Two different systems at the top and bottom of the new rocket's first stage should reduce the booster's peak vibrations during flight to what engineers described as a few-seconds-long "jackhammer effect."More details at Space.com.
The recommended shock absorber system includes a spring and damper system between the Ares I booster's first and second stages, as well as a set of 16 spring-mounted weights in the aft skirt at the bottom of the first stage.
"It's a lot like the shock absorbers on your car," said Steve Cook, Ares project manager at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., in a Tuesday teleconference. "It isolates the vibrations just traveling through the structure, all the way up to the seat."
Without the upgrade, an Ares I rocket and its astronaut crew would be subjected to shaking forces of up to five or six times Earth's gravity (5 to 6 Gs), or about twice the force experienced by shuttle astronauts during launch, according to NASA's early analysis. But with the shock absorbers in place, vibrations in the Ares 1 rocket should be limited to about 0.25 Gs, or one-fourth the force of Earth's gravity, NASA engineers said.
The peak shaking should last just a few seconds near the 115-second mark just after liftoff, said Cook, who sat in a chair-based simulation of the vibration in a NASA test. He compared it to driving a car on the bumpy shoulder of a highway.
"It really doesn't physically bother you," Cook said. "It's just kind of a high vibration."
NASA's new rocket will get shock absorbers
Posted on Saturday, August 23 2008 @ 10:45 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck