NASA Shakes, Bakes, and Rattles Lunar Spaceship 44
coondoggie writes to tell us that NASA has apparently successfully concluded putting the new Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter through its paces. Using vibration and rotation tests NASA scientists were able to determine the center of gravity and were also able to observe the structural integrity during the vibration tests used to simulate launch aboard an Atlas rocket. "It is expected that the LRO will by the end of the year make its way to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for final launch preparations. The orbiter and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, a mission to smack into the moon in search of water ice, are scheduled to launch atop an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida sometime between Feb. 27, 2009 and the end of March 2009."
5 ton shake table (Score:4, Interesting)
I remember visiting a facility in Brooklyn shake testing a 5 ton piece of gear for a Navy ship. When we got out of the car we noticed the parking meter was vibrating due to vibrations being transferred to the earth. I'm sure the folks living nearby must have enjoyed it when stuff fell over in their apartments. Later the gear was shock tested by attaching it to a barge and setting off explosive charges in the water. This was done in an old flooded slate quarry.
Robot scouts ftw! (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:I hope not! (Score:4, Interesting)
That should be:
If they couldn't determine the center of gravity before they built the thing, they have some serious issues
It is the difference between theory and reality.
Due to non-homogenous material like composite honeycomb panels and things notoriously difficult to model like wiring bundles, you have to do a mass properties test to know (and adjust) the mass distribution within some tolerance permitted by the launch vehicle.
Otherwise, spin stablized orbital injection burns might not give enough forward thrust due to product of inertia wobble.