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VIRTUALISATION Boys on Orion spaceship might be beached if bad vibrations not fixed on Ares
VIRTUALISATION Boys on Orion spaceship might be beached if bad vibrations not fixed on Ares | Boys on Orion spaceship might be beached if bad vibrations not fixed on Ares |
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| by William Atkins | |
| Wednesday, 09 April 2008 | |
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The Ares I launch vehicle will be lifting the new Orion space capsule and its crew within the developing Project Constellation (Constellation), targeted to start flights in 2015, after the old Space Transportation System (STS) program and its fleet of space shuttles are retired in 2010. However, early computer simulations (by NASA engineers) of the Ares I crew launch vehicle during the first few minutes of powered flight found that thrust oscillations shook so violently during liftoff that vibrational loads had the possibility of destroying the vehicle and killing its human crew. Steve Cook, manager of Ares Projects for NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center (Huntsville, Alabama), stated that the problem is well known in all solid rocket motors. The Ares I rocket will use one rocket on its five-segment solid rocket booster (SRB), similar to the two rockets on the two four-segment SRBs used for the space shuttle missions. As the first stage fires, energy disturbances from the firing of the solid rocket motor build in the flow of fuel. These disturbances produce swirling vortices of gas. Unfortunately—unlike the SRB rocket used in the space shuttle program that has a frequency different from the rest of the launch vehicle—the SRB rocket used for the Ares I rocket has a frequency that is very similar to the frequency of the Orion capsule and the rest of the launch vehicle. Generally, when two separate and distinct frequencies (A and B) are equal (A = B), they add to each other making for the resultant amplitude (C) that is equal to the sum of the separate amplitudes (C = A + B = A + A = 2A or, equivalently, C = A + B = B + B = 2B). Consequently, the amplified frequency makes for much greater vibrations within the entire spacecraft. After further analysis of the possible problem, NASA concluded the vibration was not as bad as initially thought. However, it is still two to three times greater than experienced with shuttle launches—thus, still outside the safety range. Thus, NASA engineers have looked into several fixes to the problem. What are these possible fixes? Please read on for additional information. |
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