ATK + NASA Are All Fired Up

NASA and Alliant Techsystems (ATK) have reached another milestone. Last Friday, they successfully test fired of a critical safety component for the Orion crew exploration vehicle, which is NASA‘s nexgen spaceship. A 36-inch-long igniter for the abort motor of Orion’s launch abort system was fired at ATK’s facility in Promontory, Utah. Orion is part of the Constellation Program of spacecraft and systems NASA is building to carry astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS) and conduct sustained human exploration of the moon. The abort motor, the primary motor in the launch abort system, is designed to pull the crew capsule away from the Ares I launch vehicle in an emergency situation while on the pad or during the first 300,000 feet of ascent after launch. In less than a second, the igniter (designed to fit inside the aft end of the abort motor) generated approximately 21,000 pounds of thrust and produced combustion gas temperatures of more than 5,800 degrees Fahrenheit. Engineers will use the test firing to evaluate the igniter’s ballistic properties and pressure created inside its chamber. Preliminary data indicate the igniter performed as expected. Friday’s test was the first in a series of three igniter open air tests scheduled for 2008. A full-scale abort motor ground test will be conducted in September. In December, the entire Orion launch abort system will be demonstrated during a flight test at the U.S. Army’s White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico.