Archive for the ‘Space News’ Category
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May 7th, 2016
Credit: Scaled Composites
As part of Aviation Week & Space Technology’s special centennial issue, aerospace imagineer, Burt Rutan, founder of Scaled Composites, has shared his thoughts on the next 100 years of aerospace, and the ingredients required for technological breakthroughs.
Rutan led the team who created the first privately built spacecraft to send humans into space – SpaceShipOne — that then repeated the achievement within five days. Accomplishing the feat, the team captured the Ansari X Prize in 2004.
Engineering challenge
“We should aggressively work to discover if we are the only intelligent species in the universe,” Rutan explains. Furthermore, he notes that “any important breakthrough, before it happens, is often dismissed as nonsense.”
“I agree with my friend Elon Musk that locating our species on more than just Earth may be our most important engineering challenge,” Rutan writes. “Also, protecting our planet and our species from history’s only real significant threat (asteroid/comet impact) should not be overlooked. Aerospace researchers should have a critical role in developing technologies needed to achieve both those goals.”
For full access to Rutan’s look into the past and future, go to:
http://aviationweek.com/space/next-100-years-burt-rutan
Special thanks to Frank Morring of Aviation Week & Space Technology for assisting in this posting.
SpaceShipOne returns to the runway.
Courtesy of Scaled Composites, LLC
The sweep of aerospace progress is celebrated in Aviation Week & Space Technology’s special centennial issue.
Credit: Ted Williams/Aviation Week & Space Technology
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Holloman AFB in New Mexico is home to the world’s only magnetically-levitated sled system in the world. Sleds are propelled down the 2,100 foot-long track to test sensitive electronic components for weapon systems.
Credit: Airman 1st Class Randahl J. Jenson
Last March, a magnetically-levitated rocket sled set a world record, racing across a nearly frictionless track at Holloman Air Force Base in New Mexico.
The speed attained by the 2,000-pound, magnetically-levitated (Maglev) sled was clocked at 633 miles per hour, operated by the 846th Test Squadron at the facility.
This was the fastest speed attained by the Maglev, done on March 4, said Lt. Col. Shawn Morgenstern, the Commander of the 846th Test Squadron. An earlier use of the Maglev achieved 513 miles per hour, beating a test of 510 miles per hour done a couple of years ago, he said.
Technicians from the 846th Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M., pump liquid helium into a test sled here Aug. 18, 2015. This sled system runs on four super-conducting magnets that need to be cooled down to a few degrees above absolute zero to ensure the smoothest ride possible.
Credit: U.S. Air Force photo by Airman 1st Class Randahl J. Jenson
One-of-a-kind
This magnetically-levitated sled is a one-of-a-kind system that uses powerful magnets to steady a rocket-propelled sled on a 2,100 foot-long track. In order for the magnets to work properly, engineers must first cool them to four degrees Kelvin above absolute zero—four degrees above the coldest an object can possibly get. This ensures the smoothest ride possible, explains Airman 1st Class Randahl J. Jenson of the 49th Wing Public Affairs.
“We use very cold liquid helium to essentially levitate the sled via super-conducting magnets,” Morgenstern said. “The Maglev system gives us the ability to test systems without much vibration,” he added.
Faster and faster
“If you have sensitive components that are a part of a weapon system and you want to test them in a realistic environment, a system like this allows us to do that. We measure those vibration environments at various speeds to understand what the system is really capable of as we continue to go faster and faster,” Morgenstern noted.
The recent test did not go exactly as planned, according to the AF public affairs report.
“What we have planned to do after this test is refine the design of the sled itself,” Morgenstern said. “We want to look at some lighter materials and continue to see what kind of capability we can get out of this system in terms of the speeds that we’re capable of going.”
“Go Mach 10” is the 846th Technical Squadron’s motto. Mach 10 is a hypersonic speed, a velocity reaching 7672.69 miles per hour.
There are many military applications of Maglev, from aircraft catapult systems to lobbing “smart” artillery shells. NASA has also investigated Maglev for launching purposes and Elon Musk’s “hyperloop” concept benefits from this type of technology.
Different technologies to push a spacecraft down a long rail have been tested in several settings, including this Magnetic Levitation (Maglev) System evaluated at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center.
Credit: NASA
History in the making
Holloman Air Force Base is not unfamiliar with historical milestones.
On December 10, 1954, Lt Col (Dr.) John P. Stapp received the nickname “The Fastest Man Alive” when he rode a rocket propelled test sled, Sonic Wind No. 1, to a speed of 632 miles per hour.
