NASA Conducts First Test on New Motor for the Ares I Rocket

Engineers at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., have completed first-round testing of a critical motor for NASA's new Ares I rocket, the space agency announced today. The Ares I is a two-stage rocket that is intended to launch astronauts aboard the Orion crew capsule on missions to the International Space Station and to the moon by 2020.

The ullage settling motor is a small, solid rocket motor that serves two key roles during the launch of the Ares I rocket. During first stage separation, which occurs 125.8 seconds into flight, the motor will fire for four seconds, producing the forward thrust needed to push the second, or upper, stage away from the first stage. This forward thrust also ensures the rocket's liquid fuel is properly pushed to the bottom of the upper stage fuel tank prior to ignition of the J-2X engine that powers the upper stage, NASA says.

The successful hot-fire test of this new development motor -- the first test in this series -- was conducted Sept. 11 at Marshall. All test objectives were achieved, NASA saying it is one step closer to developing America's new space transportation system. This first series of early development testing will consist of four motors. It is scheduled to run through 2009. The second test series is planned for February 2009.

"We are extremely excited about the success of this test that proves we are headed down the correct development path for this program," says Danny Davis, upper stage manager for Ares Projects at Marshall. "We have the right team in place, and we are working a design that will secure America's future in space."

The word "ullage" is taken from the French term "ouillage," which is used in winemaking to describe the space between wine and the top of a storage container, such as a barrel or bottle. In this case, it refers to the space at the top of the first stage fuel tank and the need to push the fuel, or settle it, to the bottom of the tank.

The ullage motor, 9 inches in diameter and 47 inches in length, is similar in design to the booster separation motor used on the space shuttle's reusable solid rocket motor. Eight ullage motors will be arranged in four pairs on the Ares I upper stage aft skirt, which also houses the reaction control system, NASA says. The aft skirt is located between the upper stage core, which contains the liquid hydrogen and oxygen fuel tanks, and the interstage, which houses the rocket's roll control system.

"We are very excited about this opportunity for our team to practice the basic principles of solid rocket motor design for the Ares I," says Steve Harvison, ullage settling motor design lead at Marshall. "It has been especially beneficial to newer team members who are fresh out of college
and eager for this challenge. We are working every engineering aspect of these motors, from technical analysis, modeling and simulations to propellant tailoring work and hands-on developmental testing."

The first Ares I test flight, called Ares I-X, is scheduled for 2009.

NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston manages the Constellation Program, which includes the Ares I rocket, the Ares V heavy-lift launch vehicle, the Orion crew capsule and the Altair lunar lander. Marshall manages the Ares Projects.

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Orion Changes Add Years To Design Phase

NASA has modified its contract with Lockheed Martin Corp. of Littleton, Colo., to design, test and build the Orion crew exploration vehicle.

The updated contract contains three significant changes, NASA says. Two years have been added to the design phase. Two test flights of Orion's launch abort system have been added. And production of a pressurized cargo carrier for the International Space Station has been deleted from the initial design phase, the space agency says.

NASA says it continues work to ensure a smooth transition from the space shuttle program to the Constellation program. This is demonstrated in a fourth element of the contract modification that provides for use of surplus raw materials, such as aluminum-lithium ingots now used in the construction of space shuttle fuel tanks, for Orion, the agency says.

"NASA and Lockheed have been working together as a team during the past six months to iron out many critical design and schedule details," says Skip Hatfield, manager the Orion Project at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston. "This contract update will synchronize our spending plan with the rest of the Constellation Program."

NASA awarded the Orion prime contract to Lockheed Martin on Aug. 31, 2006. At that time, the development portion of the contract was valued at $3.9 billion with a period of performance through December 2011. This contract modification, in the amount of $385 million, brings the totalvalue to approximately $4.3 billion and adjusts the development period of performance through December 2013, the space agency says.

This update is the result of a NASA request for engineering change proposal issued on Dec. 15, 2006. Lockheed Martin's proposal was received on March 7. The contract modification was signed April 20, says NASA.

The modification reflects continuing progress on Orion's development, including program formulation and systems assessments addressing the rocket, ground infrastructure and all other elements necessary for a successful first launch. The period of performance now matches the evolving NASA budget landscape, the agency says.

"The Orion team has made some critical decisions that will maximize theperformance and flexibility of this spacecraft," says Jeff Hanley, manager of the Constellation program at Johnson. "This spacecraft will be a cornerstone of America's human exploration of the solar system by a new generation of explorers, and these changes and additional tests will ensure that it is robust enough to accomplish its missions."

Meanwhile, work progresses as planned on the contract. NASA and Lockheed Martin have completed Orion's systems requirements review and aremoving toward a systems design review scheduled in August, NASA says.

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NASA Completes Key Review of Orion Spacecraft

NASA has established arequirements baseline for its planned new Orion crew exploration vehicle, bringing America's next human spacecraft a step closer to construction, the space agency says.

The Orion project completed its system requirements review in cooperation with its prime contractor, Lockheed Martin, March 1, NASA says. The review marked the first major milestone in the Orion engineering process and provided the foundation for design, development, construction and safe operation of the spacecraft that will carry explorers to Earth orbit, tothe moon, and eventually to Mars, the space agency says. The detailed requirements established in this review will serve as the basis for ongoing design analysis work and systems testing.

"This is a significant step in the development of a space transportation system that will expand our horizons to include other worlds," says Skip Hatfield, Orion Project manager at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston.

The Orion review followed an overall review of requirements for the Constellation program that was completed in November. Similar reviews are planned later this spring for ground and mission operations systems that will support Constellation launch systems and space flight operations ground infrastructure.

"We have now completed program-wide launch vehicle and human spacecraft system requirements reviews," says Constellation Program Manager Jeff Hanley. "These are important pieces of a management and engineering puzzle that will allow us to accomplish the goal of putting humans back on the moon."

The Orion requirements data set was reviewed by agency and contractor scientists and engineers from across the country. More than 1,700 topicscovering all aspects of vehicle performance, design and qualification werediscussed during the course of the formal review.

Once all project-level reviews are complete, the Constellation Program will hold another full review to update baseline requirements. A lunar architecture systems review of equipment associated with surface exploration and science activities on the moon is expected in the spring of 2009.

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