U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground booth at ‘Star Party’ shares history of testing for space program

Photo By Ana Henderson | Developmental testing at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground has supported the space program since the beginning of the space program. YPG's booth at the Colorado River State Historic Park’s Star Party on July 30 wowed visitors with the history of YPG's testing in support of orbital and outer space flight.  

YUMA, ARIZONA, UNITED STATES

08.01.2022

Story by Mark Schauer 

U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground

Developmental testing at U.S. Army Yuma Proving Ground (YPG) has supported the space program since the beginning of the space program.

YPG's booth at the Colorado River State Historic Park’s Star Party on July 30 wowed visitors with the history of YPG's testing in support of orbital and outer space flight.

Three major tests in the post’s history were of the lunar rover, GPS, and the Capsule Parachute Assembly System of the Orion Spacecraft, among other technologies. This testing has required the presence of numerous astronauts over the years, including a very special one.

In 1966, the Mobility Test Article, an early version of the lunar rover, went through developmental testing on YPG’s vast ranges.

Nineteen months after taking his giant leap for mankind, in February 1971 Apollo 11 commander Neil Armstrong visited YPG to witness testing of the AH-56 Cheyenne attack helicopter. Though the AH-56 was cancelled by the Army the following year, the program was a boon to aviation testing at YPG, as it brought about the construction of a substantial amount of infrastructure like laser and optical tracking sites.

YPG was the home of GPS testing from 1974 through 1990. YPG testers attracted the program by demonstrating their ability to collect more data at a lower price than other test ranges. Whereas other test ranges of the period gathered position, acceleration, and trajectory data of test items with electro-optical trackers called Cinetheodolites, recently completed testing of the AH-56 Cheyenne attack helicopter had given YPG an edge: The proving ground owned and used a then-state-of-the-art laser tracker that had a far greater range and comparable accuracy to a battery of Cinetheodolites. Further, engineers at the proving ground had adapted room-sized 1960s vintage IBM computers with specialized software that allowed them to collect test data from range instruments and onboard telemetry devices in real time, a groundbreaking advancement that dramatically reduced the time and cost of testing.

When the evaluations began in March 1977, the launch of the first GPS satellite was more than a year away, and, like today, a GPS user needs coordinates from four satellites to get an accurate location reading. YPG testers coped with this by creating an ‘inverted range’ made up of satellite simulators located in ground-based shelters at four different places. Ground tests of the infant technology were conducted from modified two-and-a-half ton trucks, and aircraft used for testing were outfitted with antennas on the bottom of aircraft to pick up simulated signals from the ground receivers. The earliest GPS systems were so large that a UH-1 helicopter, which carried as many as 14 troops at a time when used in Vietnam, could only accommodate a pilot and two passengers when carrying a GPS device. By September 1977 testers had conducted over 70 test flights with UH-1 helicopters and F-4, P-3, and C-141 airplanes.

By the early 1980s, GPS technology had been miniaturized to the point that a man portable backpack weighing a mere 25 pounds began testing with Soldiers at the proving ground. This testing was conducted in addition to that involving aircraft, all at a fast pace that lasted into the early 1990s.

In more recent years, YPG tested the Capsule Parachute Assembly System (CPAS) that astronauts using the Orion space capsule will count on to land them safely back on Earth. Each of the system’s three main parachutes have canopies made with 10,000 square feet of broadcloth nylon, and the rope that makes up the parachutes’ cord is made of Kevlar, the strong synthetic fiber used in body armor. The CPAS system is designed to deploy sequentially and pass through two stages prior to being fully open: after hurtling back into Earth’s atmosphere, two drogue parachutes deploy to slow the 10-ton capsule prior to main parachutes decelerating the capsule to less than 20 miles per hour. The system is designed with redundancies meant to protect the safe landing of astronauts even if two parachutes fail.

If you missed the fun at the first Star Pary, don't despair: YPG will have a booth at the next iteration of the event at Yuma's Colorado River State Historic Park on Saturday, August 27.

• Date Taken: 08.01.2022
• Date Posted: 08.01.2022 12:32
• Story ID: 426245
• Location: YUMA, ARIZONA, US