Sls - Blog Posts

State of NASA Address at Marshall Space Flight Center

On February 10, 2020 I was honored to be a part of a group of 30 people who were granted special access to the goings on at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama as part of the NASA Social program.

The day started off with the issuing of our credentials which would allow us access through the main gate.

The pure joy of seeing my name at the bottom of that badge was glorious.

After driving through the main gate, we wound up at the heart of MSFC, Building 4200. This is where we had our first briefing of the day. It was an overview of MSFC by Steve Miley, MSFC Associate Director. Director Miley filled us in on the importance of MSFC to the whole of NASA, and the state of Alabama. Huntsville is a Top 10 city for career opportunities. During this briefing, the topic of ARTEMIS was addressed. ARTEMIS is our country’s new manned lunar landing program. NASA intends to land the first woman and next man on the Moon by 2024.

Next up was the live stream of NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine’s State of NASA address. Administrator Bridenstine detailed the efforts behind the Space Launch System, the Lunar Gateway, the Orion spacecraft, and the ARTEMIS missions to the Moon. There was excitement in the air as budget increases by the current administration were discussed.

After the State of NASA address, we went to the Lunar Lander Lab for a briefing by Logan Kennedy. Mr. Kennedy showed us concepts for the next Moon landings by contrasting with the Apollo program. During the Apollo missions, the astronauts brought all of their supplies with them. This severely limited the amount of time the astronauts had on the Lunar surface. For ARTEMIS, the intent is to land payloads on the Moon ahead of the manned landings. Mr. Kennedy showed us concepts of relatively inexpensive Pallet Landers which payloads could be wheeled off of.

Next up, was a tour of the ISS Payload Operations and Integration Center. Amanda Lowman briefed us on the Payload Control Area. This is where all the science and experiments on the ISS are controlled and monitored 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Vince Vidaurri then briefed our group about the Laboratory Training Complex. The LTC is a mock-up of the U.S. lab on the ISS. Procedures for experiments are ironed out by controllers in the LTC before being communicated to the astronauts on the ISS.

We then went to the Nuclear Thermal Propulsion Lab. Engineer Mike Kynard showed us hardware that could replicate the results of testing a nuclear rocket at a fraction of the cost and many times more safely.

Our last stop of the day was the SLS System Integration Lab for a briefing by Dan Mitchell. The SIL contains a full size “control ring” for the SLS rocket. This control ring has all the computers and systems that monitor every aspect of the SLS. Everything is placed exactly where it would be on the actual rockets. Even the wiring is measured to the same distances to avoid any lags or time differences. There are three redundant computers that are the “brains” of the whole deal.

At this time I want to thank the team at Marshall Space Flight Center for hosting our group and giving us the opportunity to report on the progress of the Space Launch System and the ARTEMIS program. I am excitedly looking forward to being a part of ARTEMIS over the next few years as my career develops.

NASA Weighs, Balances Orion for Ascent Abort Test

Researchers conducted mass property testing of the Orion crew module for the Ascent Abort Test-2 Friday, Feb. 16, at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. The crew module, built at Langley, was lifted and rotated on its side to determine its weight and center of gravity, known as balance. To get accurate results during the uncrewed flight test planned for April 2019 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, this simplified crew module needs to have the same outer shape and approximate mass distribution of the Orion crew module that astronauts will fly in on future missions to deep space. The markings on the sides and bottom of the capsule used for the test will allow cameras to follow the spacecraft’s trajectory as well as the orientation of the spacecraft relative to the direction of travel for data collection.

Next, it will be shipped to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston where engineers will outfit it with the avionics, power, software, instrumentation and other elements needed to execute the flight test. This test will help ensure Orion’s launch abort system can carry astronauts to safety in the event of an emergency with its rocket during launch.

Image Credit: NASA/David C. Bowman

Space Launch System (SLS) Core Stage 101

We need the biggest rocket stage ever built for the bold missions in deep space that NASA's Space Launch System rocket will give us the capability to achieve. This infographic sums up everything you need to know about the SLS core stage, the 212-foot-tall stage that serves as the backbone of the most powerful rocket in the world. The core stage includes the liquid hydrogen tank and liquid oxygen tank that hold 733,000 gallons of propellant to power the stage’s four RS-25 engines needed for liftoff and the journey to Mars. 

Image Credit: NASA/MSFC

Orion Launch Abort System Motor Gets Fired-up About the Journey to Mars

Applause resounded from NASA and its partners as they watched Orion’s jettison motor generate 40,000 pounds of thrust in just a blink of an eye, preparing the spacecraft for its first integrated mission with the Space Launch System rocket.  

Onlookers had just witnessed a 1.5-second jettison motor test firing at Aerojet Rocketdyne’s facility in Sacramento, California.

