Technology news and Jobs 
Science Ares 1 rocket vibrations to be quelled with weights and shock absorbers
Science Ares 1 rocket vibrations to be quelled with weights and shock absorbers | Ares 1 rocket vibrations to be quelled with weights and shock absorbers |
|
| by William Atkins | |
| Wednesday, 20 August 2008 | |
|
Page 1 of 2   
Featured Whitepaper
5 Best Practices for Smartphone Support
Science DiscussionsThe Ares 1 rocket will take astronauts into space inside their Orion crew capsule as part of the new Project Constellation for the United States. The first manned flight is due around 2015. However, early in the design phase of the Ares 1, NASA engineers found that combustion in the solid-fuel motor would spread excessive vibration throughout the multi-stage Ares 1 rocket and the Orion crew capsule. Although the larger-than-desired vibrations would only appear for a few seconds—at the end of the firing of the first stage (centered at 115 seconds into the flight)—the motions could very likely affect negatively the performance of astronauts during launch, especially in an emergency, if one should occur. The NASA teleconference held the morning of August 19th relayed the message from NASA project managers that they plan to limit such vibrations to “one-quarter of a g force." That is, 25% of the force of gravity (g, but sometimes also stated as “G”) on Earth. In other words, the astronauts will still experience several g-forces during ascent in their Orion capsule, but the vibrations (themselves) will contribute only 0.25g to the overall force exerted down on them. Page two continues.... |
| < Next story in category | Previous story in the category > |
|---|
