Ares I-X
Launch vehicle · USA
Original archive entry. The text, images and links below are kept as they were written.
Credit: © Mark Wade
American heavy-lift orbital launch vehicle. Shuttle-derived launch vehicle design selected by NASA Administrator Mike Griffin to boost the manned CEV Crew Exploration Vehicle into low earth orbit. A single five-segment version of the shuttle solid rocket booster would be mated with a LOx/LH2 upper stage powered by a single J-2S engine.
In the initial September 2005 design the 160 metric ton upper stage was powered by an expendable version of the Shuttle SSME engine and supported by a Russian-type open Warren-truss interstage. A relatively unmodified single four-segment shuttle solid rocket booster would provide the first stage. By August 2006 the expense of the SSME and weight growth in the CEV forced NASA to switch to the J-2S engine powering a 127 metric ton second stage, and a five-segment version of the SRB in the first stage. A conventional 'American' interstage was now shown.
LEO Payload: 24,500 kg (54,000 lb) to a 160 km orbit at 28.00 degrees. Payload: 25,000 kg (55,000 lb) to a 350 km 51.6 deg orbit.
More at: Ares I-X.
Related
- Family
- heavy-lift, orbital launch vehicle
- Country
- USA
- Spacecraft
- Ares spaceplane, Orion
- Launch Sites
- Cape Canaveral LC39B
- Stages
- Ares Stage 2, RSRM
- Agency
- NASA
Chronology
1 event
2009 October 28
Launch Site: Cape Canaveral. Launch Complex: Cape Canaveral LC39B. Launch Platform: MLP1. LV Family: Shuttle. Launch Vehicle: Ares I-X.- Ares I-X - .
Nation: USA.
Agency: Clemson.
Spacecraft Bus: FLTP/FESTIP.
Spacecraft: Ares spaceplane.
First flight test of the Ares/Constellation program. The Ares I-X rocket consisted of the modified Shuttle RSRM-91A solid rocket booster, a dummy Upper Stage Simulator, and a dummy Ares command module / launch abort system. It was launched from the newly modified LC39B at Kennedy Space Center to test the aerodynamics of the vehicle within the atmosphere and provide real-world data to ameliorate concerns regarding the vibration level created by the SRB for any crew in a future mission. The SRB reached 46 km altitude before descending to the Atlantic for recovery.