Ares 1-X Flight Test Results and Program Status

On Oct. 28, 2009, at 11:30 AM EDT, the first flight test of the Ares launch vehicle—the 1-X—lifted off from Pad 39B of the Merritt Island launch facility at Kennedy Space Center. The 327-feet tall vehicle comprised a four segment solid booster stage, an upgrade of the Shuttle’s SRBs, and a simulated upper stage and Orion crew module.

The test vehicle began pitchover shortly after clearing the tower, and flew an almost nominal trajectory throughout its two minute flight. It reached a velocity of Mach 4.76 at that time, slightly faster than planned. The simulated upper stages separated from the booster at approximately 130,000 feet and the booster coasted up to 150,000 feet. At that point it began to fall back to earth. Shortly thereafter a series of braking rockets fired to slow the vehicle’s rate of descent, and at T+270 seconds the recovery parachutes deployed.

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The booster splashed down some 150 miles downrange and was successfully recovered. However, it appears that one parachute failed on descent, and the booster hit the water harder than planned, as divers found a large dent in the bottom segment of the solid rocket.

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The test vehicle carried 700 sensors that transmitted data back to engineers about its performance. That data is still being evaluated but the NASA panel tasked with evaluating the flight recommended, on Oct. 30, that a second test, the Ares 1-Y, be cancelled.

As the Ares 1-X test vehicle sat on the pad, it looked like a gangly erector set construction that some observers doubted would hold together after launch. The upgraded SRB booster was much slimmer than the much larger diameter upper stages which are 5.5 meters in diameter.

Obviously the gangly contraption did hold together and flew superbly.

Ares was to be a part of the Constellation program that NASA proposed to eventually replace the Shuttle after it is retired, ostensibly in 2010. Unfortunately, the Administration cancelled the program in February, after 9 billion dollars had been spent on it. Cancellation would eventually put 40,000 people out of work.

Constellation comprised two vehicles—Ares 1 which would carry the manned Orion crew module into low earth orbit (LEO) and Ares V, a heavy lift vehicle that could have carried massive cargo into LEO or take man back to the moon, or even Mars or the asteroids.

Both vehicles were based on the proven technology of the Shuttle, the Air Force’s DELTA IV vehicle and the SATURN V. The Ares 1 as noted used an upgraded Shuttle SRB as a booster. The upper stage was a modernized version of the SATURN V’s S-IVB stage, and used a modernized J-2 engine used on that stage.

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The Ares V would have had two five segment SRB boosters, like the Shuttles, attached to a modified Shuttle external tank with six upgraded DELTA IV RS68B engines. An Earth Departure Stage, with one J2 engine, would be used for lunar and planetary missions.

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Total thrust at liftoff was not estimated, but the vehicle was planned to be able to carry over 400,000 pounds into LEO.