Water
hammer tests simulate stress during the firing of the propulsion system on NASA's
Mars Phoenix Lander.
Phoenix is slated for a Mars landing on May 25 where it will slow
its descent using both a parachute and firing its engines. The engines are
designed to pulse by firing up to 10 times per second, creating a jackhammer
effect that engineers worried could actually damage the spacecraft systems. To
ensure that the spacecraft could remain intact, engineers conducted the water
hammer tests at the Phoenix hot fire test bed inside a Lockheed
Martin facility in Denver, Colorado, during March 2005.
That means
NASA has one less concern when Phoenix begins
its actual descent to the surface of the Red Planet. The lander's mission will focus
on sampling the arctic terrain of the northern Martian plains to uncover the
history of water on Mars.
— NASA/UA/Lockheed Martin and SPACE.com Staff
Credit: NASA/UA/Lockheed Martin
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