Ares Rocket Passes Milestone Amid Growing Uncertainty

[Wilms]

Ares rocket passes milestone amid growing uncertainty

BY STEPHEN CLARK

Posted: August 14, 2009

Engineers added the final piece to NASA's skyscraping Ares 1 test rocket overnight Thursday, topping off the 327-foot-tall demo booster as senior White House officials deliberate whether the agency's moonbound program is still viable.

Launch of the slender white rocket on a test flight dubbed Ares 1-X is scheduled for Oct. 31, but engineers continue to battle concerns with vibrations that could damage critical systems inside the vehicle, according to Jon Cowart, deputy mission manager at Kennedy Space Center.

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But the Ares 1 program could be in jeopardy after an independent presidential panel found NASA's plans to return to the moon by the 2020s is impossible given current budget projections.

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Officials originally identified problem areas within the upper stage simulator, the flight termination system and first stage steering system.

Cowart said technicians are stiffening brackets inside the simulated upper stage to resolve concerns there. But engineers are still studying mitigation options for the critical flight termination system and hydraulic thrust vector control unit.

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http://www.spaceflightnow.com/ares1x/090814stacking/

[Phoonzang]

1. Regardless of what happens with the Augustine Commission, I'm pretty sure Ares I

is toast. I can't see it surviving much longer. Maybe the engineers will get to see the prototype blast off (and probably explode) before it's officially canceled.

[pokerfan]

2. unless NASA relaxes its rules on what it considers 'man-rated'

ETA: which I don't think they should do...

http://www.newscientist.com/blogs/shortsharpscience/2009/07/death-knell-for-nasas-ares-roc.html

[sofa king]

3. I haven't seen many people call it a winner.

In fact, almost every impartial opinion on the subject of that launcher says it's a stinker, and it's counterbalanced only by those who have money to make by dragging it as far as it can go.

The Soviets reached this same impasse with the N1. It was too big, too heavy, too shittily built, couldn't do what they claimed it could do, and blew up on the launchpad with the force of a small nuclear bomb. The N1 project was continued primarily because nobody had the balls to admit it was a piece of crap.

And yet, at the exact same time, the Soviets were busy building the Soyuz system with the express intent of making those capsules capable of going to the Moon and back, if necessary, which means that many parts of the solution--LEO launchers, a moon-rated capsule and service module, and a place to assemble a moon-transit system in space (the ISS) are all right there. Instead, Prince George decided upon his father's course, which is to blow billions on plans and pretty pictures, then fold it all up when you leave.