NASA fired up for rocket tests at Plum Brook

PERKINS TWP. — The year 1998 brought closure to some pretty significant events:It marked the last time a new episode of "Seinfeld" aired on NBC.It represented the last time Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls won an NBA Finals championship.And, up until recently, it coincided with the last time NASA workers fired up a one-of-a-kind rocket testing chamber in Erie County.Well consider this a true blast from the past.For the first time in almost two full decades, space agency workers activated the Plum Brook Station's In-Space Propulsion Facility, also known as B-2, for rocket testing.NASA workers characterize B-2 as the world's only chamber capable of testing full-scale, upper-stage vehicles and rocket engines under high-altitude and space-like conditions.A few weeks ago, testing started on a piece of simulated spacecraft.The testing work should wrap up sometime later this month.Experiments revolved around firing the equipment as if it were 75,000 feet above Earth's surface.While fully enclosed inside B-2, workers introduce liquid nitrogen — as cold as minus 320 degrees — with the testing article to ensure its steam-powered engine can withstand space's most extreme conditions."The ultimate goal of this testing is to prove that the facility can operate this way so we can do more propulsion testing in the future," said Hal Weaver, a Plum Brook employee who's also the project manager for this testing. "This will also prove if these technologies can work. We can then put those technologies into other vehicles we will build in the future that might go to Mars or some other place in the solar system."The Morpheus vehicle sits in the In-Space Propulsion Facility, also known as B-2, on Monday, Feb. 28, 2017, at the NASA Plum Brook Station in Erie County. While fully enclosed inside B-2, workers introduce liquid nitrogen — as cold as minus 320 degrees — with the testing article to ensure its steam-powered engine can withstand space's most extreme conditions.'X'-treme testing The next most noteworthy test scheduled at B-2 happens in spring 2018, when SpaceX — Earth's leading private company in designing, manufacturing and launching advanced rockets and spacecraft — brings its Dragon 2 vehicle to Plum Brook.Dragon 2 aims to transport crew members to low Earth orbit and beyond.Upcoming experiments at Plum Brook will determine if it can endure the intense cold and powerful vacuum of space. "SpaceX wanted to come to Plum Brook because of the size of our test chamber," Weaver said. "The Dragon vehicle is really large, and there aren't a whole lot of test facilities where it can fit into and do the type of thermal vacuum testing it requires."NASA and SpaceX previously teamed up for a similar groundbreaking test at Plum Brook. In 2013, SpaceX's Falcon 9 rocket underwent rigorous assessments, which included simulating space-like conditions so engineers could see if it could contend with and overcome extreme environments.The testing played a major role in SpaceX's successful launch of the rocket on Dec. 3, 2013, from the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The rocket helped deliver a sophisticated, 6,900-pound satellite into orbit, peaking at 49,700 miles above Earth.Space.com characterized the mission as a "landmark" for space exploration and allowed SpaceX to provide "reliable and affordable launch services to commercial satellite operations and government space agencies," such as NASA.The In-Space Propulsion Facility, also known as B-2, inside the NASA Plum Brook Station in Erie County is the world's only chamber capable of testing full-scale, upper-stage vehicles and rocket engines under high-altitude and space-like conditions. Reigniting rocket testsNASA officials iced all "hotfire" activity at B-2, which debuted in the 1960s, simply because there wasn't any demand for upper-stage rocket testing from 1998 through the late 2000s. Testing at Plum Brook's B-2 effectively halted after the Delta III upper-stage experiments in 1998.During this period, NASA officials opted against updating B-2's chamber, making it somewhat outdated and obsolete for testing the newest upper-stage rockets.But in 2014, Milan-based company Sierra Lobo, Plum Brook's operating contractor, received a $2 million state grant, which paid for refurbishing three pumps inside B-2 required for rocket testing. The pumps help cool rocket exhaust as it passes from the nozzle throughout the rest of the facility.Officials deemed the enhancements as "absolutely necessary" to host testing at B-2, including for the Dragon 2."Without these upgrades, we would not be able to fire a large engine in our chamber and wouldn't be able to run our exhaust system," NASA Plum Brook mechanical engineer John Zang said.Never again do Plum Brook employees expect testing at B-2 to experience a prolonged hiatus as it did for the past 19 years."If NASA is going to have pioneering space missions, like we are talking about doing with going to Mars and other places within the solar system, it's important to do this type of testing on the ground so that you have a better idea of how your vehicles will perform during a mission, which reduces the risk," Weaver said. "Here at B-2, we can simulate space conditions and test rocket propulsion systems in the same place, which is a unique capability to NASA and the entire world." Understanding NASA Plum Brook's B-2 facility• The full name is the In-Space Propulsion Facility, but it's often referred to as B-2.• It's known as the world's only facility capable of testing full-scale, upper-stage vehicles and rocket engines under high-altitude and space-like conditions.• During testing there, an engine or vehicle can be exposed to low ambient pressures, low background temperatures and dynamic solar heating conditions for prolonged periods of time — tests all simulating environments the hardware would likely encounter during orbital or interplanetary travel.• The 65-foot-tall vacuum chamber is 38 feet in diameter.• The chamber often tests equipment as cold as minus 320 degrees.• Can support 400,000 pounds of thrusting motion.• It's the biggest space chamber handling liquid hydrogen in the world.• It's the most capable place to test the next generation of space-electric propulsion engines.Source: NASA Reach reporter Andy Ouriel at ouriel@sanduskyregister.com and follow him on Twitter @AndyOuriel.A testing article, known as the Morpheus vehicle, sits in the In-Space Propulsion Facility, also known as B-2, on Monday, Feb. 28, 2017, at the NASA Plum Brook Station in Erie County. For the first time in almost two full decades, NASA workers recently activated the chamber to test new-age, full-scale, upper-stage vehicles and rocket engines.