NASA Awards Contract for Suborbital Flight Services

Blue Origin's New Shepard vehicle is seen here taking to the skies from the company’s West Texas launch site. Blue Origin is one of six companies that will integrate and fly technology payloads in support of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.

Credits: Blue Origin

NASA has selected Blue Origin, LLC, in Van Horn, Texas, to integrate and fly technology payloads near the boundary of space on their New Shepard suborbital spacecraft in support of NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.

This is the sixth company selected for an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract under the Suborbital Reusable Launch Vehicle (sRLV) Flight and Payload Integration Services solicitation, which has a combined value not to exceed $45 million.

Starting June 1, the contract with Blue Origin will compete with the other program companies for task orders to deliver payload integration and flight services. All task orders must be initiated within the contract's three-year performance period.

“We are pleased to have Blue Origin join our cadre of Flight Opportunities service providers,” said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator for NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) in Washington. “Adding additional flight providers enables NASA and the broader aerospace community to demonstrate and transition space technologies, developing new capabilities faster and, potentially, at lower cost.”

This contract is a continuation of contracts awarded in 2014 and 2015, providing commercial capabilities using proven flight systems. The contract allows for ramping on of new vendors and the addition of new flight profiles on at least an annual basis, as determined by the government’s requirements.

Blue Origin will join the following firms currently under contract:

• Masten Space Systems, Inc., Mojave, California
• Near Space Corporation, Tillamook, Oregon
• UP Aerospace, Inc., Littleton, Colorado
• Virgin Galactic, LLC, New York
• World View Enterprises, Inc., Tucson, Arizona

Through the Flight Opportunities Program, STMD selects promising technologies from industry, academia and government, and tests them on commercial launch vehicles. The Flight Opportunities Program is funded by STMD, and managed at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center in Edwards, California. STMD is responsible for developing the crosscutting, pioneering, new technologies and capabilities needed by the agency to achieve its current and future missions.

Development of High-Power Solar Electric Propulsion

A prototype 13-kilowatt Hall thruster is tested at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. This prototype demonstrated the technology readiness needed for industry to continue the development of high-power solar electric propulsion into a flight-qualified system.

On Tuesday, April 19, 2016, NASA awarded a contract to Aerojet Rocketdyne, Inc. to design and develop an advanced electric propulsion system that will significantly advance the nation's commercial space capabilities, and enable deep space exploration missions, including the robotic portion of NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) and its journey to Mars.

NASA has been refining development of spaceflight electric propulsion technology for more than five decades. The first successful ion electric propulsion thruster was developed at Glenn Research Center in the 1950s. The first operational test of an electric propulsion system in space was Glenn’s Space Electric Rocket Test 1, which flew on July 20, 1964. Since then, NASA has increasingly relied on solar electric propulsion for long-duration, deep-space robotic science and exploration missions.

An advanced electric propulsion system could potentially increase spaceflight transportation fuel efficiency by 10 times over current chemical propulsion technology and more than double thrust capability compared to current electric propulsion technology. The next step will be to demonstrate this new electric propulsion system in space. Development of this technology will advance future in-space transportation capability for a variety of deep space human and robotic exploration missions, such as the NASA’s Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM), as well as private commercial space missions.

Image Credit: NASA

Last Updated: April 22, 2016

Editor: Sarah Loft

Space Launch System

April 13, 2016

New Test Structures Will Have NASA SLS Rocket Hardware Feeling the Force

This artist concept shows the 50-foot engine section test structure under construction at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The engine section for the Space Launch System will be put inside the structure and subjected to millions of pounds of force -- similar to vehicle loads experienced during launch.

Credits: NASA/MSFC

This artist concept depicts the 62-foot-tall intertank test structure under construction at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The intertank for the Space Launch System will undergo thermal conditioning and structural loads testing in the Marshall Structural Test Laboratory.

Credits: NASA/MSFC

Twelve main tower panels, built and delivered by Weldall Manufacturing Inc. of Waukesha, Wisconsin, for the intertank test structure have been installed at the Building 4619 load test annex at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. The two test towers, shown here, attach to the intertank test article and simulate the force created by the solid rocket boosters during launch, flight and booster separation.