The Orion launch abort system (LAS) is designed to protect astronauts in the unlikely event there is an issue during launch by pulling the spacecraft away from the rocket during a mission. The jettison motor is activated during ascent to separate the launch abort system from the spacecraft after it is no longer needed during a mission.

“This test showed us that the jettison motor can quickly generate the amount of thrust needed to pull the LAS away during an Orion mission,” said Tim Larson, jettison motor principle engineer for Lockheed Martin who has been with the project since inception. “I’m very pleased with how the test went.”

The fifth firing

The jettison motor has now undergone five tests, including two test flights. Each test in the series builds upon each other, moving the nation forward on its journey to Mars.

The motor used for the fifth test was rebuilt from a previous test motor.

“We were able to recycle some of the parts from the second ground test and use it for this test,” said NASA LAS project manager Robert Decoursey. “We not only went green, but we also saved money.”

Inside and around the test motor were instruments that included strain gauges, accelerometers and pressure transducers, which feed engineers high-quality data that show whether the motor design is ready for upcoming flight tests and missions. This motor had more instruments and produced more data than any of the previous tests.

“There are many intricate details in the jettison motor design that are not obvious from the outside, and the consistent orchestration of those details are most important to obtain predictable performance,” said NASA LAS deputy project manager Deborah Crane. “Aerojet Rocketdyne has done an excellent job executing this test on schedule.”

The jettison motor bakery

Creating a jettison motor is like baking two big cakes and making enough batter for some leftover cupcakes, according to Tim Warner, NASA LAS business manager.

The jettison motor being tested in the photo above would be activated during ascent to separate the launch abort system from the spacecraft after it is no longer needed during a mission.Credits: Aerojet Rocketdyne

What’s most exciting for the team, besides the successful test, are the latest upgrades to their baking and mixing tools.

“We were using two mixing batches to make just one motor, but have recently upgraded to a larger mixing bowl, saving us time and money,” Decoursey said.

The new mixing bowl can hold up to 450 whopping gallons of cake batter, or in NASA terms, motor propellant.

The team mixes up the batter in this large mixing bowl and evenly splits the batter into two pots for a perfectly sculpted jettison motor.

Any leftover propellant is used to make small test motors. The smaller motors are used to check the propellant’s combustion capabilities before the motors are accepted for test or flight.

What’s next?

NASA and its partners are expected to perform the last flight test of the launch abort system in 2019 before they begin sending crew to deep space aboard Orion. During the final test, an uncrewed Orion capsule will launch from a modified Peacekeeper missile and demonstrate a successful abort under the highest aerodynamic loads it could experience during a mission.

The jettison motor will be used during Orion’s first integrated mission with SLS, known as Exploration Mission-1 (EM-1) in late 2018. The mission will be the second test flight for Orion, and the first for SLS. EM-1 will send Orion on a three-week journey approximately 40,000 miles beyond the moon. The test will demonstrate the integrated performance of the rocket and spacecraft before their second test flight together, Exploration Mission-2, which will carry crew.

The LAS is led out NASA’s Langley Research Center in Virginia in collaboration with NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama.

Sasha Ellis

NASA Langley Research Center

Video: Orion Swing Drop at NASA Langley Research Center

A test version of the Orion spacecraft is pulled back like a pendulum and released, taking a dive into the 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia. Crash-test dummies wearing modified Advanced Crew Escape Suits are securely seated inside the capsule to help engineers understand how splashdown in the ocean during return from a deep-space mission could impact the crew and seats. Each test in the water-impact series simulates different scenarios for Orion’s parachute-assisted landings, wind conditions, velocities and wave heights the spacecraft and crew may experience when landing in the ocean upon return missions in support of the journey to Mars. 

NASA Crash-Test Dummies Make A Splash Landing

Engineers drop a NASA’s Orion Spacecraft test capsule with crash-test dummies inside into 20-foot-deep Hydro Impact Basin to simulate what the spacecraft may experience when splashing down in the Pacific Ocean after deep-space missions.

More: http://www.nasa.gov/feature/langley/nasa-crash-test-dummies-suit-up-for-action

I had the awesome opportunity to have coffee with Johnson Space Center (JSC) Director Ellen Ochoa and Deputy Director Mark Geyer. Above I am pictured to the left of Ochoa in a red blazer and I look pretty serious writing notes. JSC leaders have been striving to hear voices from employees up high, in the trenches, wise, and new. Recently JSC Center and Deputy Directors have hosted coffees to share their goals for JSC and listen to concerns. Ochoa and Geyer shared their vision of JSC 2.016, how NASA can do more with less resources and deliver what is expected and beyond on current missions. Out of all NASA contractors and civil servants I was randomly selected to share my perspective and concerns as a Co-Op.

