Moonship Could Take Off Earlier Than Expected
Posted on: Thursday, 30 October 2008, 08:05 CDT
The latest round of sending American spacecraft to the moon could happen a year earlier than expected, according to NASA officials.
The previous target date was 2015.
The announcement could mean just a four-year gap between the last space shuttle flight and the next-generation spacecraft.
Many in Congress are troubled by the reality of the United States having to rely on Russia for trips to the International Space Station during that time.
In case the new U.S. president demands it, NASA is midway through a study looking at ways to move up its March 2015 test launch of the new Ares rocketship with a crew onboard.
The new rocket would ultimately return a U.S. crew to the moon, but the first flights would be to the space station.
Jeff Hanley, manager of NASA's back-to-the-moon program, called Constellation, said it would be difficult to accelerate the mission by much more than a year.
"We're shooting for a more aggressive date of September 2014," and looking at even faster options, he said. "The real stretch is what can we do to accelerate as much as 18 months. That will be particularly hard."
NASA's Ares rocket is planned to have an Apollo-style capsule on top, called Orion, to carry astronauts.
A moon flight is targeted for 2020.
The Ares concept has met with heated debate from the beginning.
Some engineers have been working during their off-hours on alternative rocket designs.
Steve Cook, the Ares project manager at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama said if NASA were to drastically redesign the rocket at this point it would push everything back three years.
"Everybody's entitled to an opinion," Cook said. "But I think you've got to stick to the facts of engineering and project management, and the fact that we're three years into this. You'd basically back yourself up three years and start over again, so just watch the gap grow."
NASA wants to make the new rocket safer.
Engineers have come up with solutions for controlling its vibrations to prevent injuring the crew, and preventing the rocket from drifting into the launch tower at liftoff.
Space shuttle commander Brent Jett, director of flight crew operations, said so far, no one is willing to scrap the Ares rocket.
NASA is planning a test flight of an unmanned Ares rocket next July.
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Image Caption: This schlieren photo depicts a wind tunnel test demonstrating air flow over the .331 percent model of the Ares V heavy cargo launch vehicle at Mach 4.5. Schlieren imaging is a diagnostic method used to visualize air flows with varying densities. It is widely used in aeronautical engineering to photograph the flow of air around objects. Marshall engineers are testing the stainless steel and aluminum model to collect aerodynamic data that will help the Ares V team determine basic requirements for guidance, navigation and control of the Ares V vehicle. Image credit: NASA/MSFC
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Source: redOrbit Staff & Wire Reports
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