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COMBINED MONTHLY REPORT September 2018

COMBINED MONTHLY REPORT September 2018

EXPLORATION SYSTEMS DEVELOPMENT

COMBINED MONTHLY REPORT September 2018

Orion: Success! Final Orion Airdrop Test Complete

SLS: SLS Right on Schedule with RS-25 Tests

EGS: Mobile Launcher Moves to Vehicle Assembly Building

www.nasa.gov ORION

4 Success! Final Orion Airdrop Test Complete 5 Faster Than a Speeding Rocket 6 AA-2: Stacked and on Track! 7 Orion’s EM-1 Service Module Integration Completed 8 Ivanka Trump Steps into Orion 8 Orion Suits Take a Sled Ride 9 NASA Shines at Diamond Anniversary Events 10 Supplier Spotlight: MRI Technologies, Inc.

SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM

12 SLS Right on Schedule with RS-25 Tests 13 Smart Manufacturing Powers New SLS Engines 14 Aerojet Rocketdyne Named Marshall Prime Contractor of the Year 15 A Virtual SLS Launch Experience 15 Learning about Future Payloads 16 Rocket Science in 60 Seconds 16 I Am Building SLS: Jonathan Pahed 17 SLS Chief Engineer Wins National Award 17 Spaceflight Partners: University of Hawaii at Manoa

EXPLORATION GROUND SYSTEMS

20 Mobile Launcher on the Move 21 In the Driver’s Seat 22 Team Preps for Orion Underway Recovery Test 7 23 Employees, Guests View ML Move

2 ORION SEPTEMBER 2018

Success! Final Orion Airdrop Test Complete

NASA has completed the final test to qualify Orion’s parachute system for flights with astronauts, checking off an important milestone on the path to send humans on missions to the Moon and beyond. SUCCESS! FINAL ORION AIRDROP TEST COMPLETE

The Navy Helicopter Sea Combat Squadron #23 from North Island Naval Air Station located on Coronado Island, participated in the test and will be the helicopter squadron providing the helicopters that cover the descent and landing phase for EM-1, with their primary objective of collecting engineering quality imagery in support of meeting the flight test objectives. This drop test was an opportunity to train the imagery personnel as well as to perform an in-flight functional test of the newly installed NASA provided and operated gyro stabilized system externally mounted 8K video camera.

NASA has completed the final test to qualify Orion’s Kevlar lines attaching the top of the spacecraft to the 36,000 parachute system for flights with astronauts, checking off square feet of parachute canopy material. In about 10 an important milestone on the path to send humans on minutes of descent through Earth’s atmosphere, everything missions to the Moon and beyond. must deploy in precise sequence to slow Orion and its crew from about 300 mph to a relatively gentle 20 mph for Over the course of eight qualification tests at the U.S. splashdown in the Pacific Ocean. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in , engineers have evaluated the performance of Orion’s parachute system The parachute system is the only system that must during normal landing sequences as well as several assemble itself in mid-air and must be able to keep the crew failure scenarios and a variety of potential aerodynamic safe in several failure scenarios, such as mortar failures that conditions to ensure astronauts can return safely from prevent a single parachute type to deploy, or conditions that deep space missions. cause some of the parachute textile components to fail.

The system has 11 parachutes, a series of cannon-like During the final test, which took place September 12, a mortars, pyrotechnic bolt cutters, and more than 30 miles of mock Orion was pulled out from the cargo bay of a C-17

4 ESD Combined Report September 2018 aircraft flying higher than 6.5 miles. The protective ring around the top of Orion that covers the parachute system was jettisoned and pulled away by the first set of Orion’s parachutes, then the remaining parachutes were deployed in precise sequence.

Additionally, Orion parachute engineers have also provided considerable insight and data to NASA’s Commercial Crew Program partners. The knowledge gained through the Orion program has enabled NASA to mature computer modeling of how the system works in various scenarios and help partner companies understand certain elements of parachute systems. In some cases, NASA’s work has provided enough information for the partners to reduce the need for some developmental parachute tests, and the associated expenses.

