Nasa Readies Airplanes To Capture Orion Re Entry

Image Credit: U.S. Navy

The SCIFLI (Scientifically Calibrated In-Flight Imagery) team, based at NASA's Langley Research Center in Hampton, Virginia, is preparing to capture thermal snapshots of the super hot re-entry of Orion into Earth's atmosphere following its first test flight.

The uncrewed Orion capsule is scheduled to launch no earlier than Dec. 4 at 7:05 a.m. ET atop a Delta IV Heavy rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station's Launch Complex 37 in Florida.

The team will use a U.S. Navy NP-3D aircraft, also called Orion, to capture the imagery. It is equipped with a long-range infrared optical system called "Cast Glance." The NP-3D Orion is one of five operated by the NAVAIR Weapons Division's Air Test and Evaluation Squadron-30 (VX-30), Pt. Mugu, California. The research effort is sponsored by the NASA Engineering and Safety Center.

After the team has confirmation of the launch, the aircraft will fly from its base in Pt. Mugu to the desired observation location over the Pacific Ocean, 200-300 miles from California's Baja Peninsula. Once the aircraft reaches a point about 25 miles away from the Orion's projected entry trajectory, it continues flying in a sort of race track pattern until the capsule enters the atmosphere and emits enough thermal energy for the plane's infrared cameras to catch a glimpse. Then the crew will scramble to take images as Orion descends at hypersonic speeds.

The SCIFLI team will have personnel inside the Mission Control Center in Houston and at Pt. Mugu to support and coordinate aircraft operations.

Another Navy NP-3D Cast Glance aircraft, sponsored by the Orion program, will also follow the water landing with cameras, but looking more at the descent - especially the parachutes. The drogues - deploy at an altitude of 22,000 feet.

The two drogue chutes are used to slow the capsule down and stabilize it. They get released, then three massive main parachutes deploy to slow Orion down to less than 20 miles an hour for a safe splashdown in the Pacific Ocean.

Two Navy MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters, out of the Helicopter Sea Combat squadron #8 (HSC-8) based out of the Naval Air Station North Island in San Diego, equipped with still, video and handheld infrared cameras will also be on hand to observe the last 10,000 feet of Orion's first journey. They are supporting the San Diego Naval Station-based Amphibious transport dock, USS Anchorage (LPD-23), which will recover the spacecraft.

And one more aircraft - the remotely piloted Ikhana/ MQ-9 Predator B, based at NASA's Armstrong Flight Research Center at Edwards, California, will fly its own race track pattern to the south of Orion's projected entry trajectory. It will provide live video of the splashdown for NASA TV.

Source: NASA

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