AEROSPACE & DEFENSE

Space, on the moon thanks to Italian excellences

The render of Orion MPCV: Ecor International is working on this project. Source: NASA [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons.
Ecor International takes part in the realization of Orion MPCV, the NASA spacecraft that will allow the human exploration of asteroids and cislunar spaces, with a view to a future landing on Mars. Ecor International has conducted activities of rigid pipes bending and fluidic circuits subassemblies welding

A highly technological spacecraft will allow human exploration of asteroids and cislunar spaces, with a view to a future landing on Mars. Italian excellence in the space business and organizations from all over the world, including Ecor International, co-operate to its development.

The spacecraft is called Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV) and is under development by NASA, in cooperation with ESA and with other high-profile companies like Lockheed Martin, Airbus Defence and Space and Thales Alenia Space.

Orion is part of the Artemis program that will bring, according to the NASA plan, the first woman and the first man to the lunar South Pole before 2024. This will be the first step towards a permanent presence on the Moon, made possible also thanks to the foundation of private companies that could build a lunar economy, potentially sending humans on Mars.

Photo by Ponciano from Pixabay

Ecor International role

We are talking about a spacecraft for a wider and more ambitious project that involves Italian companies and excellence in the space sector.

What is the Ecor International contribution to this project?

The company takes part to the realization of a specific spacecraft system, the European Service Module. This service module contains a series of systems necessary to the following Space Operations: the propulsion, the energy refuelling, the thermal control and the supply of fundamental elements for the astronauts lives, namely oxygen, water and nitrogen.

This video by NASA shows how the first integrated flight test of Orion spacecraft will be planned.

The spacecraft, made of 20 thousand components that must perfectly match in order to guarantee safety and reliability, is under construction by 10 European Countries involved in an agreement between NASA and ESA, and those are Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland.

Ecor International has conducted activities of rigid pipes bending and fluidic circuits subassemblies welding. As a first step, the company was subject to a qualification plan in order to prove to the client – in this case Thales Alenia Space – the competences and the welding skills. Representative samples welding were performed specifically for this purpose.

After having successfully overcome this step, the company performed several hundred welding on both rigid and flexible pipes and on other components like pressure sensors, filters and valves. The involved materials are particular low sulphur content stainless steels and titanium alloy for parts in contact with water.

Foto by WikiImages from Pixabay

«We used TIG orbital welding for these manufacturing – explains Engineer Rinaldo Rigon, Project Manager and Key account Manager Aerospace. – Unlike manual welding, TIG orbital welding enables us to guarantee an accurate process control and to respect the stricter quality standards. Moreover, bearing in mind that the components are used in highly delicate and complex applications, we performed the welds in the clean room in order to guarantee cleanliness and absence of contamination».

Ecor International was in charge also of the final quality control, made to verify the possible presence of imperfections resulting from manufacturing. In this case, Ecor International performed specific testing such as non-destructive radiographic and fluorescent liquid testing, visual control, dimensional control and pressure test “leak/proof/leak”.

“We watched our management skills and productive capacity improve, achieving increasingly high quality standards”

Rinaldo Rigon, Key Account Manager Aerospace

«It has been a very complex and challenging project, since it requested a high quality level of welding. Thanks to highly trained members of the staff, such as International Welding Engineers and third level inspectors, and through cutting-edge technologies, we managed to accomplish good welding results – reveals Engineer Rigon-. Furthermore, the complexity of the project management has been intensified by the request of flexibility in terms of program variations with narrow schedules. We are pleased with the project and with how the project itself contributed to train even more the people involved, that I would like to thank for the daily dedication and commitment. At the same time, we watched our management skills and productive capacity improve, achieving increasingly high quality standards. Now that we have finished all the welding necessary to the first service module integration, we are working on the second module and preparing the rigid pipe bending for the third one».


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