Do I really need to say it? :)
Posted on 08/19/2008 11:06:45 PM PDT by anymouse
NASA announced on Tuesday, August 19, 2008 that it has worked out a solution to the excessive-vibration problem in its yet-to-be developed Ares 1 launch vehicle.
The Ares 1 rocket will take astronauts into space inside their Orion crew capsule as part of the new Project Constellation for the United States. The first manned flight is due around 2015.
However, early in the design phase of the Ares 1, NASA engineers found that combustion in the solid-fuel motor would spread excessive vibration throughout the multi-stage Ares 1 rocket and the Orion crew capsule.
Although the larger-than-desired vibrations would only appear for a few seconds—at the end of the firing of the first stage (centered at 115 seconds into the flight)—the motions could very likely affect negatively the performance of astronauts during launch, especially in an emergency, if one should occur.
The NASA teleconference held the morning of August 19th relayed the message from NASA project managers that they plan to limit such vibrations to “one-quarter of a g force." That is, 25% of the force of gravity (g, but sometimes also stated as “G”) on Earth.
In other words, the astronauts will still experience several g-forces during ascent in their Orion capsule, but the vibrations (themselves) will contribute only 0.25g to the overall force exerted down on them.
Without the plan to dampen the vibrations, the astronauts could be exposed to upwards of five or six times the force of gravity (5 or 6 Gs) during ascent into space.
In a current NASA space shuttle flight, for instance, the astronauts experience a maximum of about 3Gs during the ascent phase of its mission.
The NASA managers sketched their two-part plan of (1) adding sixteen adjustable spring-mounted 100-to-150-pound weights (actuators) to the bottom of the Ares 1 rocket, which would then be computer-adjusted with motor-driven sensors to reduce vibrations and (2) adding a ring similar to a shock absorber at the location between the first stage and second stage of the Ares 1 rocket.
The SpaceflightNow.com article “Proposals made to solve Ares 1 rocket vibration worry” states, “NASA hopes to resolve concern about high vibrations in its new Ares 1 rocket by using a shock absorber-like passive damper between the first and second stages and a computer-controlled, motor-driven system of spring-mounted weights at the base of the booster to actively cancel out unwanted up-and-down oscillations."
space ping
Do I really need to say it? :)
Forget engineering: they probably spent all their money on coming up with a snazzy name.
This sounds like the “high tech” 21st century ingenuity that will be remembered in history as the moment Mankind leaped into deep space- on 19th century Monroe shock absorbers smoothing the ride for NASA’S astronauts riding in it’s horse-drawn space buggy. Gas filled or just plain oil filled shocks?
Must be all the Germans are either dead, retired to Argentina or senile. Where’s Werner Von Braun when you really need him
They should call up Homer Hickam.
Is this the same NASA research engineers that put their global temperature monitoring equipment near hot asphalt, air conditioning equipment and hot automobile engines?
If they’re going to have to do that, they should have just built the REAL Orion instead of just stealing the name.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
All the fancy 3D graphics don't change the fact that they are carrying around hundreds of pounds of dead weight (hopefully this won't be the astronauts ;) and putting a big comfy cushion around the crew compartment. This is a major kludge of a design, that would get an aerospace engineering student a failing grade in design class.
Only at NASA would anyone even dare present this to a design review team, let alone the public.
I've seen some boneheaded concepts come out of NASA, but this takes the cake. Those Aries engineers should hang their heads in shame for even thinking this was worth spending the time to sketch up, let alone the millions they have spent on it so far.
Let the Navy pukes take care of the nukes. I’m not sure NASA is capable of designing their way to orbit, let alone keeping fissionable materials safely propelling the vehicle and not becoming a 20 ton unguided EMP weapon.
Too bad Robert Truax never got to build a nuclear Sea Dragon. ;)
Why not tell the astronauts to suck it up for a few seconds? What's 5-6 G's for ten seconds? Don't fighter pilots do that?
Why not tell the astronauts to suck it up for a few seconds? What’s 5-6 G’s for ten seconds? Don’t fighter pilots do that?
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According to the article the vibrations add 0.25G .. their concern is that somebody might push the wrong button or something if they’re shaking for a few seconds... if you’ve ever tried working radios in a light plane when you drive through a level 4 t-storm you could see their concern ... personally I don’t see “a few seconds” of vibration as a big deal ... my solution would be to make a wired remote for the controls used during that part of the flight with ENORMOUS buttons..
Looks like a huge “band-aid” type solution to me. If you have a problem of this magnitude, you’ve got a very basic problem.
Not at all.
“Band-aid” implies something done after you have hardware built. And you discover something you should have caught early on.
This is during the design process. They found the problem early on, and took action.
Yeah, that does sound kind of rough.
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