MOOSE
Encyclopedia
MOOSE, originally an acronym for Man Out Of Space Easiest but later changed to the more professional-sounding Manned Orbital Operations Safety Equipment, was a proposed emergency "bail-out" system capable of bringing a single astronaut
safely down from Earth orbit
to the planet's surface.
The design was proposed by General Electric
in the early 1960s. The system was quite compact, weighing 200 pounds (90 kilograms) and fitting inside a suitcase-sized container. It consisted of a small twin-nozzle rocket
motor sufficient to deorbit the astronaut, a PET film
bag six feet (1.8 metres) long with a flexible quarter-inch-thick ablative heat shield on the back, two pressurized canisters to fill it with polyurethane
foam
, a parachute
, radio equipment and a survival kit.
The astronaut would leave his vehicle in a space suit
, climb inside the plastic bag, and then fill it with foam. The bag had the shape of a blunt cone, with the astronaut embedded in its base facing outward. The rocket pack would protrude from the bag and be used to slow the astronaut's orbital momentum enough so that he would reenter Earth's atmosphere
, and the foam-filled bag would act as insulation during the subsequent aerobraking
. Finally, once the astronaut had descended to 30,000 feet (9 km) where the air was sufficiently dense, the parachute would automatically deploy and slow the astronaut's fall to 17 mph (7.6 metres per second). The foam heat shield would serve a final role as cushioning when the astronaut touched down and as a flotation device should he land on water. The radio beacon would guide rescuers.
General Electric performed preliminary testing on some of the components of the MOOSE system, including flying samples of heat shield material on a Mercury
mission, inflating a foam-filled bag with a human subject embedded inside, and test-dropping dummies in MOOSE foam shields short distances. U.S. Air Force Capt. Joe Kittinger's historic freefall from a balloon at 103,000 feet (31,395 meters) in August 1960 also helped demonstrate the feasibility of such extreme parachuting
. However, the MOOSE system was nonetheless always intended as an extreme emergency measure when no other option for returning an astronaut to Earth existed; falling from orbit protected by nothing more than a spacesuit and a bag of foam was unlikely to ever become a particularly safe—or enticing—maneuver.
Neither NASA
nor the U.S. Air Force expressed an interest in the MOOSE system, and so by the end of the 1960s, the program was quietly shelved.
Astronaut
An astronaut or cosmonaut is a person trained by a human spaceflight program to command, pilot, or serve as a crew member of a spacecraft....
safely down from Earth orbit
Orbit
In physics, an orbit is the gravitationally curved path of an object around a point in space, for example the orbit of a planet around the center of a star system, such as the Solar System...
to the planet's surface.
The design was proposed by General Electric
General Electric
General Electric Company , or GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in Schenectady, New York and headquartered in Fairfield, Connecticut, United States...
in the early 1960s. The system was quite compact, weighing 200 pounds (90 kilograms) and fitting inside a suitcase-sized container. It consisted of a small twin-nozzle rocket
Rocket
A rocket is a missile, spacecraft, aircraft or other vehicle which obtains thrust from a rocket engine. In all rockets, the exhaust is formed entirely from propellants carried within the rocket before use. Rocket engines work by action and reaction...
motor sufficient to deorbit the astronaut, a PET film
PET film (biaxially oriented)
BoPET is a polyester film made from stretched polyethylene terephthalate and is used for its high tensile strength, chemical and dimensional stability, transparency, reflectivity, gas and aroma barrier properties and electrical insulation.A variety of companies manufacture boPET and other...
bag six feet (1.8 metres) long with a flexible quarter-inch-thick ablative heat shield on the back, two pressurized canisters to fill it with polyurethane
Polyurethane
A polyurethane is any polymer composed of a chain of organic units joined by carbamate links. Polyurethane polymers are formed through step-growth polymerization, by reacting a monomer with another monomer in the presence of a catalyst.Polyurethanes are...
foam
Foam
-Definition:A foam is a substance that is formed by trapping gas in a liquid or solid in a divided form, i.e. by forming gas regions inside liquid regions, leading to different kinds of dispersed media...
, a parachute
Parachute
A parachute is a device used to slow the motion of an object through an atmosphere by creating drag, or in the case of ram-air parachutes, aerodynamic lift. Parachutes are usually made out of light, strong cloth, originally silk, now most commonly nylon...
, radio equipment and a survival kit.
The astronaut would leave his vehicle in a space suit
Space suit
A space suit is a garment worn to keep an astronaut alive in the harsh environment of outer space. Space suits are often worn inside spacecraft as a safety precaution in case of loss of cabin pressure, and are necessary for extra-vehicular activity , work done outside spacecraft...
, climb inside the plastic bag, and then fill it with foam. The bag had the shape of a blunt cone, with the astronaut embedded in its base facing outward. The rocket pack would protrude from the bag and be used to slow the astronaut's orbital momentum enough so that he would reenter Earth's atmosphere
Earth's atmosphere
The atmosphere of Earth is a layer of gases surrounding the planet Earth that is retained by Earth's gravity. The atmosphere protects life on Earth by absorbing ultraviolet solar radiation, warming the surface through heat retention , and reducing temperature extremes between day and night...
, and the foam-filled bag would act as insulation during the subsequent aerobraking
Aerobraking
Aerobraking is a spaceflight maneuver that reduces the high point of an elliptical orbit by flying the vehicle through the atmosphere at the low point of the orbit . The resulting drag slows the spacecraft...
. Finally, once the astronaut had descended to 30,000 feet (9 km) where the air was sufficiently dense, the parachute would automatically deploy and slow the astronaut's fall to 17 mph (7.6 metres per second). The foam heat shield would serve a final role as cushioning when the astronaut touched down and as a flotation device should he land on water. The radio beacon would guide rescuers.
General Electric performed preliminary testing on some of the components of the MOOSE system, including flying samples of heat shield material on a Mercury
Project Mercury
In January 1960 NASA awarded Western Electric Company a contract for the Mercury tracking network. The value of the contract was over $33 million. Also in January, McDonnell delivered the first production-type Mercury spacecraft, less than a year after award of the formal contract. On February 12,...
mission, inflating a foam-filled bag with a human subject embedded inside, and test-dropping dummies in MOOSE foam shields short distances. U.S. Air Force Capt. Joe Kittinger's historic freefall from a balloon at 103,000 feet (31,395 meters) in August 1960 also helped demonstrate the feasibility of such extreme parachuting
Parachuting
Parachuting, also known as skydiving, is the action of exiting an aircraft and returning to earth with the aid of a parachute. It may or may not involve a certain amount of free-fall, a time during which the parachute has not been deployed and the body gradually accelerates to terminal...
. However, the MOOSE system was nonetheless always intended as an extreme emergency measure when no other option for returning an astronaut to Earth existed; falling from orbit protected by nothing more than a spacesuit and a bag of foam was unlikely to ever become a particularly safe—or enticing—maneuver.
Neither NASA
NASA
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration is the agency of the United States government that is responsible for the nation's civilian space program and for aeronautics and aerospace research...
nor the U.S. Air Force expressed an interest in the MOOSE system, and so by the end of the 1960s, the program was quietly shelved.