Aerospace Test Operations and Maintenance Services
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AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES CONTRACT AT NASA PLUM BROOK STATION SANDUSKY, OHIO CRYOGENIC PROPELLANT TANK FACILITY HYPERSONIC TUNNEL FACILITY SPACECRAFT PROPULSION TEST FACILITY SPACE POWER FACILITY A NARRATIVE/PICTORIAL DESCRIPTION CHI and its joint-venture team provide Plum Brook-wide infrastructure and institutional support services, as well as Station Test Facilities operations and maintenance services (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES CHI, a key member of a joint-venture team under contract to CHI’s joint-venture team expertise: NASA at their Plum Brook Station, Sandusky, OH, provides Test Program Management the full range of operations and maintenance technical Test Engineering & Planning support services for the Station’s four “world-class” Test Operations Engineering aerospace research test facilities that support the testing of Test Instrumentation Engineering advanced space hardware for NASA, as well as other U.S. Test Control Engineering and international space hardware system developers. Facility Engineering & Maintenance Safety Engineering One of the four test facilities is the Space Power Facility (SPF) show below. The SPF is the world’s largest space Quality Engineering environment simulation chamber (100’ diameter and 120’ Technicians & Mechanics length) in which large space-bound hardware can be — Cryogenics ground-tested in a severe environment similar to that — Test Structures encountered in space. The chamber air is removed to — Pneumatics — Hydraulics simulate the vacuum conditions of space at an altitude of — Control Devices 145 statute miles; charged argon gas is added to the — Data Acquisition chamber to simulate a space plasma environment of low — Electronic Systems earth orbit. Additionally, very World’s Largest Space Environment Simulation Chamber cold and hot temperatures of space can be simulated using a cryogenic cold wall and quartz Ariane 5 long payload fairing lamp heaters. On the following page, the gigantic size of the SPF is demonstrated in International Space Station Radiator Panels photo-views of the open experiment assembly area and a test article in-place prior to testing. (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES TEST CHAMBER 50’ X 50’ CHAMBER ACCESS DOORS DISASSEMBLY AREA SPACE POWER FACILITY VIEW FROM THE EXPERIMENT ASSEMBLY AREA (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES CHI, a key member of a joint-venture team under contract CHI’s joint-venture team expertise: to NASA at their Plum Brook Station, Sandusky, OH, Test Program Management provides the full range of operations and maintenance Test Engineering & Planning technical support services for the Station’s four “world- Test Operations Engineering class” aerospace research test facilities that support the Test Instrumentation Engineering testing of advanced space hardware for NASA, as well as Test Control Engineering other U.S. and international space hardware system Facility Engineering & Maintenance developers. Safety Engineering Quality Engineering One of the four test facilities is the Cryogenic Propellant Technicians & Mechanics Tank Facility (K-Site) shown below. This 25’ diameter — Cryogenics chamber is used to develop the technology for generating — Test Structures and utilizing densified liquid hydrogen and oxygen in — Pneumatics space. These fuels have the potential to significantly — Hydraulics reduce the cost of access to space by reducing the size — Control Devices and weight of the launch vehicle fuel tanks without — Data Acquisition lowering — Electronic Systems performance, a CRYOGENIC PROPELLANT TANK FACILITY (K-SITE) high-priority objective of our Space program. On the next page, the open 20’ diameter door to the K- Site test facility provide a view into this impressive chamber; and one of the pre- VentureStar tanks is being readied for K-Site testing. (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES CRYOGENIC PROPELLANT TANK FACILITY (K-SITE) 20’ DIAMETER DOOR 13 FT. DIAMETER LH2 TEST TANK 25’ DIAMETER TEST CHAMBER (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES CHI, a key member of a joint-venture team under contract to CHI’s joint-venture team expertise: NASA at their Plum Brook Station, Sandusky, OH, provides the Test Program Management full range of operations and maintenance technical support Test Engineering & Planning services for the Station’s four “world-class” aerospace research Test Operations Engineering test facilities that support the testing of advanced space Test Instrumentation Engineering hardware for NASA, as well as other U.S. and international Test Control Engineering space hardware system developers. Facility Engineering & Maintenance Safety Engineering One of the four test facilities is the Spacecraft Propulsion Quality Engineering Research Facility (B-2) shown below. Large upper-stage Technicians & Mechanics space launch vehicles can undergo complete integrated — Cryogenics systems testing, including engine firing, in the simulated space — Test Structures environment that the B-2 provides. A full-sized launch vehicle, — Pneumatics up to 400,000 pound thrust capability can be loaded into the 38’ — Hydraulics diameter by 55’ high stainless steel vacuum chamber which can — Control Devices simulate pressure that would be experienced at 115 statute — Data Acquisition miles of — Electronic Systems altitude. Very SPACECRAFT PROPULSION RESEARCH FACILITY high and low (B-2) temperatures can be duplicated with a cryogenic cold wall and quartz lamp heaters. The following page shows a cutaway view of the B-2 and a photo of the Centaur rocket vehicle inside the B-2 test chamber. (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES 20 TON CRANE LN2 COLD WALL QUARTZ CENTAUR LAMP ARRAY ROCKET VEHICLE B-2 TEST FACILITY INSIDE VIEW OF TEST CHAMBER (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES CHI, a key member of a joint-venture team under contract CHI’s joint-venture team expertise: to NASA at their Plum Brook Station, Sandusky, OH, Test Program Management provides the full range of operations and maintenance Test Engineering & Planning technical support services for the Station’s four “world- Test Operations Engineering class” aerospace research test facilities that support the Test Instrumentation Engineering testing of advanced space hardware for NASA, as well as Test Control Engineering other U.S. and international space hardware system Facility Engineering & Maintenance developers. Safety Engineering One of the four test facilities is the Hypersonic Tunnel Quality Engineering Facility (HTF) shown below. This wind tunnel is capable of Technicians & Mechanics performing flow tests at Mach 5, 6, or 7. High-pressure — Cryogenics Nitrogen gas flows through a 3-megawatt electrical heater — Test Structures that raises its temperature to nearly 2500 degrees Kelvan. — Pneumatics — Hydraulics Oxygen is added to the hot nitrogen to produce an air — Control Devices composition that is flowed through a 42-inch diameter — Data Acquisition hypersonic flow nozzle and past the test model. A large steam ejector pulls a vacuum on the HYPERSONIC TUNNEL FACILITY (HTF) test chamber to help establish the flow pattern and to Aerospace Plane simulate high altitude conditioning. The following pages show a cutaway of the HTF that provides insight to the facility and its operational altitude corridor; and a Trailblazer photo of an engine setup for Mach 7 HTF testing. (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES HYPERSONIC TUNNEL FACILITY (HTF) CUT-AWAY VIEW TEST CHAMBER HYPERSONIC OPERATIONAL ALTITUDE CORRIDOR FLOW NOZZLE ENGINE DESIGN MACH NUMBER PLUM BROOK FACILITY 120 ALTITUDE ENVELOPE CAPABILITY -3 15,000 FT. ABOVE 100 BASE DESIGN q ~ 900 PSF GN /GO 80 2 2 BASE DESIGN TEST MIXER POINTS q ~ 1,800 PSF 120 DIFFUSER MAX. q ~ 2,000 PSF SECTION TEST ARTICLE X 10 FT. ALTITUDE, 120 012345678 FREE-STREAM MACH NUMBER 5,000 psi GASEOUS NITROGEN RAILCAR 750,000 SCF LH2 DEWAR SHOP AREA ENLARGED VIEW OF TEST CHAMBER 2,400 psi GO2 BOTTLES STEAM EJECTOR TRAIN ELECTRIC EQUIPMENT ROOM 3 MW GRAPHITE HEATER (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] AEROSPACE TEST OPERATIONS AND MAINTENANCE SERVICES DIFFUSER INLET HYPERSONIC NOZZLE HRE ENGINE NERD HYPERSONIC TUNNEL FACILITY VIEW OF HRE ENGINE SETUP FOR MACH 7 TESTING, 1974 (321) 267-9808 Fax: (321) 267-9805 E-Mail Address: [email protected] GOVERNMENT - INDUSTRY PARTNERSHIPS In order to remain competitive, American aerospace companies are developing improved rocket vehicles which will lower the cost of launching satellites into Space. These new vehicles must be thoroughly tested on the ground, before they are launched, to reduce the risk of failure during actual flights. Under a government-industry partnership, the Boeing Company’s Delta 3 upper stage rocket was tested in the Spacecraft Propulsion Research Facility (B-2) at Plum Brook in March of 1998. Delta 3 upper stage being loaded