Ares 1-x Shuttle Launch

The first day the Ares 1-X shuttle tried to launch, NASA scratched it because it was delayed because of a cargo ship that had sailed into the safety zone of the launch, and because of clouds overhead. The flight will only last for the duration of six minutes, and will give NASA information needed to send man back to the moon.

The first two minutes of the flight will be to give NASA astronauts information. It will go up twenty eight miles. The designers of the Ares 1-x come from Huntsville, Alabama.

The rocket finally launched the second day after being scratched the previous day—the rocket launched at 11:30 am Eastern time at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Once it launched, it went past mach 2, all the way to mach 4.

It took the rocket but one minute to reach space, as it collects data to send to the ground. There is a camera attached to the side of the shuttle to show its journey.

11:32 am Eastern Time and the rocket breaks into two, sending the shuttle plummeting down to the ground. The data retrieved by the NASA scientists will hopefully allow them to send man back to the moon.

Alyssa
Science, Current Events, History

Ares 1-x test rocket.

The Ares rocket launch had been scheduled for 10/27/09 at the Kennedy Space Center. This had been planned months in advance. I would assume that they had believed that it would be all sunshine and no clouds in sight.

But to there dismay, at 9:38 AM there were storm clouds headed towards the launch pad. This of course was a bad thing. Even just the smallest cloud that would touch the rocket could possibly send the entire flight off course. Merely one minute later the whether started to get worse and NASA started to consider scratching the lift-off.

At 9:45, they discarded there fear when most of the clouds had moved from the rockets location. Because of the decent whether they had at the moment they would decide to set the launch clock for T-Minus four minutes.

9:47, more problems, now a part of the engine would fail. If they could not get the engine to reset they would have to reset the launch clock. Now they had no choice. They could not reset the engine so the clock will be reset.

It is now 10:20 and NASA decides to shut down the launch for today and try again tomorrow.

10/28/09 its 11:28 and the Ares 1-x launch will be attempted one more time this day. Finally the words every one has been waiting for were said at 11:29. T-Minus 43 seconds ‘till lift-off.

Now at 11:30, history is made with the Ares rocket leaving the ground to start its six minute voyage. Merely one minute later the gorgeous white pillar has reached space at Mach 4. This is the fastest rocket, as well as the tallest to reach space. One more minute later and the rocket breaks off and begins its decent to the earth after making history.

Nicholas
Science, Current Events, History

AresI-X

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — NASA's brand-new Ares 1-X rocket, the vehicle planned to launch astronauts spaceward after the space shuttles are retired, is poised to make its first-ever test flight Tuesday.

The experimental Ares I-X rocket is set to lift off at 8 a.m. EDT from Pad 39B here at Kennedy Space Center. NASA needs good weather in order to gather detailed data on how the $445 million booster performs during this maiden voyage. Unfortunately, weather officer Kathy Winters has predicted a grim 60 percent chance of clouds thwarting a launch attempt Tuesday.
"The weather is a little bit of a concern tomorrow," Winters said Monday.

Ares I-X is a trial version of the Ares I rocket, planned under NASA's Constellation program to ferry astronauts to low-Earth orbit aboard an Orion spacecraft. The test rocket includes a real solid-rocket first stage, with a mock second stage and dummy Orion crew capsule on top to simulate the intended weight and size of Ares I. Ares I-X is the tallest booster in service or about to fly and stands about 327 feet high — 14 stories taller than NASA's space shuttles.
The test flight comes at an uncertain time for NASA. The agency's plans to use the Ares I rocket and Orion capsules to replace the shuttle fleet and return astronauts to the moon by 2020 are under review by President Barack Obama's administration. Last week, a report from an independent panel appointed by the White House suggested that NASA consider scrapping the Ares I rocket in lieu of commercial rockets that could be ready sooner.

Despite the uncertainty, NASA officials said they stand behind the flight test, which should be useful not just for designing Ares I but also for other future rockets.
"Much of that kind of learning will be applicable to any large-scale launch system," said Jeff Hanley, program manager for NASA's Constellation program, which encompasses Ares I and Orion.

NASA hopes to have the Ares I and Orion vehicles in service by 2015, but the White House panel said that date would likely slip to 2017.

Untried rocket
As an untried rocket, the flight does carry some risk, mission managers said.
"We're not going to guarantee this is going to work," said Steve Davis, Ares I-X deputy mission manager. "This is a flight test. We have very high confidence it's going to work but there's some areas we're testing for the first time, and that's why we're doing the test."
If the rocket were to fly sharply off-course and threatened to pose any danger to the public, an explosive mechanism onboard called the range safety system could be initiated to destroy the booster.

"[We'll] make sure that were providing safety to the public," said Ed Mango, Ares I-X launch director. "There's no chance that this vehicle is going to go anywhere where the range can't take care of anything it needs to."
Also adding to the potential hazard of the flight is the fact that the space shuttle Atlantis is currently poised atop its Launch Pad 39A, a mere 1.6 miles away. If Ares I-X were to explode, the nearby space shuttle could be in jeopardy. However, because of the trajectory planned for the rocket, as well as the high level of confidence that it will work generally as planned, NASA has estimated a slim 1-in-10,000 chance of catastrophic damage to Atlantis — a danger level the agency is willing to accept.

Gloomy skies
In fact, mission managers say their biggest fear now is the weather. When asked if any issues were keeping him up at night in advance of the flight, Ares I-X mission manager Bob Ess replied "mostly the weather."

Because this is the first launch of its kind, and a major goal is to photograph and videotape the rocket's performance, NASA requires pristine skies and clear visibility to loft the booster. Furthermore, the launch is constrained by the risk of a phenomenon called "triboelectrification," which could occur when the rocket passes through clouds and triggers static electricity that might interfere with the instruments onboard. This is not a concern with space shuttle launches, which have been proven immune to this occurrence.

Ares I-X has a four-hour launch window, from 8 a.m. to noon EDT, and it only needs about 10 minutes of clear skies within that time to launch. If the rocket cannot blast off on Tuesday, NASA can try again during the same window on Wednesday, when weather conditions are expected to improve.

NASA will begin counting down toward the planned liftoff at 1 a.m. EDT Tuesday, with a live television broadcast to begin at 5 a.m.

Ready to go
Despite the inherent uncertainty in Ares I-X's flight, mission managers said they are as confident as possible.

"We're in great shape, the vehicle's ready to go, and certainly all of us are really excited about Tuesday's launch," said NASA test director Jeff Spaulding during a Sunday briefing.
The rocket is slated to launch skyward, but stop short of reaching orbit, before falling back down to Earth. The entire mission is planned to last just over two minutes.
During that time over 700 sensors onboard will feed back meticulous measurements of the rocket's path and performance, while cameras on the ground and aboard airborne planes will take photographs to chart its trajectory.

"Our purpose is to validate the design and gain practical experience with the vehicle," Davis said. "The goal of the test is to get information, it's all about learning. The only failure on this flight is a failure to learn from it."