New Mars

GAO recommends NASA establish a sound business case for Ares I before proceeding beyond preliminary design review (now set for July 2008), and if necessary, delay the preliminary design review until the project’s readiness to move forward is demonstrated.

The Ares I ground and flight operations goals are summarized below:

• Achieve a significant reduction in operations cost from legacy systems, with the goal to operate at a steady-state flight rate of 5 flights per year, for no more than $1.2 billion annually.
• Simplify and minimize ground processing and integration operations such that the system can be launched within 45 calendar days from start of assembly.
• Effectively size the system to support various mission types (ISS, lunar sortie, etc.) and number of missions in any given year; support up to 6 (5 plus surge) flights per year.
• Be interchangeable with either mission type (crew or cargo) such that no significant changes in processing flow or element hardware are required.
• Elements should arrive at the Kennedy Space Center (KSC) without open factory work.
• Achieve the appropriate balance between the use of Line Replaceable Units (LRUs), reliable component selection, and maintenance operations to support a launch availability of not less than 98 percent (not including natural environmental impacts).
• Minimize launch pad processing time such that it is ready for launch within 7 days from the integrated system's arrival at the launch pad.
• Reduce, to the maximum extent practical, any launch pad maintenance during the 4-day launch window.
• Be capable of a 24-hour turnaround following a launch scrub.
• Be capable of supporting the next Trans-Lunar Injection (TLI) window following a missed launch attempt.
• Use common, reusable ground support equipment throughout pre-launch processing and launch operations.
• Incorporate common parts and tooling as much as practical.

WASHINGTON - NASA has selected The Boeing Company of Huntsville, Ala., as the prime contractor to produce, deliver and install avionics systems for the Ares I rocket that will launch the Orion crew exploration vehicle into orbit. The selection is the final major contract award for Ares I. The award resulted from a full and open competition.

The Ares I launch vehicle is a key component of the Constellation Program, which will send humans to the moon by 2020 to set up a lunar outpost. Boeing will support the NASA design team leading the development of the Ares I avionics components. The company also will develop and acquire avionics hardware for the rocket and assemble, inspect and integrate the avionics system components on the upper stage. Components will be manufactured by the prime contractor's suppliers across the country. Final integration and checkout will take place at NASA's Michoud Assembly Facility in Louisiana.

The avionics are the "brains" of the Ares I and will provide guidance, navigation and control for the rocket until it reaches orbit. The avionics system is responsible for managing vehicle health and reporting it to flight controllers based on a sequence of timed events, such as engine shutdown and first stage separation.

The instrument unit that contains the bulk of the avionics will be situated between the two-stage Ares I rocket and the adapter that joins Ares I to the Orion spacecraft. The system consists of onboard computers, flight controls, communications equipment and other instruments and software for monitoring and adjusting the rocket's speed and position during flight.

Boeing will provide one instrument unit avionics ground test article, three flight test units and six production flight units to support integrated flight tests and missions through 2016. The contract type is cost-plus-award-fee and the period of performance is Dec. 17, 2007, through Dec. 16, 2016. The estimated value for support to the NASA-led design team and production of test and flight units is $265,489,783. Additional tasks not included in the initial scope of the contract may be acquired up to a maximum value of $420 million. Additional flight units may be obtained at an estimated cost of $114,045,292 for as many as 12 additional units. The total estimated contract value is $799,535,079.

GAO Report (PDF) - 28 Nov 2007

That's the bottom line of this 33 page report. NASA concurs with this recommendation.

On Dec. 18, NASA began testing core components of a rocket engine from the Apollo era on the A-1 Test Stand at NASA's John C. Stennis Space Center near Bay St. Louis, Miss. Data from the tests will help NASA build the next generation engine that will power the nation's new Ares launch vehicles on voyages that will send humans to the moon.

The test was on the engine's powerpack -- a gas generator and turbopumps that perform the rocket engine's major pumping and combustion work. During the test, engineers ran liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen through the powerpack, monitoring its ducts, valves and lines to verify the tightness of seals in the oxidizer lines and pumps. Engineers also verified accuracy of the chill procedure and determined the amount of time required to chill the pumps. Initial indications are all test objectives were met with no anomalies noted.

John Vilja is Pratt and Whitney Rocketdyne's Program Manager in charge of building the latest version of a rocket engine with a very distinguished legacy. He tells us about its development and how it will send us back to the Moon.

Latest design for the Upper Stage - December 2007

J-2X Powerpack Testing Status Report #1 - 19 Dec 2007

J-2X testing has begun!

• 3D Naxeco Carbon-Carbon composite skirt from SPS with modular PWR TEG design
• Best balance of technical margin, application readiness and affordability
• Significant weight advantage and thermal risk mitigation vs. metallic designs
• Based on the RL1OB-2 flight proven configuration
• Two cone configuration to improve manufacturing throughput and reduce manufacturing risk.
• The J-2X nozzle extension will be the largest shell nozzle extension for a liquid rocket engine created to date