yee@ames.arc.nasa.gov (Peter E. Yee) (01/13/89)
Barbara Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 10, 1989
Jerry Berg
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
NOTE TO EDITORS/NEWS DIRECTORS
The sixth full-duration test firing of the redesigned Space
Shuttle solid rocket motor, designated QM-8, is scheduled for
January 17 at Morton Thiokol's Utah plant site.
Assistance to the news media with their coverage of QM-8
activities will include a pre-test briefing (10 a.m. MST), an
opportunity to view the test firing (1 p.m. MST) and a post-test
briefing (2 p.m. MST).
Live video of the test firing, provided by Morton Thiokol,
will be carried on NASA Select tv (RCA Satcom F2R, transponder
13, at 72 degrees w. longitude), beginning 30 minutes prior to
the firing and continuing until T+30 minutes. Audio-only
coverage of the pre- and post-test news briefing also will be
carried on NASA Select. Media may receive NASA Select coverage
directly from the satellite or view it in NASA newsrooms at
Headquarters, Marshall Space Flight Center, Kennedy Space Center
or Johnson Space Center.
There will be no media center for this test. Media should
report to the Morton Thiokol main plant lobby for badging no
later than 10 a.m. The plant is located on Utah Highway 83,
about 25 miles west of Brigham City. Briefings will be held in
the cafeteria. Media will be bused to a remote observation site
at 45 minutes prior to the test firing and returned. No highway
observation sites are planned.
Advanced accreditation is requested for media planning to
attend. Call the Morton Thiokol External Affairs Office at
XXX/XXX-XXXX to confirm the names of reporters and crew members
attending. Current media credentials are required.
For additional information, contact Morton Thiokol's Rocky
Raab at XXX/XXX-XXXX or Jerry Berg at the NASA Marshall Space
Flight Center at XXX/XXX-XXXX.
Barbara Selby
Headquarters, Washington, D.C. January 10, 1989
Jerry Berg
Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala.
RELEASE: 89-2
SPACE SHUTTLE SOLID ROCKET MOTOR SLATED FOR FINAL TEST FIRING
A full-scale static test firing of NASA's redesigned Space
Shuttle solid rocket motor is scheduled for January 17. The test
will be the sixth and final such firing required to qualify the
major design features of the redesigned solid rocket motor.
The 126-foot-long, 1.2-million-pound Qualification Motor-8
(QM-8) will undergo a full-duration horizontal test firing of 2
minutes. The 1 p.m. MST firing will take place in test bay T-97
about 25 miles west of Brigham City. Prior to the firing, the
QM-8 motor will be cooled down to 40 degrees F. during a period
of 30 days prior to the firing. That is its lowest specified
operating temperature and is lower than any expected motor
temperature at launch.
The test is part of the Shuttle motor redesign program. The
verification and qualification test program to certify the motor
redesign consists of five full-duration tests, conducted prior to
resumption of Shuttle flights last Sept. 29, and the upcoming
test under cold-weather conditions.
Morton Thiokol is NASA's prime contractor for the solid
rocket motor, and the Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville,
Ala., manages the motor program for NASA.
QUALIFICATION MOTOR FACT SHEET
Qualification motor (QM-8) is a full-size Space Shuttle
solid rocket motor, approximately 126 feet in length and 12 feet
in diameter. The motor weighs 1.2 million pounds including 1.1
million pounds of propellant.
The QM-8 motor will be conditioned to a mean or average bulk
propellant temperature of 40 degrees F. This is several degrees
cooler than any expected motor temperature at launch and will
demonstrate margins of safety. The T-97 test bay, in which the
firing will take place, can provide chilled air as low as 20
degrees F. to cool the motor's large mass of propellant to a 40-
degree average.
The three field joints which connect the motor segments are
of the flight configuration, capture feature tang-and-clevis
design with three Viton (TM) O-rings and an adhesively bonded, J-
shaped deflection relief slot at each field joint which reduces
stresses and also increases the sealing action of the bonded
surfaces under motor pressure. Joint heaters, mounted around the
motor case at each field joint location, are thermostatically
controlled to maintain joint temperatures at a minimum of 75
degrees F. In addition, the igniter joint will have heaters to
maintain a minimum of 66 degrees F. and the aft skirt will be
conditioned with heated air to assure a minimum case-to-nozzle
joint temperature of 75 degrees F. These temperatures are the
same as for a launch.
The motor case-to-nozzle joint on QM-8 also is of the flight
configuration, incorporating 100 radial bolts, adhesively bonded
insulation surfaces, a shaped relief slot and an added Viton
"wiper" O-ring designed to keep the adhesive on the insulation
surfaces during assembly.
None of the joints in the QM-8 motor contain intentional
manufacturing or assembly defects. The QM-8 motor is equipped
with a flight design external tank attachment ring. Three
hydraulically actuated struts, which simulate the motor's
connection to an external tank, are attached to the ring. During
the motor firing, a programmed series of dynamic loads will be
applied through the external tank attach struts to simulate
ignition, liftoff and flight loads. Response of the QM-8 motor
to those loads will be monitored by special instrumentation.
The QM-8 motor is fitted with more than 600 instruments to
measure acceleration, pressure, deflection, thrust, strain,
temperature, electrical properties and other conditions.