DIRECT Launcher

[Astronautical123]

how did you get this add-on

[pr0t0color]

Look at the date on this video, folks, and realize that this is pretty much what NASA is going to be building.

As Churchill said "Americans will always do the right thing . . . After they've exhausted all the alternatives."

This thing would have been flying already if NASA's top management hadn't been a bunch of arrogant, boneheaded jackasses.

[robotguy]

@RecklessTornado yep. i didn't make it, but someone did a nice job

[bestamerica]

'

american JPL / NASA missiles and rockets can going outer space what american want,,,

NOT ussr russia

[ti994apc]

This would be so overkill. Why even bother with the solid rocket boosters. The liquid engines should be more than enough. Nice animation though.

[reinrod01]

a relatively simple question. Does the direct rally need to have a rool program once it clears the tower, or could that be simplified by reorintaing the orion capsule? Wouldn't this in turn simplfy the design and software?

[robotguy]

The simple answer is no. The software must be able to compensate for slight variations in thrust both between and within the engines, constantly gimballing or altering the fuel/oxidizer mixture or throttling up or down. The roll program is a relatively simple meta behavior in comparison, and it allows the rocket to start aiming toward the horizontal - the roll program is used by all vertical launches, as the majority of the launch energy is used to contribute to horizontal velocity.

[ThisKidIsADickHaHa]

Did you make this yourself? I f you did, nice job!

[MacsCanfly]

its a ok. the wings of mercury

[jxvwp]

DIRECT is only a lobby.

With the constellation you get a rocket purely developed for carrying men (Ares-I) or purely for Cargo (Ares-V).

With the Jupiter you get a huge family of rockets that is much more expensive since you have got to develop all of the hardware (except for the RSRB's).

The Jupiter weighs just about the same as the Ares-V and only has just enough thrust to make a suborbital flight just above the atmosphere.

DIRECT isn't a running plan just some lobbyists.

[pacificguitarist]

Jxvwp I don't know where you get your facts but I would happily like to point you in the direction of the correct ones if you care to learn.

[jxvwp]

I do care to learn.

I just don't think a project created by what some engineers doing it in their spare-time and then mostly being backed by a bunch of lobbyists and a hm-hm-HUGEE horde of internet-conspiracy-theorists and DIRECT-friendly moderators that ban/sensur or in other ways block critical opposition that in any ways criticize the DIRECT-lobby or expose it as what it is, A LOBBY, looks particular air-worthy.

[pr0t0color]

@jxvwp

How does it feel to be an Ares fanboi nowadays?

[MrFalconfly]

@pr0t0color

You know what?

That's old news.

I'd even forgotten I've said this.

But what do you know. Maybe this will pave the way for european lunar exploration (or even better an international mars mission).

[robotguy]

DIRECT is presented as an alternative to Ares-I and Ares-V. The big tanks use the same tooling currently in place at the Michoud facility in Louisiana where the STS-ETs are made. They would be made by the same workforce that has made over 100 external tanks of the same diameter.

I don't think DIRECT is the best solution out there. I do think it is an order of magnitude better than Ares. NASA has set the bar pretty low.

[jxvwp]

Well I can't say with the CLV (Crew Launch Vehicle) but none of the Jupiters are capable of matching the ARES-V in cargo capacity. But the ARES-I may need some rework like say some strap-on SRB's like the Delta-II and then a bigger upper stage with two J-2X's

[robotguy]

The Ares-1 will never fly, period. Ares is still on paper, not one piece of metal bent, while SpaceX is assembling a Falcon-9 on the launchpad. Russia continues to fly and improve the Soyuz. Japan has proven itself capable of ISS resupply, as has the ESA. SpaceX is developing the Dragon capsule, which would launch on a (by that time) proven Falcon 9 rocket. Ares-1 first flight is scheduled at least one more presidential election and three congressional elections away. Ain't gonna happen.

[Helge129]

@robotguy Uhm, the Booster for the Ares I was tested about 2 years ago, that's I guess a year before your comment(s)

[MightySaturn5]

Interesting thing is that Rocketdyne actually perfected the second generation of F-1 engines used on the Saturn V (the F-1"A") however since there was never a second run of Saturn V's made they were never utilized.

Had they been used, the Saturn V's total first stage thrust would have gone from 7.8 to over 10 million lbs of thrust which would mean that in a 33 ft "footprint" it would have easily surpassed the Ares V's LEO lifting ability without strapping on additional SRB's.

