations said: 'NASA’s decision to cooperate with ESA on their exploration programme with ESA delivering a critical element for the mission is a strong sign of trust and confidence in ESA’s capabilities, for ESA it is an important contribution to human exploration.'



An artist's impression of the SLS rocket that could launch Orion





Work has already started on building prototypes of the capsule VIDEO See NASA's animation of the Orion crew capsule in action













