NASA

After 35 years NASA has decided call an end to the space shuttle program. There have been only two disasters within the span of the program in all of its years. However after the last episode of destruction, people and the government called for an end to the outdated and tired system. This requires NASA to go back to the drawing board to create a new system of getting to space, and from the drawing board came the Ares 1-X program.

The practical name and preferred common name is Ares. “The $445 million Ares 1-X is a suborbital prototype of NASA’s two Stage Ares 1 booster” meaning it is a two part expensive rocket project. An Ares 1 rocket is a five segment rocket. Four of five segments is the system that sends the new space vehicle into space. The Ares 1 X rocket will be used to launch a new capsule based spacecraft into space, the new Orion spacecraft.

The new Ares rocket can be compared to booster system of the space shuttle will be used to transport the Orion spacecraft which is replacing the space shuttle. “NASA’s three space shuttles –Discovery, Atlantis, and Endeavour- are due to retire once the International Space Station is completed in the next year or so.”

However after millions of dollars have been spent the true ability of the new program is being questioned. Granted they did move up the time table for the first test launch due to crews being ahead of schedule. But as NASA rolled out the Ares rocket they found a glitch in a hydraulics component, according to NASA spokesperson George Diller, the malfunctioning part is “associated with steering and stabilization of the rocket during flight.”

NASA has October 27 and 28 available to try to launch before stepping down due to the unavailability of sharing the launch pads with Cape Canaveral Air Force station and US military.

Also there is the concern with the possibility of an explosive malfunction of the Ares rocket on pad b with the shuttle being on pad a. Space shuttle program manager John Shannon has assessed the issue and has judged that the shuttle on the other pad is safe from mishaps, he cites the distance and a shell like structure to prevent any issue to the current space program. “About 40 percent of all new rockets end in failure, and Ares I-X is not exempt from those chances.” It is an experimental rocket, but at $445 million in research and building it is frightening if it explodes.

So as we are in transition from one trusted classic program to a new experimental program there is an overlay that brings up worry. It has a higher risk of mission failure than a space shuttle due to being it being “ a first-time vehicle, first kind of configuration” according to Bob Ess, the Ares I-X mission manager. The new rocket uses a new design that combines components from different launch vehicles, including a space shuttle solid rocket booster and avionics from a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket.

Even if the rocket is a bust and does explode, more than seven hundred sensors have been place on the rocket segments. As NASA and its sub programs count down to the test launch of the new program, plans to build Ares I might be cancelled, possibility raised this week by a presidential review panel.

All these complications of a program ending with a new one being experimented on and pressure from the ultimate power of the president and his budget with the economy in shambles the program is threatened.

So as the space shuttle program begins its final legs, the Ares I-X program with the Orion spacecraft begins its experimental beginning. However with it being experimental there is a chance of failure, failure that might doom the program from being more than anything other than an experiment. Ares is meant to continue the United States venture to the moon and into space. The segmented rocket is useable and uses technology from past rockets, and the shuttle’s booster system. However it is a watch and see if this rocket explode or be imploded from within.