NASA Team at Marshall Removes Charred Orion Heat Shield Surface

In this time-lapse video, captured in NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center Building 4705 from March 24 to May 15, NASA and Lockheed Martin workers remove burnt ablative material -- or the incinerated outer surface -- from the Orion heat shield. The shield was charred during Orion's successful flight test in late 2014. The team, led by thermal protection engineers from NASA's Ames Research Center, used Marshall's innovative, seven-axis milling machine in Building 4705 to cut away large sections of the ablative material, known as Avcoat. The remaining 180 or so Avcoat squares, many covering sophisticated sensors, were removed by hand for delivery to Ames and other NASA facilities. In early June, the stripped heat shield will travel to NASA's Langley Research Center for water-impact testing, while analysis of the ablated material and sensor data will continue until late 2015 -- aiding development of the next Orion flight test vehicle. Orion will launch atop the Space Launch System, the nation's heavy-lift rocket now in development. Learn more about Orion at http://www.nasa.gov/exploration. (MSFC/Emmett Given & Dawn Lyons)