On December 10, 1954, Lt Col (Dr.) John P. Stapp received the nickname “The Fastest Man Alive” when he rode a rocket propelled test sled, Sonic Wind No. 1, to a speed of 632 miles per hour.
Credit: U.S. Air Force
Then there was Captain Joseph W. Kittinger Jr. and his small step, big leap out of an open balloon gondola at 102,800 feet on August 16, 1960 to evaluate techniques of high altitude bailout. Capt Kittinger’s jump lasted 13 minutes reaching a velocity of 614 miles per hour.
Lastly, there was the November 1961 flight of Enos, a chimpanzee trained at Holloman’s HAM facility (Holloman Aero-Medical laboratory). Enos was the first U.S. specimen launched into orbit, riding a Mercury-Atlas capsule that completed two orbits around the Earth. That intended 3-orbit mission was cut short due to a malfunctioning thruster and other technical difficulties. The flight however cleared the way for America’s first human orbital spaceflight and helped certify the Mercury capsule, thus green-lighting John Glenn’s milestone flight on February 20, 1962.
Credit: UP Aerospace/GoPro
A newly released, award-winning GoPro video captures the November 6th, 2015 rocket flight of UP Aerospace Inc. – a 20-foot (6 meter) tall SL-10 suborbital rocket.
The mission deployed the Maraia Capsule testing the aerodynamics and stability of the payload on re-entry to the atmosphere. Designed and built by NASA’s Johnson Space Flight Center, Maraia re-entered Earth’s atmosphere independent of the launch vehicle to test controllability at Mach numbers reaching 3.5.
The UP Aerospace rocket reached an altitude of 396,000ft (120,700 meters) and speeds up to Mach 5.5 (3800mph or 6115km/h) at engine burnout.
Deployment system
That mission signaled the 10th SpaceLoft rocket flight from Spaceport America in New Mexico and the 4th mission for NASA’s Flight Opportunities Program.
Credit: UP Aerospace
The mission also marked the debut of UP Aerospace’s new Automated Payload Deployment System (APDS). At 60 seconds into the flight the system successfully released the nose fairing and ejected the 11-pound Maraia re-entry capsule.
The remainder of the vehicle contained three other experiments by NASA’s Ames Research Center, Purdue University, and New Mexico State University.
Recovery at White Sands
The SpaceLoft-10 mission involved an18 minute sub-orbital launch into space and the vehicle was recovered on White Sands Missile Range for re-use on future missions.
Strap yourself in and watch the video at:
SpaceX Dragon makes use of Supersonic Retro-Propulsion (SRP) to land on Mars.
Credit: SpaceX
One small tweet for humankind…a giant leap to Mars?
A lot of high fives have been flying since Elon Musk and his fellow Musketeers tweeted April 27: “Planning to send Dragon to Mars as soon as 2018. Red Dragons will inform overall Mars architecture, details to come.”
Details aside, at SpaceX they’ve never been secretive about future intentions, as noted on the company’s website.
“SpaceX designs, manufactures and launches advanced rockets and spacecraft. The company was founded in 2002 to revolutionize space technology, with the ultimate goal of enabling people to live on other planets.”
SpaceX testing of SuperDraco rocket engines is in full-blast mode.
Credit: SpaceX
To that end goal, enter the SpaceX SuperDraco – a hypergolic propellant liquid rocket engine. It is part of SpaceX’s Draco family of rocket engines. A redundant array of eight SuperDraco engines provides fault-tolerant propulsion for use as a launch escape system and propulsive-landing thrust for the Dragon V2 passenger-carrying space capsule.
Dealing with Deceleration
The other key to the kingdom of Mars is Supersonic Retro-Propulsion (SRP).
Human-scale Mars landers require the delivery of much heavier payloads to the surface of Mars than previously attempted. Most current concepts for large Mars landers are not able to passively achieve subsonic velocities and must use SRP to perform the final deceleration and a soft landing on the Martian surface.
“We have been studying SRP-based entry, descent and landing systems for both human and robotic scale for a few of years now. I am hopeful,” explains Rob Manning, chief engineer and a Mars authority at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory on getting big payloads down safe and sound on the Red Planet.
Parachutes are still in the future for Mars Science Laboratory/Curiosity rover-scale missions and smaller, Manning told Inside Outer Space. “SRP has a big overhead in cost and mass that the big launch vehicles can help overcome,” he adds.
