CLEARFIELD -- The Kennedy Space Center in Florida may be a home to space rocket launches, but a technical crew shadowing the blastoff could one day sit in Davis County.
A backup technical crew with real-time monitoring of any NASA launch site is just one element in the works at ATK's new Engineering Development Lab, which was opened by the company in the last year.
Sitting at consoles in a Clearfield lab will be technicians capable of helping the Florida crew, or any other, should problems arise with the hardware that boosts the rockets into Earth's orbit or space.
Developing the expertise to troubleshoot the avionics system is part of the mission for the lab's engineers, who are already testing the vital systems being built for the next generation of NASA rockets.
"This laboratory allows us to test like you fly. We can assemble the entire avionics system and put it through precise, flightlike scenarios," said Kendall Junen, avionics and control team lead for Ares projects at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
On the eve of a Promontory test-firing of ATK's latest rocket motor, Junen and ATK officials opened up the lab Monday for a unique inside look at how NASA is preparing its launch vehicles.
"We are trying to help create safety and reliability," said Paul Karner, an ATK manager who led a tour of the facility.
The avionics system is the "brains" for a launch vehicle, consisting of the electronics system, equipment and associated sensors responsible for controlling key guidance, launch, navigation and recovery hardware.
Inside the developmental lab are a series of mock-ups using real rocket parts and hardware for the avionics systems.
"We learned from other vehicles to keep it simple," Junen said.
Making simple the work of rocket scientists includes planned failures as employees introduce flaws into the testing and then learn how to correct them.
The first-stage avionics works with the upper-stage flight computers and guidance systems to control the vehicle during first-stage ascent and executes recovery of the first stage after staging.
Among the people touring the facility who could appreciate the precautionary testing and backup capability was NASA astronaut Jim Dutton, who completed a shuttle mission in April.
The Houston-based astronaut said he is hopeful about NASA's plan for renewing space exploration.
"It's exciting we are looking at heavy lift capability. Seeing this gives you hope we can get there," Dutton said.
Should Dutton get into the cockpit again, it could be a Clearfield crew that watches the launch from afar, standing by to help create a successful mission.
Comments