Ares I test rocket, will lift off from Kennedy Space Center, Fla. in the summer of 2009. It will climb about 25 miles in a two-minute powered test of Ares I first stage performance and its first stage separation and parachute recovery system.
Ares 1 Test Rocket getting ready
The engine testing has been completed for the Ares 1 Test Rocket and is successful. The exciting part will be to watch each of the test flights from Kennedy Space Center here on the Space Coast as they put the Ares 1 Test Rocket through each phase. The flight of the Ares 1 Test Rocket will be an important step toward verifying analysis needed to further develop Ares I, NASA’s next launch vehicle.
In order to ensure that the Ares 1 Test Rocket flight characteristics are fully understood, extreme care is being taken to precisely fabricate the rocket’s simulated upper stage and the simulated Orion crew module and associated launch abort tower. These full-scale hardware components must accurately reflect the shape and physical properties of the Ares 1 Test Rocket used in computer analyses and wind tunnel tests in order to confidently compare flight results with preflight predictions.
Ares 1 Test Rocket engines being fired
“This launch will tell us what we got right and what we got wrong in the design and analysis phase,” said Jonathan Cruz, deputy project manager for Ares I-X CM/LAS. “We have a lot of confidence, but we need those two minutes of flight data before NASA can continue to the next phase of rocket development,” he said.
Ares 1 test rocket on pad artist conception
The completed two-part flight test article is to be delivered to Kennedy by the end of this year. Before launch, the combined crew module and launch abort system tower will be used to help demonstrate lifting, handling and stacking of Ares I-X flight test vehicle elements.
Click on the Ares 1 Test Rocket thumbnail above!
Ares 1 Test Rocket will provide important data for developing Ares I in time to support the vehicle’s critical design review in 2010.
Now get ready to view the simulated launch of the Ares 1 Test Rocket from Kennedy Space Center, turn up your speaker system and have your woofer on full. This will not be much further in the future to witness it in person, enjoy the video below!
