Nasa's Ares 1-X rocket gets ready for test flight
Ares 1-X, the unmanned prototype of the new Nasa rockets that will take replace the Space Shuttle, is being moved to its launch pad.
The 100m-tall rocket is to launch at the end of the month for a two-minute flight to 40km (25 miles) above the surface of the Earth, testing the aerodynamics, performance and controls of its first rocket stage.
The upper stage of the rocket will be a dummy, the exact size, weight and shape of the module that the crew will occupy when the final version, the Ares 1, is made.
The two stages will separate after the booster’s fuel runs out, whereupon the first stage will float down on parachutes into the Atlantic Ocean. The dummy module will simply fall into the sea and be destroyed.
Ares 1-X is being moved from its Vehicle Assembly Building at the Kennedy Space Center in Florida to the launch pad, four miles away. The journey is expected to take seven hours.
Trent Smith, the vehicle processing engineer, said: "We have over 700 sensors on this rocket; and the whole point of Ares 1-X is to understand how does a rocket this shape, this weight, this tall actually fly.
"It's a tall rocket; it's been over three decades since anyone has built a rocket this tall. That was the Saturn V."
The Ares rocket, named after the Greek god of war, is part of the Constellation programme, intended to replace the three-decade-old Space Shuttle fleet. The orbital workhorses are to be retired from service next year.
Constellation will consist of Ares 1, a crew launcher, and the massive Ares 5, a heavy lifter capable of carrying large cargo needed for manned missions to the Moon and beyond.
However, the project’s future is hanging in the balance. The US President, Barack Obama, convened a panel of experts to review manned space flight, with the committee expected to report back to the White House this week.
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