you
the thunder of powerful engines echoing
in the desert air a plume of steam
billowing towards the sky sparks flying
from electrical wires the blasts
controlled explosions these sights and
sounds belong to one of the world's
finest state-of-the-art facilities for
propulsion and materials testing in the
desert northeast of Las Cruces New
Mexico
NASA's white sands test facility stands
ready to challenge the safety and
reliability of items slated for
spaceflight
the goal in White Sands is to minimize
flight risks safety no matter what is
the first concern from rocket engines to
film for a camera everything flown on a
manned spacecraft has to be tested
carefully controlled test parameters
determine the strengths and weaknesses
in hardware concepts and designs this
testing is crucial to mission success
taking the risk here on earth first will
help avoid having to solve a problem
miles away from home in the unforgiving
space environment as part of NASA's
Johnson Space Center the white sands
test facility is primarily a support
organization the testing requirements
for the Johnson Space Center are the
first priority for this facility however
it also supports other NASA centers
various government agencies and
aerospace related commercial industries
on a reimbursable basis the client
provides the test article and defines
the technical and scheduled requirements
and that is not part of the TR are white
sands personnel develop and conduct the
test program to satisfy those
requirements
NASA's white sands test facility employs
a team of over 700 civil servants and
contractors this self-sufficient
facility includes an administrative area
two propulsion test areas and a
laboratories area the moderate weather
arid climate and remote location make
this an ideal site for propulsion and
hazardous material testing built in 1964
facilities here contest the entire
propulsion system at one time to see how
the components interact while the larger
Saturn 5 engines which would wish the
Apollo spacecraft off the launch pad
were tested at another NASA facility the
white sands facility began its
propulsion worked with the development
and certification testing of Apollo's
service module and lunar module engines
these engines were crucial to the
success of the Apollo missions the
service module engine put the astronauts
into lunar orbit
then the lunar module descent engine
landed them on the moon the lunar module
ascent engine blasted them off the moon
and back into lunar orbit and the
service module engine brought them back
home
four dozen tiny reaction control engines
on the lunar module and command service
module
steered the vehicles through space over
the years White Sands has tested more
than 300 engines in over 2 point 1
million firings each test is conducted
to make sure that the engines are safe
and reliable in the early 1970s white
sands began tests for the shuttles
on-orbit propulsion systems including
the orbital maneuvering system and the
reaction control system three high
fidelity flight light test articles were
used for the development and
qualification of these systems recently
these test articles entered a new phase
of testing in order to identify the life
cycle limitations of the shuttle
propulsion systems nASA has developed
the fleet leader test program as part of
this program white sands will
periodically operate the test articles
to see how repeated firings affect the
system these test articles will undergo
more firings and checkouts than any of
the corresponding flight systems as a
result shuttle component problems
resulting from long-term exposure to
gross with rocket propellants and
multi-mission operation can be resolved
the four problems occurred on flight
vehicles
propulsion testing is conducted in two
separate locations designated 300 and
400 test areas in the 300 test area to
test stands operate at normal or ambient
atmospheric pressure these stands are
hinged to accommodate rocket systems
which must be tested in both horizontal
and vertical orientations such as the
steering thrusters which control the
shuttles position in orbit a third test
chamber allows rocket engine tests to be
conducted under simulated space vacuum
condition the largest of these tests and
302 was extended to a height of 58 feet
during the Viking Mars Lander program in
the early 1970s at that time it was used
to simulate the physical and biological
effects of a rocket engine landing on
Martian soil this work led to
improvements to the rocket engine and
its fuel prior to the launch of the
Viking probe the stand has since been
modified to accommodate vacuum testing
of space station propulsion systems one
of the largest instant steam generating
systems in the country is located in the
400 test area it can generate over 3/4
of a million horsepower which would
equal the power of over 5,000 automobile
engines
this steam generator closely simulates
the space environment by allowing the
interior of the altitude chambers to
remain in a near vacuum during an engine
firing to create the back of the engine
fires into a large especially shaped
duct which vents to the outside inside
the duct our nozzles that inject cooling
water and shoot high-pressure steam the
same direction as the exhaust is
traveling the steam is accelerated to
supersonic speeds as it is ejected by
the system this creates a low pressure
which has enough suction to pull all the
atmosphere and the Rockets exhaust out
of the enclosed and as a result the
engine and exhaust plume are kept in a
near vacuum testing under vacuum
conditions is vital because rocket
engines perform significantly better in
space than in tests at atmospheric
pressure this difference in performance
must be measured precisely test stands
for o1 and 403 our altitude chambers
used for testing liquid propellant
engines a full-scale shuttle orbital
maneuvering system pod and a flight type
orbital maneuvering engine are installed
in test and fleet leader tests
another specialized vacuum test stand
designated 405 was designed to determine
the performance of the solid rocket
motors typically used to boost
spacecraft into orbits higher than the
shuttle can reach solid rocket motor
testing is difficult because these
motors are often spun as they are fired
a special fixture was set up to spin the
motors at rates up to 125 revolutions
per minute motor pressures temperatures
and thrust outputs are measured to
verify compliance with performance
guidelines this stand can also test
liquid fuel rocket engines such as the
shuttles steering thrusters each test
stand is operated from the
blast-resistant control center
underground tunnels connect the stands
with the control center and protect the