Credits: NASA/MSFC

If walls could talk, Building 4619 at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, would have a lot to say about testing rockets.

The multipurpose, high-bay test facility has been a hotbed for all types of testing, including loads, acoustics, vibration, extreme temperatures, high-and-low pressures, and environments that simulate the cold, black conditions of outer space. More recently, it served as the hub for a series of large-scale "can-crushing" tests to study buckling in structures with the purpose of building lighter, more efficient and affordable launch vehicles.

Today, teams are breathing new life into the 4619 load test annex -- part of Marshall's Structural and Environmental Test Laboratory -- for the next era of space exploration with the world's most powerful rocket, NASA's Space Launch System. SLS will launch crews of up to four astronauts in the agency’s Orion spacecraft on missions to explore multiple, deep-space destinations, including Mars.

Construction is underway at the facility on steel reaction towers and fixturing that will be used for structural loads testing on the SLS core stage intertank and engine section. The core stage, towering more than 200 feet tall with a diameter of 27.6 feet, has two separate tanks for storing cryogenic liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen that will feed the vehicle’s RS-25 engines.

The core stage intertank is the connection component between the liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks, and the attachment point for the rocket's two, five-segment solid rocket boosters. The engine section structure, also part of the core stage, houses the rocket's four RS-25 engines.

"It's exciting to be a part of the future of human spaceflight," said Tim Flores, integration manager for the SLS Stages Office at Marshall. "Testing this hardware is a major stepping stone before the first flight of SLS."

Twelve, 55-foot intertank main tower panels, built and delivered by Weldall Manufacturing Inc. of Waukesha, Wisconsin, have been installed in the 4619 load test annex. One of the next steps will be the delivery and installation of four additional tower structures, which are being manufactured by Steward Machine Co. of Bainbridge, Georgia. In late April, the base frame for the engine section test structure will be delivered from Weldall and installed into another bay of the 4619 load test annex.

Hydraulic cylinders mounted to the main towers will apply force, or test loads, to the core stage intertank to simulate prelaunch, launch and spaceflight structural load conditions. The 62-foot-tall intertank test structure and 50-foot-tall engine section test structure will use up to 96 hydraulic cylinders on each piece of hardware, with some cylinders weighing more than a car.

The intertank and engine section qualification test articles will be installed in the new structures, and the hydraulic cylinders will be electronically controlled to push, pull, twist and bend the test articles with millions of pounds of force. Engineers will record and analyze approximately 4,000 channels of data for each test. The tests verify the capabilities of the structures, and validate the design and analysis models already in place accurately predict the amount of loads the core stage can withstand during launch and ascent.

"It's amazing that right outside my office in our laboratory high-bay, we're constructing the facility, structures, and systems to perform such crucial tests on the SLS intertank and engine section," said Robert Bobo, the lead for Marshall's structural testing branch. "Test engineers, designers, analysts and skilled technicians have been planning and preparing for this work for months, and now we're seeing it actually happen. We're anxious, and excited, to get our hands on the hardware."

Both test structures in the load test annex are scheduled to be completed later this year, along with two new test stands that will be used for structural loads testing on the core stage liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks, plus related hardware. The first test of the series will be on the engine section and is planned to begin in the summer of 2017. All structural qualification test articles for the core stage are currently being built at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans and will be shipped on the newly refurbished Pegasus barge for testing at Building 4619 and the two new stands.

"One of the many challenges we face in testing is the logistics of moving hardware," Flores said. "We may have the facilities and test articles ready, but it takes a lot of planning to ensure we have the right equipment, cranes, and ground support equipment in place to get the hardware to the appropriate test areas.

"The test articles that will form the SLS are so heavy that some roads are not strong enough to bear the weight of the hardware," Flores continued. "In most cases, we are dealing with such large hardware we have to make our own equipment to transport it on those roads. And in some cases, we rebuild the roads. Our logistics team is working every scenario right now to ensure we can transport the hardware in the most efficient manner."

A 213-foot, 230,000-pound mockup of the core stage also is in production and will be used to demonstrate core stage operations, transport and routes for testing, assembly and launch. The Boeing Co. of Chicago is prime contractor for the core stage, including avionics.

