New video recorded during the return of NASA’s Orion through Earth’s atmosphere this month provides a taste of the intense conditions the spacecraft and the astronauts it carries will endure when they return from deep space destinations on the journey to Mars. The video begins 10 minutes before Orions 11:29 a.m. EST splashdown in the Pacific Ocean, just as the spacecraft was beginning to experience Earths atmosphere. Peak heating from the friction caused by the atmosphere rubbing against Orions heat shield comes less than two minutes later, and the footage shows the plasma created by the interaction change from white to yellow to lavender to magenta as the temperature increases. Orion traveled 3,600 miles above Earth on its 4.5-hour flight test – farther than any spacecraft built for humans has been in more than 40 years. In coming back from that distance, it also traveled faster and experienced hotter temperatures – 20,000 mph and near 4,000 degrees Fahrenheit, to be exact. Orion will travel faster and experience even higher temperatures on future missions, when it returns from greater distances, but this altitude allowed engineers to perform a good checkout of Orions critical systems – in particular its heat shield. https://youtube/watch?v=MtWzuZ6WZ8E
Posted on: Sun, 28 Dec 2014 20:11:17 +0000
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