Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

NASA's Orion Spaceship Passes Parachute Test

Posted by samzenpus on from the first-step dept.

An anonymous reader writes The spacecraft it is hoped will take man to Mars has passed its first parachute tests. Nasa's Orion spacecraft landed gently using its parachutes after being shoved out of a military jet at 35,000 feet. "We've put the parachutes through their paces in ground and airdrop testing in just about every conceivable way before we begin sending them into space on Exploration Flight Test (EFT)-1 before the year's done," Orion program manager Mark Geyer said in a NASA statement. "The series of tests has proven the system and will help ensure crew and mission safety for our astronauts in the future."

15 of 75 comments (clear)

  1. Ahh man by Greyfox · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now I'm going to have to go build a military jet in Kerbal Space Program and push a capsule with parachutes out of it.

    --

    I'm trying to teach myself to set people on fire with my mind... Is it hot in here?

    1. Re:Ahh man by Megaport · · Score: 4, Funny

      With the demo, I made a rocket that orbited the Mun and returned to Kerbin for a safe landing.

      I had to put the damn game down and walk away...

      Yep. Same story here, except I managed an entire manned (Kerbaled?) Duna sample return mission before walking away.

      My marriage only just survived.

      --M

      --
      # grep slashdot access.log | grep html | sort | uniq | wc -l 2604
  2. SpaceX Will Beat NASA at this Game by Frosty+Piss · · Score: 2

    Part of me is happy to see NASA doing this kind of development.

    On the other hand, I suspect that some version of SpaceX's Dragon will carry men into space long before Orion.

    --
    If you want news from today, you have to come back tomorrow.
    1. Re:SpaceX Will Beat NASA at this Game by TWX · · Score: 2

      Bear in mind that Musk's goal is long-duration deep space travel, so it still may be possible that SpaceX will still get there before Orion gets off the ground, especially if his successes in Earth orbit make it easier to continue development past it.

      --
      Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
  3. Re:Help!! by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 3, Informative

    As I understand it, Orion is sort of the equivalent of the Apollo CM. It was not cancelled.

    However, what I believe the administration wants to cancel is part of the SLS (Shuttle Launch System) which would lift the Orion capsule into orbit--sort of the equivalent of the Saturn 1B that was used to launch Apollo capsules into earth orbit for Skylab and Apollo/Soyuz missions.

    I believe the heavy-lift version of SLS--sort of analogous to the Saturn 5--is still funded for the asteroid missions.

  4. I really wish they named the ship something else by Crashmarik · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Every time I see Orion mentioned, I get my hopes up about nuclear powered interstellar craft.
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/P...

  5. Re:That's great by R3d+M3rcury · · Score: 2

    Well, that depends on how the mission plays out. You may be able to mate it with a Falcon 9 to get it off the ground and pair up with another system already launched into orbit aboard a Falcon Heavy.

    Remember that Apollo used one big rocket because that was the quickest way to get to the Moon. It wasn't necessarily the best idea...

  6. Not the first test, first test failed.... by caffiend666 · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not the first test. First test failed five years ago.... https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVl6lCr1vCo Have been other successful tests since then: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sMGTsGe4Nds . Nowhere does the article describe these as the first tests....

    --
    Here's to losing my Karma Bonus again....
  7. Re:That's great by camperdave · · Score: 2

    Absolutely not. If you're going to go with a nuclear rocket, make it a gas core nuclear rocket, like the Liberty. Gas core nuclear rockets (or nuclear light bulbs) do not spew radioactive waste in their wake. They are clean and physically doable, unlike the Orion.

    --
    When our name is on the back of your car, we're behind you all the way!
  8. Re:I really wish they named the ship something els by itzly · · Score: 3, Informative

    Even with a nuclear powered rocket, interstellar travel to the nearest neighbour will take more than a century, and that's just for a high speed fly-by. If you actually want to get in orbit, it'll take twice as long.

  9. Re:I really wish they named the ship something els by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 2

    It might "fly", just not as a lifter. Interplanetary, sure...just not from Earth's surface.

  10. Re:Maybe Moon not Mars by l0n3s0m3phr34k · · Score: 2

    Children on Mars would probably turn out...weird. Less gravity, higher radiation...after the 2nd generation they might not even be able to com4e back to earth!

  11. terminal velocity on mars by martin-boundary · · Score: 2

    What's the terminal velocity on Mars?

    1. Re:terminal velocity on mars by Neil+Boekend · · Score: 2

      That depends on 5 main factors:
      air density (depends on altitude)
      aerodynamic shape of the object
      Frontal surface of the object
      Mass of the object
      The gravitational acceleration on Mars (approx 4 m/s^2)

      If I assume the air pressure of 1% of earth means that the density is also 1% then:
      p=0.1225 kg/m3.
      If I assume a C of 1 (approximately a man facing the planet, see here for more common C's), an A of 1m^2 and a m of 100kg

      Plug all that in a calculator like this one.

      Then I get a terminal velocity of 82 m/s (or approx 300 km/u), if you drop down flat.
      For earth that is approximately 145 km/h. For 300 you have to go face down (lower C and lower A).

      --
      Well, I might have a way, but it only works on a semi spherical planet in a vacuum.
  12. I am Jack's utter lack of awe... by Assmasher · · Score: 2

    Seriously NASA?

    SpaceX is launching rockets that effing land themselves and you're celebrating that your parachute works? Well, those are new...

    --
    Loading...