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A Summary of the Development of a Nominal Land Landing Airbag Impact Attenuation System for the Orion Crew ModuleAirborne Systems North America (formally Irvin Aerospace Inc) has developed an Airbag Landing System for the Orion Crew Module of the Crew Exploration Vehicle. This work is in support of the NASA Langley Research Center Landing System Advanced Development Project. Orion is part of the Constellation Program to send human explorers back to the moon, and then onwards to Mars and other destinations in the Solar System. A component of the Vision for Space Exploration, Orion is being developed to also enable access to space following the retirement of the Space Shuttle in the next decade. This paper documents the development of a conceptual design, fabrication of prototype assemblies, component level testing and two generations of airbag landing system testing. The airbag system has been designed and analyzed using the transient dynamic finite element code LS-DYNA(RegisteredTradeMark). The landing system consists of six airbag assemblies; each assembly comprising a primary impact venting airbag and a non-venting anti-bottoming airbag. The anti-bottoming airbag provides ground clearance following the initial impact attenuation sequence. Incorporated into each primary impact airbag is an active vent that allows the entrapped gas to exit the control volume. The size of the vent is tailored to control the flow-rate of the exiting gas. An internal shaping structure is utilized to control the shape of the primary or main airbags prior to ground impact; this significantly improves stroke efficiency and performance.
Document ID
20090019679
Acquisition Source
Langley Research Center
Document Type
Conference Paper
Authors
Tutt, Ben (Airborne Systems North America Santa Ana, CA, United States)
Gill, Susannah (Airborne Systems North America Santa Ana, CA, United States)
Wilson, Aaron (Airborne Systems North America Santa Ana, CA, United States)
Johnson, Keith (NASA Langley Research Center Hampton, VA, United States)
Date Acquired
August 24, 2013
Publication Date
May 4, 2009
Subject Category
Spacecraft Design, Testing And Performance
Report/Patent Number
LF99-8566
Meeting Information
Meeting: 20th AIAA Aerodynamic Decelerator Systems Technology Conference
Location: Washington
Country: United States
Start Date: May 4, 2009
End Date: May 7, 2009
Sponsors: American Inst. of Aeronautics and Astronautics
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Public Use Permitted.

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