Orion will first fly with astronauts aboard during Exploration Mission-2, a mission that will venture near the Moon and farther from Earth than ever before, launching atop NASA’s Space Launch System rocket—which will be the world’s most powerful rocket. The parachutes for Orion’s upcoming uncrewed flight test, Exploration Mission-1, already are installed on the vehicle at in .

View the full test here: bit.ly/OrionDropTestFBLive

FASTER THAN A SPEEDING ROCKET

In this episode of Houston, We Have A Podcast, Jon Olansen and Jenny Devolites discuss the critical Ascent Abort-2 test of Orion’s launch abort system, which is designed to activate within milliseconds if a failure occurs while the Space Launch System (SLS) rocket is ascending into orbit. Essentially, it has to propel the crew module away at a rate faster than the rocket’s ascent speed. The Orion AA-2 crew module and AA-2 launch abort vehicle are set to test the launch abort system and verify its functions for all future Orion and SLS flights that will take astronauts on deep-space missions.

Listen to the podcast: go.nasa.gov/2S9I0Du AA-2: STACKED AND ON TRACK!

In just a few months, the Ascent Abort-2 (AA-2) flight test the separation ring. This ring relies on four bolts that are team will verify that Orion’s Launch Abort System can connected to the computers within the crew module, quickly propel the crew to safety in the event of an issue which will indicate when they need to release and let the with the Space Launch System during a future launch. The capsule fall back to the ocean after the capsule has been system’s abort and jettison motors are now in the Launch successfully pulled to a safe distance away from the Space Abort System Facility at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Launch System during an emergency. Once the separation Florida, and are joined by the metallic motor adapter truss ring and crew module are connected, they will go through assembly recently shipped over from NASA’s Michoud testing to make sure that everything is working correctly Assembly Facility in Louisiana. The crew module will soon be before being transported to Kennedy. Once there, all sent from Houston to start the vehicle integration process. elements will be integrated and readied for the official AA-2 flight test next spring. The AA-2 crew module successfully completed acoustic testing at NASA Glenn Research Center’s Plum Brook Read more about AA-2 Crew Module’s return to Houston: Station in Sandusky, , and has returned to NASA’s bit.ly/HChronSeptAA2 Johnson Space Center in Houston to be connected to

6 ORION’S EM-1 SERVICE MODULE INTEGRATION COMPLETED

During September at the Airbus integration hall in Bremen, The service module will soon be packed and flown to Germany, technicians installed the last radiator on the NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Orion’s solar European Service Module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft, wings will be shipped separately, also from Bremen. At marking the module’s finished integration. Kennedy, the module will be stacked together with Orion’s crew module and crew module adapter. ESA’s European Service Module will provide power, water, air, and electricity to NASA’s Orion spacecraft. The More tests await the Orion spacecraft at NASA Glenn service module is now complete for Orion’s first mission, Research Center’s Plum Brook Station in Sandusky, Ohio, Exploration Mission-1, that will do a lunar fly-by without where it will be put in the world’s largest vacuum chamber astronauts to demonstrate the spacecraft’s capabilities. to simulate spaceflight as well as being subjected to acoustic tests to simulate the intense vibrations Orion will Much like closing the bonnet on a car, with the radiators endure when launched on the world’s largest rocket, the in place technicians can no longer access the inside of Space Launch System. the service module, symbolically ending the assembly and integration of the module. Meanwhile, technicians in Bremen are not resting as work on the second European Service Module for Exploration Technicians worked 24 hours a day in three shifts to Mission-2 is already well under way. The structure is complete the service module’s assembly and the last stages complete and over 11 kilometers of cables are being of its extensive testing. Engineers put the module through meticulously placed in preparation for the computers and its paces with functional tests that included checking the equipment that will keep astronauts alive and well for newly installed radiators and testing the propulsion system Orion’s first crewed mission. with its intricate pipelines that deliver fuel and oxidizer to the spacecraft’s 33 engines.

