A rocket motor from ATK’s Elkton site, a short drive from the Delaware line, was part of a successful test last week of a space system that could lead to a mission to Mars.
In the test, NASA moved one step closer to landing advanced payloads on Mars following the successful test of a next generation braking system. The system bears a striking resemblance to the flying saucers that have long been part of sci-fi movies and sightings.
During the June 28 test at the Pacific Missile Range Facility at Barking Sands, Kauai, Hawaii, a balloon carried the test vehicle from the Navy test range to an altitude of about 120,000 feet. The test vehicle dropped away from the balloon and the ATK STAR 48B motor ignited to accelerate the vehicle to an altitude of over 180,000 feet.
The flight test simulated the low pressure and speeds experienced by payloads dropped into the Mars atmosphere.
ATK’s STAR 48B rocket motor built in Elkton provided propulsion for the test, while the ATK-manufactured Core Structure Assembly (CSA) served as the platform for two technologies from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory an inflatable Kevlar tube around the vehicle, called the Supersonic Inflatable Aerodynamic Decelerator, and a mammoth parachute called the Supersonic Disk Sail Parachute. The devices will pave the way for delivery of increasingly larger payloads to the surface of Mars. Kevlar is a DuPont Co. product.
The CSA for the LDSD test vehicle was developed and built at ATK’s Space Components facility in San Diego.
While the LDSD team expects to learn a great deal from this test, NASA has two more saucer-shaped test vehicles forthcoming, with plans to test them in the summer of 2015, ATK reported. The defense and space contractor, based in Arlington, Va. is spinning off its firearms-related operations.