The SLS Block I configuration will have a minimum 70-metric-ton (77-ton) lift capability and be powered by twin boosters and four RS-25 engines. The next planned upgrade of SLS, Block 1B, would use a more powerful exploration upper stage for more ambitious missions with a 105-metric-ton (115-ton) lift capacity. Block 2 will add a pair of advanced solid or liquid propellant boosters to provide a 130-metric-ton (143-ton) lift capacity. In each configuration, SLS will continue to use the same core stage and four RS-25 engines.

For more information on SLS, visit:

www.nasa.gov/sls

Tracy McMahan
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
tracy.mcmahan@nasa.gov

Kim Henry
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Alabama
256-544-0034
kimberly.m.henry@nasa.gov

Last Updated: April 13, 2016

Editor: Lee Mohon

NASA Spacecraft to Test 'Green' Propellant Passes Major Pre-flight Milestone

Like all rocket engines, the small thrusters that a spacecraft or satellite fires to maintain or change positions need fuel. Currently, many use hydrazine -- a toxic and corrosive fuel that requires special handling and equipment.

NASA's Green Propellant Infusion Mission (GPIM) recently took another major step toward demonstrating the capabilities of a new propellant that is safer to handle on the ground and more efficient for thrusters in space. The GPIM spacecraft has passed a major flight readiness milestone marking the successful completion of functional and environmental testing of its systems and software, and is on track for launch in early 2017.

"We are increasingly reliant on satellites for communications, for monitoring weather and conditions on Earth and for exploration of the universe," said Steve Jurczyk, associate administrator of NASA'sSpace Technology Mission Directorate. "It's important that we develop technology that increases protections for launch personnel and the environment, and that has the potential to reduce costs."

GPIM will demonstrate the practical capabilities of a hydroxyl ammonium nitrate based fuel/oxidizer propellant blend, known as AF-M315E, developed by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory at Edwards Air Force Base in California. The new propellant is 45-percent denser than hydrazine, meaning more of it can be stored in containers of the same volume. Coupled with a greater Isp than hydrazine, this means there is approximately a 50-percent increase in spacecraft maneuvering capability for a given volume. AFM-315E also has a lower freezing point than hydrazine, requiring less spacecraft power to maintain its temperature.

AF-M315E, less toxic than traditional chemical fuels like hydrazine, requires fewer handling restrictions and less special equipment. That could shorten launch processing times, resulting in lowered costs.

"There are always going to be situations in which it makes sense to use hydrazine fuel," said Chris McLean, principal investigator for GPIM and staff consultant at Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colorado, prime contractor for the mission. "But after GPIM, when we're planning missions where this new green propellant has the potential for significant benefits, we'll be able to say, 'This has been demonstrated on orbit. Let's take advantage of these improvements for our mission.'"

A Ball Aerospace engineer adjusts the thermal insulation on NASA’s Green Propellant Infusion Mission spacecraft bus following integration of the propulsion subsystem in October 2015.

Credits: Ball Aerospace

The GPIM propulsion subsystem and thrusters were developed byAerojet Rocketdyne in Redmond, Washington, and are the primary payload on the mission’s spacecraft -- a Ball Configurable Platform 100 small satellite. After launch, the five thrusters will fire in different operations to test engine performance and reliability using the “green” fuel. Planned on-orbit maneuvers also include attitude control demonstrations, spacecraft pointing and hold, inclination change and orbit lowering.

“GPIM is the result of excellent teamwork between NASA, Ball Aerospace, the Air Force and Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop an American-made green propellant propulsion system that can be used for multiple applications,” said Eileen Drake, CEO and president of Aerojet Rocketdyne. “The spacecraft delivery marks the success of more than 10 years of research and development, and we are honored to have contributed toward engine and system technology that has resulted in a highly capable system.”

“The GPIM spacecraft will go into storage for a few months and the team will focus on the propellant's handling and loading campaign,” said McLean.

Three Department of Defense experimental payloads also will fly aboard the GPIM spacecraft, set for launch in early 2017 from Cape Canaveral, Florida, aboard a SpaceX Falcon Heavy in partnership with the Army Space and Missile Defense Command. The launch is part of the Air Force's Space Test Program 2 (STP-2) mission. STP-2 also is scheduled to carry another NASATechnology Demonstration Missions payload, the Deep Space Atomic Clock.

