NASA - National Aeronautics and Space Administration

A concept image shows the Ares I crew launch vehicle during ascent. Ares I is an in-line, two-stage rocket configuration topped by the Orion crew exploration vehicle and launch abort system. The Ares I first stage is a single, five-segment reusable solid rocket booster, derived from the space shuttle. Its upper stage is powered by a J-2X engine. Ares I will carry the Orion with its crews of up to six astronauts to Earth orbit. (NASA/MSFC)
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A concept image shows the Ares V cargo launch vehicle. The heavy-lifting Ares V is NASA's primary vessel for safe, reliable delivery of large-scale hardware to space. This includes the lunar lander, materials for establishing a permanent moon base, and the vehicles and hardware needed to extend a human presence beyond Earth orbit. Ares V can carry approximately 290,000 pounds to low Earth orbit and 144,000 pounds to lunar orbit. (NASA/MSFC)
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Subscale main injector hardware undergoes hot-fire testing at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. The tests, part of a five-month series begun in May, support development of the upper stage engine for NASA’s Ares I crew launch vehicle and Earth Departure Stage of the Ares V cargo launch vehicle -- keys to the agency’s exploration initiative to return to the moon and extend a human presence throughout our solar system.

The injector is a major component of the engine that injects and mixes liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen propellants in the combustion chamber, where they are ignited and burned to produce thrust. The initial tests were performed on a subscale injector that contained 40 individual elements for propellant flow.

The hot-fire tests are part of efforts to investigate design options for, and maximize performance of, the J-2X upper stage engine. The J-2X is an updated version of the powerful J-2 engine used to launch the Saturn V rocket upper stages during the Apollo moon program in the 1960s and 1970s. The J-2X is intended to power the Ares I upper stage, which will put the Crew Exploration Vehicle into orbit. The engine also will propel the Ares V Earth Departure Stage, which will carry the lunar lander on its journey from low-Earth orbit to the moon.

During the tests, engineers fired the injector horizontally at steady-state conditions for durations of 10 to 20 seconds at a thrust of approximately 20,000 pounds. The hot-fire tests were conducted with varying fuel temperatures and different propellant mixture ratios to document how the hardware performs under a variety of conditions. (NASA/MSFC/D. Olive)

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Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., are conducting wind tunnel testing on a partial model of the Crew Launch Vehicle that includes a portion of the upper stage, the spacecraft adapter, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, and the launch abort system. The tests use a 13-inch-long, 1.5 percent scale model in a 14-by-14-inch cross section wind tunnel to simulate how proposed vehicle shapes perform in flight. In the test tunnel, giant fans or high-pressure air generate artificial wind that flows over scale-model vehicles, engines or rockets through a wide speed range. The tests are being conducted between Mach 0.8 and Mach 4.45, or about 600 to 3,300 mph. Engineers use this flow visualization to analyze shock waves and flow expansion characteristics of components before their designs are incorporated into space hardware. The test series supports development of the Crew Launch Vehicle under the Constellation Program. The program is developing both crew and launch vehicles for NASA's plan to return humans to the moon, Mars and destinations beyond. (NASA/MSFC)

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An RS-68 engine undergoes hot-fire testing at NASA's Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss., during the engine’s developmental phase. The RS-68 is the most powerful liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen booster in existence, capable of producing 650,000 pounds of thrust at sea level. (Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne)

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A 20-meter solar sail and boom system, developed by ATK Space Systems of Goleta, Calif., is fully deployed during testing at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Blue lights positioned beneath the system help illuminate the four triangular sail quadrants as they lie outstretched in Plum Brook's Space Power Facility -- the world's largest space environment simulation chamber. The sail material is supported by a series of coilable booms, which are extended via remote control from a central stowage container about the size of a suitcase, and is made of an aluminized, plastic-membrane material called CP-1. The material is produced under license by SRS Technologies of Huntsville, Ala. The deployment, part of a series of tests in April, is a critical milestone in the development of solar sail propulsion technology that could lead to more ambitious inner Solar System robotic exploration. (NASA/MSFC)

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NASA engineers look at a 20-meter solar sail and boom system, developed by L'Garde Inc. of Tustin, Calif., after it is fully deployed during testing at NASA Glenn Research Center's Plum Brook facility in Sandusky, Ohio. Red and blue lights help illuminate the four triangular sail quadrants as they lie outstretched in Plum Brook's Space Power Facility -- the world's largest space environment simulation chamber. The sail material is supported by a series of inflatable booms that become rigid in the space environment. The system is extended via remote control from a central stowage container about the size of a suitcase. The deployment, part of a series of tests in June, is a critical milestone in the development of solar sail propulsion technology that could lead to more ambitious inner Solar System robotic exploration. (NASA/MSFC)

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An artist's concept of a space sail (NASA/MSFC)

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An artist's concept of electrodynamic tether (NASA/MSFC)

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An artist's concept of a solar thermal propulsion concept (NASA/MSFC)

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An artist's concept of a solar electric propulsion concept (NASA/MSFC)