Multiterrain Earth Landing Systems Applicable for Manned Space Capsules
Publication: Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 22, Issue 3
Abstract
A key element of the President’s Vision for Space Exploration is the development of a new space transportation system to replace Shuttle that will enable manned exploration of the moon, Mars, and beyond. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has created the Constellation Program to develop this architecture, which includes the Ares launch vehicle and Orion manned spacecraft. The Orion spacecraft must carry six astronauts and its primary structure should be reusable, if practical. These requirements led the Constellation Program to consider a baseline land landing on return to earth. To assess the landing system options for Orion, a review of current operational parachute landing systems such as those used for the F-111 escape module and the Soyuz is performed. In particular, landing systems with airbags and retrorockets that would enable reusability of the Orion capsule are investigated. In addition, Apollo tests and analyses conducted in the 1960s for both water and land landings are reviewed. Finally, test data and dynamic finite-element simulations are presented to understand land landings for the Orion spacecraft.
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Acknowledgments
The writer would like to especially acknowledge the entire ADP staff at NASA Langley for providing experimental data and model results and for many discussions on Orion landing systems. In particular, special thanks go to James Corliss, Barry Bryant, Karen Lyle, Karen Jackson, Richard Boitnott, Ralph Buehrle, Robin Hardy, Lisa Jones, Sotiris Kellas, Brian Mason, Mercedes Reaves, and John Wang. James Brinkley provided information on human tolerance that was very helpful. Professor Ala Tabiei and John Wang provided water impact results. In addition, Jerry McCullough, who was the Apollo engineer in charge of soil impact tests, and Apollo astronaut, T. K. Mattingly, provided insights that could not be found in any report.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Aerospace Engineering
Volume 22 • Issue 3 • July 2009
Pages: 201 - 213
Copyright
© 2009 ASCE.
History
Received: May 6, 2008
Accepted: Jan 22, 2009
Published online: Jun 15, 2009
Published in print: Jul 2009
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