electrical and instrumentation wiring
each test article is instrumented with
hundreds of devices and commander
pressures temperatures vibrations and
flow rates the test procedure is
precisely controlled to allow a
comprehensive analysis of the results
for sets of computers acquire and
process the test data
these computers offer real-time test
control plus digital and color graphic
data displays engineers analyze the data
to determine if the system met
performance objectives following a
firing the propulsion system is
carefully checked out and examined for
damage propulsion testing is more than
just fire and smoke often white sands
personnel must develop procedures for
safely handling toxic or hazardous
propellants in various situations such
as loading propellants onto the shuttle
other work involves continued
development of environmentally safe
systems or destroying toxic fuel waste
products
techniques are also developed for
cleaning and refurbishing shuttle
propellant components which have
accumulated contamination during more
than 10 years of flight operations many
special projects at white sands are
supported by an extensive laboratory
complex the laboratories area has nine
remote test cells designed for high
pressure testing with gaseous and liquid
oxygen
there are also fourteen remote test
cells capable of withstanding explosions
and designed for operation with
hazardous toxic fluids in this area
special equipment is used to examine the
ignition combustion and explosive
properties of typical spacecraft
materials and propellers white sands has
one of the most extensive materials
testing laboratories in the world this
lab characterizes materials on earth so
that they can be depended on in space
over 90% of all the nonmetallic
materials flown during the Apollo Skylab
and shuttle programs have been tested at
white sands currently work focuses on
materials proposed for use on the
shuttle its payloads and space station
among the unique tests conducted here is
the flammability of metals white sands
is a proven leader in this type of
testing and in analyzing how metals burn
recently hypervelocity particle
launchers have been added to white sands
arsenal of tools these light gas guns
propel objects up from Mornington
diameter at speeds of nearly seven
kilometers per second or ten times as
fast as a high-powered rifle this
simulates the impact of meteoroids and
orbital debris on hazardous targets such
as pressurized containers propellant
tanks or other spacecraft components
there is more to the lab area than
testing materials or studying explosions
often parts that have failed onboard the
shuttle are analyzed in the controlled
environment of the lab engineers try to
mimic the failures from that they can
identify the specific problem and work
on a solution another area of interest
is payloads outgassing or the migration
of molecules out of organic products
tests are conducted on everything from
laptop computers to animal enclosures to
film for onboard cameras to ensure that
nothing toxic is released for materials
due to outgassing also payloads that fly
together are tested to make sure that
one payloads outgassing does not
contaminate other payloads and white
sands clean rooms are used continuously
to precision clean all the parts used in
rocket propellant and liquid oxygen
tests these clean rooms are an integral
part of the test program tests using
rocket fuels cannot be conducted without
precision clean parts if a small bit of
organic material is on the test article
and it is tested in pure oxygen a fire
could result
the clean room not only ensures
uncontaminated test results but more
importantly provides a necessary safety
factor one indispensable and rather
unusual test capability is the odor
panel since 1967
a panel of volunteers has sniffed
literally every item that has flown in
the crew cabins of NASA's manned
spacecraft this is important because a
bad odor permeating an enclosed cabin
can become uncomfortable and assembly
metallurgy
x-ray special component-level testing
and photography for all propulsion and
laboratory activities technical support
at white sands doesn't stop with the
completion of the test these engineers
scientists and technicians are
determined to provide the answers to
whatever questions might be posed they
have even compiled several handbooks on
aerospace fluid hazards as well as
provided support for special
investigations and hazard assessments in
addition to providing top-notch test
cells and laboratories the white sands
test facility also supports another
important part of the shuttle program a
dry gypsum lake bed at the nearby US
Army White Sands Missile Range provides
two seven mile long runways for shuttle
landing operations and astronaut
training our speed 292 designated white
sands space Harvard this area of the
Missile Range serves as an alternate
landing site for the shuttle here
although only one shuttle has landed
here the Space Harbor is used every day
and often at night as an essential
training ground for shuttle pilots here
astronauts practice approaches and
landings using the shuttle training
aircraft which mimics the shuttles
flight characteristics and
instrumentation
in 1989 a third runway was added to
train astronauts for transatlantic abort
landings this shorter and narrower
runway is almost an exact duplicate in
size and appearance to the one had been
gurira marraco located near the white
sands test facility is another
installation which provides an important
service to the shuttle program the
tracking and data relay satellite system
ground terminals two terminals are
located about four miles apart each is
responsible for receiving voice
television and data from orbiting
shuttles both terminals are supervised
by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
and are not related to the white sands
test facility
the outstanding track record in white
sands centers around its people they are
involved in all facets of the test from
inception to completion these
professionals have resources training
and experience necessary to provide
state-of-the-art support for various
test requirements the future holds many
challenges for the white sands test
facility at white sands years of
experience combined with the physical
assets of the facility we'll continue to
provide the capability to safely
evaluate potential hazards which may
arise on earth and in space whether it
involves firing rocket engines
evaluating advanced materials studying
explosions or testing new exotic
propellants today's work at the white
sands test facility will continue to
minimize risks for tomorrow's space
flights
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