NASA sought to dispel rumors of a "revolt" inside Project Constellation today, holding a teleconference for the news media to provide an update on the progress of Ares launch vehicle development and the status of the Ares I-X test flight scheduled for mid-2009. The briefing came in the wake of several news reports highly critical of the agency's management of the Ares program and the design of NASA's new launch vehicle.
VIDEO: LISTEN TO TODAY'S TELECONFERENCE ON ARES 1-X PROGRESS NASA made it official that the launch date for the Ares I-X test will slip from March of next year to a new target date of July 12. The postponement is a direct result of the delay in space shuttle Atlantis' flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. The Hubble mission was originally scheduled to liftoff this month, but problems with the telescope forced a delay until next spring. This caused the Ares flight to also move to the right since the Hubble mission sits directly in the critical path for Ares. The Ares I-X vehicle will be launched from the same Mobile Launch Platform (MLP) that Atlantis requires for its launch. That means that modifications to the MLP to support the single solid rocket booster design of the Ares I-X first stage have to wait until after the MLP is no longer needed for STS-125. Delays in getting Atlantis off the ground have the consequence of delaying the Ares I-X launch. The Hubble mission delay also puts on hold modifications to launch pad 39-B, which must be kept in a condition ready to support the shuttle in case NASA has to mount a rescue mission for Atlantis' astronauts should they become stranded in orbit. With STS-125 delayed until at least February, the soonest NASA would be able to fly the I-X test flight is July 12. 
Meanwhile, the space agency is looking at ways to accelerate the first manned Ares/Orion flight, currently targeted for no later than March 2015. NASA's internal goal is to have the first flight by September 2014, but the agency is also exploring options for accelerating that even further.
NASA has commissioned a Constellation Acceleration Study to define options for speeding up Ares and Orion development, especially in light of statements by both presidential candidates Sen. Barack Obama and Sen. John McCain committing to provide an extra $2 billion to help reduce the gap between retirement of the shuttle and Orion's Initial Operation Capability. The study, headed by NASA Engineering and Safety Center director Ralp Roe, is directed to determine whether or not the first piloted Orion flight could be moved up by 12 to 18 months. Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley says he thinks a 12-month acceleration might be possible, but it's doubtful the program could pull off an 18 month advancement. NASA officials went to great lengths to try to dispel hearsay in the media that Ares I development isn't progressing satisfactorily, that there are morale problems within the project and that even some NASA astronauts are opposed to Orion and Ares as currently envisioned. NASA astronaut Brent Jett, who also held the position of Director of Flight Crew Operations, took exception to the notion, reported in several news outlets, that the astronaut corps is in a state of revolt against Orion. "We have not found on person in our office with a dissenting opinion," Brent said, having been brought in to today's teleconference to provide the position of the astronaut office. Hanley and Jeff Cook, NASA's Ares Program Manager, also sought to rebuff suggestions that Orion could be launch on an Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV), upgraded versions of either the Delta IV or Atlas 5. Hanley pointed out that NASA studied that option four years ago during the Exploration Systems Architecture Study and determined that a shuttle-derived system would be 25% cheaper and significantly safer than an EELV-derived vehicle. Dumping Ares and moving to EELV at this point in time would essentially mean throwing away the last three years of work, and money, and starting from scratch, according to Cook, and would only lengthen the Shuttle/Orion gap even more - by at least three years. The trio of managers, which included Doug Cooke, Deputy Administrator for NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate, along with Hanley and Cooke, also dismissed recent reports that Ares I could be blown into its launch tower at liftoff in winds as low as 12.5 mph. Cook refuted the claim, saying that so-called "launch drift" won't be a problem in winds that low, given that Ares is being designed for launch in winds as high as 34 knots, compared to the limit of 19 knots for the space shuttle. Even if winds presented a potential concern, the Ares control system could compensate and steer the vehicle away from the tower, much the same way as the Apollo Saturn V tilted away from the launch tower when it blasted off. In any case, the only circumstance where winds would be a concern would occur if the wind were from the south and right at the 34 knot limit. Cook said that type of wind only occurs 0.3 percent of the time at Kennedy Space Center anyway, and so shouldn't pose a significant concern. He also pointed out the option of lowering the wind requirement from 34 knots to something less if that were necessary to accommodate Ares, although there are no plans for that at this time. (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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