[Zoomer30]

I just got my issue of Pop Mech and they have a big write up about the Jupiter Direct system. One thing I dont like about it is that it does increase risk. In that I mean it brings back the possiblty of a "Challenger" style accident where an SRB has a leak and it ruptures the main tank.

In the STICK you dont have that issue. In the Ares V or dont have people on board.

I know, the system has a LES tower, I really dont think an LES could react to an O-ring breach fast enough.

[robotguy]

The O-ring problem that doomed Challenger was in part due to the design of the joints of the solid rocket boosters; the joints were redesigned following Challenger, and that type of leak cannot occur again - assuming that the procedural changes (i.e. not launching below 32F) are also followed.

The problem with the Stick and Ares as far as SRBs goes is that they are completely new, untested designs with 5 segments instead of 4, a new grain mixture,new vibration modes... (continued)

[robotguy]

... and in the case of the Stick, instead of mounting the SRBs at two attachment points (top and bottom) as has been done since 1981, the second stage is mounted on top of the SRB at a single attachment point, an interstage ring. The vibration modes are such that without extensive damping (and thus mass that can't be used as payload, and systems testing which has been - oops - cut from the budget) the astronauts aboard would be shaken to death ... DIRECT looks better and better all the time.

[jxvwp]

Well there has been made ´modifications so the astronauts won't "shake to death" like shock-absorbers at the base of the RSRB and some sort of C-springs that also act to reduce shaking. Then the whole liquid mass of the LH2 and LOx in the upper-stage will also act as a shock absorber.

Apart from all these precautions the modification of the 4-Segment SRB to a 5-Segment has lowered the frequency of the shaking.

[Joe35983]

Awsome!!!!!!

[HAL11000]

We have to show this DIRECT report to the new president.

[wiiwouldliketoplaymi]

Is there a way to put the lunar module in the payload section in orbiter like the jupiter 232?

[robotguy]

check out the DIRECT website, I'm sure they could answer you better than i can

[wiiwouldliketoplaymi]

thanks, i meant like in orbiter spaceflight sim put a payload or a lunar lander in the back. can you do that?

[Astroholic007]

Isn't the point of a DIRECT launch vehicle to send both the Orion and Altair spacecraft to the moon with a single launch vehicle? The Ares 1 completely fills the requirements to send Orion to the ISS (if it is reliable as we anticipate).

[robotguy]

The point of DIRECT is to use as much legacy hardware as possible - for instance, they would stick with the exact same external tank and solid rocket boosters that are currently being used for the shuttle. The only differences are that the liquid rocket motors would be mounted on the bottom of the tank and the crew compartment would be mounted on top of the stack. The Ares will be a brand new vehicle with no legacy hardware at all, the DIRECT hardware has all been flight tested.

[Astroholic007]

OH! DUH! Thanks for clearing that up. I was thinking of another one of the early proposals that put both spacecraft in 1 launch vehicle (like Saturn V). I got to talk to one of the head officials at Lockheed working on the Orion vehicle the other month and he said that NASA didn't want to use identical shuttle hardware because it would overshoot the minimum needed propulsion. Considering the issues with the new hardware, this is a real shame.

[seagull37]

Nope, NASA's plan is to use two totally new launch systems and mate the CSM (lifed by the STICK) to the Altair LSM and EDM (Lifted by Ares V) two totally untested systems.

[jxvwp]

But they will be tested. And they are being tested and so far the only things that's purely shuttle-derived (not modified in any way) is the 4-Segment SRB's and the LH2 tank inside the Core-stage. Everything else is being enhanced, reinforced or replaced.

[robotguy]

The testing program was cut from the Ares budget.

[juancarlosbascu]

this is the special addon for orbiter spaceflight simulator

[44R0Ndin]

You use Orbiter Space Flight Simulator?

[robotguy]

Russia and America each own a part of the ISS. So does Japan, Canada, Brazil, and the EU. The major parts however belong to Russia and the USA.

[bestamerica]

america made own STS - ISS,,,

not ussr russia,,,

[bestamerica]

america own STS - ISS space home,,

NOT ussr russia,,

[JackSpee]

its good nasa is tring to save money. -.-

[EvilMongrelMonkey]

I'm still dissapointed they went with the usual suspects... no way that these missions will be affordable.... same old "Gouge" the American tax payer.... bastards!

[furgee]

I dont like it.