Questions tagged [testing]
Questions about the procedure of using a piece of equipment to find imperfections or problems.
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Atomic oxygen and UV Radiation qualification tests for a cubesat
I'm the Assembly, Integration and Verification Engineer of a cubesat project developed by students. Currently I'm trying to create the specifications for our payloads upcoming (mon)atomic oxygen (ATOX)...
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CubeSat dispensers: amplify or dampen vibration loads on spacecraft?
CubeSat world: has anybody run a vibration test where you put accelerometers both on the dispenser (or shaker plate) and your spacecraft inside the dispenser?
For the SunCET CubeSat, we're trying to ...
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How many of these six military "orbital threat" techniques have been demonstrated in a (more or less) publicly recognized way?
If you are having a good day then under no circumstances should you read the US Defense Intelligence Agency's Challenges to Security in Space1 (Information cutoff date, January 2019) linked in Axios' ...
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Anti-Geyser Test Full Scale
I am working on the thesis about Geysering and Recirculation in Launch Vehicles. And I am having some diffucilties to understand that "do we need to use full-scale model to test geysering?". ...
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Were the landing gear doors closed during the Approach and Landing Tests?
This photo from an answer on the Shuttle Approach and Landing Tests shows the front attachment between the Enterprise orbiter and the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft. The support strut reaches the ...
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Why does SpaceX's integrated booster test not attempt to relight the second stage engines
Starting an engine in a vacuum under microgravity conditions is really difficult to test on Earth. Why isn't the first stage test being used to gather data for this?
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Need advice to set up reaction wheel cluster in lab
I am thinking of having a reaction wheel cluster set up in a physics lab for educational purposes. I would like to find out what the available options to me are. Here are some more specifics:
I see ...
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What is SpaceX doing differently with Starship to avoid it exploding like the N1?
Both Starship and the N1 have more than 30 rocket engines. The N1 exploded after having a chain reaction from a failed engine.
N1 rocket engines:
Starship’s rocket engines:
Unlike the N1, SpaceX has ...
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How does NASA have permission to test a nuclear engine?
In this article on nasa.gov (https://www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-darpa-will-test-nuclear-engine-for-future-mars-missions) it mentions that NASA will test a nuclear rocket engine for future crewed ...
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What is the difference between a spin up test and a spin prime test?
What is the difference between a spin up test and a spin prime test? And if there is no difference, why not just use the first of those two terms, it being more descriptive?
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How to test vaccum engines at sea level? [duplicate]
SpaceX is testing its Raptor vacuum engine (RVAC) at sea level (without any facility that can simulate near vacuum conditions). How can they do this without flow separation happening?
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What safety protocols did this Pythom Space rocket crew ignore?
The video below of Pythom Space's first rocket test has raised a few eyebrows
The video prompted hundreds of replies on Twitter, including some from rather horrified rocket scientists. "We knew ...
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What is a rocket engine spin up test?
Recently I came across internet about SpaceX's Booster 7 explosion in a ball of fire during an engine spin up test. I searched Google about rocket engine spin up test but I got no hit. What is a ...
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What is actually happening in this full mission rehearsal of CAPSTONE's propulsion hardware?
NASA Ames's feature CAPSTONE’s CubeSat Prepares for Lunar Flight says
CAPSTONE will use a hydrazine-fueled propulsion system during most of its three- to four- month journey to the Moon. This line of ...
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NASA GMAT Hardware in the Loop testing
We are currently evaluating various Mission Analysis & Simulation tools, one of which is NASA's GMAT (2020). One of our requirements is for the tool to support HITL testing. However, i am unable ...
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Why was SERT-1 put in a suborbital trajectory (4000 km apogee) while SERT-2 (1970-009A) was put in a 1000 km circular polar orbit?
Wikipedia's SERT-1 says
SERT-1 (Space Electric Rocket Test) was a NASA probe used to test electrostatic ion thruster design and was built by NASA's Lewis Research Center (now NASA Glenn). SERT-1 was ...
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Is the acoustic horn at Stennis Space Center still there? Is it used?
Stennis Space Center had a giant horn installed in the times when they were testing the Saturn program engines. The purpose was to see what the acoustic conditions were like before testing and thus ...
