NASA Set to Carry Out Water Drop Tests for Its Orion Spacecraft

Water Drop Testing Planned For The Orion Spacecraft by National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)

Tuesday, 20th April 2021

The world-reputed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is all set to carry out a water impact drop test on their Orion spacecraft. The tests are to be conducted before the Orion landing in the Pacific Ocean after Artemis missions to the moon and are to be controlled at Langley's Landing and Impact Research Facility Hydro Impact Basin, Virginia, on April 6.

A series of similar tests were conducted previously by NASA at the basin. However, this test is going to put into use a novel configuration devised uniquely by a team of researchers from NASA. It is to be conducted on a crew model that represents the final design of the Orion Spacecraft. 

Also Read: NASA shares amazing photos of the natural systems of planet ‘Earth’ on Instagram.

The information that will be gathered from the water impact tests will go on to become part of the formal qualification test program that will take care of structural design before Artemis II, where it is expected to carry astronauts around the Moon and also back. This is to set the path for landing the first woman and next man on the surface of the Moon. 

The space agency informed that this test will involve multiple impact tests on the crew capsule of the Orion spacecraft in order to gauge its response after splashing into the water. 

The series of impact tests will be telecasted live under the initiative of NASA and viewers can watch this live-streamed event on NASA TV, its website, and the NASA app from 1:45 pm EDT or at 11: 15 am Indian Standard Time.

In their statement, NASA also told that their engineers are preparing to drop a test version of the Orion spacecraft that weighs 14,000-pound into the Hydro Impact Basin. This is a huge reservoir that measures 115 feet long and 90 feet wide and is filled with 1 million gallons of water, at the Hampton research facility.

On their official website, the statement read, “The test will air live on NASA Television, the NASA app, and the agency's website, and will Livestream on multiple agency social media platforms, including the Facebook channels for Orion and Langley.”
Participants who are involved in these operations are Debbie Korth, Orion Crew, and Service Module manager, NASA's Johnson Space Centre, Jacob Putnam, data analyst, Langley.

This series of drop tests have commenced on the 23rd of March, 2021.

The News Talkie Bureau
Source:

NDTV