From inside of Chamber A at NASA’s Johnson Space Center, NASA experts discuss VIPER’s vacuum chamber testing in preparation for a south pole lunar landing. HWHAP Episode 326.
Houston, we have a podcast.
Welcome to the official podcast of the NASA Johnson Space center.
Episode 326 podcast in a vacuum chamber I'm Gary Jordan.
I'll be your host today on this podcast, we bring in the experts, scientists, engineers, and astronauts, all to let you know what's going on in the world of human spaceflight and more.
How do you know if a system is truly ready for space?
When you build a spacecraft, it's not just tightening that last bolt and strapping that system on top of a rocket.
No, spacecraft systems go through rigorous testing.
Rockets fire their engines on the ground, aircraft are slammed with acoustics and vibrations.
Capsules are dropped into water, and oftentimes, a fully assembled vehicle is put in a special chamber to prepare for the stress of extreme temperature and vacuum.
Now, this thermal vacuum testing is often essential to verify a spacecraft's readiness for flight.
But just why do we use this test, and what does it mean?
On this episode, we're chatting with Jonathan Homan, systems test branch chief and the engineering directorate here at the Johnson Space center.
We had him on the podcast back in 2018 to discuss the vacuum chamber testing for the James Webb space Telescope.
That was done here in Houston at the time.
We brought him into the studio as we normally do.
But on this episode, we got the unique privilege to record the interview inside a vacuum chamber.
Of course, not while in vacuum, but the location allowed us to have a very interesting conversation while immersed in this unique and somewhat magical environment.
Chamber A is preparing to receive the Viper Rover that will land on the lunar south pole this year.
So we also chat with test director for Vipers Chamber a testing Steven del Papa.
With that.