Oops, Better keep the shuttle fleet

Problems mount for NASA's Ares rocket

Below is the whole article, We need to seriously think this one out before wasting billions of dollars on it. Could a moderate breeze spell doom for the rocket NASA is developing to launch astronauts into orbit after the space shuttle's retirement?
On 26 October, the Orlando Sentinel newspaper obtained NASA computer simulations that showed wind speeds of just over 20 kilometres per hour could blow the Ares I rocket into its launch tower during lift-off.
But later that week, Steve Cook, manager of the Ares project at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama, said much more powerful winds would be needed to endanger the rocket.
"The wind condition that we're concerned about is a southerly wind at 34 knots [63 km/h], and our estimate [is] that would only happen about 0.3% of the time," Cook said in a teleconference with reporters.
Problems could be avoided simply by not launching on the rare days when the wind got that strong, Cook said. He added that Ares I is actually much more robust against winds than the space shuttle, which he says has a wind limit of 19 knots (35 km/h).
Multiple design problems have plagued Ares I, including a tendency to vibrate excessively.
One NASA engineer, who has participated in studies of Ares I performance, told New Scientist the rocket's design needs a complete rethink: "You might as well change gears and work on a design that is going to be successful."
Ares I is likely to be reviewed after the US election. The engineer says many people within NASA are pessimistic: "They don't think the project will survive as it is."
But NASA has consistently downplayed the criticisms.
"I think we are beset by quite a number of commentators who really don't understand what's involved in an engineering development programme," agency chief Mike Griffin said at the International Astronautical Congress in Glasgow, Scotland, earlier this month. "The development of our Ares and Orion crew vehicles, despite what you read on internet blogs, is actually going quite well." space.newscientist.com... hannel/space-tech/sputnik-legacy/dn15057-problems-mount-for-nasas-ares-rocket.html

I can believe ares can resist only weak winds at launch, but is there a choice anymore? Shuttle costs more than any rocket and it won't be in use for any longer than 2010. I think NASA should consider more innovative concepts, like modern RLV and maybe even SSTO. Remember that Shuttle is 1970's technology and with modern technology such concepts would be much more expensive in short term, but much cheaper in long term.

So, ares will have some problems, but there isn't a choice anymore.....

I think people are missing a big part of what is said in the quoted text. They plainly state that the ares is capable of withstanding higher launch winds than the shuttle. It makes sense really. At rocket would have a better areodynamic profile than the awkwardly shaped shuttle

Did anyone see the Discovery Channel program (or was it the Science Channel??) "Moon Machines"? It is amazing all of the problems and initial "design flaws" that NASA had to overcome to get to the Moon -- but they did.

Engineering is not an exact science. It often requires trial and error and a bit of ingenuity and revising to create a finished, working product from the original design intent. Will Ares have some flaws? Sure. Will it fly more-or-less the way it was intended to fly and achieve its overall mission? Most likely.

[edit on 11/10/2008 by Soylent Green Is People]

reply to post by Soylent Green Is People


Indeed. The really good thing about Ares that was not the case with the shuttle is that you can test the completed Ares stack completely unmanned. Unmanned flight tests will begin long before we put a human in harm's way.

They better come up with something I think were about to lose another shuttle in the next few week. Don't know why but I have that feeling again.

mikell

To echo what SGiP said. Many of the past rockets, the Saturn V included had many design problems to over come. This is pretty normal and nothing to get too worried about. Especially at this point in time since the rocket only exsist on paper (or computer simulations). This is the best time to be finding all the problems and sorting them out, before the actual rocket is even built.