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Author
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Topic: Blisters on Apollo 16 LM Orion panels
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Mike Dixon
Member Posts: 1563
From: Kew, Victoria, Australia
Registered: May 2003
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posted 05-26-2006 05:23 AM
   
I took a close look at the blisters on the Apollo 16 lunar module Orion's rear panel (AS 16-113-18332/18336).More to the point, you can see on the left and right hand sides of the LM upper stage, a "stippled" effect on many of the upper panels I would have expected to be have been smooth and unblemished. Ideas as to why this might be? They appear totally unrelated to the back panel warps.  
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ilbasso
Member Posts: 1527
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 05-26-2006 07:40 AM
Also, the rear panels of the ascent stage buckled severely on lunar liftoff. Between the blistering and the buckling, one wonders if something was different about Orion's manufacture than the previous lunar modules. Was it a result of something they did to reduce weight? |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2181
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 05-26-2006 11:18 AM
I can't see any blisters on the rear of the equipment bay, just the buckled panels. I believe the "stippled" effect on the side panels of the crew compartment are the blisters themselves. quote:
Originally posted by ilbasso:
Also, the rear panels of the ascent stage buckled severely on lunar liftoff.
John Young said he shut the engine down, and the "thing" just dropped the last 3 feet. So maybe the landing was harder than expected and warped the equipment bay, which weakened it for the ascent.I don't think it would be caused by weight saving issues as the J-Series LM's weighed about 3000 pounds more than any other lunar modules. Possibly it could have been the extra consumables in the bay (batteries, and various tanks) that caused it. |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2181
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 05-26-2006 11:50 AM
Wow! I just watched the ascent video from the LRV and you can see the panels just lift up and flex around!Apparently the guys in Mission Control saw it as well and asked John Young to do a 360 degree yaw maneuver during the docking so Ken Mattingly could get some images of it. It wasn't part of the flight plan. |
ilbasso
Member Posts: 1527
From: Greensboro, NC USA
Registered: Feb 2006
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posted 05-26-2006 01:59 PM
On photo AS16-122-19533 you can see both the stippled pattern on the aluminum panels as well as the severely deformed rear panels. There was definitely no other LM that looked like this!! The basic function of the chemically-milled aluminum panels on the LM ascent stage was to act as a meteor shield. They added little or nothing to the structural integrity of the vehicle, just a slightly stiffer cover over the umpteen layers of Kapton and Mylar underneath. Our "Earth-based" reaction when we see the beat-up panels on the back of the LM is, "Holy cow! How can they fly with it like that?" |
nasamad
Member Posts: 2181
From: Essex, UK
Registered: Jul 2001
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posted 05-26-2006 02:29 PM
Mattingly even states during the maneuver to look at the LM that the mylar blankets are okay, just the outside covering that damaged.Hmmm, wonder why the back panel wasn't made in one piece? |
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