Europe signs on to Orion venture (BBC)

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By Jonathan Amos
Science correspondent, BBC News, Berlin

The European Space Agency and Airbus have signed a contract that will see the aerospace giant build the "back end" of America's new manned spaceship.

The US intends to use its Orion capsule to send astronauts to an asteroid and eventually to Mars.

The vehicle needs a propulsion unit to push it through space and to carry the humans' air and water.

European industry has been tasked with constructing this "service module" for an initial test flight in late 2017.

The hope, however, is that this will become a long-term relationship in which every Orion mission is supported by Esa/Airbus hardware.
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more: http://www.bbc.com/news/science-environment-30094942

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