Orion spacecraft completes environmental testing in Ohio
— The Orion spacecraft, part of NASA’s Artemis program, represents a new era in American space exploration.
About a year from now, the capsule will embark on the first unmanned test flight to the moon since the end of the Apollo program. It’s part of a series of planned missions that will put the first woman and the next man on the moon by 2024 and, eventually, send humans to Mars.
But the Orion couldn’t fly into space without first going through nearly four months of environmental testing at the NASA Plum Brook Station, a facility nestled in the middle of sprawling Ohio farm country and home to the world’s largest thermal vacuum chamber.
“America and Europe’s success in the cosmos runs right through Erie County,” U.S. Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Toledo) said Saturday at an event celebrating the completion of testing. “Plum Brook has unrivaled capabilities, and over one billion dollars in capital investment at this test facility critical to America’s exploration mission.”
Since Orion arrived in Ohio in late November, over 50 local and hundreds of visiting engineers and technicians put the spacecraft through its paces. The craft was sealed inside the vacuum chamber for 47 days and subjected to extremely low amounts of pressure and temperatures ranging from negative 250 degrees to 180 degrees.
Then, the spacecraft was sealed in the chamber again for almost 15 more days of electromagnetic compatibility and interference testing during which the spacecraft was bathed in radio frequency signals to test all of its electronic equipment.
During testing, Plum Brook Station staff had to work around the clock for over 50 days.
“So 47 days was actually a little shorter than what we had originally planned but the spacecraft and the facility performed so amazingly, we found a lot of efficiencies, and we were able to complete the test that quickly,” said Nicole Smith, Orion test project manager at NASA Plum Brook Station.
Smith, a Medina native with degrees from the University of Cincinnati and Miami University, is one of the local scientists making the new era of space travel possible.
“When they started the
Orion program, back in the day, I was really excited that they had Orion jobs here at (NASA Glenn Research Center) so I transferred (back from the NASA Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center in Houston),” Smith said.
Next week, the Orion spacecraft will travel to the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida. On March 21, the spacecraft will be transported to Mansfield Lahm Regional Airport. It will be loaded on NASA’s Aero Spacelines Super Guppy plane, a specially-built cargo aircraft, on March 22 and fly out on March 23.
In Florida, NASA will complete assembly ahead of the Artemis I launch expected in April 2021. Solar panels will be installed on the spacecraft and it will be attached to the Space Launch System — or SLS rocket.
“These are exciting times for NASA as Artemis will usher in the new era of space exploration and light our way to Mars,” said Marla Perez-Davis, director at NASA’s Glenn Research Center. “It will see the first woman and the next man step foot on the moon. ... To be sure, returning to the moon in 2024 will not be an easy task. And to get there America needs the Artemis program. And NASA needs Ohio support.”