September 2018 ESD Combined Report 7 IVANKA TRUMP STEPS INTO ORION

During a visit to NASA’s Johnson Space Center in Houston, an integral role in the design, development, and testing of Orion Advisor to the President Ivanka Trump was joined by NASA and its launch abort system that will make Orion the safest Administrator Jim Bridenstine to receive a briefing on the Orion human spacecraft ever built. Pictured above from left to right spacecraft that is preparing to launch humans further into space are NASA Astronaut Nicole Mann, Ivanka Trump, and Orion than ever before. As home of the Orion program, Johnson has Crew and Service Module Manager Lara Kearney.

ORION SUITS TAKE A SLED RIDE

The Orion team completed one week of suited Anthropomorphic Test Device (ATD) sled testing at the Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio. Specific suit design prototypes evaluated included the helmet support assembly, foot restraint clips, and communication cap. Acceleration impulses and seat orientations were selected to represent Orion water landings and abort scenarios that are considered to have the highest risk for crew injury. These tests provided information on how the seats in Orion and prototype suits react to the different possible situations of landing, ensuring that when astronauts do return from Exploration Mission-2, they will arrive home safely. NASA SHINES AT DIAMOND ANNIVERSARY EVENTS

NASA’s future still shines bright as the Agency turns 60 and ceremony, tours of Goddard Space Flight Center and the reflects on its past accomplishments while looking forward Steven F. Udvar Hazy Center Air and Space Museum, and a to its future endeavors to further advance our Nation’s celebration of NASA’s 60th Anniversary with a reception at aeronautics and space exploration pursuits. the Ronald Reagan Building.

NASA held Space Flight Awareness honoree events in NASA Astronauts Randy Bresnik, Jeanette Epps and Washington, D.C., September 18-20, to honor more than Shannon Miller attended to recognize and congratulate all 120 employees from all NASA centers and many of their the honorees for their outstanding achievements. Several industry teammates. The special event included an awards Orion team members were among the honorees.

9 SUPPLIER SPOTLIGHT MRI TECHNOLOGIES, INC.

MRI engineers work with the Orion crew module adapter in NASA Kennedy’s Operations and Checkout Building.

MRI Technologies, Inc. (MRI) is a women-owned small by supporting educational organizations, local families, business located in Houston, ; and Littleton, Colorado; individuals and seniors in need. that specializes in engineering, planning, and integration. Nineteen of their 115 employees work directly for the Orion program to provide engineering support for hardware and engineering life cycle support across the program. One specific example of their contributions to the program hardware includes their work on the Orion crew module adapter, which serves as the connection between the crew module and service module during flight. MRI’s life cycle support includes the capture and management of technical data as the data evolves through the life cycle of the Orion program, including requirements, drawings, and design decision packages. Before Orion, MRI had experience supporting the , International Space Station, and extravehicular space suit programs along with a variety of satellite and science programs. Along with being purposeful about the work they provide for the Orion program, MRI MRI employees volunteering for cleanup duty in a maintains a strong presence in the communities they serve neighborhood impacted by Hurricane Harvey.

FOLLOW THE PROGRESS OF NASA’S NEW SPACECRAFT OCTOBER 2018 FOR HUMAN EXPLORATION:

Twitter ...... Twitter.com/NASA_Orion Launch Abort System QM-1 Jettison Motor Test Orion Facebook ...... Facebook.com/NASAOrion Project Mars Winners Debut with First Man Flickr ...... Flickr.com/NASAOrion Featured at IAC Bremen Tumblr...... NASAOrion.tumblr.com SPACE LAUNCH SYSTEM SEPTEMBER 2018

ENGINE TESTS ON

www.nasa.gov SCHEDULE SLS RIGHT ON SCHEDULE WITH RS-25 TESTS

Four RS-25 engines will power SLS at launch, providing 2 million pounds of combined thrust. The engine tests at are scheduled to continue into 2019.

The SLS program has successfully completed two more the RS-25 engine, serving as the “brain” to help it communicate scheduled RS-25 rocket engine tests at Stennis Space Center with the rocket and to provide control of its operation and in Bay St. Louis, . On September 25, the third hot internal health diagnostics. The 3D-printed pogo accumulator fire of RS-25 developmental engine 0525 met all test objectives assembly dampens potential propellant pressure oscillations and featured several key elements, most notably an acceptance that can cause a rocket to become unstable in flight. test of an engine flight controller for use by the SLS rocket. The The first test was conducted August 14. The second hot fire hot fire also represented the seventh test of a 3D-printed pogo test on the RS-25 engine was conducted September 6. Tests accumulator and the third test of a main combustion chamber are expected to continue into 2019. fabricated using a bonding technique designed to save time and money. The flight controller units are a key component of Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2OYAtFS SMART MANUFACTURING POWERS NEW SLS ENGINES

The redesigned main combustion chamber, one of the most complex and critical components for SLS engine operations, has performed well under testing.

NASA redesigned and tested key components for the RS- to help send SLS to space for missions to the Moon 25 engine that powers the Agency’s new deep space rocket, and beyond. SLS, by incorporating modern manufacturing techniques that The RS-25 was proven during the Space Shuttle Program and significantly reduce both cost and fabrication time. has been updated with new controllers and nozzle insulation for The redesigned main combustion chamber, which is the heart its job with SLS. Currently, the SLS Program has 16 engines in of the engine, has performed well during two tests in flight- its inventory from the Space Shuttle Program, enough for four like conditions. During the tests, temperatures reached 6,000 flights. Engines for later flights are being built by SLS engines degrees Fahrenheit and the part experienced 3,000 pounds prime contractor Aerojet Rocketdyne at its factory in Canoga of pressure as the engine fired up in a test stand at Stennis Park, California. Space Center in Bay St. Louis, Mississippi. When SLS launches, Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2Dc36xK four RS-25 engines will produce two million pounds of thrust AEROJET ROCKETDYNE NAMED MARSHALL PRIME CONTRACTOR OF THE YEAR Aerojet Rocketdyne, which is building RS-25 engines for SLS, was named Marshall Space Flight Center’s Large Business Prime Contractor of the Year for support of the Small Business Subcontracting Programs under Marshall’s RS-25 Production Restart contract. The Sacramento, California-based company, along with protégé company ICO Rally of Palo Alto, California, was also awarded the Mentor-Protégé Agreement of the Year for their support of the engine contract. The awards, presented during the Marshall Small Business Alliance Meeting at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, , recognize leadership in the aerospace business community and sustained achievement. Established in 2007 and sponsored by Marshall’s Office of Procurement and Small Business Office, the alliance helps small businesses pursue NASA procurement and subcontracting opportunities. Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2OIwOMa

Bill Gerstenmaier, NASA Associate Administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Directorate, recently spoke to employees at Aerojet Rocketdyne in California. Aerojet Rocketdyne is building RS-25 engines for SLS. SLS ON THE ROAD

A VIRTUAL SLS LAUNCH EXPERIENCE

Professionals who work in the science center and museum industries got a chance to experience a rocket launch, thanks to the SLS team’s virtual reality exhibit at the Association of Science and Technology Center’s annual conference in Hartford, Connecticut. More than 1,200 people attended the conference, hosted by the Connecticut Science Center.

LEARNING ABOUT FUTURE PAYLOADS

SLS Spacecraft Payload Integration and Evolution (SPIE) Office Deputy Manager Andy Schorr spoke at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Space 2018 conference where he updated attendees about the payload options for SLS. WHAT’S NEW IN SLS SOCIAL MEDIA

ROCKET SCIENCE IN 60 SECONDS Rocket Science in 60 Seconds gives an inside look at work being done at NASA to explore deep space. In this episode, SLS Flight Operations Manager Jennifer Vollmer takes you inside the SLS Engineering Support Center located in Marshall Space Flight Center’s Huntsville Operations Support Center. Watch the latest Rocket Science video here: bit.ly/2xxOvHH

