NASA's Ares I-X Rocket Launch And Test Flight

While watching Sci-Fi movies we often get fascinated by the space scenes. We think “Oh! What a great technology!” So much so that some people imagine themselves in place of Astronauts. A few days ago, we commemorated the 50^th anniversary of man going in space. So I set out to search for various rockets and I stumbled upon Ares I-X which was launched on 27 October, 2009. It was launched from Kennedy space center, Florida. I think Ares is a great leap ahead of mankind in knowing more about universe and space.

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Ares is a two stage, in-line rocket. Also it has an Orion crew vehicle with a launch abort system. If we talk of its general block diagram, then the rocket can be basically divided in three parts i.e.; the first stage, the upper stage and CM/LAS simulator. The basic parts of the first stage are the forward skirt which used for packaging of recovery system, which is followed by a 5^th segment simulator and avionics, then a 4 segment rocket motor follows it and the last parts being the aft skirts with BDMs and BTMs.

The upper stage simulator consists of frustum, interstage, roll control system, space craft adapter simulator, service module simulator, crew module simulator and launch abort system simulator.

This stage i.e.; CM/LAS simulator, is one of the most important stages. It is constructed in a conical shape. If you know, then the same shape was used Apollo command module. The simulator itself had about 150 sensors which measured physical parameters like temperature and atmospheric pressure.

Ares I-X was designed for a speed of Mach 4.7 i.e.; 4.7 times the velocity of sound. The machine is designed for an altitude of 150,000 feet and the first stage separated when the vehicle reached an altitude of 130,000 feet. At first the flight was unmanned and it had about 700 sensors throughout, which were connected to determine whether the vehicle will be safe to carry astronauts to moon and other space destinations.

The first stage being very heavy, its recovery system was also specially designed. The parachutes were made from Kevlar. Kevlar proved to be much stronger but still light weight that the conventional parachutes which is mostly made up of Nylon. The area covered by the parachute alone was about two Acres and was 325 feet long. The chute was designed such that, it allowed the wind to flow through canopy which led to stability while descend of first stage. The retrieval ship of NASA named ‘Liberty’ brought back the first stage to the parachute facility.

The whole operation was successful. So according to me the idea or the concept called ARES I-X is something which will take manned space missions to a higher technological level. Don’t you think it is worth spending hundreds and thousands of Dollars on such space related activities than to spend even a single penny on wars? The space missions have always been a bit difficult but given a human spirit, men tend to succeed in the given task with the attitude ‘Come what may’.

Do check out the video of Ares I-X's test flight:



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