Full Scale Tests Coming In January
Scale models of the Orion crew exploration vehicle recently were
tested at NASA’s Neutral Buoyancy Laboratory, or NBL, at
NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston and at a wave tank at Texas
A&M University in College Station.
NASA conducted a series of buoyancy and flotation
characteristics tests in August, using the NBL and a 1/4-scale
model of the Orion crew capsule. The model was lowered into the
NBL's 6.2-million-gallon pool and was floated in a series of
positions. This testing will allow the engineers and the NBL team
to develop their full-scale crew training mock-up that will be used
for mission training and for creating the crew safety procedures
for water-based landings of the Orion crew capsule.
The team also performed a series of tests to validate a new seal
design and updated wireless communications. Engineers also
evaluated a prototype floatation collar for the spacecraft, which
was provided by NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
"It is rewarding to see an actual scale model of Orion finally
being tested in the water," said Alan Rhodes, a NASA engineer who
was observing the testing. "The NBL is a one-of-a-kind testing
facility for NASA, and the team helped us gather a tremendous
amount of critical data that we will use to refine the design of
Orion."
A smaller scale model of the Orion crew capsule also was tested
at a wave tank at Texas A&M University. The goal of the test
was to determine how the spacecraft reacts to strong waves while it
floats in the water. Engineers simulated gale force winds and large
waves to ensure the spacecraft would remain upright.
The next step for the team will be to partner with a team of
naval architects from the United States Navy to conduct a series of
flotation characteristics and towing tests to help further
understand how the Orion crew capsule will act in different sea
states and to help generate recovery procedures. The next round of
testing will be held in October at the Naval Surface Warfare Center
in Carderock, Md., and at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Aberdeen,
MD.
Along with the scaled testing, NASA and the United States Navy
began fabrication of a full-scale test article that will allow
search and rescue divers from the Human Space Flight Support team
at the Kennedy Space Center to begin working with an Orion mock-up
in the water. These tests will allow the team to review current
recovery procedures and to understand how changing sea states will
affect the overall recovery operation.
Full-scale testing will take place off the coast of Florida,
near the Kennedy Space Center, in January 2009.