NASA - Ares V Cargo Launch Vehicle

NASA is planning and designing hardware and propulsion systems for the Ares V cargo launch vehicle -- the "heavy lifter" of America's next-generation space fleet.

During launch, the Ares V first stage and core propulsion stage power it upward toward Earth orbit. After separation from the spent core stage, the upper stage -- also known as the Earth Departure Stage -- takes over, and by a J-2X engine puts the vehicle into a circular orbit.
The cargo vehicle's propulsion system can lift heavy structures and hardware to orbit or fire its engines for trans-lunar injection, a trajectory designed to intersect with the moon. Such lift capabilities will enable NASA to carry a variety of robust science and exploration payloads to space and could possibly take future crews to Mars and beyond.

The first crewed lunar excursion is scheduled to occur by 2020.

The first stage of the Ares V vehicle relies on two, five-segment reusable solid rocket boosters for lift-off. Derived from the space shuttle solid rocket boosters, they are similar to the single booster that serves as the first stage for the cargo vehicle's sister craft, Ares I.

The twin solid rocket boosters of the first stage flank a single, liquid-fueled central booster element. Derived from the space shuttle external tank, the central booster tank delivers liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen fuel to five RS-68 rocket engines -- a modified version of the ones currently used in the Delta IV launcher developed in the 1990s by the U.S. Air Force for its Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program and commercial launch applications. The RS-68 engines serve as the core stage propulsion for Ares V.

Atop the central booster element is an interstage cylinder, which includes booster separation motors and a newly designed forward adapter that mates the first stage with the Earth Departure Stage.

The Ares V Earth Departure Stage will be designed by NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The Earth Departure Stage is propelled by a J-2X main engine fueled with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen. The J-2X is an evolved variation of two historic predecessors: the powerful J-2 upper-stage engine that propelled the Apollo-era Saturn IB and Saturn V upper stages and the J-2S, a simplified version of the J-2 developed and tested in the early 1970s but never flown.

The Earth Departure Stage separates from the core stage and its J-2X engine ignites mid-flight.

Once in orbit, the Orion crew capsule -- the astronaut module delivered to orbit by Ares I -- docks with the orbiting Earth Departure Stage carrying the Lunar Surface Access Module, which will ferry astronauts to and from the moon's surface. Once mated with the crew module, the departure stage fires its engine to achieve "escape velocity," the speed necessary to break free of Earth's gravity, and the new lunar vessel begins its journey to the moon.

The Earth Departure Stage is then jettisoned, leaving the crew module and Lunar Surface Access Module mated. Once the four astronauts arrive in lunar orbit, they transfer to the lunar module and descend to the moon's surface. The crew module remains in lunar orbit until the astronauts depart from the moon in the lunar vessel, rendezvous with the crew module in orbit and return to Earth.

Anchored atop the Earth Departure Stage is a composite shroud protecting the Lunar Surface Access Module, or LSAM.

This module includes the descent stage, developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center, that will carry explorers to the moon's surface; and the ascent stage, developed by the Johnson Space Center, that will return them to lunar orbit to rendezvous with the crew exploration module, their ride home to Earth.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• NASA
• Space
• Science
• Ares
• Launch
• Moon
• lunar
• mars

[briandamage77]

i agree the space shuttle was a bad mistake, the saturn v was a superior heavy lift vehicle (similar in performance to ares) capable of launching the entire ISS in just a few launches, instead they lost 20 years flying tons of extra cargo in the form of a plane......... well we are back where we started .... the best o hopes for this new phase

[dcb1138]

SCREWED BY OBAMA....The AIG executives need another bonus

[Starpilot149]

@Politcalamity The Obama administration is trying its hardest to extend that 30 years of nothingness...

[Politcalamity]

@briandamage77 Sometimes you have to learn the hard way what NOT to do. I do agree with you, but it's not all hopeless. Consider this...in the grand scheme of things, humanity has a LONG way to go before reaching the stars. 30 years of development setbacks...in the larger picture...isn't really very long.

[ramiroeda]

That use animation program

[Antimatter050]

@SpaceAnimator why land on mars three years later?

[Antimatter050]

@nawitus except for the fact we could stay in its large craters.

[ds2011able]

Will someone please tell President Obama that our future as a nation

depends on funding this project?

[TheLostHibiki]

The only drawback of the shuttle program was the absence of a productive infra-structure.The shuttle program was supposed to cost $5 million per launch and ready in 30 days notice with a lifetime of 100 flights.Access to Space is going to be a challenge; but it is only going to happen when you put money, talent and a competent plan together. The Money can be in the resources of Space... talent and competency getting into individuals, not administration or big sightless groups.

[AntiGrav82]

@xvoy2002 Easier said than done