Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter
Fabrication of the pathfinding version of NASA's Orion crew capsule slated for its inaugural unmanned test flight in December is entering its final stages at the Kennedy Space Center launch site.
Engineers and technicians have completed the installation of Orion's the back shell panels which will protect the spacecraft and future astronauts from the searing heat of reentry and scorching temperatures exceeding 3,150 degrees.
Orion is slated to launch on its inaugural unmanned mission dubbed Exploration Flight Test-1 ( EFT-1) test flight in December 2014 atop the mammoth, triple barreled United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral, Florida.
The cone-shaped back shell actually has a rather familiar look since its comprised of 970 black thermal protection tiles - the same tiles which protected the belly of the space shuttles during three decades and 135 missions of returning from space.
But the space shuttles traveled at 17,000 miles per hour, while Orion will be coming in at 20,000 miles per hour on this first flight test. The faster a spacecraft travels through Earth's atmosphere, the more heat it generates. So even though the hottest the space shuttle tiles got was about 2,300 degrees Fahrenheit, the Orion back shell could get up to 3,150 degrees, despite being in a cooler area of the vehicle.
Orion is NASA's next generation human rated vehicle now under development to replace the now retired space shuttle. The state-of-the-art spacecraft will carry America's astronauts on voyages venturing farther into deep space than ever before - past the Moon to Asteroids, Mars and Beyond!
The two-orbit, four- hour EFT-1 flight will lift the Orion spacecraft and its attached second stage to an orbital altitude of 3,600 miles, about 15 times higher than the International Space Station (ISS) - and farther than any human spacecraft has journeyed in 40 years.
Dr. Ken Kremer is a speaker, scientist, freelance science journalist (Princeton, NJ) and photographer whose articles, space exploration images and Mars mosaics have appeared in magazines, books, websites and calanders including Astronomy Picture of the Day, NBC, BBC, SPACE.com, Spaceflight Now and the covers of Aviation Week & Space Technology, Spaceflight and the Explorers Club magazines. Ken has presented at numerous educational institutions, civic & religious organizations, museums and astronomy clubs. Ken has reported first hand from the Kennedy Space Center, Cape Canaveral and NASA Wallops on over 40 launches including 8 shuttle launches. He lectures on both Human and Robotic spaceflight - www.kenkremer.com. Follow Ken on Facebook and Twitter
Entities 0 Name: Orion Count: 6 1 Name: NASA Count: 3 2 Name: Cape Canaveral Count: 2 3 Name: Ken Count: 1 4 Name: Explorers Club Count: 1 5 Name: Princeton Count: 1 6 Name: Dr. Ken Kremer Count: 1 7 Name: Florida Count: 1 8 Name: BBC Count: 1 9 Name: Moon Count: 1 10 Name: Delta IV Heavy Count: 1 11 Name: United Launch Alliance Count: 1 12 Name: NBC Count: 1 13 Name: Earth Count: 1 14 Name: America Count: 1 15 Name: SPACE.com Count: 1 16 Name: Aviation Week & Space Technology Count: 1 Related 0 Url: http://ift.tt/XVGbO1 Title: NASA Is Building 'World's Most Powerful Rocket' Description: NASA is one step closer to building its next spaceship. Officials approved the Space Launch System's transition from the formula phase to the development phase on Wednesday. NASA administrator Charles Bolden called it a "journey of scientific and human exploration that leads to Mars."
Post a Comment for "Heat Protecting Back Shell Tiles Installed on NASA's Orion EFT"