NASA has completed the Ares I crew launch vehicle system requirements review. The review brings the agency one step closer to developing a new mode of space transportation for astronauts on missions to explore the moon, Mars and other destinations.
The system requirements review confirmed that the Ares I system requirements were complete, validated and responsive to mission requirements.
It also confirmed that the Ares I architecture and design concept can fulfill the mission objectives and that the Ares project is ready to begin engineering design activities. The Ares preliminary design review is scheduled for mid-2008.
This review is the first in a series of milestones that will occur before the actual flight hardware is built. Each major review provides more detailed requirements for the vehicle design to ensure the overall system can meet all NASA requirements for safe and reliable flight. The review process also identifies technical and management challenges, and addresses ways to reduce potential risks as the project goes forward.
Among the items addressed in the review was the commitment to reduce operations costs through streamlined launch vehicle processing. All hardware elements -- the first stage, upper stage and upper stage engine -- are emphasizing operations simplicity to enable NASA to sustain long-term exploration of space within its budget.
The review follows a series of successful system requirements reviews for the Ares launch vehicle project, including for the J-2X engine, Ares I first stage and Ares I-1 test flight. The J-2X engine will power the upper stage of Ares I, as well as the Ares V Earth departure stage that will propel Orion from Earth orbit to the moon late next decade. Ares I-1, planned for launch in 2009, will be the first test flight of the integrated launch vehicle system.
In January 2007, the Ares project will begin the second in a series of design analyses cycles leading to final design and fabrication of the launch vehicle. This cycle will baseline design changes made during the first cycle. In the updated Ares 1 configuration, a common bulkhead between the upper stage liquid hydrogen and liquid oxygen tanks has been substituted for an intertank, thus shortening the vehicle. The thrust profile for the Ares I first stage also has been baselined. This means requirements have been established for how the solid propellant inside the five-segment reusable solid rocket booster burns during ascent.
Boeing has successfully completed a critical U.S. Air Force review of its Global Positioning System (GPS) Space Segment III program and has been awarded a $50 million contract for additional system design activities.
The Delta System Requirements Review, completed in November, featured an incremental capability insertion approach designed to ensure low development and delivery risks. The review is part of a $10 million follow-on order to the Phase A Concept Development Contract awarded in 2004. The U.S. Air Force is expected to award the multi-billion dollar GPS III contract in 2007.
The unexpected longevity of Spirit and Opportunity is giving the space agency a chance to field-test on Mars some new capabilities useful both to these missions and future rovers. Spirit will begin its fourth year on Mars on Jan. 3 (PST); Opportunity on Jan. 24. In addition to their continuing scientific observations, they are now testing four new skills included in revised flight software uploaded to their onboard computers.
Forty years ago this month, thanks to an inventive University of Wisconsin-Madison scientist, our view of the world was changed forever.
On Dec. 6, 1966, a NASA Atlas rocket lofted the world's first Earth-observing geostationary satellite into a 23,000-mile-high orbit, high enough to precisely match the spin of our planet on its axis and remain over a fixed point. On board was an innovative device known as the spin-scan camera, a gadget that made it possible to image the entire disk of the Earth and, for the first time, take pictures of the weather from space.
Space Shuttle Discovery touched down on Kennedy Space Center's Runway 15 at 5:32 p.m. EST on Dec. 22, wrapping up a resoundingly successful mission to rewire the International Space Station and retract a stubborn solar array.
NASA officials expressed their satisfaction with the mission's outcome during a post-landing news conference.