"Three...two…one…release!" shouts Scott Runnells, a NASA
lead technician, prompting a 16,000 pound (7,257 kg) test
apparatus to swing down to Earth from nearly 40 feet in the
air.
Second generation airbag drop testing is underway at the
240-foot-tall (73 m) Landing and Impact Research Facility,
also known as "the gantry," at NASA's Langley Research
Center in Hampton, Va.
Engineers and technicians examine the impact on airbags
after these pendulum swing drop tests to help further
research on a contingency land landing system for Orion,
NASA's new crew exploration vehicle.
Now under development, Orion will be America's next
crewed spacecraft, designed to fly to the International
Space Station and be part of the space flight system to
conduct sustained human exploration of the moon. While it is
early in the design process and plans could change, NASA
currently is working toward a splashdown landing for Orion.
The agency also is preparing for scenarios that could
reroute the spacecraft during its return to Earth. In the
event that a pad abort occurs -- and the crew module is
rapidly propelled away from the Ares I rocket while still on
the launch pad -- wind could catch Orion's parachutes in its
descent and blow it back toward the shore.
"Although
an unlikely scenario, the possibility of wind blowing Orion
back to land from its intended water target during a pad
abort can't be dismissed," Barry Bryant, project manager for
the Orion Landing System Advanced Development Project, said.
For this reason, NASA is developing the contingency land
landing system, which consists of two airbag assemblies
called "leading edge airbags" that will wrap around the
front edge of the Orion crew module.
"After a pad abort, you're really not sure if you're
going to hit water or land, so if you have different landing
architectures -- for example one hang angle for water and a
different hang angle for land -- you don't know how to throw
the switch on a pad abort because you can't be certain as to
which [kind of] landing you're going to have," Bryant said.
This scenario led to NASA's goal of developing a singular
landing system that will work for both land and water
landings. Since Orion's intended landing site is water, the
spacecraft will descend at an angle in its return to Earth.
With the design of the airbags, the contingency land landing
system will support a touchdown on land even though Orion is
coming down at an angle.
"If we have a contingency land landing system that has a
low risk of injury, now whether you land on water or land,
you've got the same low risk for the crew," Bryant said.
"Now the people that make the decision about how to
reenter in the case of an emergency situation don't have to
add the choice between land or water to their complex,
critical thinking because they've got a vehicle that can
land in either spot," he said.
Although in the beginning stages, preparations for the
development of a contingency land landing system are
progressing quickly.
While the airbag drop tests were originally planned to
provide research for a nominal land landing, NASA engineers
are using the demonstrations to prove out the design and the
fabrication techniques that will be used on contingency land
landing airbags.
After second generation testing wraps up this summer,
tests specifically for the contingency land landing system
will begin.
Airbag vendors Airborne Systems and ILC Dover are working
together to build a full-scale prototype of the contingency
land landing airbag assembly and to demonstrate an in-house
deployment.
Following further designs of the airbag assembly, NASA
will test a contingency land landing airbag at the 72-foot
(22 m) Vertical Drop Tower and the 20-foot (6 m) Vertical
Spin Tunnel at Langley. Engineers will subsequently conduct
full-scale drop tests similar to demonstrations being
performed today -- only this time they will use the
newly-designed leading edge airbags.
