KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - NASA rolled the towering Ares I-X rocket to the launch pad this morning amidst a cloud of uncertainty over the future of the launch vehicle Ares I-X is designed to simulate. While the future of NASA's replacement for the space shuttle fleet, the Ares I crew launch vehicle, is in doubt, the agency is pressing ahead with preparations to launch the first test vehicle next week, saying the knowledge gained from the flight will be worth it even if NASA drops the Ares I project as recommended by a presidential review committee in its report released this week.
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Running about an hour and a half late when workers fell behind schedule preparing for the move, the rocket, mounted atop on of the space shuttle mobile launch platforms, began the trek to the launch pad at 1:39 a.m. EDT, moving at a stately 0.2 miles per hour as it inched its way out of the 50 story Vehicle Assembly Building. As Ares I-X passed through the giant doors of the VAB and into the open air, powerful xenon floodlights positioned on either side of the crawlerway to the launch pad bathed the gleaming white rocket in brilliant light. The sight drew gasps of awe from gathered media and employees. Even those who knew what to expect were taken aback by the sight of the rocket, more than 130 feet taller than the space shuttle. "To watch that vehicle come out of the VAB, a 320-plus foot tall rocket, that's as tall as a football field is long, and watching it coming out to the pad, this is the first time in many, many years we've seen that," said Mike Stelzer, Ares I-X Ground Systems Project Manager. Once clear of the VAB, the crawler-transporter picked up speed to 0.8 miles per hour for the remainder of the journey to the pad. The 4.2 mile trip to launch complex 39-B took slightly under an hour and Ares I-X was hard down on the launch pad by 9:17. "With the arrival of Ares I-X at the pad, this milestone demonstrates NASA's world-class ability to conceptually design, build and process a new launch vehicle in just under four years," said Bob Ess, mission manager for Ares I-X at Kennedy. "Nearly 2,000 NASA and contractor employees located throughout the United States worked together in an unprecedented fashion, resulting in the new vehicle ready for flight." Rollout was originally supposed to take place on Monday, but was delayed due to a minor gaseous nitrogen gas in an accumulator located in the aft skirt of the rocket. Ares I-X has been described as a "tall and skinny" rocket. Engineers were interested in seeing how a vehicle of its height and shape would behave while being hauled to the launch pad in the open air where it's subjected to varying wind conditions. Strong winds blowing around the vehicle will create a pressure difference on the vehicle between the side facing into the wind and the opposite side which would experience lower air pressure. This tends to create a swaying effect in the same way as a tall tree or telephone pole will sway back and forth in strong winds. Additionally, the combination of the wind and slight shaking motions induced by the crawler-transporter could possibly induce vibrations in the rocket. Before rollout, managers predicted the simulated launch abort escape rocket on top of Ares I-X might sway as much as a foot back and forth during rollout. During the vehicle's move to the launch pad, engineers measured the strain on the rocket through strain gauges in the four hold-down posts that anchor the base of the rocket to the mobile launch platform. Each post experiences stress levels different from the other posts and they are variously pushed downward or pulled upward by the motion of the rocket. The difference in stresses determines the severity of the rocket's motion. Ares I-X manager John Cowart stated during rollout that engineers wouldn't be worried about the motion of the vehicle as long as the maximum force experienced was less than 300,000 pounds. In reality, the maximum stress measured on any of the hold-down posts during rollout was only about 30,000 pounds. While that may seem like a lot of strain, the posts are designed to anchor the space shuttle, which has the 200,000 pound orbiter hanging off to one side. For the next week, technicians and engineers will perform a series of tests and checkouts to ensure the readiness of Ares I-X for launch, including hydraulic power unit hot fire, steering tests and internal power verifications using flight batteries. Launch is currently targeted for October 27 during a four hour window that opens at 8 a.m. EDT. On Friday, the launch team in Firing Room 1 of the Launch Control Center will move the massive Rotating Service Structure away from the rocket to conduct a checkout of the entire vehicle during the Integrated System Test. The shuttle-era RSS provides limited access to the rocket while it's on the launch pad. Ares I will utilize the "clean pad" concept, similar to the Atlas 5 launch complex. After the Ares I-X flight, the RSS and the Fixed Service Structure at the launch pad will be dismantled, leaving only the concrete launch pad. On Saturday, the launch team will run through a simulation of launch day activities, including a dress rehearsal of the 7 hour countdown. The Ares I rocket is being designed to carry astronauts to space in the Orion crew exploration vehicle. The Ares I-X test flight also will allow NASA to gather critical data during ascent of the vehicle's integrated stack, which includes the Ares I with a simulated upper stage, Orion and launch abort system. Data collected from more than 700 sensors throughout the rocket will begin to confirm the vehicle as a whole is safe and stable in flight before astronauts begin traveling into orbit. The Ares I-X rocket will be similar in mass and size to the actual Ares I rocket and Orion spacecraft systems, but it will incorporate a mix of proven spaceflight and simulated, or mock-up, hardware. The flight test vehicle will be powered by a single, four-segment reusable solid rocket booster, flight hardware currently in the space shuttle inventory, modified to include a fifth, inactive segment to simulate the Ares I five-segment booster. Mock-ups of the upper stage, Orion crew module and launch abort system will be used to simulate the integrated spacecraft. The flight test profile will closely follow the approximate flight conditions that will be experienced by the Ares and Orion vehicles through Mach 4.7, more than four times the speed of sound. Approximately two minutes into flight and at about 130,000 feet, the launch vehicle's first stage will separate from the upper stage. The maximum altitude, or apogee, of the flight test will be about 150,000 feet, or 28 miles. United Space Alliance of Houston is NASA's prime contractor for the ground processing of the Ares I-X rocket. "Processing for the Ares I-X test flight in parallel with space shuttle operations has been a true challenge involving people and hardware from across the country, and we're very proud of what the team has accomplished," said Mark Nappi, vice president of Launch and Recovery Systems for United Space Alliance. ATK Space Systems of Magna, Utah, is NASA's prime contractor for the first stage of the rocket. "The NASA and contractor teamwork displayed over the last four years has been the catalyst that brought us to this important milestone today," said Bob Herman, ATK's vice president of Exploration Systems for Kennedy Space Center Operations. "As the Ares I first stage provider, we are looking forward to receiving invaluable data during the flight test." (The Spacearium / Space Media Corporation)
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