Morpheus: And So We Begin Again

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And So We Begin Again

The roar of a 5,000 pound rocket engine has returned to the Johnson Space Center. The Morpheus team has completed the build-up of our “Bravo” vehicle, conducted numerous integrated tests, and has now stepped into our flight test program. We are picking up where we left off – in fact we never stopped working. We have completed our first major milestone in conducting a 50-second static hot fire of the main engine in the vehicle, including simultaneous demonstration of thrust vector control (TVC) and integrated methane reaction control system (RCS) jet firings. Thrust vector control is used to balance and fly the vehicle, while the RCS jets are used to keep the vehicle pointed in the correct direction. We will step into dynamic tethered flights soon, in preparation for our return to KSC this summer.

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Morpheus Hot Fire #9

This ground level hot fire test included a test at 0 feet and at 3 feet. This test also marked the first use of a flame trench with the Morpheus vehicle.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia

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Morpheus Tether Test #21

This is the first tether test of the v1.5b Morpheus vehicle. We had a good ignition and climb. However, as the vehicle attempted to stabilize itself it exceeded the internally set boundary limit causing a soft abort.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia

[shrooma]

not bad, considering they've pulled it all back into shape in nine months! and all for less than five million quid too!

spacecraft on lottery ticket money takes some doing!

[Waspie_Dwarf]

not bad, considering they've pulled it all back into shape in nine months!

Actually Morpheus 1.5B is a new vehicle. The original prototype was totally destroyed, it literally crashed and burned. There is a third vehicle, Morpheus 1.5C under construction too.

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Morpheus Tether Test 24

This is the 24th tether test of the Morpheus Vehicle. This test was performed with the 'Bravo' version of the vehicle and tested some of the new backup systems. There are two firings in this test, the first firing was soft aborted. This was caused by an imbalance in the fuel load which caused the vehicle to exceed it's tight safety zone. The 2nd firing was a complete success.

Credit: NASA

Source: NASA - Multimedia