I AM BUILDING SLS: JONATHAN PAHED From hiking to biking to running to rock climbing, Jonathan Pahed loves a good adventure. He says his greatest adventure so far is working on engines for NASA’s deep space rocket, SLS. As the lead engineer for the RS-25 main combustion chamber, he is focused on new and improved ways of building the combustion chamber to save time and reduce costs. The main combustion chamber is one of the most critical and complex parts of the engine because it is where the entire thrust of the engine begins. Inside the chamber, the fuel and oxidizer mix and combust, then the high-pressure gas is accelerated out of the nozzle, producing the thrust that powers the rocket. Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2NqSM9M

16 SLS CHIEF ENGINEER WINS NATIONAL AWARD SLS Chief Engineer Garry Lyles recently received the 2018 American Association of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) George M. Low Award for Space Transportation. AIAA cited Lyles’ “visionary leadership” in the development of NASA’s SLS rocket. “Building the world’s most powerful rocket has been challenging,” Lyles said. “There is tremendous complexity in how all the pieces and parts of the Space Launch System work together. What I’ve found is a lot of what makes the rocket work is not just the physics. It’s the people. I feel like this award is for the whole SLS team.” Lyles has served as the SLS chief engineer at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, since the program’s beginning in the fall of 2011, guiding the rocket through both its preliminary and critical design reviews. Read the full story: go.nasa.gov/2xEHKDQ

SPACEFLIGHT PARTNERS: University of Hawaii at Manoa

NUMBER OF EMPLOYEES: 6

LOCATION: Honolulu, Hawaii

WHAT THEY DO FOR SLS: Mission Operations and Integration prime contractor Teledyne Brown Engineering entered into an agreement with the University of Hawaii at Manoa to assist in the development of SLS vehicle command/telemetry database development, operations, product/documentation, and configuration management. This effort includes development of products to support SLS flight controller training, autonomous operations, secondary payloads, and launch commit criteria. The students receive training in a range of skills supporting payload and system integration.

FOLLOW THE PROGRESS OCTOBER OF NASA’S NEW LAUNCH VEHICLE FOR DEEP SPACE: Moving the Pathfinder

Twitter ...... Twitter.com/NASA_SLS Intertank Avionics Testing Complete

Facebook ...... Facebook.com/NASASLS The Rocket’s Forward Join National Aeronautics and Space Administration

EXPLORATION GROUND SYSTEMS HIGHLIGHTS

SEPTEMBER 2018 Mobile Launcher Moves to Vehicle Assembly Building EGS MONTHLY HIGHLIGHTS

Mobile Launcher on the Move In the Driver’s Seat

Prepping for Underway Recovery Test 7 Employees, Guests View ML Move

19 MOBILE LAUNCHER ON THE MOVE

NASA’s mobile launcher is inside High Bay 3 at the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on September 11, 2018, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Photo credit: NASA/Frank Michaux

NASA’s mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, traveled from Launch Pad 39B to the Vehicle Assembly Building at the Agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on September 7, 2018. Arriving late in the afternoon, the mobile launcher stopped at the entrance to the VAB. Early the next day, Sept, 8, engineers and technicians rotated and extended the crew access arm near the top of the mobile launcher tower. Then the mobile launcher was moved inside High Bay 3, where it will spend about seven months undergoing verification and validation testing with the 10 levels of new work platforms, ensuring that it can provide support to the Agency’s Space Launch System (SLS). The 380-foot-tall structure is equipped with the crew Cliff Lanham, NASA project manager for the mobile launcher, takes a break to attend the employee event for the mobile launcher move to the Vehicle access arm and several umbilicals that will provide power, Assembly Building on September 7, 2018, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center environmental control, pneumatics, communication and in Florida. The mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, began its trek from Launch Pad 39B along the crawlerway after undergoing a fit check and electrical connections to the SLS and Orion spacecraft. several days of systems testing with the pad. This is the first time that the Exploration Ground Systems is preparing the ground systems modified mobile launcher made the trip to the pad. Photo credit: NASA/Cory necessary to launch SLS and Orion on Exploration Mission-1, Huston missions to the Moon and on to Mars.

