According to the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, ?In 2008, NASA will continue to plan how best to transition any needed Shuttle workforce and infrastructure to the Constellation program. The Constellation program includes funding for the Orion and Ares projects, as well as for ground operations, mission operations, and extravehicular activity projects and a dedicated in-house effort for systems engineering and integration.?

To gear up for the implementation of that plan, NASA is in the process of making infrastructure improvements at many of its centers. Among those improvements will be ?modifications to the Space Power Facility (SPF) at Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook Station (Ohio) in support of Orion environmental testing, enabling the SPF to perform vibration and vibro-acoustic testing.?

To that end, in November 2007, NASA chartered the Thrust Oscillation Focus Team to precisely define the frequency spectrum and oscillation amplitudes that the five segment (Ares) motor is expected to produce. In parallel, the team is evaluating vehicle structural assessments in order to provide additional vibration isolation to critical launch vehicle systems and uncouple the vehicle's natural frequency from motor induced loads.?

The rocket scientists at NASA may have the brain power to figure out their vibration control needs on their own?and they definitely have the brain power to realize how important vibration isolation is to their Constellation program. However, not every organization that needs vibration control has a team of rocket scientists on staff to turn to for such computations.

That's where having a vibration control expert at one's disposal comes in handy. The first thing to look for when shopping around for vibration control products is a company that offers an exhaustive line of isolators and mounts for the control of noise, vibration and shock. Regardless of whether one's vibration isolation needs are of the one pound or the one ton variety, such companies will have the right type of mount to the fit application.

The variety of styles and sizes that Vibro-Insulator vibration isolators come in are designed to handle most vibration isolation problems. The reputable company that produces Vibro-Insulators also offers a product guide showing all the different styles of mounts it has available for purchase. This way, the vibration control seeker can see all of his or her options in one convenient place.

Produced with either natural rubber or neoprene elastomers, depending on the application, Vibro-Insulators? mounts are designed to be used in either the compression or shear direction. Typically, natural rubber is a good choice for most industrial applications but is affected by oil. Neoprene, on the other hand, is resistant to oil.

Still feeling like you need a rocket scientist at your disposal to make the right vibration isolation and control decision? Well, there's no need to contact NASA for assistance. Step by step instructions on how to select the proper Vibro-Insulator for a specific application are also provided by the company that produces them. For those who are math phobic, an example calculation is even provided to show you exactly how to crunch the vibration isolation numbers.