Posted on 04/21/2007 12:24:20 PM PDT by BenLurkin
NASA has entered into an agreement with the U.S. Air Force to support abort flight test requirements for the Orion Project. The Air Force has contracted with Orbital Sciences Corp. of Chandler, Ariz., to provide launch services for the flight tests. The agreement with the Air Force's Space Development and Test Wing at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., provides for abort test boosters that will serve as launch vehicles for Orion ascent abort flight tests that are set to occur from 2009 through 2011 at the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The first abort test is scheduled for 2008, but will not require a functional booster.
The tests will support certification of the Orion crew exploration vehicle's launch abort system. The system includes a small escape rocket designed to ensure the safety of the crew in the event of a launch vehicle malfunction while on the launch pad or during ascent to orbit. A total of six tests are planned, pending environmental assessments. Two will simulate an abort from the launch pad and will not require a booster. The rest will use abort test boosters and simulate aborts at three stressing conditions along the Ares launch vehicle trajectory.
The Orion Project Office, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, designated Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base as the lead NASA center for abort flight test integration and operations, including procurement of the boosters. The project is developing the Orion spacecraft as part of an effort by NASA's Constellation Program to return humans to the moon and prepare for future voyages to Mars and other destinations in our solar system.
(Excerpt) Read more at avpress.com ...
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Curiosity question. Does anyone know how the abort rockets on the Mercury through Apollo rockets were dealt with after the critical point was past? It seems like a lot of wasted payload to haul into orbit.
They weren’t wasted payloads except in retrospect. They were a safety feature. The Apollo escape rockets were blown away after first staging. Not sure Mercury had ‘em, pretty sure the first two Mercury launches didn’t have ‘em.
http://www.astronautix.com/craft/csmles.htm
1962 April 6
• Thiokol selected for Apollo launch escape tower jettison motors
The Thiokol Chemical Corporation was selected by NAA to build the solid-fuel rocket motor to be used to jettison the Apollo launch escape tower following a launch abort or during a normal mission.
My point was that it would have been a waste of payload capability to take it into orbit, as after a certain point of the launch it would no longer serve a purpose.
Yeah, that’s right. Some years back there was a NGE (non-governmental entity) who said that the Shuttle tanks shouldn’t be jettisoned, but carried along and left in orbit, because just dumping them was wasting a potential resource (his idea being that they could be accumulated for use as shells for a space station), and that it didn’t take any extra energy. :’)
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