Author Topic: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017  (Read 15185 times)

Online Chris Bergin

Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #20 on: 12/13/2017 02:55 pm »
Yeah, we know ;D
Support NSF via L2 -- Help improve NSF -- Site Rules/Feedback/Updates
**Not a L2 member? Whitelist this forum in your adblocker to support the site and ensure full functionality.**

Offline eeergo

Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #21 on: 12/13/2017 02:59 pm »
No drop!

Door not opening.

Trying again tomorrow.
« Last Edit: 12/13/2017 03:02 pm by eeergo »
-DaviD-

Offline dawei

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 974
  • Liked: 51
  • Likes Given: 235
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #22 on: 12/13/2017 03:02 pm »
Bummer.  But it would be rather challenging to get the capsule out the door with the door shut.  Having walked into a glass door before myself I'm going to go out on a limb and say they made the right call to abort. ;)

Offline dawei

  • Member
  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 974
  • Liked: 51
  • Likes Given: 235
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #23 on: 12/13/2017 03:12 pm »
Looks like Mike Sarafin is no longer a flight director but is rather the Mission Manager for Exploration Systems Development (ESD), EM-1 and EM-2 at Nasa HQ.

Online Chris Bergin

Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #24 on: 12/14/2017 12:22 pm »
Do we know they are still going for it again today? It's been silent on the channels.
Support NSF via L2 -- Help improve NSF -- Site Rules/Feedback/Updates
**Not a L2 member? Whitelist this forum in your adblocker to support the site and ensure full functionality.**

Offline Rocket Science

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 10586
  • NASA Educator Astronaut Candidate Applicant 2002
  • Liked: 4548
  • Likes Given: 13523
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #25 on: 12/14/2017 02:08 pm »
Bump: Anybody?
"The laws of physics are unforgiving"
~Rob: Physics instructor, Aviator

Online Chris Bergin

Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #26 on: 12/14/2017 02:08 pm »
Bump: Anybody?

Still nothing. Doesn't sound like they are going for it today.
Support NSF via L2 -- Help improve NSF -- Site Rules/Feedback/Updates
**Not a L2 member? Whitelist this forum in your adblocker to support the site and ensure full functionality.**

Online oldAtlas_Eguy

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 5304
  • Florida
  • Liked: 5005
  • Likes Given: 1444
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #27 on: 12/14/2017 05:29 pm »
Bump: Anybody?

Still nothing. Doesn't sound like they are going for it today.
The aircraft system failure may be more complex than first envisioned and has grounded the aircraft until the craft is fully repaired. C17's are a hard resource to get. So this one is probably the only one NASA has access to for the test. So no test until the aircraft is fixed. Plus the capsule may have had to be offloaded while the repair work was being done which would also increase the test's delay.

So everyone be patient.

Offline StarGeezer

  • Member
  • Posts: 71
  • Liked: 2
  • Likes Given: 23
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #28 on: 12/14/2017 05:39 pm »
I want PATIENCE and I want it NOW!!

Online FutureSpaceTourist

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 48159
  • UK
    • Plan 28
  • Liked: 81645
  • Likes Given: 36933
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #29 on: 12/15/2017 01:55 pm »
Quote
Orion parachute test being conducted right now with full open mains

https://twitter.com/nasa_nerd/status/941682482512060416

Online FutureSpaceTourist

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 48159
  • UK
    • Plan 28
  • Liked: 81645
  • Likes Given: 36933
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #30 on: 12/15/2017 01:56 pm »
Quote
Touchdown of Orion at the Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona

https://twitter.com/nasa_nerd/status/941682805947461632

Online FutureSpaceTourist

  • Global Moderator
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 48159
  • UK
    • Plan 28
  • Liked: 81645
  • Likes Given: 36933
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 13, 2017
« Reply #31 on: 12/16/2017 06:45 am »
Quote
Dec. 15, 2017

Orion Parachute Tests Prove Out Complex System for Human Deep Space Missions

When NASA’s Orion spacecraft hurtles toward Earth’s surface during its return from deep-space missions, the capsule’s system of 11 parachutes will assemble itself in the air and slow the spacecraft from 300 mph to a relatively gentle 20 mph for splashdown in the Pacific Ocean in the span of about 10 minutes. As the astronauts inside descend toward the water on future missions, their lives will be hanging by a series of threads that have been thoroughly ruggedized, tested and validated to ensure the parachute-assisted end of Orion missions are a success.

