NASA engineers prepare a test article for a series of tests at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center.
NASA engineers prepared a test article, similar in size to a rocket fuel tank, for a series of tests conducted inside the structural test area at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. These shell buckling tests allowed engineers to examine the structural design features of rocket fuel tanks in an attempt to develop new shell buckling knockdown factors, complex engineering design standards for launch vehicles. The checked orthogrid patterns inside the test article play a role in the structural strength of rocket propellant tanks. The data from these tests will be used by NASA to develop fuel tanks for the Space Launch System, which will be the most powerful rocket ever built.
Image credit: NASA