Universe Today

Here's some great additional footage from the Ares I-X flight taken from a chase plane, which shows the entire flight, including booster separation and parachute deploy — and the problems that happened with the parachutes. The video was taken from a Cessna Skymaster aircraft positioned approx. 10 nautical miles away from the vehicle at an altitude of 12,000 feet. The videographer used a gyro-stabilized high-definition camera system mounted to the outside of the aircraft to capture this spectacular footage which provides extremely valuable engineering data, and imagery of the recovery sequence in rarely-seen detail. This provides NASA with additional critical data from vehicle ascent, booster deceleration and parachute deploy.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 8 Comments »

The damage seen on the Ares I-X booster occurred as a result of parachute failure, which caused the rocket to impact the water harder than expected. Ares I-X manager Bob Ess briefed reporters today on the preliminary data from Wednesday's test flight of NASA new rocket, and said the parachute failure was not a significant event. "The damage we see is analogous to when there has been parachute failure on the space shuttle boosters, but actually the parachute guys were ecstatic overall and are not worried about it," Ess said. "This is all part of doing a test flight, so team is still very elated. The fact that the parachute team has something interesting to go work makes them excited. The damage was all collateral because of the parachute." He also touched on the "tumbling" of the second stage, and their findings on thrust oscillation for the vehicle.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 7 Comments »

The booster rocket used in the Ares I-X test flight was found to be badly dented when divers located it in the Atlantic Ocean. The damage could have occurred as the booster hit the water. UPDATE (7:30 pm CDT): Bill Harwood from CBS news is reporting that according to NASA officials, one of the three 150-foot-wide parachutes designed to gently lower NASA's Ares I-X first stage booster to the Atlantic Ocean deflated after deployment, resulting in a harder splashdown than expected. All three main chutes deployed, but while two inflated fully, the third collapsed. "A source said the deflated parachute contacted one of the others as it whipped about in the wind, causing a partial deflation. That could not be immediately confirmed, although a splashdown in that condition might explain the buckling seen in the lower segment of the rocket's case," Harwood wrote. (end of update).
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 7 Comments »

There are some great images of Wednesday's Ares I-X launch. Most notable is this one of the Prandtl–Glauert singularity bow shock that formed around the 327-foot-tall rocket as it went supersonic at about 39 seconds into the flight. Liftoff of the 6-minute flight test from Launch Pad 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida was at 11:30 a.m. EDT Oct. 28. This was the first launch from Kennedy's pads of a vehicle other than the space shuttle since the Apollo Program's Saturn rockets were retired. See more great images below.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 5 Comments »

After waiting out weather and triboelectrification issues, the Arex I-X rocket thundered and crackled away from the launch pad at 11:30 am EDT with a successful (and beautiful) launch. The vehicle ran through the entire 2-minute test flight with no obvious problems or issues, ending with the stages separating and parachuting down to the Atlantic Ocean. This marks the first time a new vehicle has launched from Kennedy Space Center since the first space shuttle launch in 1981. "The only thing we were waiting for was weather," said a jubilant test flight director Ed Mango to his team after the flight, "and that means all of you did fricking fantastic!"
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 13 Comments »

The test flight for the Ares I-X rocket was scrubbed on Tuesday after a roller coaster of repeated delays which included weather, a stuck cover on a probe, a cargo ship straying into the launch hazard zone, weather, and weather. "We had some opportunities, but just couldn't get there," launch test director Ed Mango said to the team. "Weather didn't cooperate." The biggest issue with weather was the launch commit criteria of avoiding possible static discharge called “triboelectrification” created by the outer coating of the rocket rubbing against cloud vapor or precipitation that is colder than -10 degrees C (14 deg. F). This static electricity could disrupt the transmission of flight test data from the rocket, and getting data is one of the main desired outcomes for the test flight.

Another 4-hour launch window opens at 8 am EDT (1200 GMT) on Wednesday.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 6 Comments »

The Ares I-X and the space shuttle on the launchpads at KSC. Credit: NASA. Click for larger version.

Possible rain and high clouds are the only "ifs" so far for the test flight of the Ares I-X rocket on Tuesday morning, the first test flight of a new rocket for NASA in over 30 years. Central to the concern about weather is a possible static discharge called "tribo electrification" created by the outer coating of the rocket if it flies through cloud vapor or precipitation that is colder than -10 degrees C (14 deg. F). This static electricity could disrupt the transmission of flight test data from the rocket, one of the main reasons for the test. At a briefing Monday morning, managers for the Ares program said the only other issue they are working with also deals with weather – the timing when to remove a probe cover.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 2 Comments »

Following a flight test readiness review, NASA has given the 'all systems go' for the Ares I-X maiden test flight on Tuesday, Oct. 27, at 8 a.m. EDT from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. "I am proud of the work this team has done to ready this test rocket for launch," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for NASA Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. "This test will yield important data to support the nation's next steps in exploration. There is no substitute for hard data – flight testing clarifies the distinction between imagined outcomes and real flight experience."

This is the first time in more than 30 years that NASA has built a vehicle in a new configuration. The uncrewed test flight last two minutes, and go 45 kilometers (28 miles) in altitude. The stages will separate 69 km (43 miles) down range and end 236 km (147 miles) over the Atlantic Ocean, with the dummy upper stage landing in the ocean.

The flight will be broadcast on NASA TV. Watch it online here. In the meantime, here's a pre-launch video to whet your appetite for a new rocket.

Filed under: Constellation | 7 Comments »

"The Stick" made it out to launchpad 39B without falling over. I have to admit, NASA's new rocket looked tall, super-skinny and pointy (as Dr. Brian Cox described it), as it rolled out on the crawler transporter. Somehow, it seems the Ares I-X should be wider. It's definitely tall — at 100 meters (327 feet,) it is 43 meters (143 feet) taller than the space shuttle. But appearances aside, this is an historic occasion. For the first time in more than a quarter century, a new vehicle is sitting out at the launchpad at Kennedy Space Center in Florida.

More pictures below:
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation, NASA, Space Flight | 8 Comments »

Here is a very nifty time-lapse video of what it took to put together the Ares I-X test vehicle, which will launch next month to test out NASA's newest family of rocket. The big news is that NASA has actually moved up the date for the launch to Tuesday, October 27 from the original date of October 31. The new date is pending successful testing and data verification.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 5 Comments »

The Ares I-X rocket is being stacked on the Mobile Launch Platform in NASA's Vehicle Assembly Building in preparation for the rocket's first test flight, scheduled for October 31, 2009. The "super stack 1" was mated to the forward motor segment, and the rocket — which will stand at 99 meters (327 feet) — is now more than half way assembled. Assembly is done using a massive overhead crane, specially adapted for I-X use.

For comparison, the space shuttle stands at 56.1 m (184 ft), the Saturn V rocket was 110.6 m (363 ft), and the Ares V will be 116 m (380 ft) high.

See more images of the rocket below.
Read more…

Filed under: Constellation | 8 Comments »