Orion's New Launch Abort Motor Test Stand Ready for Action

June 9, 2008

Grey Hautaluoma/Stephanie Schierholz
Headquarters, Washington
202-358-0668/4997
grey.hautaluoma-1@xxxxxxxx, stephanie.schierholz@xxxxxxxx

Jennifer Morcone
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
256-544-0034
jennifer.j.morcone@xxxxxxxx

George Torres
Alliant Techsystems, Brigham City, Utah
801-699-2637
george.torres@xxxxxxx

RELEASE: 08-137

ORION'S NEW LAUNCH ABORT MOTOR TEST STAND READY FOR ACTION

WASHINGTON -- NASA and Alliant Techsystems, or ATK, unveiled Monday a
new vertical test stand that will be used later this summer to
support NASA's Constellation Program. The stand will be used to test
fire the full-scale abort motor for the launch abort system, which
will sit atop the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The abort motor is
designed to pull the crew module away from the Ares I launch vehicle
in an emergency situation on the launch pad or during the first
300,000 feet after launch.

A full scale inert motor, without oxidizer in the propellant, is now
secured top end down in the test stand with its nozzles pointing
skyward at ATK's facility in Promontory, Utah. Engineers will spend
the next few months performing a final checkout.

"We're breaking new ground with the development of this critical
motor, which must have sufficient thrust to leave the vehicle quickly
and get the crew to safety," said Ted Kublin, who is the lead
engineer for the propulsion abort motor at NASA's Marshall Space
Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. "The launch abort system is one of
the most vital components of the Orion spacecraft, requiring
innovative engineering to ensure success."

The abort motor stands more than 17 feet high and three feet in
diameter and is equipped with four nozzles. The motor's specially
designed manifold uses a reverse flow technology that forces hot gas
through the manifold's four nozzles, creating a pulling force. The
hot gas exits the top of the motor, allowing the resulting plume to
clear the crew module.

A bench test firing of the abort motor's igniter assembly is
scheduled
to take place in early June. The igniter assembly is a small rocket
motor inside the abort motor that provides the ignition source for
the motor propellant. Once ignited, the motor propellant burns at a
very high rate, resulting in four individual plumes that are more
than three times the motor length. Total abort motor burn time is
five seconds and creates a half-million pounds of thrust. However,
the majority of the high impulse propellant will be expended in the
first three seconds, which corresponds with the critical time frame
for the Orion crew module to escape from any potentially
life-threatening situation.

The abort system is a key element in NASA's continuing efforts to
improve safety as the agency develops the next generation of
spacecraft to return humans to the moon. NASA's Langley Research
Center in Hampton, Va., manages the launch abort system design and
development effort with partners and team members from Marshall.
Langley's Launch Abort System Office performs this function as part
of the Orion Project Office located at NASA's Johnson Space Center in
Houston. Orbital Sciences Corporation of Dulles, Va., is building the
entire launch abort system for Lockheed Martin Corporation of Denver,
the prime contractor for Orion.

For images of the test stand and more information about NASA's
Constellation Program, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/constellation


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