NASA engineers at the Langley Research Center, based in Virginia, have begun a new series of four water impact drop tests using a test version of the group’s Orion spacecraft capsule.
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The tests, conducted at the Landing and Langley Impact Research Hydroelectric Impact Center in Hampton, will be similar to different landing scenarios to help researchers get a clearer picture of what Orion and its potential could be. get a crew when they land in the Pacific Ocean after the planned Artemis missions. to the moon.
Orion will launch NASA’s new heavy-duty rocket rocker, the 322-foot-tall Space Launch System (SLS), which is expected to be deployed in Artemis I by the end of the year.
The first drop test for the latest Orion model capsule took place on March 23, 2021. Tests were performed from a height of 18 inches in NASA Langley’s shower impact basin.
(NASA)
During Artemis’ first mission, an unmanned SLS Orion rocket will take a flight around the lunar planet and back to Earth – marking the first of three missions.
NASA plans to take the first and next female to the moon by 2024 to “explore more of the moon’s surface than ever before” and prepare for the next step: sending astronauts to Mars.
While engineers officially began experimenting with a rugged model of Orion in 2011, NASA had previously conducted a series of fall tests with what they called the Earth Test Article at the 2016 depot.
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However, the new tests use a new configuration model of the crew – built at Lockheed Martin’s main contractor facility in Colorado – that “represents the final design of the spacecraft,” according to a report. news.
“Data from the water impact tests are part of the formal certification test program to perform structural design and requirements verification prior to Artemis II, NASA’s first Artemis mission with the team,” NASA wrote. “Information will help feed final computer models for loads and structures prior to the Artemis II flight test.”
In a previous statement, NASA wrote that a number of structural updates and improvements had been made to the team model and noted that data from the 2021 tests would be included in the final computer modeling.
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“This is less about trying to reduce model uncertainty and more about loading up to design limits, bringing the model higher in height and higher in loads, not testing requirements, but testing to high standards, “explained Chris Tarkenton, technical director in November.
“Thousands of opportunities will be broken down into some emergencies. We will analyze the data and make sure the models link together to test models and modify as needed to gain confidence,” said Project Manager Bryan Russ. “It helps us to know that the models are reliable and representative of what will happen in flight situations.”