Random Thought Thread

[Fonedork]

 

[Moorik]

View attachment 3157600

 

[Wishfulthinker580]

Here are a handful of online-viewable images from some of the wind tunnel tests I worked on.

Starting with a whole bunch of tests at NASA Ames UPWT. Here’s a cool gallery (I worked on every Orion test shown there, plus a couple others): https://www.nasa.gov/gallery/nasa-ames-unitary-plan-wind-tunnel/

A hot helium acoustics test in the 11’ transonic wind tunnel (TWT). Fun fact, we used something like 80% of the nation’s Helium that year.

A calibration fixture setup for the same test in the 9x7 supersonic wind tunnel (SWT).

A couple shots of one of the sep aero tests, for characterizing the effects of when the service module separates from the crew module during abort.

Another abort sep aero test, but this time in the 9x7 tunnel. The model is pink because it has been coated with a pressure-sensitive paint (PSP). You can literally see the pressure on the skin under the right light with specialized cameras. The data is then “anchored” with flush-mounted static pressure ports and some dynamic pressure transducers. It’s pretty cool tech!!!

Here is a CM/LAS sep aero test. Note everything is backwards from previous images. This is for when the capsule has ejected the abort tower after an emergency abort. The heat shield has been DLC coated (my idea) to help mitigate damage from small object impacts since it’s such a blunt surface facing forward into airflow at over Mach 2. It worked quite well. Better picture of the heat shield at a different tunnel below.

Here is another CM/LAS sep aero test, but in a different, larger tunnel at AEDC in Tennessee. Much better shot of the heat shield.

Here’s an AEDC article about one of the tests we did there: https://www.arnold.af.mil/News/Arti...8/nasa-cevlaunch-abort-system-tested-at-aedc/

Here’s another AEDC article that talks about a test I worked on, but had moved on to work at ULA as a contractor after my layoff from Lockheed in 2013. The picture above is linked to that article for some reason, though the test had nothing to do with the photo. https://www.arnold.af.mil/News/Arti...nasas-orion-aids-in-first-launch-preparation/

Here is a tech paper written by one of the head aero guys at NASA on the Orion program at the time. It is a good overview of what we had been doing. I was heavily involved with all the testing from ‘07-‘12, and early ‘13. https://ntrs.nasa.gov/api/citations/20110014395/downloads/20110014395.pdf

I did a bunch of testing at ULA after Lockheed. Mostly the Commercial Crew project, Boeing CST-100 and SNC Dream Chaser. This was mainly because ULA was the launch provider, and neither CCdev vehicle was to be encapsulated inside of an Atlas-V nose fairing. So they had to run aero tests to be sure there wouldn’t be any issues with ascent aero with either vehicle on the front of the rocket. Here’s a Wired article that talks a bit about it with a photo. https://www.wired.com/2013/06/nasa-manned-spacecraft-testing/

Here are a couple other tests I worked on after Orion at NASA Ames UPWT. SNC Dream Chaser (now Sierra Space), where I went to work as a contractor after working at ULA for some years.
In the 11’ TWT.

A couple in the 9x7 SWT.

A pic of me (green shirt) and crew in the 11’ with the model. (Stupid COVID masks…)

And here’s an article talking about the test on the SNC website. https://www.sncorp.com/news-archive...team-performs-successful-wind-tunnel-testing/

Finally, a few pics of an Ames UPWT test in the 11’ TWT of the Boeing SUGAR project that I helped with for awhile. The model has the newest PSP applied, which is white.

I’ll add more if I find any more interesting ones. These were the easy ones.

That’s really cool man

 

[stagatha]

Got an otter popping up through holes in the ice and munching on perch. Trying to get a pic - they are skittish