Building blocks
Bullish on Elon Musk’s march to Mars is Robert Braun of the Georgia Institute of Technology’s Daniel Guggenheim School of Aerospace Engineering.
Supersonic Retropropulsion profile.
Credit: Humphrey Price, Robert Manning, Evgeniy Sklyanskiy, Robert Braun
“SpaceX’s plan to land a robotic mission on Mars is inspiring, ground-breaking, and a testament to the innovative culture that is alive and well in the U.S. space industry,” Braun tells Inside Outer Space.
“Once Falcon Heavy and Dragon 2 are flying on Earth, SpaceX will have the building blocks needed to land on Mars,” Braun adds.
First stage landing taken by remote camera photo from “Of Course I Still Love You” droneship on April 8, 2016.
Credit: SpaceX
Mars-relevant
Braun points out that SpaceX utilizes supersonic retropropulsion technology in Mars-relevant conditions each time they return their first-stage booster to Earth.
“Having reviewed this data, I don’t believe there are any SRP showstoppers on the path to the Mars surface,” Braun says. Because this entry, descent and landing approach — blunt-body entry followed by SRP to the surface — is scalable to larger payloads “this EDL architecture has promise for one day landing humans on Mars,” he advises.
“Don’t get me wrong, any landing on Mars, particularly a new architecture, is a risky proposition,” Braun points out. “But, you’ve got to give them credit. Their plan relies extensively on systems they will be flying on Earth over the next few years. That certainly improves their chances of success at Mars,” he concludes.
Artist’s view of still to fly SpaceX Falcon Heavy.
Credit: SpaceX
Details to follow
One of those details yet to follow is what possible payloads could Dragon ships plop down on Mars? Options include deployable science gear to look for life, trial-run oxygen and propellant production gear using local resources on Mars – perhaps even shoot back to Earth samples of the Red Planet.
For sure, NASA engineers are keen on instrumenting up the tail pipe any Mars-bound Dragon to gain more SRP data.
Musk has advised that he’ll roll out details on the SpaceX Mars plan during the International Astronautical Congress to be held September 26-30 this year in Guadalajara, Mexico.
Single Person Spacecraft (SPS) mock up.
Credit: Genesis Engineering
In space history, only a handful of Russian and American travelers have experienced single-person orbital flight.
That “you’re on your own” encapsulated feeling is palpable as you face your instrument panel.
A three month competition has led to some creative interiors for a single-person spacecraft. Genesis Engineering Solutions (GES) in Lanham, Maryland sponsored the contest as a way to integrate student creativity into the development of their Single-Person Spacecraft (SPS).
Shirtsleeve operations
According to GES, the SPS includes an inner pressure vessel for shirtsleeve (normal clothing) operations and an outer unpressurized cylinder for micrometeoroid/orbital debris and impact protection.
Subsystems are packaged in the space between and in the overhead crown leaving the interior open for control, displays and other outfitting.
An SPS astronaut will have rapid access to the work site to repair the aging International Space Station…or to an asteroid for sample collection, for example.
WHISPS Team proposal, spotlighting usability testing using full scale mock up.
Credit: FIT
Creature and stay-alive comforts
The contest involved students from engineering, industrial design, human factors, and space architecture.
They were encouraged to develop creative internal designs using only existing technologies. Furthermore, they had to provide controls for flying the SPS and operating robotic arms all while floating in zero-gravity.
The interior had to include displays and controls, warning lights and alarms, pilot restraints, creature comforts, and other accoutrements one might find in an automobile here on Earth.
Design prizes
Two prizes were awarded: a $2,500 Grand Prize and one $1,500 Superior Design Prize.
- The Grand Prize was awarded to The WHISPS Team from Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) whose submission addressed the challenges of working in the extreme environment of space and balanced new unproven technology in space like touch pads with old-school analog knobs. The WHISPS Team, including Ondrej Doule, Joseph Torkaman, De Vere – Michael Kiss, Kareim Elbaz, and Azeez Batcha from the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) School of Human-Centered Design, Innovation, and Art.
- The Superior Design prize was awarded to Brett Montoya and Canaan Martin from the University of Houston (UH). Their entry paid careful attention to ensuring a common viewpoint across the anthropometric scale and augmented control using a clear canopy.
University of Houston Team proposal.
Credit: Brett Montoya/Canaan Martin
“We didn’t know what to expect and now we have an excess of great ideas to choose from,” said Robert Rashford, GES President & CEO in a press statement.
