Tennessee plays an important role in the nation’s space program

A European Space agency probe that landed on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon on Jan. 14, 2005, was tested in the 16-foot transonic wind tunnel at the Air Force’s Arnold Engineering Development Center in 1993. The mission of the Huygens probe, named after Dutch astronomer Christian Huygens who discovered Titan in 1655, is to collect atmospheric data from Titan. The probe landed by parachute. The wind tunnel model of the probe was fitted with scaled main and pilot parachutes. The chutes were opened at speeds ranging from 350 to 1,000 mph in the wind tunnel while information was gathered on their inflation characteristics. The NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory Cassini Spacecraft carried the probe to the vicinity of Titan. The Huygens test model was designed and fabricated by Micro Craft Inc. in Tullahoma, Tenn., for the GE Aerospace Corp., which was under contract to the European Space Agency.

Tennessee plays an important role in the nation’s space program

Tennessee plays an important role in the nation's space program

Published May 16, 2007
By Tim White

ARNOLD AFB, Tenn. -- The 2005 Tennessee Space Week runs Jan. 23-29 this year providing an opportunity for students and parents alike to learn of the Volunteer State's role in space exploration.
The U.S. Air Force's Arnold Engineering Development Center remains at the center of that effort today providing essential testing for our nation's, and the world's, ongoing space programs just as it did in the early years of space exploration for programs such as projects Mercury, Gemini and Apollo.
Recent news accounts around the globe covered the Huygen's Probe landing on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Long before the landing, testing for the probe took place in the high-tech facilities of AEDC with teams conducting parachute deployment tests in the center's 16-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel as well as testing the rocket engine used to launch the probe into outer space in the center's Rocket Propulsion Test Cell J-4.
Upcoming space missions have the AEDC mark stamped on them as well. Foremost among those missions is the Space Shuttle's return to flight tentatively set to take place this year. AEDC recently conducted wind tunnel testing at speeds the shuttle will encounter from liftoff to Mach 1.5 in the center's 16-foot Transonic Wind Tunnel as well testing for the effects of foam hitting the solid rocket booster through simulation in AEDC's Ballistic Impact range S-3. The center had been involved in the early development of the space shuttle and will certainly continue to be a partner with NASA throughout its service life keeping Tennessee at the forefront of our nation's premier space program.
Look to see AEDC's impact with NASA's X-37 scheduled for its orbital test flight in June 2006. The X-37 will serve as a re-entry vehicle to the earth from space operations. It
was tested in AEDC's von Karman gas dynamics facility's three high-speed wind tunnels to evaluate the redesign of its nozzles and body flaps.
The center maintains several other facilities that contribute to our nation's space program that are available when needed. Among those are vacuum chambers used to test censors and electric propulsion, the Mark I Space Chamber, the second largest in the U.S., with the capability to test the operations of an entire satellite for extended periods of time, ballistic ranges used to test high-speed aerodynamics, arc facilities used to test materials for the rigors of reentry into the earth's atmosphere, and rocket engine test cells used to test upper-stage engines at simulated altitudes up to 100,000 feet.