Entire Launch Abort System To Be Tested Next Spring
NASA and its industry partners celebrated a test-firing of a
critical safety component of the Orion crew exploration vehicle,
the space agency's next generation of spacecraft designed to take
astronauts to the moon, Mars and beyond.
The test, performed at the Alliant Techsystems (ATK) facility in
Elkton, MD, on Dec. 15, was the sixth in a series of ground tests
of the attitude control motor (ACM), which will provide steering
for the Orion launch abort system (LAS). The LAS, which is managed
by NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, will be mounted on
top of the Orion crew module and is designed to safely lift and
steer the crew module away from the Ares launch vehicle in the
event of an emergency. The LAS centers around three solid
propellant rocket motors: an abort motor, an attitude control
motor; and a jettison motor. Successful tests of both the abort and
jettison motors were completed in 2008.
The attitude control motor consists of a solid propellant gas
generator, with eight proportional valves equally spaced around the
outside of the three-foot diameter motor. Together, the valves can
exert up to 7,000 pounds of steering force to the vehicle in any
direction upon command from the crew module. "The completion of the
Demonstration Motor 1 hot-fire test is a substantial advancement in
the development of the ACM," said launch abort system manager Kevin
Rivers, of NASA Langley. "With an elaborate eight-valve control
system that relies on advanced ceramic composites for several key
components, the ACM is among the most complex solid rocket systems
ever built."
Having reached this milestone brings Constellation another step
closer to flight ready status and demonstrates progress toward
improved flight safety for astronauts, which is at the core of
Constellation Program success.
"This test is a very significant accomplishment for the Orion
CEV and for NASA," said Rivers. "There are many dedicated people
from across the nation who have worked diligently to overcome
technical challenges to make the test happen. I am proud of each of
them."
The entire launch abort system will be demonstrated during a Pad
Abort 1 flight test at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range
(WSMR) in New Mexico in the spring of 2010.
The attitude control motor for the flight test is scheduled to
be delivered to WSMR in January, followed by the stacking of the
launch abort system.
NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, VA, manages the
launch abort system design and development effort with partners and
team members from NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, AL. Langley's Launch Abort System office performs this
function as part of the Orion Project office located at NASA's
Johnson Space Center in Houston. ATK is under contract with
Lockheed Martin, NASA's prime contractor for Orion, to develop the
attitude control motor.