The winners of the SPS internal design competition were selected by a panel of experienced space experts. In addition to GES personnel, jurors included a former NASA Astronaut, NASA human factors engineers, and specialists in robotics.
Genesis Engineering Solutions has supported NASA projects since 1993, including the Hubble Servicing Missions and the James Webb Space Telescope.
Japan’s X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H (Hitomi).
Credit: JAXA
The recent loss of Japan’s X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H (Hitomi) is a blow to acquiring new space-based views of the universe – but also adds to the growing issue of Earth orbiting debris.
Furthermore, some of the errant 2.7 ton spacecraft is expected to reach terra firma when it eventually makes it fiery fall through the atmosphere.
Castaway panels
Credit: JAXA
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s (JAXA) ASTRO-H was boosted into space on February 17, 2016 (JST) from the Tanegashima Space Center. But late last month, after emergency attempts to salvage the craft, JAXA declared the mission lost to space.
“Most of our analyses including simulations on the mechanisms of object separation, it is highly likely that both solar array paddles had broken off at their bases where they are vulnerable to rotation,” a JAXA statement notes.
Pre-launch photo of ASTRO-H.
Credit: JAXA
“Accordingly, JAXA will cease the efforts to restore ASTRO-H and will focus on the investigation of anomaly causes. We will carefully review all phases from design, manufacturing, verification, and operations to identify the causes that may have led to this anomaly including background factors,” JAXA states.
State of the art instruments
Equipped with four state of the art instruments, ASTRO-H was built to eye the hot and energetic universe.
The word “Hitomi” generally means “eye” — and specifically the pupil, or entrance window of the eye — the aperture, according to JAXA background information on the spacecraft.
ASTRO-H was the sixth satellite in a series of highly successful X-ray astronomy missions initiated by the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS) JAXA.
Debris survival
So round and round it goes, and where Hitomi will fall is far from predictable.
Credit: JAXA
Inside Outer Space asked JAXA for a statement on when the spacecraft will plunge to Earth – and any expected debris survival.
“The reentry time period for X-ray Astronomy Satellite ASTRO-H
(Hitomi) is expected within 25 years,” responded Izumi Yoshizaki of JAXA’s Public Affairs Department.
“Pre-launch analysis/modeling of the spacecraft’s reentry and survivable hardware that could land on Earth was done,” Yoshizaki said. The RCS (Reaction Control System) tank made of titanium is expected to survive during the reentry.”
Reentry window?
However, the “within 25 years” means more analysis of the object’s reentry time would be helpful.
According to satellite tracker extraordinaire, Ted Molczan of Canada, he estimates that ASTRO-H will remain in orbit for at least a few years.
Shortly after launch, ASTRO-H is cast off into Earth orbit.
Credit: JAXA
Scott Hull, an orbital debris engineer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center adds that, in addition to the very unfortunate loss of a valuable science asset, any breakup is of concern to the orbital debris community as potential threat to other spacecraft.
“It is somewhat fortunate that most of the secondary objects from this breakup are considered relatively small, and in general their orbits are already decaying, reducing the duration of any threat. Apparently one debris object has already reentered,” Hull told Inside Outer Space.
One arguable question is whether the dead hulk of Hitomi might make it a candidate for a debris removal experiment?
Credit: National Geographic
The next frontier in space exploration is Mars, the red planet—and human habitation of Mars isn’t much farther off.
In October 2015, NASA declared Mars “an achievable goal;” that same season, Ridley Scott and Matt Damon’s The Martian drew crowds into theaters, grossing nearly half a billion dollars in the first two months. Now the National Geographic Channel goes years fast-forward with “Mars,” a six-part series documenting and dramatizing the next 25 years as humans land on and learn to live on Mars.
Following on the visionary success of Buzz Aldrin’s Mission to Mars and the visual glory of Marc Kaufman’s Mars Up Close, this companion book to the Nat Geo series shows the science behind the mission and the challenges awaiting those brave individuals. The book combines science, technology, photography, art, and story-telling, offering what only National Geographic can create. Clear scientific explanations, gorgeous photography from outer space and the planet itself, and dramatic scenes from the TV series featuring exquisitely constructed sets made to replicate Mars make the Mars experience real and provide amazing visuals to savor and return to again and again.
Hardcover
304 pages; 200 color illustrations
9 1/8″ x 10 7/8″
© 2016
Author Bio
Ron Howard has made a lifelong career in television and film, winning numerous accolades and awards as actor, director, and producer. He is co-chair with Brian Grazer of Imagine Entertainment, which has recently partnered with National Geographic on Breakthrough as well as Red Planet.
