NASA's Space Launch System: Langley Wind Tunnel Test

NASA's Space Launch System buffet model in NASA's Langley Researcher Center's Transonic Dynamics Tunnel. 

The SLS is America's next heavy-lift launch vehicle that will provide an entirely new capability for science and human exploration beyond Earth's orbit. 

Image credit: NASA/LaRC

NASA's Orion MPCV Completes second splash test - video

After six months of testing, an 18,000 pound (8,165 kg) Orion mockup took its final splash into NASA Langley Research Center's Hydro Impact Basin on Jan. 6.

Orion, the next deep space exploration vehicle, will carry astronauts into space, provide emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel, and ensure safe re-entry and landing.

The testing, which began in July 2011, simulated different water landing scenarios and took into account different velocities, parachute deployments, entry angles, sea states and wind conditions that Orion could face when landing in the Pacific Ocean.

The January 6 test represented worst case landing for an abort scenario in rough seas.

The test impact conditions simulated all parachutes being deployed with a high impact pitch of 43 degrees.

The capsule traveled approximately 47 mph (75.6 kph) before splashing into the basin and rolling over into the Stable 2 position.

This type of landing scenario isn't likely to occur during actual vehicle operation, but is essential for the validation of analytical models.

As was the case with Apollo, the Orion flight design will feature an onboard up-righting system.

NASA Langley: Preparing for Orion Drop Test

Getting prepared for the last Orion splash test at NASA Langley

NASA ARES: Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey Aircraft proposed for MARS

The Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) was a proposal by NASA's Langley Research Center to build a powered aircraft that would fly on Mars.

The ARES team sought to be selected and funded as a NASA Mars Scout Mission for a 2011 or 2013 launch window. However, the MAVEN mission was chosen instead.




ARES would have travelled to Mars compactly folded into a protective aeroshell; upon entry in the thin atmosphere, the capsule would have deployed a parachute to decelerate, followed by ARES release at altitude.

Among other things, the aircraft would have investigated the atmosphere and weak magnetic field.

Propulsion
Propulsion remained undetermined. The two main criteria used to evaluate the propulsion system were flight range and implementation risk.

Possible propulsion technologies were electrical motors, internal combustion and rocket systems. The aircraft was intended to fly for about one hour.

See also
Mars Scout Program

NASA Orion: Capsule dropped in pool at Langley

The intensity in Steven Gayle’s voice grew as NASA’s 18,000-pound Orion test capsule landed in the pool.

“Don’t flip over, don’t flip over, don’t flip over,” he said as the spacecraft lurched forward.

It didn’t flip over — a sign that astronauts could make a similar plunge into the ocean and remain safe.

“Whooo,” said Gayle, one of several engineers at NASA Langley Research Center leading Thursday’s experiment. “Now we’ll start going over the test data.”

Tests of the capsule, officially called the Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle, have been ongoing at Langley for months. Aside from a few videos NASA posted online, it kept the operation largely under wraps.

“There’s some new elements here,” said Langley engineer Paresh Parikh, referring to the 115-foot long pool, which NASA calls its Hydro Impact Basin. “We wanted to make sure everything works.”

NASA hoisted Orion about 25 feet in the air with a large crane called the gantry, which Mercury astronauts used during the 1960s to mimic landing on the moon.

NASA released the capsule from its straps following a 15-second countdown. It skidded into the pool with a loud pop, creating a killer whalelike splash that sent water spilling over the concrete toward dozens of onlookers.

Unlike NASA’s recently retired space shuttle, Orion will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere and land in water. The capsule, which resembles a gigantic Hershey Kiss that holds four astronauts, will be slowed by parachutes during its descent.

“We call this configuration ‘Apollo on steroids,’” said Gayle, noting it weighs roughly 9,000 pounds more than its 1960s-era predecessor.

Engineers designed Thursday’s experiment to replicate landing in the Pacific Ocean, off southern California. A previous test mimicked landing in the north Atlantic Ocean amid rougher seas.

Instruments aboard Orion track its speed, if any water seeps into the capsule, how it responds to the pressure of the landing and numerous other measurements, Gayle said. Engineers will spend days comparing the results to computer projections.

The idea, Parikh said, is to test every conceivable scenario, which will help NASA better predict where and how the capsule lands. That’s important considering the astronauts may be floating in the ocean for hours waiting for a helicopter to arrive and bring them to a nearby ship, he said.

Tests of the capsule were not certain until earlier this year when President Barack Obama and Congress reached a compromise on NASA’s human spaceflight program.

NASA Langley Orion (MPCV) Spacecraft Making Cross Country Voyage

The first flight test article made under the original Orion Capsule design is on its way across country from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center in California to the Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

NASA’s next generation spacecraft, the newly named Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (MPCV), will make three outreach stops along the way to inform the public.

In the above image, the capsule is making its way to Tucson, Arizona.

NASA Langley engineers built the test article in just 10 months. It took 49,500 fabrication hours and 2,000 fabricated parts to build the almost 20,000 pound capsule that represents the size, shape and mass of the actual Orion Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle.

The test article was built to fly as a part of the successful Pad-Abort 1 flight test that took place May 6, 2010 at White Sands Missile Range.

The test demonstrated the capability of a new launch abort system, developed by NASA. The test article was not originally planned to be reused due to the high-risk nature of the Pad-Abort 1 test, but the module and its systems survived the flight test with only minor damage.

The planned stops are June 15-16 at the Pima Air and Space Museum in Tucson, Ariz.; June 19-20 at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, Texas; and on June 24-25 at the Tallahassee Challenger Learning Center in Florida. The module also will be on display June 29-July 4 at the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex.

The test article will eventually be moved to Kennedy’s Operation and Checkout Facility for further study.

Nasa Langley Research

NASA Langley: Splash test of Orion (MPCV)

NASA Langley Research: Hydro Impact Basin

NASA Langley Research Center's Landing and Impact Research Facility will host a Hydro Impact Basin Groundbreaking ceremony Tues., June 8, 2010 in Hampton, Va. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith.

What goes up must come down, and it will be NASA Langley Research Centre's job to make sure that when astronauts return from space, they land safely.

On June 8, NASA Langley will break ground on a $1.7 million Hydro Impact Basin that will serve to validate and certify that future space vehicles, such as NASA's Orion crew module, are designed for safe water landings.

The water basin will be 115 feet (35 m) long, 90 feet (27.4 m) wide and 20 feet (6.1 m) deep and will be built at the west end of Langley's historic Landing and Impact Research Facility, also known as the Gantry, where Neil Armstrong trained for walking on the moon. Construction will begin mid-June and will be completed by December 2010.

A series of water impact tests will be conducted using Orion drop test articles beginning in the spring of 2011. These tests will initially validate and improve the computer models of impact and acoustic loads used in the design and engineering process, and will ultimately qualify the final vehicle design for flight.

"We are excited about being a part of the nation's next space vehicle and it's landing system," said Lynn Bowman, who is managing the series of tests for the Orion project. "Our team has been involved with furthering the knowledge and testing of space vehicle landing systems and their components for the past few years."

The skill sets that NASA Langley engineers and technicians bring to the table as well as the capability of the gantry are two of the reasons the basin is being built at the center.

Bowman explains: "The Gantry provides the ability to control the orientation of the test article while imparting a vertical and horizontal impact velocity, which is required for human rating vehicles."

"This existing capability when combined with the water basin will provide a complete facility needed for landing certification of any manned spacecraft for water landing," added Bowman. "Even vehicles that do not perform a nominal water landing will need to certify for launch abort landings into water."