Roll Control System Installed for NASA's Ares 1-X Test Flight [HD]

The second of two roll control system modules for the Ares I-X was installed April 29 into the rocket's interstage. The work took place inside the Vehicle Assembly Building at NASA's Kennedy Space Center, Fla. The system is designed to perform a 90-degree roll after the rocket clears the launch tower, preventing a roll during flight and maintaining the orientation of the rocket until separation of the upper and first stages. Part of the upper stage simulator, the system is composed of two modules and four thrusters. Ares I-X is the test rocket for the Ares I, which is part of the NASA Constellation Program's plans to return astronauts to the moon and beyond. Ares I-X is targeted for launch in August 2009.

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• NASA
• Ares
• 1-X
• Constellation

[rss0246]

Hey ti. Every rocket ever built -- liquid or solid fuel -- breaks up quickly if not kept "upright" on acceleration through the lower atmosphere.

The Ares "escape tower" system -- absent on Shuttle but used during Apollo and on Soyuz (where it actually saved Russian astronauts during a launch abort situation) is designed to "eject" a crew safely away from a rocket WHILE IT IS RUNNING. Air Force has an ax to grind. Ares will be 50 times safer on launch than shuttle...

[rss0246]

Spheres are almost always compressed gas or propellant. In this case for use in two thruster units designed to control rolling moment on the Ares I first stage. (The stage itself is basically a modified SRB -- similar to that perfected on the Shuttle after the Challenger accident -- flying free for the first time.)

[mejw1]

what is that red ball looking thing? 01:50

[HBSfromMsia]

Todays Headlines via CNN and BBC News(even tho I don't trust these broadcasts):

ti994apc is a f**king immature butt hole who has no clue in spacecraft technology and rocketry.

[ti994apc]

Yes we have lost enough astronauts. Thanks to rocket designs like the Shuttle and Ares1. Liquid fuel has a much safer track record than Solid Rocket fuel. The Soyuz has over 1000 successful launches. Falcon 9 combines the best of Soyuz and Apollo. "A more existing technology" than solid rocket fueled rockets have been. The best Rocket the USA has ever had was the Titan II (at least the first stage) that used liquid fuel and launched 10 times in 1965 alone.

[ti994apc]

This is the conclusion from an Airforce study: Ares1 has "Solid Rocket" fuel, just like the shuttle. In an explosion debris is big chunks of flaming solid fuel, still burning at over 2000 °C. For an accident anywhere in that vulnerable period, Orion will be inside the blazing debris cloud for its whole descent. And its parachutes are nylon, which melts at about 200 °C. They will overheat and disintegrate, and the capsule will crash.

[etbitmydogucf]

You do know that the current boosters that the space shuttle uses are solid right? This is old technology, rehashed so that people think it's new.

[wammied]

Safer than the shuttle in that there is a rocket powered escape tower to pull the capsule free of the rocket in an emergency. Also solid fuel will eliminate blowing up on thay pad. Sure is gonna be a rough ride though!

[Jontheking100]

pretty much all of them are like that....the challenger space shuttle

look it up, and your saying the ares rockets are unsafe

try flying in a rocket that cannot eject at all

[ti994apc]

Todays Headlines via Foxnews:

Air Force: NASA's new Ares1 rocket unsafe for astronauts, with '100 percent' fatality rate in launch-abort scenario. No Chance of Survival!