NASA Tests New Crew Escape System

On Wednesday morning at 6:26 a.m. NASA conducted a test launch of its new MLAS crew escape system. The MLAS or Max Launch Abort System is named after the inventor of the crew escape system on the Mercury program, Maxime (Max) Faget.

MLAS uses 4 booster rockets to pull the crew capsule clear of a rocket in the event that the rocket malfunctions during the launch stage. The MLAS was designed as an alternative to the current system planned for NASA's Orion launch system which will be used to replace the Space Shuttle and eventually put Americans back on the Moon. The current design of the Orion escape system uses a single rocket positioned on a tower above the crew capsule in much the same setup as was used on the Saturn V rocket that took took Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin to the Moon 40 years ago this month. It is hoped that the 4 rocket MLAS system will be safer and more manoeuvrable in the event of a catastrophic accident as the Orion launches.

One of the advantages of moving away from the Space Shuttle design to a more traditional rocket design is that in the event of a launch accident, such as the 1986 Challenger launch disaster, the crew compartment can be jettisoned and brought back to Earth safely using parachutes and saving the lives of the astronauts.

In Wednesday's launch the test rocket climbed to about 1 mile before a simulated crew compartment was jettisoned and descended into the Atlantic using a series of parachutes. The system is designed to be used during the most dangerous first 2 and a half minutes of a launch.

Video of the launch can be seen on the NASA website.

Source: NASA press Release, July 8 2009

http://www.nasa.gov/exploration/features/mlas.html