14 DAY TRIAL // On Thursday, March 18, NASA contractor Alliant Techsystems (ATK) tested a new escape rocket motor at one of its facilities. The device was originally developed for integration on the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle, which was a part of the larger Project Constellation. However, under the budget proposal that US President Barack Obama forwarded to Congress earlier this year, the program is scheduled for termination. Still, for the time being, work on Orion continues. The recent tests are an important milestone, as the engine has just passed its second critical trial, Space reports.
According to engineers at ATK, the full-scale attitude control motor (ACM) managed to pass its second ground test with flying colors. The team ignited the instrument at its Elkton, Maryland-based test facility, where the solid propellant-powered motor was also built. If Orion ever gets built, than the ACM will have a fundamentally important role, to steer one of the launch-abort systems on the Orion, in case something goes awry at the launch pad. If the rocket carrying the capsule experiences an anomaly, then the system activates, and the crew is carried away from the danger zone.
“The success of this test, coupled with the success of the first test last December, demonstrates again that crew safety is an overriding priority in the design of the crew vehicles to be used in future human exploration missions. We are now ready for the next major milestone, a flight demonstration,” explains the ATK Mission Systems interim president Bart Olson. He says that, later this year, the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico will host a full pad abort test for the launch abort system.
But the faith of Orion, and of the ARES I rocket (its delivery system) is still uncertain. The agency still has full funds to keep Project Constellation going throughout 2010, but, if the new budget proposal passes, then all money will stop flowing in starting January 2011. According to President Obama, the United States should focus on supporting the private sector for achieving tasks such as delivering astronauts and supplies to the International Space Station (ISS). But the plan has run into stiff opposition in Congress. Various subcommittee members have vowed never to let the proposal pass, while some senators and representatives have introduced bills to keep the Project alive.