NASA will be using space shuttle ceramic tiles on its new Orion spacecraft in order to save weight, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
The newspaper reports that NASA originally wanted to use a “Frisbee-shaped disc of a material called PICA as Orion’s main heat shield.” However, serious thrust issues with the Ares I rocket have required engineers to go with the lightweight tiles to reduce the capsule’s weight. Officials say the tiles are safe and their use on Orion is not likely to lead to a Columbia-type accident.
“The tiles were available,” said Cleon Lacefield, who is Orion program manager for Lockheed Martin. “They gave us the heat protection we needed, and the newer generation is very tough. They increased the damage tolerance over other alternatives we were looking at.”
The continued use of the tiles will save a handful of the hundreds of tile technician jobs that now exist to service the much larger space shuttle, which is scheduled for retirement in 2010. As few of 10 tile technicians will remain. Overall, the end of the shuttle program will likely take about 5,000 jobs with it.
0 Responses to “NASA to use shuttle tiles on Orion spacecraft; Workforce to shrink about 5K”
Leave a Reply