William Atkins
Saturday, 22 November 2008 20:23
Science -
Space
Page 1 of 2
The Orion team at NASA successfully tested for the first time its abort motor, which will be used in case the crew encounters an emergengy during launch of its Orion crew exploration vehicle. The major milestone brings the U.S. manned space program one more step closer to landing astronauts on the Moon by 2020.
The article “
NASA, ATK successfully test first Orion launch abort motor” states that
“Flames shot more than 100 feet high in a successful 5.5-second ground test firing Thursday, Nov. 20, of a launch abort motor for NASA's next generation spacecraft, the Orion crew exploration vehicle.”
The test was performed at the
Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, facility in Promontory, Utah.
The motor is part of the Orion Launch Abort System (LAS), which is a part of
Project Constellation, the overall NASA program consisting of Orion, Ares, and other equipment used as the next generation program to replace the Space Transportation System (STS) program, which primarily consists of the space shuttle fleet.
The LAS consists of a tower with a motor run on solid propellants. The system is used only in emergency situation to quickly extract the Orion capsule from its Ares I rocket (launch vehicle), either while sitting on the launch pad or during the early part of ascent.
During the Apollo program of the 1960s-1970s, the system was called the Apollo Launch Escape System (
LES).
Read more about the LAS at the NASASpaceFlight.com article “
ATK win $62.5m contract for Orion LAS,” along with viewing a picture of the LAS.
Please read page two to learn more about the Launch Escape System.