20 IN THE DRIVER’S SEAT CRAWLER DRIVER TAKES MOBILE LAUNCHER FOR TREK TO LAUNCH PAD 39B, VEHICLE ASSEMBLY BUILDING

What does it take to drive one of NASA’s crawler-transporters? “Patience,” says Bob Myers, a mechanical systems engineer on the Test and Operations Support Contract and one of six crawler drivers at the Agency’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Recently, Myers sat in the operator cab of the crawler-transporter known as CT-2, picked up the mobile launcher that will be used to launch NASA’s new Space Launch System rocket and moved it slowly and carefully along the crawlerway out to Launch Pad 39B for testing and verification, and then back to the Vehicle Assembly Building, marking the first time the modified mobile launcher has taken such a journey. “It’s a big responsibility,” Myers said. “There’s a lot of weight on my shoulders, so to speak.” And he’s not kidding. The crawler itself weighs about 6 million pounds. Add 10.5 million pounds from the weight of the mobile launcher and its launch umbilicals, and that’s 16.5 million pounds, traveling along at about .7 miles per hour on a compacted rock bed. Once all the crawler systems were activated—a process that takes about 30–45 minutes—Myers pushes a button to start up the crawler and begin moving. The steering wheel is about 6 to 7 inches wide, a far cry from the steering wheel in the supercharged truck he drives. Myers said he just puts his truck into drive and it’s already moving faster than the crawler. The crawler uses air brakes to slow or stop, but engineers usually allow it to roll gently to a stop on its own so they do not jerk the payload abruptly. During the drive, Myers is not alone. At least 30 engineers and technicians are inside or outside the crawler, performing a multitude of tasks to make sure the crawler and mobile launcher are level and everything is operating as it should during the trek to the pad and the Vehicle Assembly Building. Engineers, construction workers and technicians prepared the crawler for the increased weight of the SLS by upgrading power generators, electrical controls, and the jacking, equalization, and leveling cylinders. Manual controls were previously replaced with programmable logic controllers, or computerized controls. “The crawler has longevity,” Myers said. “Upgrades have brought the crawler into the twenty-first century and made it much easier to drive, but it still feels like a ship on land.” As the Center prepares for Exploration Mission-1, and many missions beyond, Myers is looking forward to seeing the SLS and Orion spacecraft stacked on the mobile launcher. “It will be an honor carrying America’s rocket,” Myers said. “In a sense, we’re carrying America’s future.”

Bob Myers, a mechanical systems engineer with ERC on the Test and Operations Support Contract, is inside the operator cab of crawler-transporter 2 on the crawlerway at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center on August 27, 2018. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

21 TEAM PREPS FOR ORION UNDERWAY RECOVERY TEST 7

Orion Landing and Recovery team member Pete Ruett, with Jacobs, practices using a winch to prepare for Underway Recovery Test 7 (URT-7) on September 5, 2018, in the heavy equipment yard at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Ruett is a handling and access engineer. During URT-7, the recovery team, including Exploration Ground Systems and the U.S. Navy, will practice recovering a test version of the Orion crew module in the Pacific Ocean, off the coast of California, and guiding it into the well deck of a ship. Over several days, the team will demonstrate and evaluate new recovery processes, procedures, hardware, and personnel in open waters. Orion is the exploration spacecraft designed to carry astronauts to deep space destinations, including the Moon and on to Mars. Orion will have emergency abort capability, sustain the crew during space travel and provide safe reentry from deep space return velocities.

Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

22 View a video of the mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, moving along the crawlerway to Launch Pad 39B and then to the Vehicle Assembly Building.

Click on the image to view the video

NASA astronaut Shannon Walker visits with a future astronaut during an employee event for workers and their guests for the mobile launcher move to the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB) on September 7, 2018, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The mobile launcher, atop crawler-transporter 2, began its trek from Launch Pad 39B along the crawlerway after undergoing a fit check and several days of systems testing with the pad. This is the first time that the modified mobile launcher made the trip to the pad. Photo credit: NASA/Cory Huston

View the EGS 2017 Year in Review at https://go.nasa.gov/2C9twKC.

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