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Mission Control Announcer: 11...10...9...

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Ignition Sequence Start...

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Narrator: NASA's Ames Research Center played a

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critical role in the development and preparation

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for the flight test of NASA's new spacecraft

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called Orion.

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Designated Exploration Flight Test-1, or EFT-1,

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the mission will provide critical data that will

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enable engineers to improve Orion's design and

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reduce risk for the astronauts

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it will eventually carry.

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One of the biggest challenges for Orion is that it

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will re-enter Earth's atmosphere faster and

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encounter more heating than any previously manned

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missions including Apollo and the Space Shuttle.

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Arc Jet Engineer 1: 5...4...3...2...1...

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Narrator: To test Orion's new heat shield made of

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a material called Avcoat, Ames used its Arc Jet

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facility to simulate the heating and airflow

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conditions that occur during atmospheric re-entry.

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During these tests, the Avcoat surface reached

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temperatures of over 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.

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Ames developed a group of sensors that was built

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into in the heat shield itself to monitor how well

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it performs during EFT-1.

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34 of these sensors will measure the near-surface

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and internal temperatures of the heat shield as

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Orion re-enters the atmosphere.

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This will give engineers a complete data profile

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of its performance, allowing them to see what

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succeeded and how to make future improvements to

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the thermal protection system.

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To optimize the design of the Orion Crew Vehicle,

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an 8-percent scale model was coated with pressure

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sensitive paint and was tested in the Ames 11-foot

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Unitary transonic wind tunnel.

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This testing simulated airflow and temperature

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changes the capsule will experience in flight

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after re-entering the atmosphere.

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The data collected is also essential to validating

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the accuracy of computational models that simulate

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the performance of space vehicles during re-entry.

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The Orion Launch Abort System required testing in

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the wind tunnels at Ames to better understand the

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behavior of the system during a complex variety

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of launch conditions.

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The focus of the study was to determine the

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interaction between the plume from the jets with

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the airflow effects of separation from the rocket.

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Another test used a 6-percent scale model of the

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Launch Abort System in the 11-foot wind tunnel to

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find ways of minimizing how loud the system would

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be, during an actual flight.

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Built in the 1960's to support the Apollo

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missions, Ames' Horizontal Free Flight Facility

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can fire models through a 75-foot-long test

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chamber at speeds ranging from 500 to 18,000

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miles per hour.

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(Bang of gun firing)

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Tests of the Orion capsule were essential to

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understanding how well the vehicle will fly

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through the air after re-entering the atmosphere,

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but before the critical parachute deployment.

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Ames also specializes in the use of computer

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modeling simulations referred to as computational

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fluid dynamics or CFD.

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This work has been important to understanding the

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turbulent wake behind the Orion capsule as it

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slows down enough to deploy its parachutes.

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Studies have also been conducted to optimize the

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thermal heating performance of Orion by using an

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Ames-developed software tool called

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Data Parallel Line Relaxation or DPLR.

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Engineers will compare their predicted results

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with actual data from the Arc Jet tests and data

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collected from the EFT-1 flight to improve the

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DPLR code for future spacecraft design.

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The scientists, engineers and researchers at Ames

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are proud to have played a critical role in the

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EFT-1 flight test as NASA continues to move

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forward on its human journey to asteroids and

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eventually to Mars.

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(Roar of rocket engine)