Additional GPIM team members include the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico; NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland; Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland and Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

GPIM is managed by the Technology Demonstration Missions program office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, and funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate.

NASA gives solar ionic propulsion a monster boost

NASA this week took a giant step toward using solar electric power for future space missions by awarding a $67 million to Aerojet Rocketdyne to develop an advanced electric propulsion system.

Such a system would deploy large solar arrays that can be used to convert sunlight into electrical power that ionizes atoms of xenon which is the propellant for the spacecraft’s thrusters. The thrust of such a power plant isn’t huge but its ability to provide increasing, continuous power over a long period of time is what makes it so attractive for long-duration spaceflights.

In addition, such a power plant could potentially increase spaceflight fuel efficiency by 10 times over current chemical propulsion technology and more than double thrust capability compared to current electric propulsion systems, NASA said.

Specifically Aerojet Rocketdyne will develop and deliver an integrated electric propulsion system – known as the Advanced Electric Propulsion System (AEPS) -- consisting of a thruster, power processing unit (PPU), low-pressure xenon flow controller, and electrical harness. NASA has developed and tested a prototype thruster and PPU that the company can use as a reference design, the space agency stated.

NASA has long experimented and used different forms of electronic electric propulsion technology. NASA said the first successful ion electric propulsion thruster was developed at Glenn Research Center in the 1950s. The first operational test of an electric propulsion system in space was Glenn’s Space Electric Rocket Test 1, which flew on July 20, 1964. Since then, NASA has increasingly relied on solar electric propulsion for long-duration, deep space robotic science and exploration missions the most recent being NASA’s Dawn mission which surveyed the giant asteroid Vesta and the protoplanet, Ceres, between 2011 and 2015.

NASA has also experimented with ion propulsion technology known as a Hall Thruster which trap electrons in a magnetic field and then use them to ionize propellant, which generate thrust, NASA said.

Interestingly a Hall Thruster was onboard the AirForce’s secretive X-37B spacecraft last year. The Air Force Research Laboratory said at the time: The Hall thruster that will fly on the X-37B experiment is a modified version of the units that have propelled Space and Missile Systems Center’s first three Advanced Extremely High Frequency military communications spacecraft.  A Hall thruster is a type of electric propulsion device that produces thrust by ionizing and accelerating a noble gas, usually xenon.  While producing comparatively low thrust relative to conventional rocket engines, Hall thrusters provide significantly greater specific impulse, or fuel economy.  This results in increased payload carrying capacity and a greater number of on-orbit maneuvers for a spacecraft using Hall thrusters rather than traditional rocket engines. The experiment will include collection of telemetry from the Hall thruster operating in the space environment as well as measurement of the thrust imparted on the vehicle.  The resulting data will be used to validate and improve Hall thruster and environmental modeling capabilities, which enhance the ability to extrapolate ground test results to actual on-orbit performance. 

The AEPS is the next step in NASA’s overarching Solar Electric Propulsion project, which the space agency says is developing critical technologies to extend the range and capabilities of ambitious new science and exploration missions such as NASA’s proposed Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM). ARM, if it gets funded, will rendezvous with the target asteroid, land a robotic spacecraft on the surface, grab a 4 meter or so sized boulder and begin a six-year journey to redirect the boulder into orbit around the moon for exploration by astronauts

NASA Begins Testing of Revolutionary E-Sail Technology

Animation of Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transport System (HERTS) concept. NASA engineers are conducting tests to develop models for the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transport System. HERTS builds upon the electric sail invention of Dr. Pekka Janhunen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute. An electric sail could potentially send scientific payloads to the edge of our solar system, the heliopause, in less than 10 years. The research is led by Bruce M. Wiegmann, an engineer in the Advanced Concepts Office at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center. The HERTS E-Sail development and testing is funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program.

Credits: NASA

In this concept, long, very thin, bare wires construct the large, circular E-Sail that would electrostatically repel the fast moving solar protons. The momentum exchange produced as the protons are repelled by the positively charged wires would create the spacecraft’s thrust.

