NASA Tests Alternate Launch Abort Hardware

NASA has flight-tested an alternate system for astronauts to escape future launch vehicles in the event of an emergency on the launch pad or during ascent.

An unmanned launch of the Max Launch Abort System (MLAS) with a mockup crew module took place at 6:26 a.m. July 8 at NASA's Wallops Flight Facility in Wallops Island, Va. MLAS is a different approach to assuring crew safety than is being used on NASA's Orion spacecraft. While the Launch Abort System (LAS) for Orion uses a single solid launch abort motor in a tower mounted at the top of the launch vehicle stack, MLAS consists of four solid rocket abort motors inside a bullet-shaped composite fairing attached to the crew module.

During the test, the 33-foot-high MLAS vehicle reached an altitude of a mile to simulate a pad emergency. After the four solid rocket motors burned out, the crew module mockup separated from the launch vehicle seven seconds into flight and parachuted into the Atlantic Ocean.

NASA says the test demonstrated the unpowered flight of the MLAS along a stable trajectory, reorientation and stabilization of the MLAS, separation of the crew module simulator from the abort motors, and stabilization and parachute recovery of the crew module simulator. Data from the MLAS parachute element also should help with the development of Orion's parachute system.

Another important objective of the MLAS test was to give the work force of NASA's Engineering and Safety Center (NESC) experience in flight-testing a spacecraft concept, according to NASA. NESC leads the project at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va.

Meanwhile, the LAS for Orion is due to have a jettison motor test at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., later this year (Aerospace DAILY, May 8).

Max Launch Abort System flight-test photo: NASA