NASA Unveils Moon Rocket

By Johnny Cat in Science & Tech on Oct 20, 2009 at 4:00 pm

Next generation space travel is closer to reality with the Ares 1-X rocket making its debut this week. The Constellation Program‘s centerpiece is supposed to be the rocket that launches Orion, the ship that will take astronauts back to the moon, but that dream may be fading away.

Nasa officials plan to go ahead with the Ares 1-X test flight even as Barack Obama’s administration considers plans to shelve the Constellation programme through lack of funding.

A detailed review of Nasa’s future programmes recently delivered to the White House raised concerns that the space agency does not have deep enough pockets to fulfil its vision for a return to the moon. The review said the agency may have to abandon the Ares rockets and switch to a cheaper design. (Photo: NASA).

Here’s a rendering of an Ares launch.

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Tags: Ares I-x, Constellation, moon, nasa, Orion, rocket

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jenny
Oct 20th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
am i the only one that wouldnt want to be an astronaut on a rocket of cheaper design?
coalitionforspace
Oct 20th, 2009 at 5:17 pm
Hope it goes well. Pretty much the whole future of the Constellation program is riding on this test flight. http://www.spacecoalition.com/blog/index.cfm/2009/10/19/Stakes-High-fo r-NASAs-Moon-Program
MaximeSteve
Oct 20th, 2009 at 6:10 pm
That is sad, to my eyes space exploration is one of the key things to invest in !
lansing wedding photographer
Oct 20th, 2009 at 6:14 pm
ah, i’m so torn! i feel like government spending is out of control, and even though I can think of no economic benefit of going back to the moon, it just seems like a good idea.
Josh
Oct 20th, 2009 at 6:25 pm
Helium 3 is on the moon. Helium 3 provides a very viable method of creating fusion reactors to power countries around the world.
Justin
Oct 20th, 2009 at 6:38 pm
Just take a look at a pie chart that represents a yearly budget for the federal government. NASA is a very very small piece of that pie.

I never understood why people get so bent out of shape over space exploration costs. Especially when it has advanced our technological boundaries so far.
Brent
Oct 20th, 2009 at 8:41 pm
I love how in an administration founded on “hope,” they are hellbent on taking away about the only thing left in the world that can actually represent and foster it.
striatic
Oct 20th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
This is not a “moon rocket”. Ares I is a low earth orbit transport designed primarily for getting people to the space station less expensively than on the Shuttle.

The capsule is designed to also be part of possible future lunar missions, but these missions would use a different launch system called Ares V.

This distinction is extremely important, because the systems are very, very different and it is unknown if NASA will be able to support two divergent launch systems.

An alternative proposed design is DIRECT, which inhabits the gap between Ares I and V, being capable of more complicated Low Earth Orbit missions as well as the lunar mission capability using two launches.
Johnny Cat
Oct 20th, 2009 at 8:59 pm
Thanks for the clarification striatic.
I’m no rocket scientist, but are the Ares I and Ares V more disparate than the Saturn Ib and Saturn V? NASA handled those two divergent systems quite well.
BamaChris
Oct 21st, 2009 at 10:32 am
Well thats a plus. I’m not surprised though, for the ARES program to be thrown out would require Obama actually…..doing something.
alan smithee
Oct 21st, 2009 at 10:48 am
I’m thinking, Slap a seat and this sucker and people will pay big moola to go John Glennish. Funding problem solved.
Chris Johnston
Oct 21st, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Here’s a better animation of the full Orion mission to the Moon than the one I saw years ago…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ac5DCgqKRoE

I still don’t like the design of the Altair lander, though: Dinky little tin can of an Ascent stage sitting on top of an effin’ HUGE Descent stage!
Quite disproportionate, methinks. Looks like it’d be awfully cramped in there.

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