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How does the Saturn V Dynamic Test Stand work?
This photo instantly provokes a ton of questions in me:
It shows the Dynamic Test Stand at Marshall SFC with the Enterprise, which was a Space Shuttle test vehicle, suspended for vibration testing. ...
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What does the ATOLL programming language look like?
During the Apollo program, checkout tests of launch vehicle and spacecraft systems were gradually being automated, moving away from the manual processes during the early years of the space program to (...
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How do you test-fire vacuum engines in a vacuum chamber? Why doesn't it fill up almost instantly from the exhaust and spray (deluge) water?
How are vacuum optimized engines tested without disintegrating them? is an excellent question as it's attracted quite a number of informative and diverse answers.
@Uwe's answer informs us that there ...
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How unusual is it to test vacuum engines at sea level?
How are vacuum optimized engines tested without disintegrating them? is an excellent question as it's attracted quite a number of informative and diverse answers.
@Uwe's answer informs us that there ...
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Resources where one can find RD-171MV engine technical specifications? (e.g.TWR, Expansion Ratio, Isp, Thrust, Chamber pressure, O:F ratio)
I'm trying to get a hold of various technical specifications for the RD-171MV engine
A modification of RD-171M being developed for the Irtysh rocket. Unlike RD-171M it's completely made from Russian ...
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Post-flight analysis of SpaceX Starship 20 heat shield tiles
If Starship 20 will not be recovered, how will SpaceX evaluate the performance of the heat tiles? If a couple of heat tiles fall off and the Starship bursts into flames, how can SpaceX figure out ...
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Why wasn't the high-speed rotation regime for Ingenuity tested on Earth?
On the NASA website, it says that the propeller on Ingenuity will need to spin faster than what has been done before during all of the previous tests to accommodate for the rarefied atmosphere during ...
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Will the Neumann drive start testing aboard the ISS some time in 2018?
The 2016 Daily Mail article Radical ion rocket engine that could 'get to Mars and back on one tank of fuel' set to be tested on the ISS says:
Neumann Drive achieves more than 11,000 seconds of ...
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Was the Isp = 11,000 seconds Neumann Drive tested on the ISS? Did it work? How well did it perform?
In 2018 answers were posted to
What is Australia's Bartolomeo platform? When does it arrive at the ISS; when and where will it be attached?
Will the Neumann drive start testing aboard the ISS ...
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What is Australia's Bartolomeo platform? When does it arrive at the ISS; when and where will it be attached?
In this answer to Will the Neumann drive start testing aboard the ISS some time in 2018? I first heard about Australia's upcoming Bartolomeo platform, which will be used for testing things such as the ...
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How will JAXA's space elevator-testing cubesat experiment work?
The Infobae article Japón inicia hoy el ambicioso proyecto de construir un ascensor espacial which translated from Spanish into English by Google says
Japan begins today the ambitious project to ...
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Was Dart antenna tested using a DSN antenna located in Australia?
So recently a tweet by a bot which tracks communications by the Deep Space Network stated that:
DSS 43 receiving data from Double Asteroid Redirection Test at 312.5kb/s.
IN LOCK IN LOCK 1 TURBO
11:11 ...
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Why wasn't there a 2nd attempt for the Viking-DS (VDS) test payload before the real Viking 1 and 2 were launched?
Per Gunter's Space Page for Viking-DS (VDS):
Viking-DS or VDS (Viking Dynamic Simulator) was a vehicle evaluation payload, which was to represent the dynamic properties of the Viking spacecraft.
It ...
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Why did tests in space of refrigerators of the type we use at home fail? How many were tried?
Phys.org's To give astronauts better food, engineers test a fridge prototype in microgravity says:
Astronauts have been going to space since 1961, but they still don't have a refrigerator to use for ...
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How is the Max-Q of a spacecraft determined?
Maximum aerodynamic pressure of a spacecraft is the maximum force it's hull can withstand during flight. How is the Max-Q of a spacecraft determined?
Other related ( optional) queries are:
If Max-Q ...
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Was this the only time that helium balloon was used to support deployed spacecraft appendages during testing on the ground in Earth gravity?
