Uploaded November 2019 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
This visualization, made from a simulation of the Pad Abort 1 flight test of Orion's Launch Abort System, helps researchers better understand the unsteady fluid dynamics in the plume of the system’s abort motors. The abort motor that propels the system produces four large high-speed exhaust plumes that flow toward the sides of the spacecraft. The entire system accelerates upward and banks, as if to pull the crew module away from a rocket. The video shows animated particles — technically called passive particle renderings — that literally “go with the flow” of the plumes. The color of the particles represents the velocity of the plumes, with white showing the highest velocity regions and darker tones representing slower velocities. The speed of the video was slowed down by a factor of approximately 38 times as compared to the equivalent portion of the 2010 flight test. At the end of the video, the system reached approximately 277 feet in altitude and 32 feet downrange of the starting position.
The simulation was performed on the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division’s Electra supercomputer. The technology is helping advance NASA’s missions by making it possible to run tests in a supercomputer at lower cost and with faster turnarounds before flight, ultimately making NASA exploration systems safer.
Learn more: nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/predicting-extreme-acoustic-vibrations-to-keep-astronauts-safe-during-launch
Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/Timothy Sandstrom, Cetin Kiris, Francois Cadieux, Michael Barad
The video may be downloaded at images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20200109-AAV3245-Orion-EscapeAbortViz-NASAWeb
NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics.
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This visualization, made from a simulation of the Pad Abort 1 flight test of Orion's Launch Abort System, helps researchers better understand the unsteady fluid dynamics in the plume of the system’s abort motors. The abort motor that propels the system produces four large high-speed exhaust plumes that flow toward the sides of the spacecraft. The entire system accelerates upward and banks, as if to pull the crew module away from a rocket. The video shows animated particles — technically called passive particle renderings — that literally “go with the flow” of the plumes. The color of the particles represents the velocity of the plumes, with white showing the highest velocity regions and darker tones representing slower velocities. The speed of the video was slowed down by a factor of approximately 38 times as compared to the equivalent portion of the 2010 flight test. At the end of the video, the system reached approximately 277 feet in altitude and 32 feet downrange of the starting position.
The simulation was performed on the NASA Advanced Supercomputing Division’s Electra supercomputer. The technology is helping advance NASA’s missions by making it possible to run tests in a supercomputer at lower cost and with faster turnarounds before flight, ultimately making NASA exploration systems safer.
Learn more: nasa.gov/image-feature/ames/predicting-extreme-acoustic-vibrations-to-keep-astronauts-safe-during-launch
Video credit: NASA/Ames Research Center/Timothy Sandstrom, Cetin Kiris, Francois Cadieux, Michael Barad
The video may be downloaded at images.nasa.gov/details-ARC-20200109-AAV3245-Orion-EscapeAbortViz-NASAWeb
NASA's Ames Research Center is located in California's Silicon Valley. Follow us on social media to hear about the latest developments in space, science, technology and aeronautics.
facebook.com/nasaames
twitter.com/nasaames
instagram.com/nasaames
