{"id":16214,"date":"2015-07-07T20:35:34","date_gmt":"2015-07-07T12:35:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/orbital-atk-picks-up-where-it-left-off-with-orion-abort-system\/"},"modified":"2015-07-07T20:35:34","modified_gmt":"2015-07-07T12:35:34","slug":"orbital-atk-picks-up-where-it-left-off-with-orion-abort-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/orbital-atk-picks-up-where-it-left-off-with-orion-abort-system\/","title":{"rendered":"Orbital ATK picks up where it left off with Orion abort system"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"NASA's
NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft, seen with a mostly inert launch abort system, is transferred to the launch pad before last December\u2019s test flight. Credit: NASA\/Frankie Martin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Orbital ATK has cinched $188 million in contracts to complete development of the Orion crew capsule\u2019s needle-shaped launch abort system, resuming work stalled in the wake up a major shakeup of NASA\u2019s human spaceflight program by the Obama administration in 2010.<\/p>\n

Lockheed Martin, NASA\u2019s prime contractor for the Orion program, awarded the contracts in two segments \u2014 one worth $90 million announced in April for the escape system\u2019s attitude control motor, and another deal revealed Tuesday valued at $98 million for the launch abort motor itself.<\/p>\n

The Orion capsule\u2019s launch abort system would propel the spacecraft and its occupants away from a launch failure.<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK won contracts to develop the abort system in 2007. The prime contract went to Orbital Sciences Corp., which selected ATK to supply the escape system\u2019s solid-fueled abort and attitude control motors. Orbital Sciences selected Aerojet to build a jettison motor.<\/p>\n

In an era of consolidation among big aerospace industry contractors, Orbital Sciences and ATK closed a merger in February to form one company \u2014 Orbital ATK. Aerojet\u2019s parent company, GenCorp, acquired Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne in 2013, creating Aerojet Rocketdyne.<\/p>\n

Engineers tested the launch abort stack in a pad abort demonstration in New Mexico in May 2010, just before NASA and its contractors put most of the escape rocket\u2019s development on hold.<\/p>\n

Development of the abort system mostly halted after the 2010 pad abort test. The abort demo occurred months after the Obama administration canceled NASA\u2019s Constellation program, which intended to return astronauts to the moon.<\/p>\n

The Orion spacecraft had its origins in the Constellation program, and NASA kept the crew capsule project alive for the agency\u2019s revamped space exploration initiative, which includes the Space Launch System, a gigantic new booster designed to send crews and massive cargo into deep space, and eventually to destinations such as an asteroid and Mars.<\/p>\n

Due to funding restrictions, NASA re-ordered much of the Orion capsule\u2019s development milestones, focusing first on maturing the craft\u2019s propulsion system and heat shield for a four-and-a-half hour orbital test flight launched by a Delta 4-Heavy rocket in December.<\/p>\n

NASA deferred further development of the capsule\u2019s avionics, life support systems and abort motors until later in the program.<\/p>\n

Orion\u2019s abort system would activate during a launch emergency and fire a solid rocket motor generating 500,000 pounds of thrust to pull the capsule free of its rocket. Attitude control motors, powered by a solid propellant gas generator with eight thruster pressure release valves, would steer the capsule during the abort maneuver.<\/p>\n

Development of the abort system\u2019s Aerojet Rocketdyne jettison motor continued during the last few years. The device is required on all of Orion\u2019s missions, including last year\u2019s successful test flight on the Delta 4 rocket.<\/p>\n

During the downtime, Orbital ATK worked at a \u201cvery reduced level\u201d to explore design improvements on the abort system, according to Michael DiMauro, a company spokesperson.<\/p>\n

Engineers conducted two single-valve test firings of the abort system\u2019s attitude control motor to verify the minor design changes, DiMauro said.<\/p>\n

The design work, testing and fabrication activities covered in Orbital ATK\u2019s new abort system contracts will carry the escape rocket through the Orion spacecraft\u2019s next three flights, the company said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMajor milestones in the process include structural tests, loads tests, igniter open air tests, and motor static firing tests,\u201d the company said in a statement. \u201cThese tests will ultimately qualify the abort motor for operational flight missions.\u201d<\/p>\n

Orbital ATK says its launch abort system work will occur at its facilities in Utah and Maryland.<\/p>\n

Orion\u2019s next flight is scheduled for 2018, when the capsule will blast off for the first time atop the Space Launch System.<\/p>\n

A second Orion abort test in 2019 \u2014 to be launched from Cape Canaveral aboard a version of Orbital ATK\u2019s Minotaur booster \u2014 will simulate the capsule\u2019s escape from a rocket in flight, followed by the first SLS\/Orion launch with astronauts on-board in 2021.<\/p>\n

\u201cOrbital ATK is proud to be a key contributor to the Orion program and to astronaut safety,\u201d said Fred Brasfield, vice president of Orbital ATK\u2019s NASA propulsion programs. \u201cThe benefit of using a solid launch abort motor is being able to transport the crew far from harm\u2019s way in milliseconds, should the need arise.\u201d<\/p>\n

Email the author.<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

Follow Stephen Clark on Twitter: @StephenClark1.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

NASA\u2019s Orion spacecraft, seen with a mostly inert launch abort system, is transferred to the launch pad before last December\u2019s test flight. Credit: NASA\/Frankie Martin Orbital ATK has cinched $188 million in contracts to complete development of the Orion crew capsule\u2019s needle-shaped launch abort system, resuming work stalled in the wake up a major shakeup […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[3718,4011,2899,640,4012],"class_list":["post-16214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-em-1","tag-em-2","tag-orbital-atk","tag-orion","tag-orion-ascent-abort"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16214"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16214"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16214\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16214"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16214"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16214"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}