What is this balloon for in this clean room and what is the proper name for the "stand" that is holding the satellite? shows the image below, and a comment below @OrganicMarble's answer ...
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Was the SK-1 spacesuit tested in flight prior to Gagarin's historic mission?
April 12 is the 60th anniversary of the first human spaceflight, Vostok 1. As no human had previously been to space, it was also a test of the SK-1 spacesuit that cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin wore.
This ...
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Longest static fire?
What is the longest duration for a static fire of a complete rocket stage?
Initially I wanted to ask this for Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy
I found a 10 second static fire for Falcon Heavy - https://...
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Static Fire Tests: How is the rocket prevented from flying?
In rockets like Starship, if 35 Raptors are firing at same time, then in a full-duration static fire test there would be enormous loads being exerted from 35 raptors, on the clamps holding the rocket. ...
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Resources/guidelines on space electronics compliance?
Space hardware suffers from various effects such as radiation, heating, vibration, off-gassing, material degradation and so on. While these effects are mentioned in most space engineering books, I am ...
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How is this video projection screen is used in tests of Europa Clipper's high gain antenna?
Phys.org's Europa Clipper high-gain antenna undergoes testing says:
The full-scale prototype antenna, which at 10 feet (3 meters) tall is the same height as a standard basketball hoop, is in the ...
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Ingenuity Test Stand and Stroboscopic lightning
The paper on Ingenuity talks about the test setup of ingenuity
Associated metrology in the form of a force/torque sensor, a Vicon motion tracking system, stroboscopic lighting, a thermal camera, and ...
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What "advanced computer capable of faster processing and data compression" is the S. S. Katherine Johnson carrying? (Cygnus NG-15)
CBS News; says:
The primary goal of the Cygnus mission is to deliver science equipment and supplies for on-going research utilizing the microgravity environment aboard the space station.
One ...
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How to experimentally determine the degree of atomization of the propellants mixing in a fuel injector?
When validating a fuel injector design on a test stand using liquid water to simulate a liquid-liquid fuel injector(the one i'm working with currently is a pintle design but I suppose one could ...
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What specific device failed, causing engine #4 in the Core Stage Green Run to report a Failure Identification?
(See this Q&A for context if needed: What is a "Major Component Failure" referred to in news reports about the unsuccessful Space Launch System core stage test firing?)
In the post-test ...
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What was NASA's Tire Assault Vehicle?
Why did NASA build a vehicle specifically designed to attack aircraft tires?
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Any large scale rocket static fires, like SpaceX's 3 in one day?
SpaceX on Jan 13, 2021 did three static fires in one day.
Elon Musk tweeted:
All three static fires completed & no RUDs!
And that was in response to this tweet of his own:
Today at SpaceX is ...
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Testing flight characteristics before actual flight in model rockets?
I do a lot of scratch design/building of model rockets, but one of the things that I've struggled with is testing the models I come up with.
Some of them are purely intended to be static display ...
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What exactly is a "Green Run test" for SLS that NASA is considering skipping?
The Ars Technica article Rocket Report: A new Delta 2, Blue Origin inks with NASA, a fiery Falcon Heavy says:
Boeing seeks to ship SLS core stage by the end of 2019. With a renewed emphasis from the ...
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How much does annual maintenance of a vibration table cost?
The company I work for produces hardware for spacecraft and we routinely have to test that hardware to ensure it meets the stringent requirements for random vibration environments on the missions they ...
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Did Corporal or other rockets launched from White Sands land in Mexico? If so, how often?
At 10:39 in the video Explorer One is the following:
Pickering had once half-joked that JPL could do anything, but building the corporal proved a humbling ...
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Why is there a large wooden ball on Mariner 3's magnetometer?
Wood is good for certain niche space exploration applications, but the one below is not for spaceflight. According to the documentation for the archived photo:
Several spacecraft were built for the ...
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Could the Space Shuttles other than Enterprise easily do drop tests from the Shuttle Carrier Aircraft?
This question was inspired by comments on this answer.
The Space Shuttle prototype Enterprise was only used for approach and landing tests, for which it was flown on a carrier 747, until it was ...