![]() Simulations were also used to provide critical support testing of Orion’s launch abort system, mounted on top of the crew module, for use in an emergency evacuation. Researchers also used simulation models to predict the launch and entry environments for the capsule. To monitor Orion’s thermal protection system, engineers and technicians at Ames worked with other NASA centers to design, develop, and fabricate flight instrumentation sensors for the heat shield and backshell of the capsule. The material has been extensively tested at Ames’ Arc Jet Complex in preparation for Artemis I. During descent, the Avcoat ablates, or burns off in a controlled fashion, transporting heat away from Orion. To withstand those extreme temperatures, the heat shield’s external layer is composed of a material called Avcoat. Ames’ Arc Jet Complex can simulate this environment and is where the heat shield that protects the crew module was tested. The Orion crew module’s descent back home requires a trip through Earth’s atmosphere, where temperatures can rise to levels half as hot as the surface of the Sun. These integrated data systems ensure essential information can be quickly accessed at critical moments during a launch, and several of these systems will be used when the SLS rocket launches Artemis I. The Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) group at Ames has also leveraged a decade of work developing digital tools for mission operations to support Artemis. Ames’ state of the art supercomputing facilities also enabled aerodynamics to be modelled digitally, allowing simulations of the SLS’s launch to discover any potential problems long before countdown, while saving on time, resources, and taxpayer dollars by going digital. Several different Ames teams also supported testing for the SLS, including the Mission and Fault Management, Engineering Risk Assessment, and Computational Fluid Dynamics teams. This unique paint allows engineers to see the distribution of pressure on a spacecraft created by the high winds of liftoff in ways that were not previously possible. Ames is home to the largest wind tunnel in the world, and a host of other testing facilities.įor the SLS, the Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel, 11 by 11 feet in size, was used alongside novel testing technologies like pressure sensitive paint. This environment has been replicated at Ames from the dawn of the space age using wind tunnels – large tunnels with air inside to replicate objects moving in flight. Ames used longstanding and modern techniques to help ensure the SLS will be ready for liftoff.īreaking free from Earth’s gravity requires high velocities that create fierce winds for a spacecraft leaving the planet, and any rocket preparing to make the journey must be tested in these conditions prior to launch. In this uncrewed mission, the SLS will launch from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida carrying the Orion spacecraft, which will travel about 40,000 miles beyond the Moon and return to Earth, paving the path for future human explorers to follow. ![]()
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