Ramona Adams
Orbital ATK has worked with NASA and Lockheed Martin to test-fire a motor technology for the Orion spacecraft’s launch abort system.
The Qualification Motor-1 test was conducted at Orbital ATK’s facility in Promontory, Utah, and evaluated if the motor could activate within milliseconds and operate as designed under high temperatures, Orbital ATK said Thursday.
Lockheed awarded Orbital ATK a $98 million subcontract in 2015 to build the launch abort motor for Orion’s LAS.
The motor is designed to provide the thrust needed to pull the crew module away from the Space Launch System rocket in the event of an emergency on the launch pad or during initial launch ascent.
During QM-1, the motor achieved 400,000 pounds of thrust in one eighth of a second as expected.
Orbital ATK will carry out additional tests of the abort motor, including the QM-2 test firing in late 2018 and the Ascent Abort-2 Flight Test in 2019.
QM-1 moves Orion closer to its first integrated flight aboard the SLS rocket as part of NASA’s Exploration Mission-1.
NASA aims to transport humans to destinations beyond low-Earth orbit with the use of both Orion and SLS platforms.
