[meteorite-list] NASA's Orion Sees Flawless Fairing Separation in Second Test

[Ron Baalke]

November 7, 2013

Rachel Kraft
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-1100
rachel.h.kraft at nasa.gov 

Brandi Dean
Johnson Space Center, Houston
281-483-5111
brandi.k.dean at nasa.gov 
     
RELEASE 13-328
     
NASA's Orion Sees Flawless Fairing Separation in Second Test

The three massive panels protecting a test version of NASA's Orion  
multipurpose crew vehicle successfully fell away from the spacecraft  
Wednesday in a test of a system that will protect Orion during its first trip  
to space next year.

The panels, called fairings, encase Orion's service module and shield it from  
the heat, wind and acoustics it will experience during the spacecraft's climb  
into space. The service module, located directly below the crew capsule, will  
contain the in-space propulsion capability for orbital transfer, attitude  
control and high-altitude ascent aborts when Orion begins carrying humans in  
2021. It also will generate and store power and provide thermal control,  
water and air for the astronauts. The service module will remain connected to  
the crew module until just before the capsule returns to Earth. During  
Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1), the spacecraft's flight test next year, a  
test service module will be attached to the capsule.

"Hardware separation events like this are absolutely critical to the mission  
and some of the more complicated things we do," said Mark Geyer, Orion  
program manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "We want to know  
we've got the design exactly right and that it can be counted on in space  
before we ever launch."

Unlike conventional rocket fairings, these panels are designed to support  
half of the weight of Orion's crew module and launch abort system during  
launch and ascent, which improves performance, saves weight and maximizes the  
size and capability of the spacecraft. Each panel is 14 feet high and 13 feet  
wide.

The fairings' work is done soon after launch. They must be jettisoned when  
Orion has reached an altitude of about 560,000 feet. To make that possible,  
six breakable joints and six explosive separation bolts are used to connect  
the fairing panels to the rocket and each other. In a carefully timed  
sequence, the joints are fired apart, followed shortly by the bolts. Once all  
of the pyrotechnics have detonated, six spring assemblies will push the three  
panels away, leaving the service and crew module exposed to space as they  
travel onward.

This test, conducted by Orion's primary contractor, Lockheed Martin, at the  
company's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility, was the second test of the fairing  
separation system. The first occurred in June, when one of the three fairing  
panels did not completely detach. Engineers determined the issue was caused  
when the top edge of the fairing came into contact with the adapter ring and  
kept it from rotating away and releasing from the spacecraft. Because of the  
engineers' confidence in successfully eliminating the interference, they  
maintained plans to increase this week's test fidelity by emulating the  
thermal loads experienced by the fairings during ascent. They used strip  
heaters to heat one of the fairings to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and simulate  
the temperatures the panels will experience.

Exploration Flight Test-1 is scheduled for September 2014. During that  
flight, an uncrewed Orion will launch to an altitude of 3,600 miles, more  
than 15 times farther into space than the International Space Station. It  
will orbit Earth twice before re-entering the atmosphere as fast as 20,000  
mph.

The data gathered during the flight will influence design decisions,  
authenticate existing computer models, and innovative new approaches to space  
systems development It also will reduce overall mission risks and costs for  
subsequent Orion missions to an asteroid and eventually Mars.

For information about Orion and EFT-1, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/orion 

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