Ares 1-X
Rocket Science time!
Today saw the first test launch of one of the new rockets that's supposed to replace the space shuttle and eventually take astronauts back to the moon and someday, hopefully, Mars. Do you care? If so, dive into the cut!
The new rocket that launched today was a test version of the new Ares I. It's designed to carry the new Orion crew capsule into orbit, and uses a slightly modified version of one of the space shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters as its first stage. Today's launch was basically just to test some of the new control systems and some of the modifications that they had to make to the shuttle SRB for use as a stand-alone first stage. Nothing even went into orbit... it just went about 25 miles up, separated the first stage from the second (which was all just dummy weight and test instruments, as those parts aren't anywhere near flight-ready yet), and came back down into the ocean. The first stage parachuted down to be recovered and re-used (just like the shuttle SRBs are today), and the rest of it smacked into the water with what must have been a really cool ginormous splash.
I'd go into more boring detail, but instead I'll just say that you can read more about the Ares I here, and more specifically about today's Ares I-X test flight here. Video of the actual launch is here, and a CGI simulation of the whole flight is here.
What I thought was really cool though was that I'd never really thought about the scale of the new Ares I and its big brother, the Ares V. Then I saw this picture...
... and was pretty stunned. That thing's as tall as a freakin' Saturn V (the rocket that launched the manned moon missions, and is just plain crazy-huge), and totally dwarfs the space shuttle!
Today saw the first test launch of one of the new rockets that's supposed to replace the space shuttle and eventually take astronauts back to the moon and someday, hopefully, Mars. Do you care? If so, dive into the cut!
The new rocket that launched today was a test version of the new Ares I. It's designed to carry the new Orion crew capsule into orbit, and uses a slightly modified version of one of the space shuttle's Solid Rocket Boosters as its first stage. Today's launch was basically just to test some of the new control systems and some of the modifications that they had to make to the shuttle SRB for use as a stand-alone first stage. Nothing even went into orbit... it just went about 25 miles up, separated the first stage from the second (which was all just dummy weight and test instruments, as those parts aren't anywhere near flight-ready yet), and came back down into the ocean. The first stage parachuted down to be recovered and re-used (just like the shuttle SRBs are today), and the rest of it smacked into the water with what must have been a really cool ginormous splash.
I'd go into more boring detail, but instead I'll just say that you can read more about the Ares I here, and more specifically about today's Ares I-X test flight here. Video of the actual launch is here, and a CGI simulation of the whole flight is here.
What I thought was really cool though was that I'd never really thought about the scale of the new Ares I and its big brother, the Ares V. Then I saw this picture...
... and was pretty stunned. That thing's as tall as a freakin' Saturn V (the rocket that launched the manned moon missions, and is just plain crazy-huge), and totally dwarfs the space shuttle!