Astronomy
NASA has spent $220 million on testing a new escape system rocket in New Mexico on this Thursday dummy crew module more than a mile up in just 20 seconds to demonstrate how a future manned spacecraft could be pulled to safety in the event of a catastrophic on-pad rocket failure.
A solid-fuel motor was used which generated some 500,000 pounds of thrust, the launch abort system ignited with a torrent of orange fire and smoke pulling the dummy crew module to nearly 450 mph in just 2.5 seconds with an acceleration of 16 times the force of gravity.
The heavily instrumented capsule, which will not be used again, hit the ground two minutes and 14 seconds or so after launch, 6,919 feet from its takeoff point. Touchdown velocity was 16 mph, about 6 mph slower than predicted.
"It's a great day for the country, for NASA and for industry," said NASA Test Conductor Don Reed. "It was absolutely successful. We didn't see anything anomalous. Everything worked as it was expected. In fact, we actually touched down at significantly less velocity than we predicted. The performance was absolutely astounding."
Now our astronauts can land safely in case of rocket failure.
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Astronomy
Astronauts can now escape from an exploding rocket
NASA has spent $220 million on testing a new escape system rocket in New Mexico on this Thursday dummy crew module more than a mile up in just 20 seconds to demonstrate how a future manned spacecraft could be pulled to safety in the event of a catastrophic on-pad rocket failure.
A solid-fuel motor was used which generated some 500,000 pounds of thrust, the launch abort system ignited with a torrent of orange fire and smoke pulling the dummy crew module to nearly 450 mph in just 2.5 seconds with an acceleration of 16 times the force of gravity.
The heavily instrumented capsule, which will not be used again, hit the ground two minutes and 14 seconds or so after launch, 6,919 feet from its takeoff point. Touchdown velocity was 16 mph, about 6 mph slower than predicted.
"It's a great day for the country, for NASA and for industry," said NASA Test Conductor Don Reed. "It was absolutely successful. We didn't see anything anomalous. Everything worked as it was expected. In fact, we actually touched down at significantly less velocity than we predicted. The performance was absolutely astounding."
Now our astronauts can land safely in case of rocket failure.
- Multi-tasking Satellite Deployed By 50th Ils Proton
A Proton rocket blasted off from Kazakhstan 3 April ,2009 and deposited a versatile European communications satellite into orbit, beginning a 15-year mission that will introduce a state-of-the-art service to beam live television to cell phones, iPods...
- Preparing For The Moon
Image: NASA The picture shows the second stage of the Saturn V rocket being prepared for testing on the A-2 test stand at the Mississippi Test Facility (now called the Stennis Space Center) in 1967. The Saturn V rocket is still the largest and most powerful...
- Spacex To Test Astronaut Rescue System On May 6.
SpaceX is set to blast off a crew capsule on May 6 to test an astronaut rescue system designed to save lives in case of an emergency in a human spaceflight. The Dragon capsule with a dummy astronaut named Buster is ready to be blasted from a platform...
- Chinese Space Vehicle Ready Begins Its Journey.
The testing LM-7 space launch rocket attached to the erector pad to keep it upright at Wenchang, China. The LM-7 rocket can be attached with four solid fuel rocket boosters, in order to carry its maximum 13.5 ton payload into low earth...
- India Successfully Launched Gslv Mark-iii
India took a giant leap forward toward its ambitious goal of sending humans into space by launching an unmanned crew capsule with a powerful rocket. ISRO [Indian Space Research Organization] launched the 630-ton rocket from its facility at Sriharikota...