NASA on Thursday conducted the second to last splashdown test for its Orion spacecraft as the agency prepares to eventually send humans to Mars.
Scientists at NASA's Langley facility used a pendulum and explosives to vault a test capsule into a pool of water at about 25 mph. The 11-foot craft disappeared behind a bowl-shaped splash before bouncing buoyantly against safety netting.
The last time a NASA spacecraft parachuted into the ocean with astronauts on board was in the 1970s during the Apollo missions. The rules of physics haven't changed, but the technology has grown dramatically, NASA officials said.
The capsule's heat shield is no longer steel but carbon fiber and titanium, making it stronger and lighter. Instead of a couch-like seat to hold all of the astronauts, each will have his and her own custom-made chair to better protect the spine. Computer simulations have shrunk the number of actual splashdown tests from 100 to 10.
"A capsule hitting the water hasn't changed," said Mark Baldwin, an analyst with Lockheed Martin, the prime contractor behind Orion. "But what we know about it has."
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday August 27 2016, @09:40PM
By the time they will finally get to Mars Elon will have its own town up there.
(Score: 2) by takyon on Saturday August 27 2016, @10:06PM
Mars: Planet of WAR
[SIG] 10/28/2017: Soylent Upgrade v14 [soylentnews.org]
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 28 2016, @03:09AM
Ruskies have been landing on the ground forever, Shuttle landed on a runway, Musk can land his booster where ever the f he pleases. Why does this capsule land on water, requiring special weather and a fleet of ships to collect a few people?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 28 2016, @11:15AM
Because after all the geniuses left and Nazi scientists died NASA is now a bunch of self-serving bureaucrats who like Hollywood prefer to stick to "safe" stuff like sequels and franchise reboots. They are still doing 1950s or 1960s stuff but with fancier tech and materials.
They talk bullshit about sending people to Mars but how are they going to get people back? If it's a one way trip, they haven't even tested to see how long people can live in Mars gravity levels. The only thing they had in that area/direction was cancelled: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifuge_Accommodations_Module [wikipedia.org]
If it's a suicide mission it would be cheaper to to kill the people and send robots.
Nowadays NASA is not really about science and innovation but keeping the gravy train going for as long as possible.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday August 28 2016, @12:55PM
Musk can land his booster where ever the f he pleases.
No, he cannot. But his team can produce CGI showing that he can.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Sunday August 28 2016, @07:22PM
They ended that research because they realized there is not enough water on Mars for a splashdown. ;-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.