JSC 2.016

It's no secret that NASA's budget is far less than it was during the Apollo Era. NASA's budget was over 4% of the federal budget during the Space Race to the Moon and now below 1% despite NASA's goals to journey to Mars. Keeping realistic in funds and resources JSC 2.016 is a mantra adopted by NASA employees to do more with the resources they have. At the coffee Ochoa shared that the goals of JSC 2.016 is to ensure our work is pushing forward NASA's current missions, enabling change by listening to and adopting new ideas, removing obstacles that hinder progress, and share NASA's missions with communities.

Concerns

Before attending the coffee I polled JSC interns and Co-Ops to see if they had  concerns and questions to share. Within moments of the coffee starting Ochoa and Geyer shared essential insights on how NASA’s mission is evolving in a five, ten and beyond year sense - it was very Carl Sagan Cosmos-esk. Once I was brought to this level of long-term thinking my key concern broadened from specifics. During my opportunity to talk I mentioned the concern about the vagueness of the Journey to Mars mission compared to the solidity of Space Launch System, Orion, Space Station and Commercial Crew missions. I was surprised to hear that fluidity of our Journey to Mars is actually intended. Discoveries and knowledge from Space Launch System, Orion, Space Station and Commercial Crew missions are necessary before solidifying the Journey to Mars. During those missions we will collect a lot of data on the vehicles that will be carrying our astronauts, learn new things we didn’t plan to learn and test the waters with deep space collaboration with private industries and international partners. Fluidity is the nature of NASA’s long-term impact on humanity which is unique to all other forces in the world advocating for short term instant gratification (short term can even mean one year, eight years and even decades compared to humanity as a whole). NASA must deliver what is expected of us and beyond on these current solid missions to ensure more solidified Mars related mission in the future.

We Still Need NASA

With all the SpaceX, Lockheed Martin and general private space industry hype some may have the impression that we no longer need NASA for space exploration. Articles titled "U.S. government should fund private space companies, not NASA" paint false claims of competition between government space missions and private industry. During this coffee this misconception of competition was expunged and I was re-energized about why we still need NASA. NASA, as a subset of the US Government, awards contracts to private space companies that would otherwise not be able to pursue these aerospace endeavors because they do not bring in a profit. The government can risk to make these long-term investments without certainty of short-term instant gratification like profit. There is a tendency to forget that NASA has been contracting work to private companies since the 1960s. Grumman Aircraft was contracted to build the Lunar Excursion Module (LEM) in 1962. Being a government agency, NASA can foster a unique relationship between other countries space agencies such as ROSCOSMOS, JAXA and ESA. Through decades NASA is the government agency that has lead the cohesiveness and steady beat of the drum of space exploration progress.

43 Acres of Aerospace: NASA Co-Op #2 Week Five & Six

If you think NASA is dead then you have probably never personally visited a NASA Center. 27 Johnson Space students had the awesome opportunity to tour the Michoud (Meh-shood) Assembly Facility. Here the Space Launch System (SLS), largest rocket in the world with 20% more thrust than Saturn V, is being built. SLS will send an unmanned Orion Space Craft around the Moon in Fall of 2018. In the history of spaceflight unmanned missions are common to ensure astronauts will be safe. The 43 acre indoor assembly facility is so large you have to ride a tram indoors for a tour. We saw liquid nitrogen tanks, liquid oxygen tanks, rings, domes and all the tools to safely weld/ fasten these parts together. Employees could be seen in hard hats and florescent yellow vests monitoring the tank's construction and creation of parts.

North of Michoud is Stennis Space Center, masters of engine tests and keeper of partners across the US Government. Buildings dedicated to work done by the Navy, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Universities and US Geological Survey for maximum collaboration. Stennis is unique because it is surrounded by a 125,000 acre acoustical buffer zone comprised of local trees. Despite buffer efforts past tests have been known to shatter windows! We were scheduled to see an engine test at test stand A above but we unfortunately missed due to engine technical difficulties. Aerospace engineering is hard guys, I'm glad they are doing what they got to do to ensure a successful mission.

I encourage you to visit a NASA center and take a tour of the facilities offered by the respective center's visitor centers. See for your self the progress toward our journey to mars. Johnson Space offers a tram tour to Mission Control, Mock Up Facility and the Shuttle Systems Test Facility. I am sure other centers offer similar opportunities. NASA visitor centers can be found here.

Space Launch System (SLS) booster test screen shots from today. This booster uses 5.5 tons of propellent a second! The booster will help sling shot an unmanned Orion Space Craft around the Moon in late 2018. In mid July I will going to a SLS engine test in person.

Chapter Nine: Bro is NOT nonchalant

you already know bro.

this took a while bcs i wasn't feeling good (physically and mentally) so enjoy this longish chapter :3

the next one im not sure when i'll make and post but hopefully it won't take months again

masterlist | next chapter

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