Through a series of tests in the Arizona desert, the engineers refining Orion’s parachutes have made the road to certifying them for flights with astronauts look easy, including a successful qualification test Dec. 13 that evaluated a failure case in which only two of the systems three orange and white main parachutes deploy after several other parachutes in the system used to slow and stabilize Orion endure high aerodynamic stresses. But behind the scenes, engineers are working hard to understand and perfect the system that must be able to work across a broad range of potential environmental conditions and bring the crew home.

While Orion’s parachutes may look similar to those used during the Apollo-era to the untrained eye, engineers can’t simply take that parachute system and scale it up to accommodate Orion’s much larger size. Through testing and analysis, technicians have developed Orion’s parachutes to be lighter, better understood and more capable than Apollo’s. NASA has also been able to adjust the system as elements of the spacecraft, such as attachment points, have matured.

“Through our testing, we’ve addressed some known failures that can happen in complex parachute systems to make the system more reliable,” said Koki Machin, chief engineer for the system. “We built upon the strong foundation laid by Apollo engineers and figured out how to manage the stresses on the system during deployment more efficiently, decrease the mass of the parachutes by using high tech fabric materials rather than metal cables for the risers that attach the parachute to the spacecraft, and improve how we pack the parachute into Orion so they deploy more reliably.”

Orion’s parachute system is also incredibly complex. About 10 miles of Kevlar lines attach the spacecraft to the outer rim of nearly 12,000 square feet of parachute canopy material – over four times the average square footage of a house – and must not get tangled during deployment. In addition to the fabric parachutes themselves, there are cannon-like mortars that fire to release different parachutes. Embedded in several parachutes are fuses set to burn at specific times that ignite charges to push blades through bullet proof materials at precise moments, slowly unfurling the parachutes to continue the sequential phases of the deployment sequence. All of these elements must be developed to be reliable for the various angles, wind conditions and speeds in which Orion could land.

With the analysis capabilities that exist today and the historical data available, engineers have determined that approximately 20-25 tests, rather than the more than 100 performed during the Apollo era, will give them enough opportunities to find areas of weakness in Orion’s parachute system and fix them. After the three remaining final tests next year, the system will be qualified for missions with astronauts.

“There are things we can model with computers and those we can’t. We have to verify the latter through repeated system tests by dropping a test article out of a military aircraft from miles in altitude and pushing the parachutes to their various limits,” said CJ Johnson, project manager for the parachute system. “Lots of subtle changes can affect parachute performance and the testing we do helps us account for the broad range of possible environments the parachutes will have to operate in.”

Orion parachute engineers have also provided data and insight from the tests to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners. NASA has matured computer modeling of how the system works in various scenarios and helped partner companies understand certain elements of parachute systems, such as seams and joints, for example. In some cases, NASA’s work has provided enough information for the partners to reduce the need for some developmental parachute tests.

“Orion’s parachute system is an extremely lightweight, delicate collection of pieces that absolutely must act together simultaneously or it will fail,” said Machin. “It alone, among all the equipment on the crew module, must assemble itself in mid-air at a variety of possible velocities and orientations.”

Parachute testing is just one part of the vast expanse of work being performed across the country that enable humans to venture farther into space than ever before.

Last Updated: Dec. 15, 2017
Editor: Mark Garcia
Tags:  Commercial Crew, Orion Spacecraft

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/orion-parachute-tests-prove-out-complex-system-for-human-deep-space-missions

Photo 1 caption:

Quote
Two pilot parachutes pull out two main parachutes of the Orion spacecraft during a test Dec. 15, 2017.
Credits: U.S. Army

Photo 2 caption:

Quote
NASA is testing Orion’s parachutes to qualify the system for missions with astronauts.
Credits: U.S. Army

Offline SciNews

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 812
  • Romania
  • Liked: 737
  • Likes Given: 6
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #32 on: 12/17/2017 02:00 pm »
Orion Spacecraft Parachutes Test, 15 December 2017

Offline deruch

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2422
  • California
  • Liked: 2006
  • Likes Given: 5634
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #33 on: 12/18/2017 12:24 am »
Looks pretty wobbly under those drogue chutes.
Shouldn't reality posts be in "Advanced concepts"?  --Nomadd

Offline A_M_Swallow

  • Elite Veteran
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 8906
  • South coast of England
  • Liked: 500
  • Likes Given: 223
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #34 on: 12/18/2017 05:33 am »
Looks pretty wobbly under those drogue chutes.

Very wobbly. The bottom is almost vertical several times.
« Last Edit: 12/18/2017 05:34 am by A_M_Swallow »

Offline woods170

  • IRAS fan
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12095
  • IRAS fan
  • The Netherlands
  • Liked: 18198
  • Likes Given: 12158
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #35 on: 12/18/2017 07:34 am »
Looks pretty wobbly under those drogue chutes.