Credits: NASA/MSFC

NASA engineer Bruce Wiegmann, principal investigator for the HERTS E-Sail, demonstrates the long, thin wires that will construct the E-Sail. Each tether is extremely thin, only 1 millimeter -- the width of a standard paperclip -- and very long, 12.5 miles.

Credits: NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given

Within a controlled plasma chamber -- the High Intensity Solar Environment Test system -- tests will examine the rate of proton and electron collisions with a positively charged tether. Results will help improve modeling data that will be applied to future development of E-Sail technology concept.

Credits: NASA/MSFC/Emmett Given

Testing has started at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, on a concept for a potentially revolutionary propulsion system that could send spacecraft to the edge of our solar system, the heliopause, faster than ever before.

The test results will provide modeling data for the Heliopause Electrostatic Rapid Transit System(HERTS). The proposed HERTS E-Sail concept, a propellant-less propulsion system, would harness solar wind to travel into interstellar space.

“The sun releases protons and electrons into the solar wind at very high speeds -- 400 to 750 kilometers per second,” said Bruce Wiegmann an engineer in Marshall’s Advanced Concepts Officeand the principal investigator for the HERTS E-Sail. “The E-Sail would use these protons to propel the spacecraft.”

Extending outward from the center of the spacecraft, 10 to 20 electrically charged, bare aluminum wires would produce a large, circular E-Sail that would electrostatically repel the fast moving protons of the solar wind. The momentum exchange produced as the protons are repelled by the positively charged wires would create the spacecraft’s thrust. Each tether is extremely thin, only 1 millimeter -- the width of a standard paperclip -- and very long, nearly 12 and a half miles -- almost 219 football fields. As the spacecraft slowly rotates at one revolution per hour, centrifugal forces will stretch the tethers into position.

The testing, which is taking place in the High Intensity Solar Environment Test system, is designed to examine the rate of proton and electron collisions with a positively charged wire. Within a controlled plasma chamber simulating plasma in a space, the team is using a stainless steel wire as an analog for the lightweight aluminum wire. Though denser than aluminum, stainless steel’s non-corrosive properties will mimic that of aluminum in space and allow more testing with no degradation.

Engineers are measuring deflections of protons from the energized charged wire within the chamber to improve modeling data that will be scaled up and applied to future development of E-Sail technology. The tests are also measuring the amount of electrons attracted to the wire. This information will be used to develop the specifications for the required electron gun, or an electron emitter, that will expel excess electrons from the spacecraft to maintain the wire’s positive voltage bias, which is critical to its operation as a propulsion system.

This concept builds upon the electric sail invention of Dr. Pekka Janhunen of the Finnish Meteorological Institute, and the current technologies required for an E-Sail integrated propulsion system are at a low technology readiness level. If the results from plasma testing, modeling, and wire deployer investigations prove promising after the current two-year investigation, there is still a great deal of work necessary to design and build this new type of propulsion system. The earliest actual use of the technology is probably at least a decade away.

The HERTS E-Sail concept is being studied in response to the National Academy of Science’s 2012 Heliophysics Decadal Survey, a study conducted by experts from NASA, industry, academia and government agencies, that identified advanced propulsion as the main technical hurdle for future exploration of the heliosphere. The survey, which offered the agency a road map of the heliophysics community’s priorities for 2013-2022, highlighted the need for propulsion systems that could reach the edge of our solar system significantly faster than in the past.

To send a scientific probe on a deep space journey, the sail would have to have a large effective area. Space travel is generally measured in astronomical units, or the distance from Earth to the sun. At 1 AU, the E-Sail would have an effective area of about 232 square miles, slightly smaller than the city of Chicago. The effective area would increase to more than 463 square miles-- similar to Los Angeles -- at 5 AU.

This increase in area would lead to continued acceleration much longer than comparable propulsion technologies. For example, when solar sail spacecraft reach the asteroid belt at 5 AU, the energy of the solar photons dissipates and acceleration stops. Wiegmann believes the E-Sail would continue to accelerate well beyond that.

“The same concerns don’t apply to the protons in the solar wind,” he said. “With the continuous flow of protons, and the increased area, the E-Sail will continue to accelerate to 16-20 AU -- at least three times farther than the solar sail. This will create much higher speeds.”

