Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., Los ingenieros tomaron un paso más en los preparativos para el primer vuelo de prueba NASA’s new Orion spacecraft, en diciembre, que será impulsado por el cohete: Delta IV Heavy rocket.
A United Launch Alliance technician monitors
progress as core booster elements of a Delta IV Heavy rocket are being
integrated in preparation for Exploration Flight Test-1.
Image Credit:
NASA/Ben Smegelsky
A transporter for oversize loads delivers the port,
or left, booster for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy for Exploration
Flight Test-1 into the Horizontal Integration Facility, or HIF, on May 7. The
port booster joins the other two boosters of the Delta IV Heavy already in the
HIF.
Image Credit:
NASA/Kim Shiflett
In the Horizontal Integration Facility at Cape
Canaveral Air Force Station, two core elements of a Delta IV Heavy rocket are
brought together in preparation for Exploration Flight Test-1.
Image Credit:
NASA/Ben Smegelsky
Inside the Delta Operations Center near Space
Launch Complex 37 on Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, the second stage for the
United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy for Exploration Flight Test-1 is lifted
high by crane for the move to a test cell.
Image Credit:
NASA/Frankie Martin
Inside the Horizontal Integration Facility at Space
Launch Complex 37 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, United Launch Alliance
technicians prepare the second stage of a Delta IV Heavy rocket for mating to
the central core booster of the three booster stages for the unpiloted
Exploration Flight Test-1.
Image Credit:
NASA/Daniel Casper
By Bob Granath
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida
NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Florida
Engineers took another step forward in preparations for the first test flight
of NASA’s new Orion spacecraft, in December. The three primary core elements of
the United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket recently were integrated,
forming the first stage of the launch vehicle that will send Orion far from
Earth to allow NASA to evaluate the spacecraft’s performance in space.
The three Delta IV Common Booster Cores were attached in ULA’s Horizontal
Integration Facility (HIF), at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The
HIF building is located at Space Launch Complex 37 where the mission will lift
off.
The first booster was attached to the center rocket in June with the second
one was attached in early August.
"The day-to-day processing is performed by ULA," said Merri Anne Stowe of
NASA's Fleet Systems Integration Branch of the Launch Services Program (LSP).
"NASA’s role is to keep a watchful eye on everything and be there to help if any
issues come up."
Stowe explained that during major testing experts from NASA’s Launch Services
Program monitor the work on consoles in Hanger AE at Cape Canaveral Air Force
Station. Hangar AE is home to the Kennedy Space Center’s upgraded Launch Vehicle
Data Center. The facility allows engineers to monitor voice, data, telemetry and
video systems that support expendable launch vehicle missions. NASA’s Florida
spaceport is also where Orion was built and is being processed.
The Delta IV rocket stages were assembled at the ULA plant in Decatur,
Alabama, about 20 miles west of Huntsville. After completion, the rocket
components were shipped down the Tennessee River and Tombigbee Waterway, a
canal, to the Gulf of Mexico. From there they traveled to Cape Canaveral,
arriving on May 6. The elements of the rocket's first stage were then
transported to the HIF for preflight processing.
"After the three core stages went through their initial inspections and
processing, the struts were attached, connecting the booster stages with the
center core," Stowe said. "All of this takes place horizontally."
The three common booster cores are 134 feet in length and 17 feet in
diameter. Each has an RS-68 engine that uses liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen
propellant producing 656,000 pounds of thrust. All totaled, the three Delta IV
boosters collectively generate 1.96 million pounds of thrust.
The second stage of the Delta IV rocket is 45 feet in length and 17 feet in
diameter. It uses one RL10-B-2 engine, also burning liquid hydrogen and liquid
oxygen propellant creating 25,000 pounds of thrust.
"The second stage was taken to the Delta Operations Center for processing
after it arrived," said Stowe. "The second stage was moved to the HIF on Aug. 29
and is scheduled to be horizontally mated to the first stage on Sept. 12."
The same upper stage will be used on the block 1 version of NASA's new
heavy-lift rocket, the Space Launch System (SLS). More powerful than any rocket
ever built, SLS will be capable of sending humans aboard Orion to deep-space
destinations such as an asteroid and Mars.
"The hardware for Exploration Flight Test-1 is coming together well," Stowe
said. "We haven't had to deal with any serious problems. All of the advance
planning appears to be paying off."
Once all the launch vehicle stages are mated and thoroughly checked out, the
next step is the Test Readiness Review.
"These meetings are held to bring together all the interested parties to be
sure the Delta IV rocket is ready for the move to the launch pad where the Orion
spacecraft will be mated," Stowe said.
The upcoming flight test will use the Delta IV Heavy to launch the Orion and
send it 3,600 miles in altitude beyond the Earth's surface. During the
two-orbit, four-hour mission, engineers will evaluate the systems critical to
crew safety, the launch abort system, the heat shield and the parachute system.
The data gathered during the mission will influence design decisions and
validate existing computer models. The flight also will reduce overall mission
risks and costs for later Orion flights.
The capsule will re-enter Earth’s atmosphere at speeds approaching 20,000
mph, generating temperatures as high as 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, before
splashing down in the Pacific Ocean.
The Lockheed Martin-built Orion is designed to take humans farther than ever
before. The spacecraft will serve as the exploration vehicle that will carry
astronauts to space and provide safe re-entry from deep-space missions. Orion
currently is undergoing final assembly in Kennedy's Neil Armstrong Operations
and Checkout Building.
Stowe is especially invested in a successful outcome for the flight test.
"What I'm looking forward to most," she said, "is seeing that Orion capsule
being retrieved from the Pacific."
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
Inscríbete en el Foro del blog y participa : A Vuelo De Un Quinde - El Foro!
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario