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Ares I's 5 segment solid booster was tested today.
YouTube Link....
Even with that much power it's barely big enough, even with a second stage, to loft NASA's Orion spacecraft. It also suffers from severe thrust oscillations, endemic to solid rockets, so strong as to be able to shake the astronauts in Orion into pudding. NASA's spent 6 months trying to fix that and almost $4 billion (yes, with a B) getting Ares I to this point. The second stage won't be ready for at least 5 years and the Orion itself won't be ready to fly for at least 6 years.
The Ares I-X test vehicle below is to go up this fall, but it's a fools folly. The first stage is just 4 segments while the real Ares I will be 5 segments as above. It's second stage is a dud mass simulator, as is the Orion spacecraft and its launch abort system (escape tower). Even the avionics are not the real mission hardware.
Why do it? To test the shape and configuration we're told, but in reality it's a press event to help make the case to keep the project going. Cost: $500 million for what amounts to a big firecracker that will go <200 miles before crashing into the Atlantic out of sight of the Congressmen and VIP's.
A lot of good projects at NASA could use $500 million, but so far NASA's higher ups haven't been listening.
Total Ares I/Orion cost: > $30 billion and isn't scheduled to fly unmanned until at least 2014. Max crew: 4
Total cost of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Dragon: <$1 billion and it flies unmanned in less than 6 months. Max crew: 7
NASA and SpaceX started about the same time.
No wonder the Augustine Commission has recommended canceling Ares I in favor of using existing boosters like Atlas V, Delta IV and soon SpaceX's Falcon 9/Falcon 9 Heavy.
Ares I-X test vehicle
YouTube Link....
Even with that much power it's barely big enough, even with a second stage, to loft NASA's Orion spacecraft. It also suffers from severe thrust oscillations, endemic to solid rockets, so strong as to be able to shake the astronauts in Orion into pudding. NASA's spent 6 months trying to fix that and almost $4 billion (yes, with a B) getting Ares I to this point. The second stage won't be ready for at least 5 years and the Orion itself won't be ready to fly for at least 6 years.
The Ares I-X test vehicle below is to go up this fall, but it's a fools folly. The first stage is just 4 segments while the real Ares I will be 5 segments as above. It's second stage is a dud mass simulator, as is the Orion spacecraft and its launch abort system (escape tower). Even the avionics are not the real mission hardware.
Why do it? To test the shape and configuration we're told, but in reality it's a press event to help make the case to keep the project going. Cost: $500 million for what amounts to a big firecracker that will go <200 miles before crashing into the Atlantic out of sight of the Congressmen and VIP's.
A lot of good projects at NASA could use $500 million, but so far NASA's higher ups haven't been listening.
Total Ares I/Orion cost: > $30 billion and isn't scheduled to fly unmanned until at least 2014. Max crew: 4
Total cost of SpaceX's Falcon 9 and Dragon: <$1 billion and it flies unmanned in less than 6 months. Max crew: 7
NASA and SpaceX started about the same time.
No wonder the Augustine Commission has recommended canceling Ares I in favor of using existing boosters like Atlas V, Delta IV and soon SpaceX's Falcon 9/Falcon 9 Heavy.
Ares I-X test vehicle