In 2012, NASA’s Voyager 1 became the first spacecraft to ever cross the heliopause and reach interstellar space. Launched in 1977, Voyager 1 took almost 35 years to make its 121 AU journey. The goal of HERTS is to develop an E-Sail that could make the same journey in less than one-third that time.

“Our investigation has shown that an interstellar probe mission propelled by an E-Sail could travel to the heliopause in just under 10 years,” he said. “This could revolutionize the scientific returns of these types of missions.”

The HERTS E-Sail concept development and testing is funded by NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate through the NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts Program, which encourages visionary ideas that could transform future missions with the creation of radically better or entirely new aerospace concepts. NIAC projects study innovative, technically credible, advanced concepts that could one day "change the possible" in aerospace.

Selected as a Phase II NIAC Fellow in 2015, the HERTS team was awarded an additional $500,000 to further test the E-Sail and possibly change not only the way NASA travels to the heliopause, but also within our solar system.

“As the team studied this concept, it became clear that the design is flexible and adaptable,” said Wiegmann. “Mission and vehicle designers can trade off wire length, number of wires and voltage levels to fit their needs -- inner planetary, outer planetary or heliopause. The E-Sail is very scalable.”

Steering can be accomplished by modulating the wire’s voltage individually as the spacecraft rotates. Affecting a difference in force applied on different portions of the E-Sail, would give engineers the ability to steer the spacecraft, similar to the sails of a boat.

NASA Tests Inflatable Heat Shield Technology for Deep Space Missions

Engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center pack the 9-foot diameter test article of HIAD to simulate how the technology would be packed into the tight confines of a rocket before an actual mission.

Credits: NASA/David C. Bowman

Before NASA uses its new inflatable technology for slowing spacecraft that are entering the atmospheres of other planets, it will first need to be packed into the tight confines of a rocket.

Engineers at NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, recently put the technology to the test by packing a 9-foot diameter donut-shaped test article, also known as a torus, to simulate what would happen before a space mission.

Called the Hypersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, or HIAD, it works like a parachute, using the drag of a planet’s atmosphere to slow the space vehicle as it descends toward the surface. Slowing the spacecraft protects it from the intense heat of atmospheric entry, and allows it to land more softly.

Test engineer Sean Hancock folds the HIAD 9-foot diameter test article to simulate what would happen before an actual space mission. HIAD is used for slowing spacecraft that are entering the atmospheres of other planets.

Credits: NASA/David C. Bowman

“During testing, we used a vacuum pump to compress the test article into a small space,” said Keith Johnson, a lead engineer for the project. “We packed and unpacked it and did thorough inspections to check for leaks and damage to the Zylon and Teflon materials. We repeated this three times.”

The technology will enable the delivery of heavy cargo, science instruments and people to other worlds. It could also be used to retrieve cargo from the International Space Station and return it to Earth.

According to Langley test engineer Sean Hancock, HIAD was packed the same way each time to see how the material would handle folding, packing, and compressing. Doing so helps engineers understand how it would perform after exposure to handling, storage and deployment during a space flight mission.

“The test included all the components for the latest inflatable torus design, so it was a good final check to prove that the materials can tolerate packing,” Johnson said. “After demonstrating the design and materials, we can focus on extending this to a larger scale.”

After successful testing, NASA engineers can move forward in the development of creating a larger HIAD that can withstand the stress of being tightly packed in a rocket and the high temperatures experienced when it descends through the atmosphere of a planet such as Mars.

“All these tests build on each other to help demonstrate the performance of the system, and in the end, we’ll have a complete system that will be tested to show that it can meet the requirements for a space flight mission whether it’s going to be returning a vehicle to Earth or future Mars missions,” Johnson 

New Antares Rocket Rolls Out at NASA Wallops

Orbital ATK’s Antares first stage with the new engines is rolled from NASA Wallops Flight Facility’s Horizontal Integration Facility to Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport Pad-0A on May 12, 2016, in preparation for the upcoming stage test in the next few weeks. The team will continue to work meticulously as they begin final integration and check outs on the pad and several readiness reviews prior to the test. The window for the stage test will be over multiple days to ensure technical and weather conditions are acceptable.

Credit: NASA's Wallops Flight Facility/Allison Stancil

Last Updated: May 13, 2016

Editor: Rob Garner