It only lasted 90 seconds. California-based SpaceX successfully tested Wednesday an ejection system to enable future crews of his spaceship Dragon V-2 landed safely on the ocean in case of damage the caster on takeoff. The Dragon V-2 must, from late 2017, carrying astronauts to the Space Station International ( ISS ) as part of a contract of 2.6 billion dollars with NASA. There will be no astronaut aboard Dragon for this test conducted with NASA, but a robot.
The unmanned experimental capsule, equipped with 270 sensors with one passenger on board for a dummy, was torn from his firing platform on the air base at Cape Canaveral, Florida as provided for 9am local, according to broadcast live TV pictures from NASA. Dragon V-2 and its ejection system were powered by eight engines SuperDraco up to about 1500 meters.
A similar system to that ejects fighter pilots
The ejection system is then separated from Dragon shortly afterwards deployed three large red and white parachutes before falling gently and land in the Atlantic, about 1.5 km off the coast . This system is similar to the ejection mechanism of the seat of a fighter pilot, but in this case, the ship and crew that are ejected, said SpaceX. Until the emergency system consisted of a small rocket attached on top of the vessel. If problems launcher take-off or during the first few moments of the flight, the emergency rocket ignited its engine and carried the capsule away from the rocket.
The SpaceX system is fully integrated to the ship and could run up to the orbiting, ten minutes after takeoff. The ability to safely eject astronauts in an emergency is an essential criterion for the next generation of manned capsules. This is one of the conditions set by NASA for its airworthiness certificate granted to the vessels of the companies with which it has a contract.
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