Today was even more incredible than yesterday. (The camaraderie between those of us in Class #4 is developing as we learn more about one-another, and the time is flying by.) The training is in all respects a dream-made-reality, and it certainly doesn’t disappoint.
So, alternating coursework and practical training during day two of the NASTAR Center’s Suborbital Scientist Training Program quickly sent us into one of the world’s most advanced machines. This device, in turn, carried us quite literally right up to our bodies’ physical limits … and we were grinning all the way.
The machine in question is a long-arm, multi-gimbal centrifuge: the Environmental Tectonics Corporation model AFTS-400. NASTAR’s individual unit is called the “Phoenix.”
It’s objective? -To provide the most realistic, intense, and accurate simulation of extreme, dynamic gravity that a person can experience while still sitting in a simulator.
The beautiful machine is deceptively large and amazingly quiet for its size and force. -Massive enough to dim television sets in the area for blocks, (though the construction of an onsite electrical substation nipped that in the bud,) yet sophisticated enough to be able to reverse the drive motors during deceleration and use them as generators to dump nearly all of the “spinning” energy back into the power grid. (Yes, I’m glancing at those of you who continue to insist that space isn’t or can’t be “green.”)
As a person who has a distinct appreciation for large, finely-tuned mechanics, upon entering the centrifuge bay I was immediately reminded of the precision required of the motors and rigid arms supporting a mountaintop observatory. The weight support and manipulation ability of those machines is truly inspiring. However, whereas I would have described a giant telescope as having a placid, confident, almost Zen-master quality to it, the Phoenix seemed eager, hungry, and almost a bit restless, like it wanted to move.
And it did.
Our training here was broken up into two fundamental parts as we learned to experience (and the techniques to manage) g-forces along two planes with respect to our bodies: down our spines and straight into our backs. Both of these sorts of accelerations come into play during spacecraft operations; we were taught to recognize them in kind so that we would know what to do during a normal profile when both types of g-forces are mixed together.
(I must also take a moment to specifically note and recognize Glenn King, whose excellent instruction, reassuring voice and extraordinary attention to detail let us know we were going to be just fine every step of the way. Thanks, Glenn!)
We were each individually walked down from the observation area and out into the bay, where we were given a briefing on the centrifuge interior, components, displays, and communication systems. Our seats were adjusted to suit us, and then we strapped in.
Once inside the centrifuge, it’s hard to not let your adrenaline get the better of you. -And man, when that thing starts to move, it really means business.
The feeling of the g-forces is hard to describe unless you’ve done something like it before. It feels like a completely even set of weights is distributed not uncomfortably across the surface of your entire body. However, since there was nothing physically (mechanically) on top of you, the experience wasn’t at all like being smothered. It just felt, to me at any rate, exactly like what it was – moving extremely quickly.
So, once inside, we experienced different strengths of force in different directions, working our techniques up to support us at the maximum intensity we would be feeling during tomorrow’s “full” flight, which we were told is based exactly on the flight profile of the SpaceShipOne as it went to space and back.
Afterward, we debriefed and performed some additional training relating to the logistics of attempting to perform six separate experiments (or objectives) within the confines of a single spacecraft with only a two-or-five-minute window of opportunity while the craft is beyond the Earth’s atmosphere. Spacecraft providers take note: Total Chaos. (Fortunately, we only lost a couple of trainees due to the impaling objects we were unable to get stowed by the time of re-entry…)
With that, and somewhat exhausted (though thrilled) from the day’s worth of physical training, we headed back to rest up prior to the “big flight” tomorrow. More to follow…
Chronicles of an Atomic Astrowright 