The three panel or fairings encapsulating a stand-in for Orion’s service
module successfully detach during a test Nov. 6, 2013 at Lockheed Martin’s
facility in Sunnyvale, Calif. Image Credit: Lockheed Martin
The three massive panels protecting a test version of NASA's Orion
multipurpose crew vehicle successfully fell away from the spacecraft Wednesday
in a test of a system that will protect Orion during its first trip to space
next year.
The panels, called fairings, encase Orion's service module and shield it from
the heat, wind and acoustics it will experience during the spacecraft's climb
into space. The service module, located directly below the crew capsule, will
contain the in-space propulsion capability for orbital transfer, attitude
control and high-altitude ascent aborts when Orion begins carrying humans in
2021. It also will generate and store power and provide thermal control, water
and air for the astronauts. The service module will remain connected to the crew
module until just before the capsule returns to Earth. During Exploration Flight
Test-1 (EFT-1), the spacecraft's flight test next year, a test service module
will be attached to the capsule.
"Hardware separation events like this are absolutely critical to the mission
and some of the more complicated things we do," said Mark Geyer, Orion program
manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to know we've got
the design exactly right and that it can be counted on in space before we ever
launch."
Unlike conventional rocket fairings, these panels are designed to support
half of the weight of Orion's crew module and launch abort system during launch
and ascent, which improves performance, saves weight and maximizes the size and
capability of the spacecraft. Each panel is 14 feet high and 13 feet wide.
The fairings' work is done soon after launch. They must be jettisoned when
Orion has reached an altitude of about 560,000 feet. To make that possible, six
breakable joints and six explosive separation bolts are used to connect the
fairing panels to the rocket and each other. In a carefully timed sequence, the
joints are fired apart, followed shortly by the bolts. Once all of the
pyrotechnics have detonated, six spring assemblies will push the three panels
away, leaving the service and crew module exposed to space as they travel
onward.
This test, conducted by Orion's primary contractor, Lockheed Martin, at the
company's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility, was the second test of the fairing
separation system. The first occurred in June, when one of the three fairing
panels did not completely detach. Engineers determined the issue was caused when
the top edge of the fairing came into contact with the adapter ring and kept it
from rotating away and releasing from the spacecraft. Because of the engineers'
confidence in successfully eliminating the interference, they maintained plans
to increase this week's test fidelity by emulating the thermal loads experienced
by the fairings during ascent. They used strip heaters to heat one of the
fairings to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and simulate the temperatures the panels will
experience.
Exploration Flight Test-1 is scheduled for September 2014. During that
flight, an uncrewed Orion will launch to an altitude of 3,600 miles, more than
15 times farther into space than the International Space Station. It will orbit
Earth twice before re-entering the atmosphere as fast as 20,000 mph.
The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions,
authenticate existing computer models, and innovative new approaches to space
systems development It also will reduce overall mission risks and costs for
subsequent Orion missions to an asteroid and eventually Mars.
For information about Orion and EFT-1, visit:
NASA
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
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