Mike Hawes: Lockheed Eyes Cost Reduction on Orion Spacecraft Through Reuse

Lockheed Martin plans to reduce the production cost of the Orion crew capsule for future missions through reuse of the vehicle structure and other components of the spacecraft, SpaceNews reported Friday.

“We have the internal component reuse that will start even between [Exploration Mission] 1 and 2, but then when we get to reusing a structure, for instance, that factors in significant savings on a mission basis,” Mike Hawes, vice president and Orion program manager at Lockheed’s space systems business, said in a Thursday interview at the Space Symposium.

“Our goal is 50 percent [cost reduction] on the vehicle, and I think we’re going to be close to that,” he noted.

Hawes said the company anticipates the Airbus-built service module to be delivered in early July for integration with the Orion crew capsule in preparation for the EM-1 mission.