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JSC2009-E-245876 (20 Nov. 2009) --- Engineers work inside NASA’s mobile operations facility at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. In the center of the picture is Don Reed, manager of the Orion Flight Test Office at NASA’s Johnson Space Center. The facility contains 14 console positions that will be used to monitor and launch the launch abort system Pad Abort-1 flight test. On launch day, this facility will be located at the range control center, about four miles from the launch pad. Photo credit: U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range
Engineers will monitor and launch the Pad Abort 1 flight test from the mobile operations facility at the White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M.On launch day, this facility will be located at a range control center, about four miles from the launch pad.
The team is divided into disciplines with the following responsibilities:
Test Director
• Manages communications with the WSMR Range Controller
• Has overall responsibility for test operations
• Makes final go/no-go decision
Test Conductor (TC)
• Leads the test team through the launch countdown procedure
• Executes contingency procedures if required
Flight Test Article Lead (FTA)
• Team Technical Lead
• Manages the technical support teams distributed at locations in WSMR, Denver, and Houston
Command, Control and Monitor System Operator (CCMS)
• Operates the command and control interface to the vehicle
• Operates the manual safing system
• Monitors the health and status of the vehicle and electrical ground support equipment (EGSE)
Systems Engineer (Systems)
ED09-0229-07 (17 Aug. 2009) --- The mobile operations facility departed NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center Aug. 17, 2009 for the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. It contains 14 console positions that will be used to monitor and launch the Orion launch abort system Pad Abort-1 flight test. On launch day, this facility will be located at the range control center, about four miles from the launch pad. Photo credit: U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range
• Monitors the health and status of the EGSE and crew module avionics systems
• Verifies proper flight software mode transitions
Developmental Flight Instrumentation Engineer (DFI)
• Monitors the health and status of the DFI systems on the crew module and launch abort system
• Monitors flight data recorder status and memory availability
Senior Operations Representative (Senior Ops)
• Manages communications with the recovery team
• Monitors the countdown timeline and recommends adjustments
• Coordinates weather data
Test Information Engineer (TIE)
• Monitors the performance of the real-time display system
• Verifies reception and decom of the vehicle telemetry streams
GNC Engineer (GNC)
• Monitors the health and status of the space integrated global positioning system/inertial navigation system (SIGI)
• Monitors SIGI alignment and navigation system performance
Mechanisms and Chutes Engineer (MAC)
JSC2009-E-245671 (18 Nov. 2009) --- Engineers work inside NASA’s mobile operations facility at the U.S. Army's White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico. The facility contains 14 console positions that will be used to monitor and launch the launch abort system Pad Abort-1 flight test. On launch day, this facility will be located at the range control center, about four miles from the launch pad. Photo credit: U.S. Army White Sands Missile Range
• Monitors health and status of the pyrotechnic events controller
• Monitors sequencing of the pyro circuits and provides situational awareness to the recovery team
LAS Engineer (LAS)
• Monitors the health and status of the attitude control motor controller and its batteries
Thermal Engineer (Thermal)
• Monitors propellant mean bulk temperature of the launch abort system abort motor
• Monitors thermal performance of the crew module and launch abort system avionics and developmental flight instrumentation systems
MOF Operator (MOF)
• Configures and handles all issues related to real-time operations (data, voice, video and range interfaces)