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NASA juggles manifest for future Ares test flights BY STEPHEN CLARK SPACEFLIGHT NOW Posted: November 4, 2009 
One week after the first major flight test of the agency's new Ares 1 rocket, NASA is closer to cancelling a demonstration launch called Ares 1-Y, potentially replacing it with a new, still undefined test flight in 2012 or 2013.
NASA spokesman Grey Hautaluoma confirmed the report, saying Ares 1-Y had slipped too late in the development of the Ares 1 rocket to be valuable to engineers. "Ares 1-Y just didn't have enough fidelity to give them much useful data that late in the test program," Hautaluoma said. Originally planned for 2012, the Ares 1-Y launch date had slipped until 2014, just one year before NASA says it will fly the first crewed Orion capsule on top of an Ares 1. "It simply does not fit where we are headed," said Jeff Hanley, Constellation program manager. "The test vehicle was intended to meet evolving needs but the current configuration is too different from what the program requires to certify the Ares/Orion vehicle systems." NASA is also studying a new flight, tentatively called Ares 1-X Prime, that would fly in 2012 or 2013 with new objectives to better support development of the Ares 1. Managers are hopeful the Ares 1's five-segment first stage solid rocket motor could be ready for a test launch by that time. The five-segment booster was fired in a ground test for the first time in September, and another developmental motor will be ignited next summer. Other details of the proposed Ares 1-X Prime mission are still on the drawing board, Hautaluoma said. Hanley addressed future Ares 1 test flights during press conferences surrounding last week's Ares 1-X launch. "Our flight test program is something we constantly have under review with respect to schedule, budget and content," Hanley said. Funding will be the driver for adding another test flight to the manifest, according to NASA. "We will be looking at our opportunities to perhaps do more flight testing, but that will also be predicated on the budget," Hanley said. Ares 1-Y was to include a five-segment first stage, a flight production second stage and a functioning command module and abort system. The Orion service module and upper stage J-2X engine would be simulated on the flight. Officials were studying adding a J-2X engine to Ares 1-Y if a flight unit was ready in 2014.
The J-2X burns liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen and is based on the J-2 engine flown on the second stage of the Saturn 5 moon rocket. J-2X engines should begin hotfire testing in Mississippi by early 2011, according to NASA officials. Program managers will take their Ares 1-Y recommendation to senior agency officials at NASA Headquarters for a final decision. "Now, with the Constellation program nearing its preliminary design review and with maturing vehicles and systems, managers agree the 1-Y test objectives can be achieved through other tests already in the manifest," the NASA blog posting said. Ares 1-Y's objectives included a high-altitude abort using small rockets designed to lift the Orion spacecraft to safety from a failing booster. That goal can be incorporated into abort tests at White Sands Missile Range in 2012 and 2013, and also on the first unpiloted Orion flight in 2014. The first test flight of the launch abort system next spring will simulate an abort from the launch pad. "Removing the Ares 1-Y flight test eliminates a unique vehicle configuration that must be designed and managed separately from the objective designs of Ares and Orion," the NASA statement said. "It allows the team to focus on achieving a first launch of a thoroughly verified system and represents a tightening of the program as a function of its maturation that will ultimately save money needed for other tests." Cancellation of Ares 1-Y would also free up funding that could be routed to the mainline development of Ares 1 and Orion.
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VIDEO:
SPECTACULAR AERIAL FOOTAGE OF ARES 1-X LAUNCH 