NASA's Orion powered on for the first time

NASA's Orion powered on for the first time

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rufusruffcutt

1,539 posts

204 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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Some minor Orion updates. Orion has now been mounted to the service module ahead of its (unmanned) test flight around December 4th using a heavy Delta IV rocket.


The Space Launch System (SLS) reusable engines are about to begin hot testing in Alabama. These engines are an upgraded design of the ones used as the Space Shuttle main engines. Power is up from 491,000 pounds of thrust to 512,000. The SLS system will use 4 of these engines plus two solid rocket boosters in its first (core) stage.
First test flight of this launch system is due around 2017. In payload form it will have 20% more thrust at lift off than a Saturn 5! smokin


The mobile launch platform is also being modified to move the SLS about at Kennedy. It will be over 400ft tall when complete.


Exciting times ahead.

Caruso

7,422 posts

255 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
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Cool, though I do wonder how they plan to recover the reusable engines?

rufusruffcutt

1,539 posts

204 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
Caruso said:
Cool, though I do wonder how they plan to recover the reusable engines?
Good question, I've been trying to find out. The way this blog reads, it looks like a single flight for each "Core stage". Sounds very expensive. But then lifting a 130 tons into orbit is never going to be cheap!

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/07/nasa_defends_s...



hidetheelephants

23,772 posts

192 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
rufusruffcutt said:
Caruso said:
Cool, though I do wonder how they plan to recover the reusable engines?
Good question, I've been trying to find out. The way this blog reads, it looks like a single flight for each "Core stage". Sounds very expensive. But then lifting a 130 tons into orbit is never going to be cheap!

http://blog.al.com/breaking/2013/07/nasa_defends_s...
It will be once Reaction Engines get SABRE going and a Skylon built.

Eric Mc

121,784 posts

264 months

Wednesday 30th July 2014
quotequote all
rufusruffcutt said:
Some minor Orion updates. Orion has now been mounted to the service module ahead of its (unmanned) test flight around December 4th using a heavy Delta IV rocket.


The Space Launch System (SLS) reusable engines are about to begin hot testing in Alabama. These engines are an upgraded design of the ones used as the Space Shuttle main engines. Power is up from 491,000 pounds of thrust to 512,000. The SLS system will use 4 of these engines plus two solid rocket boosters in its first (core) stage.
First test flight of this launch system is due around 2017. In payload form it will have 20% more thrust at lift off than a Saturn 5! smokin


The mobile launch platform is also being modified to move the SLS about at Kennedy. It will be over 400ft tall when complete.


Exciting times ahead.
Nice to see the mobile launch platform tower restored to its proper height.

MartG

20,623 posts

203 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
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Caruso

7,422 posts

255 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
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MartG said:
Tiles...Really!?

MartG

20,623 posts

203 months

Thursday 21st August 2014
quotequote all
Yup - and given that they are attached to several removeable panels, it kinda begs the question why didn't they make the panel covers one-piece rather than multiple tiles. It would have made it a lot quicker to replace them after they are ruined due to water absorption after splashdown.

Eric Mc

121,784 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Do they have a one piece material that can withstand the re-entry heating that the capsule experiences as it renters at around 25,000 mph? The surface is going to get very hot.

The Shuttle still needed tiles in those areas that got very hot. The one piece blankets they used were for the lower heating areas.

MartG

20,623 posts

203 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Eric - I was wondering why they don't make the panels out of a single piece of the tile material instead of lots of separate tiles which have to be individually fitted

Eric Mc

121,784 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Is it possible to make that specific material in larger sheets - especially if it has to conform to curves etc?

I know they did use larger sheets/blankets etc on the Shuttle but the Shuttle re-entered at much less speed than Orion will and they still needed tiles on the higher heated areas of the Shuttle.

CrutyRammers

13,735 posts

197 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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I'd assume it's something to do with manufacturing. I doubt they'd use hundreds of separate tiles if there was a better alternative.

Eric Mc

121,784 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Agreed.

I am sure they have valid reasons for going with tiles.

Foliage

3,861 posts

121 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Im guessing that tiles are easier to maintain, if you get damage or a crack its easier and cheaper to change a couple of tiles than have to change the whole thing.

Simpo Two

85,150 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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What did they use on Apollo capsules? That was curved.

MartG

20,623 posts

203 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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graphene said:
Eric Mc said:
Agreed.

I am sure they have valid reasons for going with tiles.
Last paragraph:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle_thermal...
Ah - too brittle to withstand mechanical & thermal stresses in large panels


Edited by MartG on Friday 22 August 12:02

Eric Mc

121,784 posts

264 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Simpo Two said:
What did they use on Apollo capsules? That was curved.
The big difference between the Apollo capsule and the Orion capsule is that the Orion capsule will be re-usable.

Apollos were one mission only spacecraft. They used an ablative heatshield (essentially resin impregnated fibreglass) which bubbled and boiled away carrying the heat of re-entry with it. It worked really well, but meant that the heatshield was destroyed during the re-entry phase.

MartG

20,623 posts

203 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Simpo Two said:
What did they use on Apollo capsules? That was curved.
IIRC the sides of the Apollo CM were covered in the same ablative stuff as the main heatshield, which consisted of ablative resin manually injected into an aluminium honeycomb. The side ones were a lot thinner than the base as they were subjected to lower temps, and were covered in aluminised mylar for thermal control while in space ( the mirror finish which burnt off during re-entry )

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f2...

Edited by MartG on Friday 22 August 12:11

jmorgan

36,010 posts

283 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Apollo 10. Thought I had more of the bottom.

FunkyNige

8,859 posts

274 months

Friday 22nd August 2014
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Simpo Two said:
What did they use on Apollo capsules? That was curved.
There's a free NASA ebook about the various methods they tried before settling on the methods they did, can't remember if it goes up the Space Shuttle but I've got a feeling it does

http://www.nasa.gov/connect/ebooks/coming_home_det...

"This book relates in a chronological manner the way in which NASA has approached the challenge of reentering the atmosphere after a space mission and the technologies associated with safely dealing with the friction of this encounter and the methods used for landing safely on Earth."