RELEASE
:
09-140AR
NASA Ames Contributes to Successful Ares I-X Rocket Flight Test
MOFFETT FIELD, Calif. -- A team led by NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., developed software that contributed to today's successful flight of NASA's Ares I-X test rocket. The Ares I-X lifted off at 8:30 a.m. PDT from the newly-modified Launch Complex 39B at NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida.
"This is a huge step forward for NASA's exploration goals," said Doug Cooke, associate administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "Ares I-X provides NASA with an enormous amount of data that will be used to improve the design and safety of the next generation of American spaceflight vehicles -- vehicles that could again take humans beyond low Earth orbit."
The team led by NASA Ames included researchers from KSC, NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center, Huntsville, Ala., and NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., who developed and demonstrated a ground diagnostic prototype (GDP) system that can quickly detect and diagnose issues before a launch in order to reduce launch delays, improve safety and reduce costs. The system was able to detect and diagnose faults by monitoring live data feeds from sensors in the Ares I-X first-stage thrust vector control system and the ground hydraulics. The software monitored sensor data while the vehicle was in the Vehicle Assembly Building at KSC and until the moment Ares I-X launched.
Researchers demonstrated that data from multiple sources can be integrated to diagnose faults in parts of the Ares I-X and the ground support equipment, and display the information to controllers monitoring the Ares I-X launch.
NASA also conducted four major wind tunnel tests of the Ares I launch vehicle in the Unitary Wind Tunnel at Ames. During these tests, Ames researchers measured surface pressures and flow velocities using advanced instrumentation from low speeds through high Mach numbers and high dynamic-pressure conditions to simulate the extremes of aerodynamics during launch and during first-stage re-entry.
The flight offered an early opportunity to test and prove hardware, facilities and ground operations - important data for future space vehicles. During the flight, a range of performance data was relayed to the ground and also stored in the onboard flight data recorder. The 700 sensors mounted on the vehicle provide flight test engineering data to correlate with computer models and analysis. The rocket's sensors gathered information in several areas, including assembly and launch operations, separation of the vehicle's first and second stages, controllability and aerodynamics, the re-entry and recovery of the first stage and new vehicle design techniques.
Today's flight lasted about six minutes from its launch from Launch Complex 39B until splash down of the rocket's booster stage nearly 150 miles down range. The 327-foot tall Ares I-X test vehicle produced 2.6 million pounds of thrust to accelerate the rocket to nearly 3 g's and Mach 4.76, just shy of hypersonic speed. It capped its easterly flight at a sub-orbital altitude of 150,000 feet after the separation of its first stage, a four-segment solid rocket booster. Parachutes deployed for recovery of the booster and the solid rocket motor will be recovered at sea for later inspection. The simulated upper stage, Orion crew module, and launch abort system will not be recovered.
"The most valuable learning is through experience and observation," said Bob Ess, Ares I-X mission manager. "Tests such as this -- from paper to flight -- are vital in gaining a deeper understanding of the vehicle, from design to development."
The Ares I-X efforts are led by the Ares I-X mission management office of the Constellation Program, based at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston, and NASA's Exploration Systems Mission Directorate in Washington. The GDP tool received funding from the Constellation Program, Exploration Technology Development Program and from KSC's Ground Operations. NASA's Glenn Research Center, Cleveland designed and built the vehicle's upper stage mass simulator. NASA's Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., provided aerodynamic characterization, flight test vehicle integration and the crew module/launch abort system mass simulator. Marshall, with contractor support, provided management for the development of Ares I-X avionics, roll control, and first stage systems. KSC provided operations and associated ground activities and launch operations.
Contractors for Ares I-X include Alliant Techsystems (ATK), Salt Lake City, for the first stage solid rocket booster and Teledyne Brown Engineering, Huntsville, for the roll control system. Jacobs Engineering, Tullahoma, Tenn., supported by Lockheed Martin, Denver, provided the avionics systems. United Space Alliance, Houston and ATK Launch Systems support the ground systems and launch operations.
For information about Ares I-X, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/aresIX
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