Boeing [NYSE: BA] has completed a developmental heat shield for NASA's Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that is designed to protect future astronauts from extreme heat during re-entry into Earth's atmosphere following lunar and low-Earth orbit missions.
NASA Ames Research Center last year awarded Boeing Advanced Systems a contract to deliver a Thermal Protection System (TPS) Manufacturing Demonstration Unit (MDU) for the Orion capsule as part of NASA's Constellation program to return humans to the moon and on to Mars.
Development of the five-meter wide TPS MDU began in late 2006 at Boeing in Huntington Beach, Calif. Last month, a NASA Ames technical and quality inspection team successfully completed an acceptance review of the unit. Boeing today shipped the TPS MDU to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida where it will undergo additional inspection.
Boeing's baseline TPS is fabricated from Phenolic Impregnated Carbon Ablator (PICA) material. Fiber Materials Inc., of Biddeford, Maine, produces the material under a contract to Boeing. PICA is being considered for Orion's heat shield due to its proven performance on NASA's Stardust spacecraft heat shield.
The "TPS MDU" consists of an integrated concept made up of multiple PICA components. Each piece is significantly larger than typical space shuttle tiles, greatly reducing parts count and complexity.
Boeing installed the TPS MDU onto a NASA-provided surrogate carrier structure representing the size and shape of the flight heat shield structure, but fabricated from alternate materials pending development of the final flight structure.
Ares I Upper Stage, Boeing The contract type is cost-plus-award-fee and the period of performance is Sept. 1, 2007, through Dec. 31, 2016. The estimated contract value for design team support and the manufacture of the test units and six production flight units is $514.7 million. The selection resulted from a full and open competition.
Crew Module Mockup, Orion Dryden is using the mockup to develop and verify integration and installation procedures for things like avionics, instrumentation, and wire harness routing in advance of the arrival of the first abort flight test article, called "Boilerplate 1."
Orion Spacecraft, Key Review Once all project-level reviews are complete, the Constellation Program will hold another full review to update baseline requirements. A lunar architecture systems review of equipment associated with surface exploration and science activities on the moon is expected in the spring of 2009.
Testing Orion The new reverberant acoustic chamber will subject Orion to the intense vibrations and shockwaves it will endure during launch and ascent. In the vacuum chamber, infrared lamps and cold walls flushed with liquid nitrogen will simulate the extreme hot and cold temperatures of space. The electromagnetic interference tests will also take place inside the vacuum chamber, which blocks radio frequencies and cell phone signals. Electromagnetic interference equipment positioned on moving platforms will challenge the reliability of Orion's communications and electronics systems.
Space shuttle Atlantis made an important step toward space on Saturday morning when engineers and technicians rolled the launch-ready stack to Launch Pad 39A. Atlantis is scheduled to stay at the pad for about three weeks undergoing final preparations for its mission STS-122 targeted to begin Dec. 6.
The mammoth crawler-transporter began moving the stack to the pad at 4:43 a.m. EST. The 3-mile trip took approximately six hours and was hard down at 11:51 a.m.
Bolted atop a mobile launch platform, space shuttle Atlantis began its move early Saturday morning to Launch Pad 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Technicians and engineers at Kennedy spent the past week putting the finishing touches on the spacecraft, its fuel tank and booster rockets in preparation for the rollout before launch. Liftoff is targeted for Dec. 6 on an 11-day mission to the International Space Station.
NASA will break ground for a new test launch pad at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range, N.M., at 8:30 a.m. CST, Wednesday, Nov. 14. The pad will be the site of a series of tests of a launch abort system that will help ensure the safety of astronauts aboard the new Orion spacecraft.
NASA's Constellation Program is developing Orion to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond. Engineers will use the test results to help design Orion's launch abort system.
Space shuttle Discovery descended to a smooth landing at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., concluding a successful assembly mission to the International Space Station. With Commander Pam Melroy and Pilot George Zamka at the controls, Discovery landed at 1:01:17 p.m. EST. The mission lasted 15 days, 2 hours, 24 minutes and 2 seconds.