Just recently, NASA successfully tested the Launch Abort System (LAS) for its Orion spacecraft, that will carry the first woman and the next man to the moon in 2024. The flight test called “Ascent Abort 2” was performed at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.
The first full LAS test involved launching a smaller scale Orion that included the rocket, abort system and capsule – that is about 93 feet tall. NASA engineers wanted to see that in case of an emergency during an actual launch the abort system can pull the crew module away to a safe distance, very quickly. No crew was on board on this occasion.
“It was a very smooth liftoff,” said Mark Kirasich, Orion program manager. “By all first accounts, it was magnificent.” The abort system performed as expected. The next time the abort system is used, astronauts will be on board.
During the test, the booster provided 500,000 pounds of thrust to Orion and LAS to reach a speed of 800 mph and in 55 seconds got up to about 31,000 feet – which would be cruising altitude for a commercial aircraft. About 20 seconds later, during the time the actual launch rocket is at ‘max-Q’, or the point during launch when it’s under the most stress from aerodynamic forces, the jettison motor successfully pulled the capsule away from the rocket.
“This test is extremely important,” Kirasich told CNN. “Our Launch Abort System is a key safety feature of the spacecraft — it will protect the crew members who fly onboard Orion during the most challenging part of the mission, which is the ascent phase.”
The LAS is a new component of NASA’s crew launch system designed for Orion and will help make this the safest rocket launch system ever designed by NASA. It can activate in milliseconds and move the crew component of the spacecraft away from the rocket at a much higher velocity than even the rocket itself can move.
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