Leonard David is an award-winning space journalist who has been reporting on space activities for over 50 years. He frequently contributes to the website Space.com as their “Space Insider Columnist” and is the coauthor of Buzz Aldrin’s Mission to Mars. In 2015, he became the first recipient of the American Astronautical Society’s (AAS) “Ordway Award for Sustained Excellence in Spaceflight History” in the category of journalism, and in 2010 he received the National Press Club Award for his space journalism.
For more information on the book – Mars: Our Future on the Red Planet — to be released October 25th, go to:
https://shop.nationalgeographic.com/product/books/books/new-books/mars
Also go to Amazon at:
Credit: NASA
What kind of map is needed to best aide human explorers strutting about on Mars?
An international call is open to students, cartographers, and graphic artists from all countries to participate in planning the first human mission to Mars.
The International Cartographic Association (ICA) Commission on Planetary Cartography is organizing a competition for creating maps to find a suitable landing site for human explorers of Mars.
The contest is part of International Map Year activities.
Exploration zones
NASA’s march to Mars centers on a 2035 target date for the first human touchdown on the Red Planet.
Overview map shows all proposed Exploration Zones (EZ)/human landing sites for NASA’s 2035 Mars mission.
Credit: ICA/NASA
Last year, nearly 50 landing sites or Exploration Zones (EZ) — each some 120 miles (200 kilometers) in diameter – were proposed by the planetary science community. These should be mapped in high detail in the forthcoming years to enable proper comparison of the sites and the selection of a final spot to be visited by an expeditionary crew.
Creativity required
The ICA initiative is to select one candidate landing site and design an actual map that a competition participant envisions will be useful in surface operations. Not wanted is just creating a simple geologic map.
Rather, what ICA is looking for is a product that can be used by Marswalkers during their approximately one-year long mission within the Exploration Zone. This requires creativity, and it is also useful to have a good knowledge of surface features, surface hazards, science goals and the use of the proper cartographic tools.
“Our goal is to develop maps that could ultimately be used by the astronauts during their daily field works,” explains the ICA website. “Technology can change a lot between now and 2035. The field maps will most likely be digital maps, shown on display, VR glasses, projected onto the helmet or made visible by a yet-to-discover technology. We can’t know the future mapping technology so what we ask is to make a map that you would find it useful to orient yourself in the chosen EZ, document future plans and already visited sites, mark the locations of the landmarks and habitat units.”
Example of one proposed landing site for humans near America’s Viking 1 lander.
Credit: H Hargitai/coordinates from JMARS2035
Deadline of submission of maps and papers: September 1, 2016. Submission can be electronic or paper (paper submissions must arrive at NASA Ames Research Center in California no later than September 15, 2016).
For detailed information on the competition, go to:
https://planetcarto.wordpress.com/2016/04/22/mars-exploration-zone-map-competition/
Curiosity Navcam Left B image taken on Sol 1326, April 29, 2016.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech
NASA’s Curiosity rover on Mars is just about to enter Sol 1328 as of this posting.
Ryan Anderson, a planetary scientist at the USGS Astrogeology Science Center in Flagstaff, Arizona, reports: “After a nice rest on Sol 1325, Curiosity was charged up and ready for lots of science!”
That Sol 1325 was used primarily to recharge the rover’s batteries.
On Sol 1326, scientists conducted multispectral Mastcam observations of the pile of dumped powder from the “Lubango” drill target and the targets “Rubikon” and “Ebony.”
The rover’s Chemistry & Camera (ChemCam) made a passive observation of the dump pile, followed by active observations using the laser on Rubikon as well as “Ida” and “Lorelei,” Anderson notes. “Mastcam documented the ChemCam observations as usual, and then finished the science block with an atmospheric observation.”
Dump pile
On Sol 1326, the Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI) observed the dump pile and drill tailings, as well as a bedrock target called “Nara Valley”. Finally, the rover’s Alpha Particle X-Ray Spectrometer (APXS) made an overnight observation of the dump pile, Anderson adds.
Curiosity’s Mars Hand Lens Imager (MAHLI), located on the turret at the end of the rover’s robotic arm, took this image on April 28, 2016, Sol 1325.
Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech/MSSS
A weekend plan that covers Sols 1327-1329 calls for a sol focused on dumping out more of the powder acquired from the Lubango drill, “this time after passing it through a sieve,” Anderson explains. “Mastcam and MAHLI will take pictures of the new dump location before and after the sieved sample is dumped, and then APXS will do an overnight measurement.”
