An Air Force C-5 aircraft arrived at Kennedy Space Center this afternoon, hauling with it the upper-most parts of a vehicle set for launch this summer on a critical first Ares rocket test flight.Secured in the belly of the giant cargo carrier were aerodynamically exact replicas of the Orion spacecraft command module as well as the launch abort system that would pull the capsule off the top of an Ares rocket if the vehicle exploded or careened out of control in flight.
The hardware will top the Ares 1X vehicle, which is scheduled for launch July 11 on a $360 million mission aimed at testing the rocket's first-stage flight control system as well as its parachute recovery system and the system that separates the first and second stages of the vehicle.
The Ares 1 development project is wrestling with a number of technical challenges, including launch-induced vibrations that could damage the rocket or even injure a crew. The suborbital test flight should prove whether first-stage flight control systems will keep the slender "single stick" rocket on course -- and intact -- during the crucial first two minutes of flight.
"One good test is worth a thousand expert opinions," said NASA Ares 1X deputy mission manager Jon Cowart.
The Ares 1-X mission will be the first of four test flights slated to be carried out under a $1.8 billion contract to design, develop and test the rocket's first stage: a five-segment solid rocket booster derived from the space shuttle system. It's also the first high-profile demonstration of a critical piece of the new U.S. space transportation system set to replace the space shuttles, carrying astronauts to orbit by 2015 and the moon by 2020.
The inaugural test flight will employ a four-segment shuttle booster topped with an empty fifth segment and aerodynamically exact copies that simulate the mass and outer mold line of an Ares 1 second stage, Orion spacecraft and Launch Abort System.The second stage mass simulator, which comprises seven sections shaped like giant tuna cans, already is being integrated in the KSC Vehicle Assembly Building.
The Orion spacecraft and Launch Abort System simulators will be stored in the same high bay on the northwest side of the 52-story building until the rocket is erected for flight.
The four solid rocket booster segments that will power the first stage of the test vehicle are expected to be delivered from ATK in Utah in late February.
ABOUT THE IMAGES: Click to enlarge the Florida Today photo of the Command Module and Launch Abort System simulators sitting outside an Air Force C5 aircraft after delivery to Kennedy Space Center. Photo credit: Michael R. Brown/Florida Today. The second image is cell phone image of a photographer documenting the arrival of the C5 aircraft at the Shuttle Landing Facility this afternoon. Photo credit: Florida Today/Todd Halvorson
2 comments:
""One good test is worth a thousand expert opinions," said NASA Ares 1X deputy mission manager Jon Cowart."
I couldn't agree more. As Ares I goes from paper to flight testing, so many prognostications of the past years are going to be put to the test and, if past NASA engineering history holds, prove many of the Ares' critics flat-out wrong. Of course...I'm not sure what all of NASA's critics will do once Ares/Orion is flying successfully, but I'm sure they'll find some way to occupy themselves.
^ Since they will probably be working on other projects after Ares 1-X's cancellation, it is hard to say exactly what they will be doing.
It's seeming more and more likely that's the fate of The Stick.
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