Very wobbly. The bottom is almost vertical several times.

The parachute test article does not reflect an actual Orion CM. It's significantly shorter than an actual Orion CM and has different aerodynamic behaviour. The reason is that it has to fit into the cargo hold of a C-17 (which it barely does, even with the squatted shape): https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/gallery/parachute_testing/jsc2013e028111.html


Compare the PTA wobble against the drogue phase of an actual Orion CM on the EFT-1 flight here:

« Last Edit: 12/18/2017 07:42 am by woods170 »

Offline Helodriver

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1076
  • Liked: 5971
  • Likes Given: 700
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #36 on: 12/18/2017 07:56 am »
All the more reason I find it surprising and a missed opportunity that there is not going to be a full parachute deployment as part of the Orion In Flight Abort test coming up. Flight shape and weight capsule at flight parameters dropped onto the desert floor after ejecting data recorders.

Offline woods170

  • IRAS fan
  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 12095
  • IRAS fan
  • The Netherlands
  • Liked: 18198
  • Likes Given: 12158
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #37 on: 12/18/2017 08:52 am »
All the more reason I find it surprising and a missed opportunity that there is not going to be a full parachute deployment as part of the Orion In Flight Abort test coming up. Flight shape and weight capsule at flight parameters dropped onto the desert floor after ejecting data recorders.
Not desert floor because the in-flight abort test will launch from CCAFS over the Atlantic.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/nasa-moves-up-critical-crew-safety-launch-abort-test

Quote from: NASA
Engineers at several NASA centers already are building the Orion test article that has many of the design features and the same mass as the capsule that will carry crew. Because the test is designed to evaluate Orion’s launch abort capabilities, the crew module used for AA-2 will not deploy parachutes after the abort system is jettisoned, nor will it have a reaction control system with thrusters needed to help orient the capsule for a parachute-assisted descent and splashdown after the LAS is jettisoned.

The reason for all of this is budget (or better: lack of budget). Doing a full test would require construction of an additional test vehicle with a full-up Earth Landing System and a full-up RSC set-up. Basically: a second parachute test article, with added RCS, but this time with the full shape. The way NASA does business this would cost several millions of dollars extra. Now they can get away with basically a mass-and-shape simulator (in other words: a pure boilerplate).
« Last Edit: 12/18/2017 08:53 am by woods170 »

Offline Lars-J

  • Senior Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 6809
  • California
  • Liked: 8485
  • Likes Given: 5384
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #38 on: 12/18/2017 06:12 pm »
All the more reason I find it surprising and a missed opportunity that there is not going to be a full parachute deployment as part of the Orion In Flight Abort test coming up. Flight shape and weight capsule at flight parameters dropped onto the desert floor after ejecting data recorders.

The reason for all of this is budget (or better: lack of budget). Doing a full test would require construction of an additional test vehicle with a full-up Earth Landing System and a full-up RSC set-up. Basically: a second parachute test article, with added RCS, but this time with the full shape. The way NASA does business this would cost several millions of dollars extra. Now they can get away with basically a mass-and-shape simulator (in other words: a pure boilerplate).

This program is not being starved for funds. Not even close.

Offline Khadgars

  • Full Member
  • ****
  • Posts: 1750
  • Orange County, California
  • Liked: 1132
  • Likes Given: 3156
Re: Orion spacecraft parachute test December 15, 2017
« Reply #39 on: 12/27/2017 03:49 pm »
Looks pretty wobbly under those drogue chutes.

Very wobbly. The bottom is almost vertical several times.

The parachute test article does not reflect an actual Orion CM. It's significantly shorter than an actual Orion CM and has different aerodynamic behaviour. The reason is that it has to fit into the cargo hold of a C-17 (which it barely does, even with the squatted shape): https://www.nasa.gov/exploration/systems/mpcv/gallery/parachute_testing/jsc2013e028111.html


Compare the PTA wobble against the drogue phase of an actual Orion CM on the EFT-1 flight here:



Thanks Woods.I thought the whole point of this test was to simulate, sub-optimal conditions. 

"During the test, a model Orion spacecraft will be dropped from a C-17 aircraft flying at an altitude of 35,000 feet. Engineers will evaluate a simulated scenario in which one of the three main parachutes fails to open after the deployment of several other parachutes that help slow and stabilize the spacecraft."
Evil triumphs when good men do nothing - Thomas Jefferson

Tags:
 

Advertisement NovaTech
Advertisement Northrop Grumman
Advertisement
Advertisement Margaritaville Beach Resort South Padre Island
Advertisement Brady Kenniston
Advertisement NextSpaceflight
Advertisement Nathan Barker Photography
0