Multi-Purpose Crew Vehicle (7)

←                                                                                                                                         →
SPACE WATCH

NASA’s J-2X Engine
NASA – This image is from a 2008 cold flow test campaign conducted at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center for the J-2X engine program.

NASA continues to test the J-2X engine and conducted a 40-second test of the rocket engine Sept. 28, the most recent in a series of tests of the next-generation engine selected as part of the Space Launch System architecture that will once again carry humans into deep space. It was a test at the 99 percent power level to gain a better understanding of start and shutdown systems as well as modifications that had been made from previous test firing results.

Orion Prepares for Next Round of Acoustic Testing
The Orion MPCV ground test vehicle is lifted into the acoustic chamber at Lockheed Martin’s facilities near Denver on Thursday, Sept. 15, 2011, in preparation for the Launch Abort Vehicle Configuration Test. For this test, the MPCV, or multi-purpose crew vehicle, is covered with fillets and ogive panels which resemble the vehicle’s launch configuration. The spacecraft will undergo testing at sound pressure levels that emulate those experienced at launch and in the event an abort is needed to carry the crew to safety away from a potential problem on the launch pad or during ascent.

Related articles

• Onward & Upward: Q&A with Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne’s Jim Maser (space.com)
• The (current) future of human spaceflight: the Space Launch System (arstechnica.com)
• NASA unveils new deep-space rocket design (zdnet.com)
• NASA Announces Design for New Deep Space Exploration System. (planenews.com)

Advertisement