Ares V

The Ares V is the cargo unit or ”heavy lifter” of the Constellation program. Planning and early design are under way for hardware, propulsion systems. According to NASA: ”Ares V will serve as NASA’s primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of large-scale hardware to space — from the lunar landing craft and materials for establishing a moon base, to food, fresh water and other staples needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit.”. This part of the spacecraft is of vital importance in the transportation infrastructure being developed by NASA’s Constellation Program to carry humans back to the Moon, and then onward to Mars and other destinations in the solar system.

The versatile, heavy-lifting Ares V is a two-stage, vertically stacked launch vehicle. It can carry nearly 188 metric tons to low-Earth orbit. When working together with the Ares I crew launch vehicle to launch payloads into Earth orbit, Ares V can send nearly71 metric tons to the Moon. For its initial insertion into Earth orbit, the Ares V first stage relies on two five-and-a-half-segment reusable solid rocket boosters. These are derived from the space shuttle solid rocket boosters. This hardware commonality makes operations more cost effective. During launch of an Ares V, the reusable solid rocket boosters and core propulsion stage power the vehicle into low-Earth orbit. After separation from the spent core stage, the Earth departure stage’s J-2X engine takes over, placing the vehicle in a circular orbit, and the departure stage shroud separates to prepare the lander for rendezvous with the Orion capsule.

Unlike the Saturn V and Space Shuttle, where the crew and cargo were launched together on the same rocket, Project Constellation is planned to use two separate launch vehicles, the Ares I and the Ares V, for crew and cargo, in that order. Development of the rocket and its Earth departure stage will be led by the Marshall Space Flight Center. The Ames Research Center is responsible for the Ares V integrated health management system supports in developing its payload shroud. Glenn Research Center leads the development of the lunar lander ascent stage as well as Ares V power system, thrust vector control system and payload shroud. Langley research Center has a lead role on Ares V aerodynamics.

The Ares V represents a powerful part of the new missions to the Moon. Here is a link to a good article about the Ares V. This is a link to the NASA page on the spacecraft. Here on Universe Today we have a great article about some of the upgrades given to the Ares V after initial design. Astronomy Cast offers a good episode about the overall Constellation program.

Tagged as: Ares V, Constellation program