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MLAS Launches Successfully
07.08.09
WALLOPS ISLAND -- With a plume of smoke and a "boom" that broke through the still Wednesday morning, the Max Launch Abort System lifted off on its 57-second path to success.
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The Max Launch Abort System launched at 6:26 a.m., EDT, on July 8, 2009. Credit: NASA/Sean Smith
The squat rocket, designed to offer an alternative to the launch abort system planned for Constellation's Orion space capsule, rose straight up for about 7,000 feet (2,134 m), then tilted over the Atlantic.Then followed a series of events, each punctuated by pyrotechnics and deployed parachutes until the capsule, slowed by four 'chutes, hit the water.
"From our perspective, it was very successful," said Ralph Roe, head of the NASA Engineering and Safety Center, which put together a team to build MLAS. "All aspects of the test, from a quick first look, went well."
That was particularly the case with the parachutes and pyrotechnic separations.
"I think we set a world record for successful parachute deployments in one flight test," Roe quipped. "Nine parachute deployments, and 16 pyrotechnic events to get us through those parachute deployments."
That parachute deployment sequence, Roe added, would be of aid to the Constellation program.
From a mile away, across water and marsh, about 85 guests watched, some wearing MLAS T-shirts with "What Would Max Do" printed on their backs, all swatting mosquitos. As the rocket lifted off, most cheered, and each sequence was marked by more cheering, applause and the occasional yell.
"As you watched, you kind of ticked things off in your mind," said Scott Horowitz, a former astronaut, now a contractor, who watched with the guests and admitted that he was "excited" at the prospect of seeing building a rocket go from an idea to flight.
Horowitz, former NASA administrator Mike Griffin and Roe conceived the MLAS on a paper napkin in the cafeteria of the Johnson Space Center.
It was left to Roe to add "Max," who is Max Faget, "and if you're an engineer at NASA, he's got to be one of your heroes," he said. Faget holds the patent to the tower launch abort system design that was used on Apollo and is planned for Constellation.
"We weren't trying to emulate Max's design," Roe said. "We were trying to emulate Max's design philosophy, which was come up with innovative engineering design solutions and rapidly build and test those solutions. I think we demonstrated today that we were successfully able to do that."
The actual powered launch by four Mark 70 Sounding rocket motors lasted only seven seconds after MLAS' 6:26 a.m. liftoff. From there, a "boost" skirt separated, which was followed by a "coast" skirt separation, each done by pyrotechnics. The vehicle was reoriented by parachutes, which were actually military cargo canopies.
Forty seconds into the launch, the crew module separated -- again with pyrotechnics, followed by two parachutes -- and the final deployment of four parachutes accompanied the crew module to splashdown.
"Those nine parachutes and 16 pyrotechnic events kept me up for weeks," Roe said of the buildup to MLAS.
What remains for the $36-million, 20-month project is a review of data from 185 MLAS sensors.
"The data was coming in very well," Roe said. "We'll have plenty of data to look at over the next two-three weeks."
While Roe was careful to distinguish between MLAS and the planned crew abort system for Constellation, he said that Constellation can benefit from some of the MLAS data. "The deployment sequence of the parachutes is important for them," Roe said. "Flying with a faring on is something that will be of benefit to them. And just being able to collect the data amid the vibration of the motors, they'll get some comfort from that.
He takes comfort from some other lessons from MLAS. "Our team is an agency-wide team, with members from all 10 centers," Roe said. "We had mentors from the Apollo program to help us. We brought in 10 young engineers to work as Resident Engineers. They're the ones who will hopefully take us to the moon and beyond."
In taking MLAS from napkin to flight in just over 18 months, "we hope we're setting a trend," Roe said, adding MLAS to two other projects -- CEV Smart Buyer and composite crew module -- in which maximum effort was used to offer minimum time.
After Wednesday's launch, the NESC offers Constellation a flight tested alternative to its crew abort vehicle, which is scheduled to be flight tested later this year iat White Sands, N.M.
And offers NASA a different way to build a rocket.