NASA Reveals New Rocket Design
SPACE.COM:
NASA unveiled the design of its next heavy-lift launch vehicle in a press conference today (Jan 12) held on Capitol Hill. The new rocket, called Ares II, is the latest manifestation of a wide-ranging reduction in scope for the agency. Nevertheless, the vehicle hopes to support a new generation of American ambitions in space.
“We are laying the groundwork for the next chapter of human spaceflight,” NASA administrator Charlie Bolden said at the event. “The programs we are setting in motion today form the building blocks for a fresh path into the solar system, forging new capabilities that will carry us further into the cosmos than ever before.”
Designs for Ares II displayed at the presentation depict a vehicle more closely based on NASA’s existing Space Shuttle hardware. Two extended solid rocket boosters support a modified external tank raised strikingly high in the air, in a configuration some have likened to Star Trek’s Starship Enterprise. A pair of shuttle engines mounted directly to the tank will propel up to 80 tons of payload into space, housed within a large nose cone similar to that used by its ill-fated predecessor, the now-defunct Ares V.
The highly-anticipated reveal comes amidst a dramatic shift in NASA’s focus under the Obama administration. Two years ago, the Review of U.S. Human Spaceflight Plans Committee, led by Norman Augustine, delivered its fateful report on the state of NASA’s Constellation program. While the Augustine Committee reaffirmed the development progress of Ares I and Orion, it found deep-rooted flaws in other key areas of the program, and ultimately judged its core objective of a second moonshot to be nonviable.
Obama’s decision to thoroughly reorient Constellation’s objectives last year provoked mixed reactions. While some observers praised the pivot to a more sustainable program, others, among them Apollo 11 astronaut Neil Armstrong, criticized what they perceived as a failure of ambition.
The revised program, which retains the Constellation moniker, envisions a measured approach to exploration beyond low Earth orbit. In stark contrast to its original “Moon-first” approach, the agency will invest in a series of missions aimed at incrementally developing skills for space exploration. In a speech describing the new strategy, Obama directed NASA towards so-called “Lagrange points” near the Sun and Moon where deep-space vehicles could be tested, followed by crewed flights to near-Earth asteroids. While Mars remains the ultimate target, Obama specifically rejected plans for a large-scale return to the Moon’s surface, infamously quipping “Frankly, we’ve been there.”
The new Ares II rocket finds its place amidst a reduced need for heavy payloads to be lofted into orbit. The colossal Ares V had been singled out by the Augustine Committee for insurmountable budgetary and technical challenges, brought about in part by unrealistically high performance goals. Rather than hurling Orion and a massive lander towards the Moon, Ares II will be used on its own to deliver modest payloads to what Bolden called “cislunar space” during the event.
“Ares II is affordable, achievable, and sustainable,” the administrator said. “This system will provide everything we need to explore the solar system - and nothing we don’t.” He also emphasized its Shuttle-based design as a critical selling point. “We’ve perfected those production capabilities over 30 years of flying the Space Shuttle. Leveraging that heritage supports U.S. talent, preserves American jobs, and inspires the next generation of engineers - all without reinventing the wheel.”
The new rocket is targeting a maiden voyage in 2016, a date which has raised eyebrows across the industry. Bill Gerstenmaier, associate administrator for NASA's Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, defended the goal in a statement given today. “We’re minimizing the amount of new hardware for this vehicle. Both the engines and the boosters have already undergone testing as part of the Ares I program.”
The administrator concluded with confidence in NASA’s future, addressing uneasiness on the Hill about the direction of the program.
"We are not abandoning human spaceflight," he said. "American leadership in space will continue for decades to come because we have laid the foundation for success."
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