On Sol 1238, the plan calls for lots of remote sensing. Navcam and Mastcam have a few atmospheric observations, and then ChemCam will measure the pre- and post-sieve dump piles, Nara Valley, and a target called “Ovitoto”.
Drive and drill
On Sol 1329, Curiosity is on tap to do a short drive to a nearby patch of flat Stimson formation sandstone that should not have as much silica enrichment as what has been seen at Lubango. “This will put us in position to drill that location sometime next week,” Anderson reports.
As always, planned rover activities are all subject to change due to a variety of factors related to the Martian environment, communication relays and rover status.
On April 27, James Lovell spoke at MIT as a special guest, invited by the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics.
Photo: Bill Litant
It was 46 years ago this month that the words “Houston…we’ve had a problem” shot across space to ground controllers on Earth.
On April 14, 1970, just 56 hours into the Apollo 13 mission to the Moon, those words were uttered by crew members aboard the spacecraft.
Apollo 13 was to be NASA’s third landing of humans on the Moon. The transit to the Moon by the crew members was not prime-time television.
“All three networks received the signal — nobody carried it. There was the Dick Cavett show … a rerun of ‘I Love Lucy,’ and a ballgame…even people in the control center were watching the ballgame,” recalls Apollo 13 commander, James Lovell, speaking Wednesday as a special guest invited to the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AeroAstro) at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).
Hiss, bang
Prior to the trouble, an oxygen tank explosion, “I said goodnight to everybody, turned off the camera, and was coming down the tunnel, when suddenly there was a ‘hiss, bang!’ and the spacecraft rocked back and forth, jets were firing, and there was noise all over,” Lovell explained.
James Lovell at MIT.
Photo: Bill Litant
“That explosion was the best thing to ever happen to NASA,” Lovell told the MIT audience. “It showed, really, the talent that NASA people had, in mission control and throughout the organization that turned an almost complete catastrophe into a successful recovery.”
Bomb waiting to go off
In a story written by Jennifer Chu of the MIT News Office, Lovell explained to his AeroAstro audience it was two weeks before launch of Apollo 13 that the spacecraft underwent its last test.
“As the countdown went on, we could see the whole spacecraft come to life,” Lovell said. “The test was successful — everything looked perfect.”
When the ground crew came by to empty the liquid oxygen tanks, which would be refilled before launch, they were unable to do so. It would take a month to replace the tanks, which would have delayed the mission. However, they noticed that one of the tanks was an old design — meant for Apollo 10 — that was configured with an oxygen-emptying tube and a heater.
“They figured, why not turn on the heater and boil the oxygen out and therefore save time? Not a bad idea, so that’s what they did,” Lovell said. “The day before liftoff, they filled it up once more with liquid oxygen. It was a bomb waiting to go off” because the fix actually damaged the internal elements of the tank.
Serious trouble
Shortly after Lovell ended a television broadcast back to Earth on April 14, a ‘hiss, bang!’ shook the spacecraft, he said. Checking the instrument gauges, he found that one oxygen tank was completely empty, while another was being rapidly depleted. As he looked out a side window, he witnessed a “gaseous substance, at high speed,” shooting out into space.
“That’s when that old lead weight went down in the bottom of my stomach,” Lovell added. “Because we needed oxygen for electricity, the third fuel cell would die, and because we used electricity to control our rocket engine, we’d lose the entire propulsion system. We were in serious trouble.”
Last maneuver
The cascade of spacecraft system failures that would follow — requiring the ingenuity of the Apollo 13 crew and ground controllers to safely bring back the astronauts to Earth — is a story captured in the 1995 Hollywood blockbuster “Apollo 13,” with Tom Hanks starring as Lovell.
Fred Haise (left), Jim Lovell, and Jack Swigert emerge from the recovery helicopter on-board the aircraft carrier Iwo Jima on April 17, 1970.
Credit Scan by Ed Hengeveld from Eric M. Jones Apollo 13 Image Library.
Underscoring Apollo 13’s reentry to Earth, “If you come in too shallow, it’ll be like skipping a stone across water, and you’re gone,” Lovell said. “If you come in too steep, the sudden deceleration will put you on fire like a meteorite and that will be it. … I guess I wouldn’t be here if that last maneuver wasn’t successful.”
To read the full account by Chu of Lovell’s MIT visit, go to:
http://news.mit.edu/2016/apollo-13-commander-james-lovell-0428
